August 25, 2024 • 17 mins
No one is more respected in the Property Management space here in South Australia than Emma Slape.
Emma shares her perspective on technology adoption in the property industry and how they approach it at Turner Real Estate. They discuss the evolution of tech stacks, the importance of efficient process integration, and the potential impact of AI on real estate operations.
Emma also highlights the strategic use of tools for project management and Ai-driven customer interaction. Tune in to discover actionable insights into improving client service and operational efficiency in real estate.
Learn more about Property Edge and join our mailing list at www.propertyedge.app
The Property Edge Podcast is brought to you by Land Services SA and our never ceasing quest for a deeper understanding of the property industry.
Time stamps:
00:00 Introduction to the Property Edge Podcast
00:34 Meet Emma Slape: CEO of Turner Real Estate
01:11 Tech Adoption and Customer Journey
02:21 Optimizing the Tech Stack
03:29 Effective Team Utilization
04:50 Project Management and Tools
05:47 Lead Generation and Market Insights
09:58 AI in Real Estate
14:43 Advice for Smaller Agencies
15:37 Future of Real Estate Tech
17:12 Conclusion and Farewell
Visit www.propertyedge.app/the-property-edge-podcast to see other episodes, see episode summaries and read transcripts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
sonic logo
Rob Turnbull (00:03):
On today's episode or the property edge podcast.
Emma (00:06):
I very, very firmly believe that real estate is a
people business.
The houses don't sell or rentthemselves.
We do as individuals, Consumers,regardless of AI, want more
faster and cheaper.
And if we can deliver more withless and meet the client's
expectations and hopefullyexceed them, that's got to be a
(00:29):
plus.
Mhm.
Rob (00:33):
Welcome to the property edge podcast, where we discover
the tech, the tools and theplatforms and data that property
leaders across Australia areusing to get the edge.
My name is Rob Turnbull, andpart of my role as marketing
manager here at Land ServicesSA, is to get to know real
(00:53):
estate and the propertyindustry, really understand
workflows and pain points.
And so I invite you to join meon this journey as I meet with
industry leaders here in SA andacross the country and discover
their perspective on tech, ontools, and on data.
And so I'm delighted today towelcome Emma Slape from Turner
Real Estate as my guest.
Welcome, Emma.
Emma (01:13):
Thanks, Rob.
Thanks for having me.
Rob (01:14):
Well, let's get started in case people out there don't know
your background.
Can you give us a quick spielabout who you are, what you do,
and what sort of size Turner isas an agency?
Emma (01:24):
Sure, Rob.
I'm the chief executive ofTurner Real Estate.
We're a very large rent rolehere in South Australia,
managing about 4, 000properties.
And we've also got a sales teamof 20.
So we've got about 75 staff allup.
I'm also involved in the RealEstate Institute as a board
director.
Rob (01:43):
You personally and tech, are you an early adopter?
Are you someone who likes tojump in and try things out?
Or do you let everyone else getall the bugs out of the way and
then you give it a crack?
Emma (01:52):
So I probably like to know what's going on chat to lots of
people across the country andfind out what's working and then
really map it against what we doin our workflows and our client
service journey as well to seewhether it's a good fit.
And if we think that's a match,yeah, we're happy to take it on
and give it a try.
Rob (02:12):
So, so your customer journey, who designed that?
I mean, surely this is somethingthat continually evolves but are
you in charge of that mappingout what piece goes where from a
tech perspective in thatworkflow?
Emma (02:24):
Yeah, absolutely.
I suppose myself in propertymanagement, but Locky Turner
heading up that.
Sales is actively involved inthat sales journey as well, but
for us, it's about the team aswell and seeing what works for
them.
So being able to access data,access what we need on the road.
(02:44):
Being able to offer the clientsmore and actually seeing a real
measurable result are reallyimportant with any tech that we
implement now.
Rob (02:53):
Yeah, fair enough.
If you were to rate your techstack out of 10 now compared to
five years ago, how would itstack
Emma (03:00):
ago, Well, rating it out of 10 is really tricky, Rob.
I guess, like, we're always Isuppose we're always adapting
and looking at what's changingin the market and I would
definitely say our tech stack isvery different.
