“10x Faster. 10x Easier”: How BHGRE Metro Brokers Transformed their Listing Process with Ocusell.
“Ocusell is 10x faster, 10x easier.”
–Michele Morales, Office Manager
With 2,000 agents spread across 27 different offices in Atlanta and North Georgia, BHGRE Metro Brokers is one of the largest brokerages in the state of Georgia. With approximately 80% of their listings appearing in two adjacent MLSs, they needed a way to streamline their listing process without sacrificing quality or creating extra work for their staff. As a tech-forward brokerage, Metro Brokers trialed several other options before deciding Ocusell was the choice that fit the needs of both their agents and office staff.
“Our agents love the platform. They’re able to get everything in there. They understand the value that they’re saving so much time. They love how they can invite different people into it and make changes on the fly. They love our ability to cater to them seven days a week.”–Tyler Brenner, Marketing Director.
Faster Listings = Happier Staff, Happier Clients
“True ownership over the listing entry process and database of listing data.”
After bringing Ocusell onboard, Metro Brokers was able to reduce their listing process down to less than 20 minutes for nearly all listings across all 27 offices. Since they use office administrators to ensure listings are accurate and free of violations before publishing, there had previously been too much time wasted on back and forth communication and delays due to evenings and weekends.
A few of the ways Ocusell facilitates listings include:
- Up to 60% of the Add/Edit form is automatically filled in from public data feeds
- Built-in rule validation means compliance errors are caught before being published
- Updates via a mobile device is a breeze
- Collaborators can be invited in to the listing to speed up changes and corrections
The added benefit of easy mobile access and the ability for admins to access a listing means any office admin can be invited into a listing, making it easy for night and weekend admin to give the all clear for publishing without having to wait for the daytime staff to be back on duty. Both Tyler and Michele cited multiple anecdotes of how a listing update or correction was made within minutes during off-hours, whereas before it would have been a 24-hour turnaround time. “It’s a brilliant process,” says Tyler.
Reduced Liability Risks
“Ocusell shakes out some of the bad actors.”
The pressure on brokerages to adhere to compliance rules has increased exponentially in recent years. Metro Brokers could see it needed a more robust way to monitor listings from a large staff across such an expansive geographic area. Ocusell provides a solution on several fronts and as Tyler shared, “We do feel it’s a responsibility of brokers at this point to start to adopt tools like this nationwide, so they can do the best thing for our industry and the consumer.”
Just some of the ways Ocusell prevents liability issues:
- Updates business rules as they are decided by the MLS, reducing reliance on communication to agents and brokers
- Cutting-edge technology can “read” both listing text and pictures to catch errors such as banned words, photo violations, and other restricted items.
- “Smart” form fields mean required information must be included before a listing can be published. For example if HOA fees are included, the listing must also include the payment frequency.
Recruitment & Training
“We use Ocusell as a recruitment tool.”
Metro Brokers has a longstanding, respected real estate academy which trains between 20-30 new licensees each month on how to have a successful career in the industry. A tech-first approach is a must for today’s young professionals, and a platform like Ocusell not only provides a solution they expect in today’s digital world it also significantly decreases the risk of ‘beginner errors’ that can end up costing a brokerage time and money. It has the added benefit of helping them win listings earlier in their career since it does so much of the heavy lifting for them.
“They can go in confidently and outperform a seasoned agent at a company that doesn’t have these types of tools or technology,” explains Tyler.
How Ocusell helps recruit, train, and retain agents:
- Ease of use appeals to younger generations of agents
- Less time spent on teaching manual processes frees up time to focus on sales training
- Agents and Office Admins don’t have to enter the listing twice for both MLSs, improving morale and efficiency
Being the Trusted Partner
“Our job is to ensure we get the client that new home in an ethical way.”
“When clients are making these decisions, they need to have a person they can trust. We train our agents to leverage everything at their disposal to show they’re a trustworthy individual,” says Tyler as he explains how they use Ocusell to build a trust-based relationship with clients. “We train our agents to be professionals, not just sales people. They should already know as much about that house as possible.”
How Ocusell enhances trust between agents and clients:
- Listings go on the market faster (in some cases the same day sellers have signed the contract)
- Very few errors, if any, make it onto the published listing
- Provide valuable insights about the seller’s property
- Show solid data and facts to back up the suggested asking price
- Having a digital form agents can go through with sellers shows the tech-first culture which many of today’s clients expect
Metro Brokers by the Numbers
- 2,000+ agents
- 27 offices in Atlanta and North Georgia
- 20-30 new licensees onboarded each month
- Office Admins need to approve all listings, even on nights and weekends
- Reduced time to publish listings to under 20 minutes in most cases by using Ocusell
- Reduced listing errors by 75% during initial Ocusell rollout and have maintained low error rates ever since
To download the full case study, click here.