The new real estate scenario is complex. Proptech companies are intermingled with all the traditional real estate professionals. Many times they need each other. Customer and service provider in business to business.

This is not the first post we write about this topic. If you are a proptech and want to know how to reach a real estate professional to present your services and make the real estate processes more effective, we recommend you to visit this post: http://www.mapaproptech.com/como-se-comunican-las-empresas-proptech-y-los-profesionales-inmobiliarios/ 

The real estate professionals’ resistance to technology and its application in the sector has often been discussed, and although from mapaproptech.com we always try to show the benefits of proptech and how it intervenes in each of the real estate processes, this time we have taken the time to analyze why some real estate professionals find it so difficult.

Although the vast majority of real estate agents believe that technology will increase their productivity, the change resistance is often related to a lack of understanding of new technologies and a lack of clarity about the benefits and the implementation. Let’s look a little more deeply at what these causes are:

  • Time investment in research and technology implementation: Studying the ecosystem of proptech companies that can help a real estate agent is an arduous process that takes much time and effort. In addition to finding the right startup, it is necessary to implement the technology afterward and devote time and resources. Many times, this pulls back the real estate professionals. To make it as easy as possible, it is necessary to inform those who adopt new technologies about how this transformation process will be, the time it will take, and the resources they will have to employ. In this way, companies can prepare in advance, making this process as easy as possible for their organizations.
  • Lack of knowledge: Proptech companies speak a technological language, far from the traditional real estate language. This can create insecurities in real estate agents, who will prefer not to take risks with proptech partners who do not fully understand. Proptech companies need to know their market very well and communicate effectively, leaving the more technical words within their IT department. 
  • There is a lack of clarity in the benefits that proptech brings to real estate agents: When we talk to proptech companies that come to present their services, there is a common mistake. They all talk about the technology they use, how much it has cost them to develop it, or how they will improve it, but rarely do proptech companies focus their communication strategy on the benefits, cost savings, and efficiencies their service brings to the real estate agency processes. It is essential to show proptech services with a plan developed for a period of time, with the benefits and savings. A specific strategy for your real estate client.
  • ROI: The lack of the client strategy that we saw in the previous point makes professionals not see clearly the return of their investment, so it costs them much more to take the digitalization decision.
  • Lack of compatibility with a technology they already have: We are animals of habit. If I use a CRM and my whole organization is used to it, it will be much easier to adopt technologies compatible with my CRM. The CRM is just one example. The less real estate companies have to change, the better, the change of culture within the company should be smooth, and it helps a lot that the systems are compatible with each other to avoid repetitions and facilitate learning. 
  • Too many options: You only have to look at our proptech map to realize that some of the categories are full of companies, for example, portals or virtual reality tools. Moreover, prices between companies that provide similar solutions can be very different. Professionals do not know which solution to choose to meet their needs. Proptech companies must seek to have a differentiated market positioning, have a good brand strategy, different from competitors, and present themselves as a unique solution in the proptech market, having previously identified whom their potential customers are and having a clear message for them.
  • Fear of change and experience of failure: Real estate professionals may also be afraid to start the company’s digital change by adopting proptech technologies and then not having the team’s support. They may also have previously tried to make a change and failed. For this reason, proptech must accompany the organization throughout the process, not only in the sale of the product or service. In this way, the solution will be integrated and generate fewer doubts in its use, making it more friendly for the team and making it easier to understand future updates.
  • Lack of digital leadership by the company’s management: The opposite could also occur if the team is very predisposed to change, but there is no digital leadership on the management part. In these cases, reaching the real estate company is more complex on the part of the proptechs who must clarify the benefits and the ROI of their product or service.

Many of these resistances have been overcome in recent years; hence our proptech ecosystem continues growing. Understanding our partners better means we have more growth potential. And if we still have doubts about integrating technology and the real estate sector, we will always have mapaproptech.com! 

Sheila Gracia

Services Director at API Catalonia