One thing that I'm reallymindful of is too much Suddenly
you can turn around and haveeight different products all
(03:20):
with different subscriptions,all doing different things and
all creating different data,which is not only a costly
exercise, but sometimesconfusing.
So we try and come back to thefundamentals of what drives the
business and what works sort ofday to day.
Rob (03:37):
Yeah, so you talk about running too many things.
I counted up our tech stack justin marketing.
We have 27 different tools thatwe use.
to do stuff.
And I'm sure your marketing teamwould have a number of, those
same ones, but it just gets abit nuts, doesn't it?
And particularly when you needpeople to use them.
So how do you get your team touse them the best?
I was once told that it doesn'tmatter what tools you have.
It's about execution.
(03:58):
So how do you make sure thatyour team executes
Emma (04:00):
that your team executes Yeah, I guess being a larger
agency we have the ability and Isuppose also the resources to
segment different parts of theprocess for both sales and
property management.
So whilst, for instance, inproperty management, you have
that same property manager onthe whole journey, they'll have
(04:21):
people come in and support them.
So when the property is vacant,we've got a team that execute
all the advertising, make surethe marketing looks
professional.
So you're getting the most viewsfrom day one on the website.
So there's optimization aroundthat.
We put people in charge of thosedifferent processes.
So they come in and out atdifferent places and certain
(04:43):
members of the team are really,really good at some products and
not so much others.
But as long as that's aroundtheir role, they're playing
their role and using iteffectively.
Rob (04:52):
So it's about the people ability to actually use then
augment the quality of theproduct because you guys use
property me, is that right?
For your property management.
Emma (05:00):
Our trust system is run by property me.
That's correct.
Rob (05:04):
so you'd probably have most of your PMs and associated teams
connecting to
Emma (05:09):
teams connecting
Rob (05:10):
work out.
Would that be a central hub?
Emma (05:12):
Probably how we bind everything together is through
the use of a project managementsystem.
So from basically when aproperty comes into our
management.
through to when it's goingthrough lease renewal time, when
it's on the internet foradvertising, it's all tracked
through that external system.
So that bolts everythingtogether.
It gives us the inspection runsfor the weekend to make sure
(05:35):
that bonds are paid before keysare released.
All those sort of small thingsthat add up to being a smooth
service is how we tie it alltogether.
So property may, of course, isintegral for day to day
management trust system, bondlodgment, payment of rent, and
of course, disbursement forowners.
But there's lots of other partsthat come into the journey as
(05:57):
well.
Rob (05:58):
And I was on your website because I do a lot of snooping
on people's website.
And I'm going to be honest, theTurner's one, it's brilliant.
It's got so much information forbuyers and potential landlords.
And one thing I noticed was oneof your lead magnets, I assume,
is is the ability to get aninstant appraisal, digital
appraisal through DomainInsights.
Is that a good generator for youof new leads, or is that just a
Emma (06:20):
of new leads?
Or is that just a service youlike to provide people into your
Yeah, a bit of both.
We're often surprised thatcurrent clients use it.
And likewise, we also getincoming inquiries.
for a new business with that aswell.
So it's definitely somethingthat people are very aware of.
I mean, you think 20 years ago,there was very few people that
really knew the value of theirproperty, where it's a really
(06:42):
common barbecue conversationnow.
And with property prices beingso topical, it's something that
people want to arm themselveswith and it's your property, so
you should know what it's worth,right?
Rob (06:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
And it's one of those things,it's an ongoing difficulty.
I know in the real estateindustry is that you've got a
certain level of interest inyour property value, but people
only really contact a realestate agent when they want to
do something.
I think the average turnover iswhat about 10 years here in SA.
So you you need to put a fairbit of effort into that
relationship to
Emma (07:11):
effort into that relationship to keep it And data
is certainly part of that.
Understanding the dynamics ofwhat's going on in the local
area and also being a largeinvestment team.
People are always thinking abouthow they can build their wealth
and sort of property investmentis one of those pieces.
So we're also able to chat toour clients and people within
(07:32):
our database with that, uh, thatknowledge and strength and being
able to show them what'sactually happened in the local
market and give them liveexamples of that.
