The real estate industry has experienced a flurry of new concepts and advances in the past year with regards to incorporating real-time communication tools into their daily practices.
Cellphone applications such as WhatsApp are, therefore, fast becoming the primary communication tool for clients, says Richard Gray, chief executive of Harcourts Africa.
“We’re seeing an increased demand by clients to communicate with our agents and staff in real-time, which has resulted in a growing expectancy for instant feedback.”
Some agencies in the UK credit almost 80% of their deals to being finalised through WhatsApp and other social media communication platforms.
“The integration and feeding of saved contacts and social media connections to a singular mobile device has propelled client service into the spotlight, and the necessity for agents to be trained and educated on continuous feedback and prompt customer service.
“Many of our agents are now introducing WhatsApp marketing plans into their mandate strategies,” Gray says, adding that applications like this are very user-friendly when sending media such as videos, photographs, and embedded links to inquiring clients.
This makes them “perfect” for real estate communication.