Last week, Domain launched an innovative new platform that solves the “off-market” dilemma – allowing agents to start marketing shortly after a sales authority is signed and all relevant documentation has been prepared.
Aptly named Early Access, the customer-centric early marketing solution triggers an alert to be sent to high-intent Domain buyers who have already registered interest in properties similar to your vendor’s home.
Domain Chief Executive Officer, Jason Pellegrino, says with Early Access agents can kick-start a property’s marketing campaign just 30 minutes after a vendor has digitally signed the sales authority via RealTime Agent, or uploaded it via Domain for Agents, and all relevant documentation has been completed.
“It demonstrates that the agent is instantly providing value directly to the vendor,” he says.
“The vendor knows that they’ve walked out of the room after signing the authority and the agent is immediately working on identifying quality buyers.”
The product has been designed to inspire vendor confidence and, in many cases, produces same-day buyer inquiries, along with feedback on price and market demand.
This means an agent can ‘phase-in’ a marketing campaign and begin generating inquiries before typical marketing such as photography or home styling and staging.
Jason says selling a property is a nerve-wracking process for most consumers and Early Access can ease some of the butterflies vendors may experience.
“I think it’s wrong to assume that the moment a vendor signs the authority and agrees to a marketing schedule that those nerves go away,” he says.
“They’re asking ‘have I made the right decision?’
“But if all of a sudden, after a day or two, I’m starting to get interest in my property … and I can see movement and intent, that’s a way of calming those nerves. It supports the vendor through that incredibly emotionally charged process.”
Early Access forms part of a new direction for Domain, steering away from being a classifieds business to focusing on solutions that deliver agents qualified buyers and genuine leads on potential vendors.
“This transition to the marketplace is stepping away from selling ads to delivering solutions,” Jason says.
“A large part of that solution is going to be helping agents and vendors find willing buyers.”
Jason says Domain also wants to be part of innovative change and leading the disruption in the industry, rather than scrambling to keep up and reacting to it.
But rather than fearing the likes of Facebook and Google’s forays into real estate, it’s the ‘two kids in a garage ready to disrupt the industry’ that keeps Jason awake at night.
He says Google and Facebook scale up using technology, but real estate disruption requires a sales force to grow, which the tech majors aren’t keen on implementing.
Tech giants are also focused more on a land grab in the shopping and commerce spaces.
“Is someone at Facebook or Google sitting there saying ‘real estate is in my top three’? Probably not,” Jason says.
“Real estate, for us, is not a question of whether it’s in the top three, it is one, two and three.
“That there actually is no off-market or on-market, it’s just a sales process and develop a solution that completely disrupts the entire industry.
“So that is why we’re going down this path, because we would want to be part of that disruption and be involved in that, rather than worrying about it.”
Jason says another clear benefit of using Early Access is that it caters to vendors who, for varying reasons, are looking for a more discreet way to sell.
“Early Access is really about understanding how we can use data to help and support an agent deliver real value to a vendor and do their job from the moment the authority is signed,” Jason says.
“You hit the first open home with a list of high potential buyers rather than building that up through the open home inspections.
“You’re hitting the first open with volume and with intent.”
Jason says Early Access doesn’t replace an agent’s connections, buyer network or database, but works alongside it to generate the best results for vendors.
“It doesn’t replace the activity that the agents or the agent’s systems, social media platforms, campaigns and use of their database and networks generate,” he says.
“That’s always going to be an incredibly important part of how an agent supports a vendor.
Domain Early Access is now available to agents of Domain in Victoria, NSW and Queensland.
