How data can put your branch ahead of the competition

We know that competitiveness for instructions is always high, and many branches have turned to data to boost their advantage in the marketplace. Teams backed by robust tech and data insights are seeing success, thanks to having a better understanding of their clients, local area and by being able to offer a slicker transaction experience through digitalised processes.

Our iamproperty CRM does exactly this, with our Partner Agents already celebrating success from the support of the flexible cloud-based solution. To find out more about our CRM, join us at our online event on Thursday 3rd July.

In the meantime, to support the many agents across the UK that are still working without the help of data-driven insights, we turned to the ultra-competitive world of Formula 1 (F1) to explain how tech, data and automation can accelerate the success of a business.

Learning from F1’s data journey

For decades, F1 teams relied entirely on the high skill of their drivers, engineers and mechanics to get ahead of the competition. In more recent years however, the racetrack has been revolutionised by tech and algorithms, as data has stepped up to work alongside the drivers and engineers putting cars on the track. To find out how this digital transformation brought F1 into a new era of competitiveness, we spoke to Neil Martin, former Head of Strategy for Ferrari F1, Head of Strategic Operations for Red Bull, and Team Leader for McLaren, about using data to optimise team performance and results.

Neil is a pioneer in the use of data analytics in F1 motor racing and has spent the last 25 years developing world-class solutions as a member of the senior technical leadership teams at McLaren, Red Bull Racing and Ferrari. Software designed and developed by Neil is used by over half of the F1 grid today. Neil is an expert in managing risk, optimising performance and decision-making using the power of data.

In our recent online event, Neil advised Estate Agents on the importance of getting accurate information quickly, the benefits and speed that come with efficiency and the advantage of having a single view to help make the complex simple and ensure informed decision-making. Here, we explore some of the insights shared by Neil to help enable Estate Agents to get ahead of their competition in the analytics race.

The need for data speed

F1 has seen a boom in popularity, becoming a major sporting and marketing juggernaut. Historically, the team with the highest budget had an edge over the rest of the grid, but since budget caps of $140 million a year came into force, teams have had to find new ways to get ahead of the competition. Now, data is each team’s greatest weapon.

F1 started using data to improve performance in the late 80s, by attaching a black box data logger on cars to record basic data channels such as speed, gear and force. These black boxes only held around 10mb of data but signified important first steps into digital transformation.

Today, when the car is running on track it constantly sends data wirelessly back to the garage in real time and from there, within milliseconds, it’s bounced back to the factory HQ where around 40-50 people are monitoring the cars’ health and performance.

Having accurate data travelling around your business at speed means that everyone in your team is working with the same information. This single point of truth ensures your team has the knowledge it needs to make informed and cohesive decisions with confidence. At iamproperty we have seen branches improve efficiencies by using tech to give them this single point of truth. Our CRM does this by offering a single view for a branch, collecting and processing data on clients and transactions, enabling automated processes to run quickly in the background of your teams’ day-to-day. The automated workflows take care of the basics with ease and make complex tasks quicker and easier.

Digital twins to accelerate success

Businesses can create efficiencies by introducing digital twins into daily operations. In the property industry, our CRM system helps branches run operations more efficiently, including sending out updates to clients, automating reminders, and managing the lettings compliance process. These time-consuming tasks take away from agents’ working weeks – time that could be spent speaking to clients and securing new listings.

In F1, the driver simulator is a digital twin of the racing car that has allowed teams to become much more time and cost efficient. In the past, F1 teams would spend enormous amounts of resources designing and making car components before taking them out on to the track to test over the course of several days with 100+ support crew. Now, thanks to simulators that behave in the same way as real cars, teams can make, if you like ‘virtual components’ and have drivers come into the factory to ‘drive’ the simulator. This allows them to check if all the new components work before putting people into a real car – a process that is better for safety, the environment and cost efficiency.

With the power of modern technology, businesses can trust digital twins to perform at the same level as their teams when it comes to tasks that don’t require people at the heart, often at a faster pace than would ever be possible by people. Any Estate Agency with a time-poor team can benefit from the support of a digital twin platform such as a CRM. With tech-enabled onboarding, branches can seamlessly introduce these platforms into their businesses to quickly benefit from process automation.

Data is the new currency

Businesses today are in an analytics race, and those who embrace it now will put themselves on a winning trajectory. Neil explains how the strategies he uses in his role in software development and data analytics can be applied to any business.

The world of F1 demonstrates how digital transformation can take industries into a whole new level of performance. For years the property sector has been calling out for reform, and now technology is catching up with our goals as an industry to help us transform the transaction experience for everyone.

Your questions, answered by Neil Martin

Some questions that were asked during the online event, which could support your branch.

“My branch is a one-person team – is it still important for me to use data?”

All businesses must start somewhere with digital transformation, even if you are just a one-person team. If you are time-poor and need some additional support, then automation-driven platforms are ideal for picking up the hard work of processing and gathering data. With these data insights, you will have more information to back up your decision making as a business leader, and in turn unlock efficiency gains.

“I know my business so well – how can I trust automation to perform important tasks?”

If you run your own business, you will be naturally protective of what you have built, so a good way to build trust in automation-driven platforms is to start using them gradually. Try to ringfence a portion of your team or business, and introduce the use of platforms, like a CRM, to work towards a specific goal in a small area. An example for Estate Agents might be using automation to send out viewing reminder emails, setting a goal to decrease no-shows to 5%. Once you have seen success in that small area, you can use these results as evidence that digital transformation can improve the efficiency of your business. It’s also important to view data from your platform as an additional tool to support your operations and decision-making – you still make the decisions for your business, tech and data just give you more information and clarity to work with allowing you to make better decisions.

“How can I, as the leader of my team, get my staff on board with using tech to reach our common goal?”

This comes back to the basics of running a high performing team – psychological safety is key for empowering your team to make decisions. All team members should have the confidence and safety to speak honestly and try new ways of working. Team leaders must put the company first by designing processes within the organisation to support the common goal of the team. Building psychological safety within your team fosters open communication, trust and inclusivity, enabling team members to take risks and learn from mistakes without fear. This kind of environment promotes innovation, enhances problem solving and improves overall team performance.

Getting ahead of the competition with iamproperty CRM

At iamproperty, we work with over 6,000 Estate Agency branches across the UK to support them in bringing digital transformation into their businesses to enhance their offering to clients. iamproperty CRM is our cloud-based, automation-driven platform designed to make your life easier, giving you all the tools you need to accelerate your success. It grows with your business, giving you everything you need to run your agency with ease today and into the future. All of your team will benefit from our intuitive and flexible solution, across Sales, Lettings, Property Management and Accounts.

Our CRM streamlines even the most difficult and time-consuming activities whilst transforming the digital experience for your clients, with a wide range of useful features and over 1,800 tried and tested CRM automations and workflows.