Breaking Property News – 28/06/2023
Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.
TECHNOLOGY IS THE NEW FIGHTING GROUND FOR ESTATE AGENCY SAYS GUILD
Full disclosure through my other company Proptech-PR ‘A consultancy for Proptech Founders’ I act as a NED for nurtur.accelerator, so I have a commercial connection with The Guild. The main reason that I got involved with The Guild is that they fully understand agents need to modernise, but the hardest part is how to handle that transition. The Guild supplies that roadmap, so their agents can continue doing the day job.
Having been an agent for over 30 years, retiring in 2017, I realise that if I traded today, the biggest risk to my business would not be competitor agents taking market share, but tech enabled agents winning the business that I should have. Without a solution to this, many agents will fall behind as the tech savvy generation which is the general public of 2023, want fast, efficient operations that deliver their property needs in all verticals of real estate.
These comments come from the latest episode of The Home Stretch podcast from The Guild of Property Professionals.
‘In the latest episode of The Home Stretch Podcast, Iain McKenzie, CEO of The Guild of Property Professionals is joined by Richard Combellack, Chief Commercial Officer at nurtur.group, to discuss the importance of technology, evolution and innovation in the property sector.
Over the past few years nurtur.group has acquired four technology businesses that feed into what the group calls an ‘eco-system’, which provides agents with a holistic approach to estate agency, with all of their proptech requirements under one umbrella. Combellack explains that at its core, the eco-system is a sales funnel designed to capture leads from all lead sources.
“At the top of the funnel we have businesses such as Starberry and The Property Jungle that are focused on generating and capturing leads through various activities such as social media advertising, pay-per-click advertising, websites, and portal lead capture. These leads are then filtered into the next layer of the funnel, where they are qualified through the LeadPro platform. From here the lead will either result in a phone call directly with an agent or it will be filtered into a nurture journey through BriefYourMarket, developing the lead until converted,” he adds.
Combellack says that at the bottom of the funnel there are aspects such as Yomdel, a chatbot that mans the chat coming from sources such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and live chat on the agent’s websites. Yomdel is able to book appointments in agents’ diaries from those sources to ensure that no lead is missed.
“The nurtur.group eco-system covers the entire sales funnel of an agent – lead capture, lead qualification, lead nurture and conversation. Off to the side of the funnel, we also provide other services such as mystery shopping and market research with KnowYourMarket, so we are constantly able to reassess the success of process and adjust if needed to ensure optimum results,” he comments.
He explains that the theory behind the methodology is simplification for agents, cutting down the number of toolsets required to do their job effectively and efficiently. “While there are other proptech suppliers in the market the unique aspect about the nurtur.group eco-system is the integration between the various businesses and a joining up the dots so to speak. All of the various elements work together to ensure a lead flows through the process as effortlessly as possible. It also allows us to determine the cost of each lead as well as the return on investment the agent is getting,” says Combellack.
Speaking about the feedback he has received regarding the nurtur.group eco-system, McKenzie says that many agents see this as the ‘holy grail’. “Many within the sector have been waiting for one system that does it all, rather than having various accounts and systems to deal with each aspect of the business. Also, being able to determine the ROI and cost of each lead gives agents the information they need to make informed business decisions with regard to lead generation spend,” he adds.
McKenzie and Combellack go on to discuss several other aspects around the technology and digital services within nurtur.group and how agents can integrate them into their businesses to enhance their lead generation and stay ahead of their competition on the proptech playing field.
Accruent Accelerates Innovation in Multi-site Retail with ServiceChannel Partnership
Accruent Accelerates Innovation in Multi-site Retail with ServiceChannel Partnership
Press Release June 28, 2023 – Accruent, a leading provider of workplace and asset management solutions, announced today that it has expanded its cross-portfolio offerings to include ServiceChannel solutions. This strategic partnership by Accruent and ServiceChannel, both Fortive Corporation (“Fortive”) (NYSE: FTV) companies, gives organizations a powerful solution to automate important processes around commercial real estate construction, leases, facilities, and assets.
This partnership represents a significant milestone in Accruent’s ongoing commitment to developing innovative industry-focused cloud solutions. By combining ServiceChannel’s cutting-edge SaaS platform with Accruent’s comprehensive capabilities, multi-site retail customers can now unlock unparalleled efficiency and performance in their facilities. This enables businesses to effectively manage maintenance and repairs, which make up over 70% of total facilities expenses, leading to enhanced cost management and operational effectiveness.
Accruent customers can now benefit from ServiceChannel’s cloud CMMS, managed services, and extensive network of more than 70,000 global contractors and providers, equipping them with the necessary tools to thrive in today’s competitive market. The ServiceChannel solution offers enterprise data analytics, actionable industry insights, invoice and payment automation, and proactive asset management. A dedicated customer success team offers expert advice and 24/7 support, which leads to faster time to value and less downtime for customers.
With this collaboration, Accruent offers the industry’s most comprehensive facilities and asset management software for the built environment by enhancing the customer experience while optimizing costs. As part of the Facility and Asset Lifecycle (FAL) group, these two companies serve many of the largest retail companies in North America.
Bill Pollak, FAL group president, which includes Accruent and ServiceChannel, emphasized the shared vision driving this new direction: “Accruent joining forces with ServiceChannel empowers businesses to make more informed decisions, streamline operations, and optimize their built environment. It was born of a shared goal to create innovative facility and asset lifecycle management solutions worldwide.”
When paired with Accruent’s Lucernex and vxObserve solutions, the ServiceChannel offering provides multi-site retail customers with end-to-end lifecycle management tools for their built environment. This includes a best-in-class leasing and project management solution for real estate, a robust energy management tool, an IoT remote monitoring platform, and a cloud-based CMMS with facility management services and a robust global provider network.
ABOUT ACCRUENT
Accruent (www.Accruent.com) Accruent is the world’s leading provider of software for unifying the built environment, with solutions spanning workplace management, asset management, and physical and digital applications. Accruent continues to set new expectations for how organizations use data to transform the way they manage their facilities and assets.
With headquarters in Austin, TX, and Hoofddorp, Netherlands, Accruent serves 5,000 customers in a wide range of industries in more than 150 countries worldwide.
ABOUT SERVICECHANNEL
ServiceChannel brings peace of mind to facilities and store operations teams by ensuring that their locations offer the best possible guest and employee experience. Market leaders across industries partner with us to accelerate the performance of their business-critical assets.
We make this possible through a SaaS platform that provides a single source of truth, a marketplace that connects businesses with top service providers, and professionally managed services. ServiceChannel is used daily by 500+ leading brands to manage more than 70,000 contractors at over 500,000 commercial locations in 66 countries.
Andrew Stanton Executive Editor – moving property and proptech forward. PropTech-X
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