A Spotlight on Digital, Contactless Homebuying Initiatives

The use of digital platforms has been the new normal today, as businesses cope with the coronavirus crisis. In the real estate industry, brokers have amped up their lead generation efforts through the use of online property marketplaces and jumped into video conferencing tools to keep in touch with team members. Meanwhile, property developers have been innovating as well.

Some have introduced contactless home buying initiatives, as touched upon in the third installment of the Lamudi developer webinar series.

In the fourth episode, Deborah Ong, Lamudi’s Head of Corporate Accounts, talked to David Rafael, AboitizLand, Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer, who’s at the forefront of assisting property seekers during this pandemic. Here are some of the highlights in the webinar:

The Challenge That Gave Rise to Digital

Coming from huge property development companies, Rafael faced an important task when he joined AboitizLand in 2019. That is, how to market and sell real estate projects in the most cost-efficient way.

He shared that AboitizLand didn’t have enormous resources for sales and marketing initiatives, like that of the big industry players, considering that the company also has a comparatively smaller inventory of projects. With big open houses and glamorous events out of the picture, he turned to digital initiatives. Given this, their online strategies were already in place even prior to the pandemic hitting businesses.

“Fortunately, for Aboitiz, they do have a dedicated digital group that has the expertise that we were able to tap. We worked very closely with them. We strategized, coming up with how we’re going to execute this whole digital strategy,” he said.

“We did it not because we anticipated COVID, no. It’s really more out of necessity,” he added. By the time the health crisis happened, they were already relatively secure.

The Transition from Traditional to Digital

It wasn’t a particularly smooth journey introducing digital as a key strategy in the company’s operations, Rafael shared. A lot of what the sellers and marketers did back then was still traditional: face-to-face meetings, trippings, open houses. Digital was new to the team.

“Convincing them to adopt the strategy was not difficult because they realized what we’re up against. The hard part really was teaching them the process and techniques,” he noted.

He added, “Getting them to learn the technology and make it as easy as possible, as part of the natural process, proved to be challenging.”

For one, he admitted that it’s difficult for more seasoned sellers to break away from old habits, especially if most of them have been successful for the longest time. In this context, it’s really hard to change and accept a different strategy, he noted.

While it seemed like they’ve already “made it” in terms of proficiency in digital strategies, Rafael recognized that there’s a lot more to be done. He was also candid in saying that they’re only at 50-60 percent of the sales from pre-pandemic lockdown, with solely digital strategies rolled out. Of course, the market’s sentiments had to be factored in here, with many facing loss of jobs and feeling uncertain about the future.

Nonetheless, he recognized the positive impact of going digital. “Because of our early preparation, early investment with this digital, contactless selling, we weren’t caught unprepared,” he said.

A Property Seeker’s Digital Journey

Outlining the buyer’s journey on a digital platform, Rafael walked through AboitizLand’s contactless home buying solutions campaign called #BetterAtHome. He identified three stages, which is similar to traditional selling:

Prospecting. This involves qualifying leads. Here, Rafael advised getting as many qualified buyers as possible to solidify the pipeline of prospects.

Selling. This involves the buyers knowing more about the product, its details, location, amenities, price, and payment schemes. Rafael shared that all of these are available on their online platform. His team has been doing this by giving property seekers an opportunity to view virtual tours and materials on their website and Facebook pages, as well as request an actual video of the unit. Interested buyers can likewise book a meeting with a real agent from the channel itself, should they have more questions. They can easily do this by shooting a message to the company’s Facebook page or email address.

Closing. This involves buyers filling up forms and settling payments on the platform. The reservation agreement is online and can be signed with the e-signature feature. Meanwhile, payments, the reservation and monthly amortizations, can be done through their official website or bank apps where AboitizLand is registered as a biller. Rafael noted, however, that while these online channels are very useful, some home buyers still prefer the traditional way. “There will be some that will never adapt to this new technology, and that’s okay. We’ll still be ready for that,” he said. He floated the idea of phygital, the mix of physical and digital.

The key to establishing trust with property seekers in a virtual setting is the property developer’s track record, Rafael shared. It helps in reassuring clients that they’re doing business with a legitimate organization. “Fortunately, AboitizLand is coming from a reputable brand name that was built through years and years. We’re riding on that reputation.”

He added that the real estate project itself makes a strong case for prospective buyers to push through with the transaction. Virtual tours help in this. “With the virtual tour, you really get to see the product, as is, even at its current state of development,” Rafael shared.

Sellers likewise play a huge role in establishing trust. Rafael noted, “We train our sellers. We ingrain in them, first of all, product knowledge, that they really know what they’re talking about, and then in terms of salesmanship, how they talk, how they present themselves.”

An Agile Response to COVID

“Agility” is how Rafael would describe AboitizLand’s response to the current crisis. “I don’t think anybody foresaw this pandemic, how deep its impact is. If you weren’t agile, if you weren’t ready to change and adapt immediately, you’re going to have a hard time. I’m fortunate that we’re a bit there. I think there was a real willingness over-all in our sales force,” he said.

He added, “Hopefully, we reach 99 percent. We’re not going to ease up on our digital strategy once this whole lockdown is over. We’re still going to invest. I feel we barely scratched the surface. There’s so many other things we can do digitally, in terms of CRM, measuring the productivity of salespeople. There’s still a lot more. We’re committed to investing even more in all things digital.”

Priorities Moving Forward

With the announcement of relaxed measures on community quarantine starting this May, Rafael said the safety of their people will be at the top of their priority list going back to work. “We’re setting up very strict protocols and steps, who can go back, what it would take for you to go back, what tests you need to do before you can actually go back. All of that has to be clearly defined,” he said.

Going digital has been the new normal for many real estate businesses coping with the coronavirus crisis. AboitizLand’s contactless initiatives are a testament that the entire buyer journey can happen on online platforms. With that, digital indeed is the way to go.