|
Realtors' information delivery systems have evolved steadily over the past quarter century--from loose leaf books to thermal printers to plain paper faxes to desktop computers to laptop computers that can transmit information using cell phones and satellite linkages. But has the transaction become any smoother? Not really. Realtors still spend many hours manually trekking hard copy from office to office, assembling thick paper files and orchestrating a sequential signing marathon to accomplish a closing. Look around at other businesses and you'll find that electronically assembled and managed information is a useful customer service tool. It's being captured steadily in digital form, stored, compiled, compared and used for years to profile and service customers, so they become "customers for life." Take something as mundane as an oil change. Pop in, give the attendant your $30 and pop out within 15 or 20 minutes. Behind the pressurized car lifters and the repetitive routine of the workers is a database that tells the operators your buying habits, product tastes and tracks your whereabouts from one location to the next. If you move and have a buying history, you'll get a reminder by nail every three months. These companies aren't just changing oil any more. They're using your patterns, captured electronically, to be your full vehicle service provider. All this is involved in a $30 piece of business. Compare the oil change with selling a house that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, something that is often the largest single purchase a household will make. Instead of using stored information to create the customer for life and be the source of all the tasks surrounding homeownership, Realtors stick the transaction record in a file cabinet with little thought to ever looking at it again. The sole element that remains is a name and address. It's time for real estate professionals to go to school about the effective use of data to create business. It's time for them to catch the wave of data management and use. In the oil change business, there's far more than meets the eye. In the real estate business, there's less. |