Rob (07:42):
So, so if there's any piece of software or platform that
you've implemented in the lastfive years, that's been a game
changer or something
Emma (07:49):
been a game changer or something that's leveled
Rob (07:52):
one that you could mention?
Emma (07:53):
Well, it's probably not a property tool and that's the
project management system inAirtable, just that we can build
it to do whatever we need to.
So anything from reportingstatistics through to gathering
information from new saleslistings, from new property
listings about everything weneed to know to help the client
(08:16):
get a seamless journey from, youknow, Knowing what the alarm
code is and putting that in thesystem and collecting all of
that at the start rather thanthe drama of the alarm going off
at the first open with 10 peoplewaiting behind you.
So we tried to think abouteverything that makes a smooth
property transaction and collectthat information and bring it
(08:36):
together in one place.
And it's also got the ability topush out.
Between different departmentsand different intersections as
well.
So you're not having toreplicate information.
So I think that's reallyvaluable, but of course within
the property sphere we do see alot of value with things like
InSpec Real Estate, which ofcourse is owned by Reapert in
(08:58):
both the collection of data andhow we use that and how we
communicate with our clients.
So that gives us the tools tokind of keep going and see more
people at the opens and getthrough more doors, but actually
give people the follow up thatthey really need.
And, and clues and information,I suppose, on, on how to get to
the next step, if that's whatthey're after in doing.
(09:20):
So I think that, I think thoseare the types of tools that
we're all looking towards isthat intuitive type thing I
very, very firmly believe thatreal estate is a people
business.
The houses don't sell or rentthemselves.
We do as individuals, but howcan we make that a little bit
easier and friction free forboth ourselves working within
(09:42):
the industry, but also ourclients say they have a better
experience and think better ofthe industry.
Hopefully continue to invest inproperty longer term.
Rob Turnbull (09:51):
I love the fact that you said it's a people
industry, you know, people sellproperties and, there's a lot of
movement online and with thelarge listing sites, but there
must be something about realestate agents.
Otherwise people wouldn't go tothem.
You know, there's somethingthere.
And, if we flick over to whereAI is taking us now, you know, I
wanted to talk a little bitabout, You know, I wanted to
talk what's your perspective
Emma (10:11):
Um, how, what's your perspective on AI and where do
you think it's gonna Uh, I thinkthere is a lot of tasks that we
do repetitively.
So, we have deployed PROPIC onour website to assist people 24
7 with common queries around ourrentals and sales.
There's a lot of applicationwhere it works really well
because people will ring all thetime when it's the next open and
(10:33):
we're giving the same answer.
So for 99 percent of thoseinquiries we're giving them an
answer immediately 3am in themorning or 7pm at night and I
think that's a real win for theconsumer but it's not going to
answer everything.
So the challenge with any ai, Ithink, whether it's property or
whether it's a different field,is seeing where the application
(10:55):
works and understanding wherethe application doesn't and, and
how we intersect back and addvalue as a human.
Rob (11:03):
Your management system that you've built, you've got the
data all talking to each other.
So I'm sure you have theinternal ability to be looking
at that side of things and,applying AI to it.
I know from my marketinganalytics, it's absolute game
changer for me.
Just sieving out all thisinformation and coming up with
trends and information thatwould have taken me hours to do,
(11:24):
but AI can do it really, reallyquickly.
And I know I know locally I getthe emails from different real
estate agents, but they tend tobe fairly, Generic,, an EDM is a
one to many, but AI has thispotential.
And this is what I'm reallyexcited about in marketing is
that ability for AI.
Turn that one to many email intoa one to one email, drawing on
the CRM data, the property data,the customer's history with you
(11:46):
to really drill down into theneeds of that specific customer.
Um, do you see that beingsomething that's going
Emma (11:52):
Do you see that being something that's going to jump
in fairly soon in real estate
Rob (11:55):
so many
Emma (11:56):
sending out Yeah, I do.
And I think also like time hasmarched on a little bit in that
you don't really care how thereal estate agency works out
what you want, Rob, but youdon't want to see all their
listings.
You only want to see listings inthree different suburbs.
Now, whether I do that as ahuman or my friend Claire does
(12:19):
that, who's our AI assistant, Idon't think matters.
