The real estate industry poses very unique challenges for maintaining long-term relationships with homeowners and potential real estate clients. However, there are changes affecting the industry that are creating new opportunities for overcoming these challenges. A company named Applica Solutions is emerging as a leader in leveraging these changes to develop a fresh approach to maintaining real estate client relationships and building personal brands, by providing low-cost and no-cost tools that enable establishing on-going personalized essential home care connections with clients and prospects.
Unique Challenges in the Real Estate Industry
Jeffry D. Wiren, Principal Broker with RE/MAX Equity Group says, "There are 2 big challenges with maintaining long-term client relationships in the real estate industry: 1) Consistency - having a system that will consistently deliver content to the client over time; and 2) Meaningful Content - having content that matters and is of value to the client. Most clients don't need another chocolate chip cookie recipe, but information on how to help them maintain their largest asset is pretty important."
This is echoed by Ken Brittain, the owner of Home Vue Inspection Services LLC, who says, "A major challenge is how to remind or reinforce your brand and the services you provide. It's been said that on the average people move every 7 years. So if I do a great job for them, will they remember me in 7 years? Probably most will not. So I need to remind them periodically during this time."
Changes Creating New Opportunities
Fortunately there are changes affecting the industry that are creating new opportunities for overcoming the unique customer relationship management challenges of the real estate industry. Three such changes include: 1) the explosive growth in the use of tablets and smart phones; 2) increased WIFI availability and dramatic reductions in mobile data plan costs; and 3) increased capabilities of high-speed, cloud-based software applications. The combination of these three factors has enabled the development of sophisticated low-cost customer loyalty tools that can be customized for the specific needs of individual users, where this level of personalization would not have been practical before.
According to Jeff Wiren of RE/MAX Equity Group, "I think in the service economy we are in, that customization of resources is the biggest opportunity moving forward. Customers are not one size fits all, they have specific needs and wants, and they live in a world that caters to that level of specificity. As Real Estate Professionals, we must offer resources that can be customized and specific to a client's needs."
Applica Solutions Introduces New Approach
A company named Applica Solutions (http://www.applica-solutions.com/tools) has developed a suite of tools called 'Home-Wizard' (http://www.home-wizard.com) which includes easily customizable mobile apps, web tools, and a newsletter that allow home professionals to give their clients branded essential monthly home care reminders that are personalized based on their home type, home features, personal goals, priorities, location, and knowledge level. And like other cloud-based business tools such as Skype, DropBox, and GoogleDrive, most of Applica's tools for home professionals are free, with optional premium services.
Jeff Wiren of RE/MAX Equity Group says, "From my experience, Home-Wizard has the great benefit of letting the customer customize the experience based on their home and their needs. This is critical because people don't want to make time for information that is useless to them. If the maintenance reminder system is consistently sending reminders that don't apply to a client based on their home, they'll stop looking, and the value of that benefit is eliminated. The ability for a client to customize their reminders and access the information on a mobile platform is a big win."
According to Ken Brittain of Home Vue Inspection Services LLC, "I've found that Home-Wizard provides a vehicle that delivers a useful product on a regular basis without over-doing it and becoming annoying. In the one year or so that I have used Home Wizard, it has adapted and changed to meet the needs of the cyber landscape. Not only providing a better end-user experience, but also providing more tools for the sponsors. From my experience, the ability to customize and personalize Home-Wizard is a plus from both the customer and sponsor side. Tracking also provides a valuable tool for the sponsor to monitor the success of the CRM campaign and the quality of its contacts."
Benefits of Home-Wizard
"Applica's Home-Wizard tools are a valuable resource that demonstrates to my clients that I care about them and that I have the competence to know what type of resources matter in helping with their real estate portfolio," according to Jeff Wiren of RE/MAX Equity Group.
"The content is great and very useful, and is not cluttered with annoying ads or popups. The best part is I don't have to develop the content, which is a huge time saver for me. There is no doubt that CRM tools like Home-Wizard are effective and bring in new and repeat business. Overall my experience and those of the users have been positive, and it has been well received by most. Using Home-Wizard has helped brand my business, increase the recognition of my brand (logo), and has brought in new and repeat business," says Ken Brittain of Home Vue Inspections.
Jeffry D Wiren is a Principal Broker with the RE/MAX Equity Group (http://www.equitygroup.com, http://www.jeffwirenhomes.com). Jeff is a member of the National Association of Realtors®, and is Past President of the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors®. jwiren@remax.net, (503) 869-3513
Ken Brittain is the owner of Home Vue Inspection Services LLC (http://www.theconcordhomeinspector.com). Ken is a member of the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (InterNACHI), and is a member of the North Carolina Licensed Home Inspector Association. homevueinfo@gmail.com, (704) 455-0482
Applica Solutions develops customer loyalty solutions which combine data sciences, behavioral economics and emerging technologies. At Applica's core are skills for developing the complex algorithms which drive its solutions. Applica currently focuses on three industry verticals: Home Professionals; the Pet Care Industry; and Retailing. For more information about Applica Solutions or Home-Wizard: http://www.applica-solutions.com/ForHomeProfessionals, http://www.home-wizard.com, (508) 281-2050.
