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Published November 13th, 2018 via RISMedia. By Zoe Eisenberg.

HOW EBBY HALLIDAY REAL ESTATE INC. IS SECURING NEW LISTINGS USING REAL-TIME BUYER DATA FROM BUYSIDE

In today’s digital age, information is available at our fingertips more than ever before, and the real estate industry is no exception. A sea of big data and predictive analytics tools can now tell us who might be looking to move; however, very few actually use data to get in front of consumers and tell a compelling story that wins their business. This is exactly where Buyside, a data-driven marketing solution, comes in. Buyside leverages buyer data from a multitude of sources, helping large brokerage firms tell a relevant and compelling story to prospective sellers—a story that’s helping firms like Ebby Halliday Real Estate Inc. (No. 11 in sales volume in RISMedia’s 2018 Power Broker Report) take their listing acquisition strategy to the next level.

Randall Graham, vice president and director of Marketing with Ebby Halliday Real Estate Inc., launched Buyside company-wide this summer, and so far, the results have been extremely positive.

“Our agents are excited that we’ve found a way to aggregate a large amount of data from various sources, previously evaluated independently of one another,” says Graham. Now, agents can look at a comprehensive picture of the buyer demand relative to a specific home and present this information to prospective sellers. 

Armed with real-time buyer data, Buyside has impacted the way Graham’s team gets in front of—and connects with—potential clients. An essential component for making this happen, according to Graham, is the Home Valuation Site powered by Buyside. “It’s easy to navigate and provides multiple opportunities for homeowners and prospective sellers to contact our agents about the information they see when they look up their home,” says Graham. “Many of our agents who have run digital ads promoting their Home Valuation Sites have acquired listing appointments and, in some cases, won the listing.” 

Prior to the Buyside launch, most of the lead-generation tools utilized by Graham’s team were focused on buyers— but through Buyside’s Home Valuation Site, Graham’s team now has access to strong seller lead generation, as well. In fact, after just 60 days on the platform, Ebby Halliday agents have had over 1,743 home valuation inquiries on their individual Home Valuation Sites—including over 282 seller leads who provided their contact information. 

When it comes to converting those leads, Buyside makes it easier for agents to secure the listing. “The Buyer Market Analysis tool from Buyside has helped our agents stand out from our competition in their listing presentations,” says Graham. The simple, branded report offers powerful visualizations of buyer demand and showcases to homeowners a list of active buyers who are looking for a home just like theirs. Ebby Halliday agents have now generated over 416 Buyer Market Analysis reports for use in their listing presentations—contributing to over 134 new signed listings. 

“Prospective sellers can find a lot of information about their own property and real estate market conditions for their area online,” says Graham. “However, the answer that isn’t so readily found is how many buyers are out there looking for a property like theirs. With Buyside, our agents have the ability to quickly and easily provide the prospective seller with real-time buyer data, providing them an additional competitive advantage they may need to secure the listing.” 

When it came to integrating these tools into his company’s arsenal, Graham had major support from Buyside. A training team from Buyside came on-site for a three-day rollout event, with sessions specifically targeting Graham’s branch managers and staff, and additional sessions for agents. 

“We had over 550 attendees across all sessions,” says Graham. “After the initial rollout, three live webinars were hosted by Buyside trainers.” Graham’s team also added Buyside training into their standard two-week new-agent training curriculum, and incorporate Buyside training tips into their weekly emails. 

While still relatively new to the platform, the bottom line, according to Graham, is that Buyside’s tools have helped his team take their listing acquisition efforts to the next level. And if the initial results are any indication, Ebby Halliday’s investment in Buyside is going to pay dividends well into the future.