KW notches up its tech boost for real estate agents

• The KW tech experience spans across the home-buying process, from lead generation, follow-up to transaction management.
• Apps that automate the agents’ lead-generation process are KW Campaigns, KW Data Labs and KW Consumer.

PETALING JAYA (Oct 31): There’s a lot of inventory in the market today, and a key challenge faced by agents is to educate the sellers on market dynamics and to manage their expectations, as well as manage buyers’ needs to get the right properties at the right prices.

To facilitate this, global real estate franchise, Keller Williams (KW) launched three technology applications this year to simplify the home-buying process and equip its agents with the tools to leverage market data to better advise their sellers and buyers.

At its recent KW Asia Summit 2022, KW Worldwide’s president, Bill Soteroff said KW is an organisation that adopts change as a big part of its culture.

“That is why we have become this tech company, in addition to buying and selling real estate,” he said at the event held on Oct 26 at Le Meridien Hotel here.

In February, KW launched the KW, Data Labs in Malaysia, a market intelligence tool with access to time-sensitive analysis and data to help sellers price their properties accurately and to allow buyers to make informed decisions. This application contains 38 data points that allow the agent to instantly become experts of an area with access to information such as recently-transacted property prices, price psf, and a quick analysis of the surrounding area.

KW also launched the KW Activate and KW 360 in the following months, which have provided agents with advanced marketing capabilities.

KW Activate is a WhatsApp automation tool that works with Excel or Google Spreadsheet to send personalised messages to over 1,000 contacts simultaneously. The KW 360 Plus offers the services of professional photographers to capture the essence of the properties, which will be readily available within 24 hours via a link provided to facilitate marketing activities.

KW Malaysia’s chief technology officer, Nicholas Yeap, revealed to an audience of over 1,500 property agents at the summit, that KW’s software suite has the capabilities to allow real estate agents to manage, nurture, and convert leads into customers, giving them more control over their data and transactions.

“The KW Central app allows agents to have full control over the entire transaction, including checking what’s pending for which deals,” he explained.

The KW tech experience spans across the home-buying process, from lead generation, follow-up to transaction management. For example, apps that automate the agents’ lead-generation process are KW Campaigns, KW Data Labs and KW Consumer.

KW Campaigns allows the agent to select a listing on EdgeProp.my, and create a campaign on social media quickly and efficiently, while KW Consumer facilitates in creating a personalised landing page.

KW Activate and KW 360 Plus support follow-up, while transaction management is made easier via KW Command, KW Central Web and Mobile App, a super app that combines multiple functions, including loan screening for clients and signing of documents.

Tech in Malaysia still at infancy

The past decade has seen digitisation and the tech evolution creeping into the real estate market, but the pace has accelerated over the pandemic years.

Catching up fast, KW has reinvented itself, emerging as a tech company of sorts as it strives to co-develop its digital platform to provide agents with the tools to service the industry more effectively.

“Tech in Malaysia is still very much at its infancy. CRM (customer relationship management) tools, for instance, are not new. They are used extensively in many industries, but in real estate, the majority are not using it,” observed KW Malaysia group CEO, Jonathan Lee, during a panel discussion on Market Updates & the Future of Real Estate at the summit.

KW Japan regional operating principal, Mark Yamamoto, echoed Lee’s observations, adding that despite the growth of proptech in Japan, it was still very “primitive”, but there are opportunities to leverage CRM technology to reach out to a wider market base.

The growth of technology also raised questions on the relevance of real estate agents’ role in the future.

“There is a 0% chance that tech could replace the role of an agent. No one will buy a house from a robot. It is an emotional purchase with complex questions to be asked,” Yamamoto opined.

KW Worldwide Vice President, JP Lewis, pointed out that tech may have dominated the search process but “buyers and sellers still overwhelmingly work with agents”.

“In this age of information with more access to more information, the role of an agent becomes even more important as people need help to navigate all that information,” he said.

Lewis said innovation in the real estate industry is inevitable and it is driving more agents to work in teams and focus on regeneration and consolidation to increase competitiveness in the industry.

Lee noted a similar trend in Malaysia, where collaboration efforts are becoming more relevant in building market share.

“What has changed is how you approach the business, and if you do not engage in tech, you will lose out your market share to agents who do,” he added.