This is an ongoing series of articles that cover the topics and insights shared during the three-day Real Conf 2021 hosted by Adfenix. The following article summarizes the keynote session with Carl-Johan Troedsson on Day 2 Session 3 of the conference.
Carl-Johan Troedsson is the Global Head of Marketing at Blok and oversees the company’s long-term marketing goals. During his session at Real Conf, Carl-Johan shares insights on what modern homeowners expect from agencies in the future.
The world is in the throes of a technical revolution, with the advancement of cellphones and computers being extensions of ourselves, yet still with the limitation of the slow interface of text and speech. This incredible surge of exponential technological developments is exemplified in Moore’s Law, coined by Intel Co-Founder, Gordon Moore, where it was observed that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubled consistently, approximately every 18 months since the early 70s. This observation still holds true today. Carl-Johan suggests that we are also on the cusp of another general purpose technology surge in AI, with China and the States vying to take the lead. Technology redefines the way we work and live; artificial intelligence for example, has obviously created huge shifts in almost all industries.
In 2017, the Economist stated that the world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data, and we see this evidenced across industry after industry as notable incumbents and new players continue to redefine the way things are done, (Uber, Tesla, Google, and Tinder, to name a few).
Why this shift has been on the customer’s terms -
These developments have, to a great extent, occurred on the terms of customers - changing customer habits and wants that have led business players to delve into better products and services. But Carl-Johan poses two questions:
- What happens when trends like these meet the traditional agency business, famous for asymmetric information and transaction costs?
- And more importantly, what will the modern home owner expect from agencies going forward?
He answers these important questions by offering 4 key elements using examples from Blok’s unique services.
- Transparency
Carl-Johan shares that at Blok, transparency comes in different forms. For example, offering customers the use of evaluation algorithms, which enable them to see the value of their home based on statistics in less than 2 minutes. In 2017, almost 500,000 digital evaluations were performed by the company. This kind of independent estimate is the type of data that equips customers to make better informed decisions as they’re buying or selling a home.
- Availability
Blok sees availability as a key element that will become even more important for customers going forward, and is a driving force for why they build dashboards for both buyers and sellers, in order to facilitate communication through the customer journey.
- Flexibility
Blok considers flexibility to be another important element when it comes to modern home owner expectations in the future, and gives customers diverse 3D showings that can give home views before or after physical showings, as well as provide ways to take measurements when considering refurbishments to a new home.
- Smooth processing
Importantly, the modern homeowner will increasingly expect agencies to be well-oiled machines, to be above average and excel in all their processes. To this end, marketing automation will continue to have an integral role to play.
Expect the Unexpected
The modern homeowner will also come to expect the unexpected. To quote Steve Jobs, “A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them”. Blok managed to do this by imagining a novel product where customers can search for and buy their dream home without having to constantly refresh housing platform sites or become enmeshed with online bidding wars. Today, Blok has become a clear market leader in both Finland and Sweden, with consistent organic growth and traction that stems from innovative and revolutionary thinking of how people can buy their home.
Agencies who embrace uncertainty and focus on real customer value will find that solutions will fall into place. It seems plain to see that there are seismic shifts ahead in the industry, but Carl-Johan believes that they will be very much customer-led, as many things around us today are, (you can order a taxi with one click etc). While it’s a promising time for the industry, it’s an even more compelling and exciting time for customers today.
To sum up:
- The world has been, and still is, in a technical revolution - data is now the world’s most valuable resource and incumbents and new players alike are learning to redefine the way business is done.
- These seismic shifts will be customer-led and on the customer’s terms.
- Four key elements that modern homeowners expect from agencies: Transparency, Availability, Flexibility & Smooth processes
- Agencies that do well are agencies that embrace uncertainty and focus on real customer value, customers who will increasingly come to ‘expect the unexpected’.
About Real Conf.
Real Conf 2021 is a three-day virtual event exploring ways that agencies and brokerages can leverage the power of digital to increase business opportunities, elevate the brand, and empower agents to deliver success. The conference features hundreds of invaluable insight from keynote speakers, panel discussions and case studies from experts in the field.
All 15 sessions with 25 speakers are now available to stream on-demand.
Gain full access to the stream and watch the sessions in their entirety by signing up here: https://www.adfenix.com/real-conf