And I think there's probably apiece in that is making it
really clear when you are usingAI.
So people can go, Oh, that was areally weird answer.
Yeah, system tool sucks, but I'mstill going to call Emma.
I'm still going to call Rob or,you know, haven't been tricked
into thinking.
(12:40):
I'm talking to a human.
I think that's where people feelreally uncomfortable about it.
So, and that's what I like aboutPropic.
Like, hopefully 95 to 98 percentof the time it's going to answer
in a meaningful way and givepeople what they want to know 24
7.
But we're not pretending thatit's a human interacting It's
drawing back onto the databaseto find out the information that
(13:03):
already exists that may not bein the ad, but we've given it
permission to use.
It's not going to make upanswers and it's not going to be
something that's incorrect, butwe're making it really clear
that you're talking to Claire,who is AI, not Rob, who's a real
human.
And I think as long as peopleget what they want, I don't
(13:23):
think that that's going to be abig deal.
If you're negotiating with a AItool, I think people are going
to feel really differently aboutit.
And I think that's where theline really needs to be drawn,
is what do I expect from ahuman?
And what do I expect from AI?
And how do they meld together?
Or where do they intersect?
Or where do they cut off?
(13:44):
Sort of any of those three couldbe different depending on what
process you're involved in in
Rob (13:49):
Yeah, that's true.
And I guess one of the benefitsof you guys being a larger
agency is you have this scaleand this capacity to work this
sort of stuff out, you know,internally.
You got any advice for
Emma (13:59):
Do you have any advice for smaller agents or agencies who
are looking at this script andWell, I always think that
history will teach us goodlessons.
So, in understanding what otherpeople are using and just
picking up the phone and saying,Hey, what works and what doesn't
getting on people's websites andgoing, gee, that's dreadful.
Or I think that really works.
(14:20):
People are already out theredoing it.
So don't recreate the wheel.
And funnily enough, I find somereal estate agents are pretty
friendly amongst each other.
Sure, we're competitive inlistings and and those types of
things.
But if we're a strongerindustry, it's a better outcome
for everybody involved, both usworking in it and of course
consumers.
(14:40):
So that can only be a positivething in my view.
Rob (14:43):
Absolutely.
And as I said before, you canhave the same tools, but if you
execute differently.
It really doesn't matter.
So sharing that information ispretty safe.
Let's have one final questionfor you.
And I hope you don't mindgetting out your crystal ball,
giving you a bit of a shine.
looking five years into thefuture.
Where do you think your techstack will be?
Or where, where, are the
Emma (15:01):
will be?
Or where, are the areas youthink
Rob (15:03):
you don't at the moment?
Emma (15:04):
It's a really hard one, isn't it?
I think in the last sort of 12to 24 months, we've seen a bit
of a consolidation in the techspace.
Consumers, regardless of AI,want more faster and cheaper.
So as any business, not justreal estate, we've got to be
mindful of those things.
(15:25):
And if we can deliver more withless and meet the client's
expectations and hopefullyexceed them, that's got to be a
plus.
And I think that people arewilling to do more as well.
So perhaps tenants might bewilling to do more.
Upload more information orowners are happy to sort of set
up how they want to becommunicated with in a
(15:46):
regimented way and that might bea different service.
I don't know but I suppose inreal estate we're real problem
solvers People don't want tomanage property themselves.
They don't want to sell propertythemselves.
It's a massive financial, uh,risk to do those things.
And removing the emotion, Ithink, and giving us the hard
jobs in negotiation and dealingwith conflict will always be
(16:09):
there, and that's where ourvalue has to be.
So, a long answer to that, Rob,is anything that can get us to
that point quicker, uh, withoutskipping steps, I think is
really, really valuable andthat's what everybody in the
transaction
Rob (16:26):
Yeah, that's fair.
That's fair.
Well, I think that's probably agood spot to finish it there.
We've covered a bit ofeverything from platforms to the
future to
Emma (16:35):
to the future
Rob (16:36):
I think there's some good perspectives there that
hopefully some of the listenerscan take home and maybe even
apply in their own business.
Emma.
Thank you so much for joining metoday.
Emma (16:44):
Thank you, Rob.
It's been a pleasure.
