I have seen the future…. And it’s yesterday

There are many #PropTech companies out there bringing us lots of different products that they say we need. So, when the company that brought us Spectre (A product I have not only recommended to clients but one that I use on my day to day estate agency life) told me about their new product “Hello Again”, I was keen to see what it had to offer.

We estate agents are great at knowing what’s going on in our market right now. Who has listed that? How do we get that listing? We are also great at looking forward, telling potential vendors, through various marketing channels, that we are the best agent to choose IF they are coming to the market.
If you were to ask the CEO of almost any business to give you a list their top three thoughts on how to grow a business, they will tell you “Repeat Business”. Yet, I find that agents, in general, don’t work with their database of past sales and purchases. Why?

Oh, don’t get me wrong. On a training session on this subject agents will tell me –
We contact our purchasers 12 months after completion to see if they want to find out how much the house has increased in value.

We show them how the market has performed in that time.
We do this every year they are in the property to keep that relationship going.
There is one question I ask them that gets most agents in a series of “uhmms”, “Wells” and “You Sees”. I ask them “How?” (They do this). What I then find is that the switched on agents know they should keep in contact with past success stories but they don’t.

Then I ask why?
The answer is usually “We have more pressing things to do”. What this shows is that the day to day “Stuff” is getting in the way of solid business strategy and process.

Well, I have just had a “Test Drive” of Hello Again, the new #PropTech product from the team that brought us Spectre.

Designed to allow the forward thinking agent to keep in contact with its previous success stories, build that relationship and secure repeat business.
Once the data transfer is complete the system can run itself but does allow agent interaction to personalise content.
Having been involved in Data Transfer previously, the process is as simple as it gets, simply uploading from a CSV file or spreadsheet.
I have always said that any #PropTech product MUST release the agent from doing “Stuff” so that they can concentrate on customer engagement. Hello Again, not only does that but also manages the engagement for you.
Let’s not forget the customer in all this. How would you feel if on the anniversary of buying your largest ever purchase you received a free report on how that investment, along with the market in general, is preforming? Pretty good, right!

To finish, I’d like to respond to an agency CEO I met recently to said “Let’s be honest Nigel, Service levels are all well and good but they don’t pay the bills”. Hello Again might just be the product that ensures that they do.

Nigel Stephens

You May Also Enjoy

Home and Living

Kitchen Trade Expert Shares Five Benefits of Fully Assembled Units

The UK kitchen and bedroom fitting sector is currently facing a number of challenges. The UK Trade Skills Index 2023 report revealed that 937,000 new workers will be needed in the construction and trade industries by 2032 to meet the demands of the sector, impacted by the widening skills loss posed by Brexit, an ageing…
Read More
Breaking News

Why are HMO numbers falling?

The latest research from COHO, the HMO management platform, reveals that despite little change in tenant demand, house share availability has dropped by almost -60% in some parts of England, raising the question of whether we’re seeing an HMO landlord exodus. COHO’s analysis of house share listings data* shows that in England, the number of…
Read More
Breaking News

Only 27% of homes have been fixed in a £1.8bn Govt programme

Report shows only 27% of homes have been fixed in a £1.8bn Govt programme, as red tape and asbestos keep thousands in the cold Thousands of homes will face another winter of fuel poverty due to a raft of failures as scheme to fix them hits buffers Hundreds of millions of pounds of allocated grant…
Read More
Breaking News

UK House Price Index for July 2025

The latest index shows that: – The average monthly rate of house price growth in July was +0.3%. The average annual rate of house price growth in July was +2.8%, down slightly from +3.6% in June. As a result, the average UK house price sits at £269,735.   Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von…
Read More
Breaking News

ONS House Price Index – Thoughts from the Industry

Thoughts from the Industry about the latest ONS House Price Index. Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark: “It is positive to see the housing market progressing forward in strength. As we move towards the autumn months, hopefully this momentum will continue. “There continues to be two factors that may weigh heavily on consumers’ minds as they…
Read More
Overseas Property

European capitals hold £76bn worth of property potential

The latest market insight from international property consultancy, Astons, reveals that across seven major European capital cities for property investment activity, the current market holds £75.8bn worth of opportunities. Astons has analysed the current property markets in seven major European capital cities* to see which have the most residential listings and therefore offer the greatest…
Read More