Launched back in 2006 to real acclaim, web-based estate agency software company PropertyADD have been consistently impressive in their three year history to date. We caught up with their MD, web technology guru Martin Smith (right), to find out more.

Tell us a bit about the ethos behind PropertyADD
We knew when we started the company that we had to let the product do the talking. Our feeling was that much of the software in the industry had been built by estate agents rather than software experts – and that performance and usability often suffered because of that.

Right from the beginning, our philosophy was to combine our expertise in building web-based systems with the knowledge and experience of seasoned local estate agents. We didn’t have the marketing budgets of some of our more established rivals, but we had the ideas and the skills and we put our faith in that.

I think we understood that estate agents are not always IT whizzes. We took pains to make PropertyADD attractive and easy to use. We also knew that speed and reliability were critically important – and that we couldn’t ever stop innovating. PropertyADD is built on a unique software ‘engine’ that we have created in-house. It’s the key to our speed of development and how we can release meaningful new updates to the software every 6-8 weeks.







Even though the PropertyADD software is right up there with the big boys now, we still like to sell our friendly personality. Our customer base are independent businesses just like ourselves – and they appreciate the attention to detail that we show them.

What makes estate agents choose PropertyADD?
Choosing software is a big decision for estate agents. There are a number of products out there and, on first look, most seem to offer similar benefits – if not necessarily providing both sales and lettings functionality. I think our honest and open approach to business often helps us get our foot in the door and then it’s the product demo that seals the deal.

People feel immediately comfortable with the PropertyADD interface. We get a lot of positive feedback on how logical and quick it is to perform key day-to-day tasks such as booking valuations, producing property brochures and window cards, matching applicants, recording offers or sending out letters.

Aside from that, people are impressed by how configurable the system is, innovations such as our intelligent property performance indicators or how our Clever Website Technology can help them make the most of their agency website.


Is it still difficult to convince agents to invest in web-based software?
Not at all! I think most agents are pretty clued up on the benefits now. It makes a real difference that they can access their data anywhere and anytime, that they don’t need as much in-house IT expertise and that integrating multiple branches, updating the company website and maintaining data on the property portals are made so simple.

I mentioned in a white paper we produced recently for those setting up an estate agency that the old argument of online software being slower or less capable functionally hasn’t been true for near on a decade. The reality is that web technologies were specifically designed to solve the problems that users of desktop and client server software endured in the past. Thankfully, the likes of online banking, Google and smart phones are a natural part of everyday life now.

Tell us more about how PropertyADD can be customised
On top of all the usual configuration, such as letter and brochure formats, there are a huge number of ways that PropertyADD can be tailored to fit an agent’s needs and niche exactly. From the basics, such as the location hierarchy and type of property features that give an infinite level of control for applicant matching, to the types of task you can create in your diary – the majority of the drop down lists in the system can be edited to suit. There’s also a really high level of control that agent’s can apply to the marketing materials for each property, along with other tools such as a questioning module to help managers take control of the new customer process and date schedules that help staff manage each ongoing relationship.


Despite the extent to which the system can be configured, the learning curve is not steep at all – and we configure the system for clients as part of the setup process to ensure that they can operate at full speed from day one.

We have also recently released our estate agency franchise software which can be fully branded to deliver a franchise package with that extra feeling of quality. Of course, having an integrated system also allows franchisors to monitor franchisee performance – which helps solve an age-old problem.

What do your agency websites do differently?
A good percentage of estate agent websites fail to live up to their full potential as a vendor attraction tool at the moment. Take property listings for example. The first step is getting them on the site, whether that’s by forwarding visitors on to Rightmove, manually synchronising the website with your estate agency software or embedding a frame hosted by your software provider. However, none of these methods make the most of the opportunity that your website gives you.

Forwarding visitors to one of the property portals means that other portals, such as Globrix, Home.co.uk and Google Base aren’t able to send any traffic to you. Those visitors are a good source of potential vendors - both now and in the future.

If estate agents are manually uploading properties to their website, that’s either a lot of extra admin work whenever property details change, or a delay in reflecting the most up-to-date information.

The framed property listings used by some other estate agency software providers don't give you any SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) benefit. Google likes to see lots of relevant and regularly updated content on websites in order to rank them well in the search results, but can’t index anything hosted outside of your domain. If you don't rank well when people search for estate agents in your area, that’s another valuable source of vendor leads you're missing out on.

Our technology means that property information is hosted within the agent’s own domain and is automatically kept up-to-date. Add to that our online admin panel and company news or blog area and agents can really start to make the most of the opportunity to sell their local knowledge and personality to win instructions.

Contact details
The PropertyADD system is available from just £23 + VAT per month. To find out how you can put it to work for your estate agency, call 0845 388 2394, email contact@propertyadd.com  or visit www.propertyadd.com




  



                 

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