Rob (16:45):
And listeners, please do consider subscribing to the
Property Edge podcast.
There's plenty of other episodesout there already.
And if you like this sort ofcontent, please do
Emma (16:54):
this sort of
Rob (16:55):
signing up for our newsletter.
Details are in the show notesand I'll see you in the next
episode.
bye.
bye.
sonic logo
Duncan (17:05):
The Property Edge podcast is produced by Land
Services S A.
Learnings from the show helpinform the ongoing development
of the Property Edge propertyresearch platform.
Visit www dot propertyedge dotapp to learn more.
And yes, well done if you pickedit, this is an ai voice.
sonic logo
Rob Turnbull (00:03):
On today's episode or the property edge podcast.
Emma (00:06):
I very, very firmly believe that real estate is a
people business.
The houses don't sell or rentthemselves.
We do as individuals, Consumers,regardless of AI, want more
faster and cheaper.
And if we can deliver more withless and meet the client's
expectations and hopefullyexceed them, that's got to be a
(00:29):
plus.
Mhm.
Rob (00:33):
Welcome to the property edge podcast, where we discover
the tech, the tools and theplatforms and data that property
leaders across Australia areusing to get the edge.
My name is Rob Turnbull, andpart of my role as marketing
manager here at Land ServicesSA, is to get to know real
(00:53):
estate and the propertyindustry, really understand
workflows and pain points.
And so I invite you to join meon this journey as I meet with
industry leaders here in SA andacross the country and discover
their perspective on tech, ontools, and on data.
And so I'm delighted today towelcome Emma Slape from Turner
Real Estate as my guest.
Welcome, Emma.
Emma (01:13):
Thanks, Rob.
Thanks for having me.
Rob (01:14):
Well, let's get started in case people out there don't know
your background.
Can you give us a quick spielabout who you are, what you do,
and what sort of size Turner isas an agency?
Emma (01:24):
Sure, Rob.
I'm the chief executive ofTurner Real Estate.
We're a very large rent rolehere in South Australia,
managing about 4, 000properties.
And we've also got a sales teamof 20.
So we've got about 75 staff allup.
I'm also involved in the RealEstate Institute as a board
director.
Rob (01:43):
You personally and tech, are you an early adopter?
Are you someone who likes tojump in and try things out?
Or do you let everyone else getall the bugs out of the way and
then you give it a crack?
Emma (01:52):
So I probably like to know what's going on chat to lots of
people across the country andfind out what's working and then
really map it against what we doin our workflows and our client
service journey as well to seewhether it's a good fit.
And if we think that's a match,yeah, we're happy to take it on
and give it a try.
Rob (02:12):
So, so your customer journey, who designed that?
I mean, surely this is somethingthat continually evolves but are
you in charge of that mappingout what piece goes where from a
tech perspective in thatworkflow?
Emma (02:24):
Yeah, absolutely.
I suppose myself in propertymanagement, but Locky Turner
heading up that.
Sales is actively involved inthat sales journey as well, but
for us, it's about the team aswell and seeing what works for
them.
So being able to access data,access what we need on the road.
(02:44):
Being able to offer the clientsmore and actually seeing a real
measurable result are reallyimportant with any tech that we
implement now.
Rob (02:53):
Yeah, fair enough.
If you were to rate your techstack out of 10 now compared to
five years ago, how would itstack
Emma (03:00):
ago, Well, rating it out of 10 is really tricky, Rob.
I guess, like, we're always Isuppose we're always adapting
and looking at what's changingin the market and I would
definitely say our tech stack isvery different.
One thing that I'm reallymindful of is too much Suddenly
you can turn around and haveeight different products all
(03:20):
with different subscriptions,all doing different things and
all creating different data,which is not only a costly
exercise, but sometimesconfusing.
So we try and come back to thefundamentals of what drives the
business and what works sort ofday to day.
Rob (03:37):
Yeah, so you talk about running too many things.
I counted up our tech stack justin marketing.
We have 27 different tools thatwe use.
to do stuff.
And I'm sure your marketing teamwould have a number of, those
same ones, but it just gets abit nuts, doesn't it?
And particularly when you needpeople to use them.
So how do you get your team touse them the best?
