Successful milestones: Digitalization offensive at VON POLL IMMOBILIEN

To lead the industry, companies need the smartest tools developed by the brightest minds in technology, design and strategy. VON POLL IMMOBILIEN's mission is to transform the way customers and agents navigate and experience the process of selling or buying real estate through a proprietary platform.

Challenges of digitalization in the real estate industry

Due to inflationary trends, a lack of investment opportunities and the uncertainties caused by the current global situation, owners are becoming increasingly reluctant to sell their own property - for real estate agents, this means that it is becoming more and more challenging to attract new sellers. In addition, buyers' needs have changed - not least due to the pandemic. These days, prospective buyers want to find out all they can about a property before viewing it. The provision of digital information is playing an increasingly important role, such as virtual viewings via 3D tours, drone footage or statistical details on the micro-location in interactive market reports.

Wolfram Gast, Chief Digital Officer at VON POLL IMMOBILIEN (Photo: von Poll Immobilien GmbH)

The pandemic has undoubtedly been a key driver for the digitalization of companies - across all sectors. Innovative technologies are being used to make the sales process as contactless as possible on the one hand and transparent, interactive and collaborative on the other. Nevertheless, when it comes to real estate brokerage - the biggest transaction in most people's lives - the focus is still on individual advice from a personal contact person on site. Even if the innovations mentioned above make it much easier to sell your own property, very few potential buyers in Germany buy a house or apartment without having seen it live beforehand. It is therefore important that the estate agent also provides professional support during on-site appointments. In addition, despite the detailed descriptions, figures and data evaluations, there are also further technical and legal questions from buyers and sellers that real estate experts can answer competently. Digital solutions are indispensable additions and support an efficient and transparent marketing process.

VON POLL IMMOBILIEN establishes the digital home

As an innovative and data-driven brokerage company, we are consistently and rapidly developing the digital transformation within the company and are increasingly expanding our own offering as a tech-enabled broker. With the solution-oriented mindset of a proptech, our many years of experience and creative innovation, we are playing a decisive role in shaping the future of the real estate industry. VON POLL IMMOBILIEN already offers an outstanding online real estate valuation that stands out in the market in terms of the range of services offered. In addition to an initial market price assessment, customers receive a wealth of additional information about the property and its location. Customers are also informed at regular intervals and fully automatically about market price changes for their own property and relevant information about the location.

An optimized digital infrastructure not only enables us to interact with customers in a flexible and contemporary manner, but also to lay the strategic foundation for the development of a modern real estate platform for buyers, owners, sellers and real estate agents that combines analogue and digital. This combination allows us to intelligently organize the search, purchase, development and sale of exclusive properties. VON POLL IMMOBILIEN relies on in-house developments and the use of 3rd party SAAS offerings, which are seamlessly integrated and interlinked into the company's own platform along the customer journey.

The digitalization strategy focuses on the following core aspects of the value chain: customer acquisition, customer conversion, broker productivity, efficiency and transparency. The focus is on the modern real estate platform with innovative technologies that already standardize and automate a large number of administrative processes. Starting with a very efficient and successful onboarding process for new agents through to support for the entire transaction process in the acquisition of owners, the valuation of properties, the marketing process and after-sales service.

We have already digitalized numerous processes along the entire value chain. Owners can carry out a comprehensive online property analysis themselves within two minutes using a digital valuation service. The final property valuation is also based on state-of-the-art technologies. Regional expertise and the legally prescribed valuation procedures are successfully combined with the help of data pools, algorithms and machine learning. The entire marketing process is supplemented digitally where it makes sense, such as in the virtual viewing room, online appointment management for viewings, digital document exchange, digital signatures and digital bid management.

Data is also an important topic. Along the acquisition and marketing phase, all usable customer data such as demographics, interests and behavioral patterns are used to create optimal customer experiences. We take a differentiated approach to new and existing customers. For new customers, our aim is to get the owner talking to the local estate agent as quickly as possible. This is because our local estate agents can provide an initial consultation in a completely different way than a central team due to their regional market expertise and thus build a deeper bond with the customer. New customers are automated by a central pre-sales service in a first step and then personally pre-qualified in a second step and sent to the right local contact person with comprehensive information about the property and the owner. The regional real estate expert can thus optimally prepare for the initial meeting and maintain the highest quality of advice.

We use a dynamic lead scoring model to keep a constant eye on our existing customers centrally. This means that they are discreetly provided with needs-based information at the right time. At the same time, we keep our regional brokers on site up to date on customer behavior and the lead's degree of maturity - i.e. when the customer is ready to sell. Through the optimal interaction between the central Customer Success Team and regional support, we ensure relevance and proximity to the customer - an important success factor for strengthening trust with the customer and at the same time securing decisive efficiency advantages.

All in all, an integrated customer journey supports the success of marketing and sales organizations, helps to achieve better business results, higher customer satisfaction and a greater willingness to recommend customers, which in turn means reduced customer churn. Other success factors include cross-channel campaign management and fast response times. With optimal interaction between the central customer success team and local real estate experts, we will significantly increase the quality of service in end customer contact, create sustainable customer experiences and contribute to higher closing rates in sales.

Outlook

From eSigning, virtual reality and artificial intelligence to the Internet of Things and metaverse - these are topics that will drive digital change and transform the industry. The USA, the UK and the Scandinavian regions are leading the way in many areas. We are currently focusing our digitalization efforts on topics that will make the brokerage process much simpler and more successful for our customers and make brokers more effective. The target vision at VON POLL IMMOBILIEN is to create a central Customer Success Team focused on pre-sales services and marketing automation, which will implement all tasks outside the broker's core area of activity - advising and supporting customers on site. The Customer Success Team also acts as an interface between marketing and sales. Based on data insights, it supports marketing in optimizing campaigns to acquire new customers, while brokers are supported locally by automated processes for qualifying and retaining existing customers.

By using digital tools, customers experience the brokerage process more easily and transparently and can actively or passively accompany the various marketing phases. In addition, relieving brokers of administrative tasks through digital tools leads to more time for the essentials, i.e. more time for comprehensive, high-quality customer advice.