I was once told that it doesn'tmatter what tools you have.
It's about execution.
(03:58):
So how do you make sure thatyour team executes
Emma (04:00):
that your team executes Yeah, I guess being a larger
agency we have the ability and Isuppose also the resources to
segment different parts of theprocess for both sales and
property management.
So whilst, for instance, inproperty management, you have
that same property manager onthe whole journey, they'll have
(04:21):
people come in and support them.
So when the property is vacant,we've got a team that execute
all the advertising, make surethe marketing looks
professional.
So you're getting the most viewsfrom day one on the website.
So there's optimization aroundthat.
We put people in charge of thosedifferent processes.
So they come in and out atdifferent places and certain
(04:43):
members of the team are really,really good at some products and
not so much others.
But as long as that's aroundtheir role, they're playing
their role and using iteffectively.
Rob (04:52):
So it's about the people ability to actually use then
augment the quality of theproduct because you guys use
property me, is that right?
For your property management.
Emma (05:00):
Our trust system is run by property me.
That's correct.
Rob (05:04):
so you'd probably have most of your PMs and associated teams
connecting to
Emma (05:09):
teams connecting
Rob (05:10):
work out.
Would that be a central hub?
Emma (05:12):
Probably how we bind everything together is through
the use of a project managementsystem.
So from basically when aproperty comes into our
management.
through to when it's goingthrough lease renewal time, when
it's on the internet foradvertising, it's all tracked
through that external system.
So that bolts everythingtogether.
It gives us the inspection runsfor the weekend to make sure
(05:35):
that bonds are paid before keysare released.
All those sort of small thingsthat add up to being a smooth
service is how we tie it alltogether.
So property may, of course, isintegral for day to day
management trust system, bondlodgment, payment of rent, and
of course, disbursement forowners.
But there's lots of other partsthat come into the journey as
(05:57):
well.
Rob (05:58):
And I was on your website because I do a lot of snooping
on people's website.
And I'm going to be honest, theTurner's one, it's brilliant.
It's got so much information forbuyers and potential landlords.
And one thing I noticed was oneof your lead magnets, I assume,
is is the ability to get aninstant appraisal, digital
appraisal through DomainInsights.
Is that a good generator for youof new leads, or is that just a
Emma (06:20):
of new leads?
Or is that just a service youlike to provide people into your
Yeah, a bit of both.
We're often surprised thatcurrent clients use it.
And likewise, we also getincoming inquiries.
for a new business with that aswell.
So it's definitely somethingthat people are very aware of.
I mean, you think 20 years ago,there was very few people that
really knew the value of theirproperty, where it's a really
(06:42):
common barbecue conversationnow.
And with property prices beingso topical, it's something that
people want to arm themselveswith and it's your property, so
you should know what it's worth,right?
Rob (06:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
And it's one of those things,it's an ongoing difficulty.
I know in the real estateindustry is that you've got a
certain level of interest inyour property value, but people
only really contact a realestate agent when they want to
do something.
I think the average turnover iswhat about 10 years here in SA.
So you you need to put a fairbit of effort into that
relationship to
Emma (07:11):
effort into that relationship to keep it And data
is certainly part of that.
Understanding the dynamics ofwhat's going on in the local
area and also being a largeinvestment team.
People are always thinking abouthow they can build their wealth
and sort of property investmentis one of those pieces.
So we're also able to chat toour clients and people within
(07:32):
our database with that, uh, thatknowledge and strength and being
able to show them what'sactually happened in the local
market and give them liveexamples of that.
Rob (07:42):
So, so if there's any piece of software or platform that
you've implemented in the lastfive years, that's been a game
changer or something
Emma (07:49):
been a game changer or something that's leveled
Rob (07:52):
one that you could mention?
Emma (07:53):
Well, it's probably not a property tool and that's the
project management system inAirtable, just that we can build
it to do whatever we need to.
So anything from reportingstatistics through to gathering
information from new saleslistings, from new property
listings about everything weneed to know to help the client
(08:16):
get a seamless journey from, youknow, Knowing what the alarm
code is and putting that in thesystem and collecting all of
that at the start rather thanthe drama of the alarm going off
at the first open with 10 peoplewaiting behind you.
So we tried to think abouteverything that makes a smooth
property transaction and collectthat information and bring it
(08:36):
together in one place.
And it's also got the ability topush out.
Between different departmentsand different intersections as
well.
So you're not having toreplicate information.
So I think that's reallyvaluable, but of course within
the property sphere we do see alot of value with things like
InSpec Real Estate, which ofcourse is owned by Reapert in
(08:58):
both the collection of data andhow we use that and how we
communicate with our clients.
So that gives us the tools tokind of keep going and see more
people at the opens and getthrough more doors, but actually
give people the follow up thatthey really need.
And, and clues and information,I suppose, on, on how to get to
the next step, if that's whatthey're after in doing.
(09:20):
So I think that, I think thoseare the types of tools that
we're all looking towards isthat intuitive type thing I
very, very firmly believe thatreal estate is a people
business.
The houses don't sell or rentthemselves.
We do as individuals, but howcan we make that a little bit
easier and friction free forboth ourselves working within
(09:42):
the industry, but also ourclients say they have a better
experience and think better ofthe industry.
Hopefully continue to invest inproperty longer term.
Rob Turnbull (09:51):
I love the fact that you said it's a people
industry, you know, people sellproperties and, there's a lot of
movement online and with thelarge listing sites, but there
must be something about realestate agents.
Otherwise people wouldn't go tothem.
You know, there's somethingthere.
And, if we flick over to whereAI is taking us now, you know, I
wanted to talk a little bitabout, You know, I wanted to
talk what's your perspective
Emma (10:11):
Um, how, what's your perspective on AI and where do
you think it's gonna Uh, I thinkthere is a lot of tasks that we
do repetitively.
So, we have deployed PROPIC onour website to assist people 24
7 with common queries around ourrentals and sales.
There's a lot of applicationwhere it works really well
because people will ring all thetime when it's the next open and
(10:33):
we're giving the same answer.
So for 99 percent of thoseinquiries we're giving them an
answer immediately 3am in themorning or 7pm at night and I
think that's a real win for theconsumer but it's not going to
answer everything.
So the challenge with any ai, Ithink, whether it's property or
whether it's a different field,is seeing where the application
(10:55):
works and understanding wherethe application doesn't and, and
how we intersect back and addvalue as a human.
Rob (11:03):
Your management system that you've built, you've got the
data all talking to each other.
So I'm sure you have theinternal ability to be looking
at that side of things and,applying AI to it.
I know from my marketinganalytics, it's absolute game
changer for me.
Just sieving out all thisinformation and coming up with
trends and information thatwould have taken me hours to do,
(11:24):
but AI can do it really, reallyquickly.
And I know I know locally I getthe emails from different real
estate agents, but they tend tobe fairly, Generic,, an EDM is a
one to many, but AI has thispotential.
And this is what I'm reallyexcited about in marketing is
that ability for AI.
Turn that one to many email intoa one to one email, drawing on
the CRM data, the property data,the customer's history with you
(11:46):
to really drill down into theneeds of that specific customer.
Um, do you see that beingsomething that's going
Emma (11:52):
Do you see that being something that's going to jump
in fairly soon in real estate
Rob (11:55):
so many
Emma (11:56):
sending out Yeah, I do.
And I think also like time hasmarched on a little bit in that
you don't really care how thereal estate agency works out
what you want, Rob, but youdon't want to see all their
listings.
You only want to see listings inthree different suburbs.
Now, whether I do that as ahuman or my friend Claire does
(12:19):
that, who's our AI assistant, Idon't think matters.
And I think there's probably apiece in that is making it
really clear when you are usingAI.
So people can go, Oh, that was areally weird answer.
Yeah, system tool sucks, but I'mstill going to call Emma.
I'm still going to call Rob or,you know, haven't been tricked
into thinking.
(12:40):
I'm talking to a human.
I think that's where people feelreally uncomfortable about it.
So, and that's what I like aboutPropic.
Like, hopefully 95 to 98 percentof the time it's going to answer
in a meaningful way and givepeople what they want to know 24
7.
But we're not pretending thatit's a human interacting It's
drawing back onto the databaseto find out the information that
(13:03):
already exists that may not bein the ad, but we've given it
permission to use.
It's not going to make upanswers and it's not going to be
something that's incorrect, butwe're making it really clear
that you're talking to Claire,who is AI, not Rob, who's a real
human.
And I think as long as peopleget what they want, I don't
(13:23):
think that that's going to be abig deal.
If you're negotiating with a AItool, I think people are going
to feel really differently aboutit.
And I think that's where theline really needs to be drawn,
is what do I expect from ahuman?
And what do I expect from AI?
And how do they meld together?
Or where do they intersect?
Or where do they cut off?
(13:44):
Sort of any of those three couldbe different depending on what
process you're involved in in
Rob (13:49):
Yeah, that's true.
And I guess one of the benefitsof you guys being a larger
agency is you have this scaleand this capacity to work this
sort of stuff out, you know,internally.
You got any advice for
Emma (13:59):
Do you have any advice for smaller agents or agencies who
are looking at this script andWell, I always think that
history will teach us goodlessons.
So, in understanding what otherpeople are using and just
picking up the phone and saying,Hey, what works and what doesn't
getting on people's websites andgoing, gee, that's dreadful.
Or I think that really works.
(14:20):
People are already out theredoing it.
So don't recreate the wheel.
And funnily enough, I find somereal estate agents are pretty
friendly amongst each other.
Sure, we're competitive inlistings and and those types of
things.
But if we're a strongerindustry, it's a better outcome
for everybody involved, both usworking in it and of course
consumers.
(14:40):
So that can only be a positivething in my view.
Rob (14:43):
Absolutely.
And as I said before, you canhave the same tools, but if you
execute differently.
It really doesn't matter.
So sharing that information ispretty safe.
Let's have one final questionfor you.
And I hope you don't mindgetting out your crystal ball,
giving you a bit of a shine.
looking five years into thefuture.
Where do you think your techstack will be?
Or where, where, are the
Emma (15:01):
will be?
Or where, are the areas youthink
Rob (15:03):
you don't at the moment?
Emma (15:04):
It's a really hard one, isn't it?
I think in the last sort of 12to 24 months, we've seen a bit
of a consolidation in the techspace.
Consumers, regardless of AI,want more faster and cheaper.
So as any business, not justreal estate, we've got to be
mindful of those things.
(15:25):
And if we can deliver more withless and meet the client's
expectations and hopefullyexceed them, that's got to be a
plus.
And I think that people arewilling to do more as well.
So perhaps tenants might bewilling to do more.
Upload more information orowners are happy to sort of set
up how they want to becommunicated with in a
(15:46):
regimented way and that might bea different service.
I don't know but I suppose inreal estate we're real problem
solvers People don't want tomanage property themselves.
They don't want to sell propertythemselves.
It's a massive financial, uh,risk to do those things.
And removing the emotion, Ithink, and giving us the hard
jobs in negotiation and dealingwith conflict will always be
(16:09):
there, and that's where ourvalue has to be.
So, a long answer to that, Rob,is anything that can get us to
that point quicker, uh, withoutskipping steps, I think is
really, really valuable andthat's what everybody in the
transaction
Rob (16:26):
Yeah, that's fair.
That's fair.
Well, I think that's probably agood spot to finish it there.
We've covered a bit ofeverything from platforms to the
future to
Emma (16:35):
to the future
Rob (16:36):
I think there's some good perspectives there that
hopefully some of the listenerscan take home and maybe even
apply in their own business.
Emma.
Thank you so much for joining metoday.
Emma (16:44):
Thank you, Rob.
It's been a pleasure.
Rob (16:45):
And listeners, please do consider subscribing to the
Property Edge podcast.
There's plenty of other episodesout there already.
And if you like this sort ofcontent, please do
Emma (16:54):
this sort of
Rob (16:55):
signing up for our newsletter.
Details are in the show notesand I'll see you in the next
episode.
bye.
bye.
sonic logo
Duncan (17:05):
The Property Edge podcast is produced by Land
Services S A.
Learnings from the show helpinform the ongoing development
of the Property Edge propertyresearch platform.
Visit www dot propertyedge dotapp to learn more.
And yes, well done if you pickedit, this is an ai voice.
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