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Ex-CEO of LJ Hooker Grant Harrod says that LocalAgentFinder operates a clear and consistent "pay-on-success" model. Mr Harrod is the new non-executive director of the agent comparison site.
Mr Harrod has joined the board of LocalAgentFinder as a non-executive director, and REB asked him to respond to criticism leveled at this, and other similar platforms, for taking too much and offering too little.
“There is no subscription or per-lead fee [at LocalAgentFinder],” Mr Harrod told REB.
“Agents only pay when they successfully transact the property of a vendor who was introduced to them through our platform.
“We charge agents enrolled on our platform 0.375 per cent of the total sales value of a property sale. This equates to between 15 per cent and 20 per cent of an agent’s commission, which is less than many traditional referral arrangements in the industry.”
Responding to an earlier REB story Agent comparison site sees impressive jump in sign-on numbers, REINSW president John Cunningham commented that these services provide “little or no" value to the consumer and that they feed off fearmongering and dubious statements.
“This is not real estate business; it is simply a manipulation of the uneducated consumer and is vulture-like behaviour,” Mr Cunningham wrote.
But Mr Harrod said that the feedback from agents who use LocalAgentFinder’s leads say that the leads are valuable in providing a more efficient way of getting new business.
“They [agents] spend less time and money on traditional prospecting and more time focused on selling, which has a positive impact on their overall margin,” said Mr Harrod.
This view is supported by another of the REB commentators, this time an agent called Scott.
“I signed up to LocalAgentFinder as an agent and I'm well on the way to selling more than 100 properties from these leads,” wrote Scott.
On the issue of fees, Scott felt that paying them is “unavoidable” in today’s commercial environment.
“I think the fee is worthwhile paying because the leads continue to fill my inbox from sellers who wouldn't have considered me without using the site,” said Scott.
Less complimentary
However, another commentator to the story, Roger, is less complimentary of LocalAgentFinder.
“Total waste of space and time and effort,” wrote Roger.
“Stale leads, leads already listed, leads that were not leads at all, the people had just pushed a button. After dealing with them for six months, I had not had one listing but had wasted my time with over thirty [so-called] leads.”
Mr Harrod said that Scott and Roger are two of more than 5,000 agents nationally who engage with the LocalAgentFinder platform; the said number includes 1,253 new agents, from large networks to small independents, since the start of 2017.
“These agents understand that the way vendors are searching for and selecting an agent in a digital world is evolving,” said Mr Harrod.
“They appreciate that vendors are already comparing many everyday products and services in a digital environment and that there’s an increasing expectation to be able to do the same to choose the person who’ll represent the transaction which is likely to be the largest they’ll make in an eight to 10-year period.”
Mr Harrod said that his primary focus at LocalAgentFinder is to provide a balanced and constructive viewpoint on all board-related matters.
"Unquestionably, the strength of my relationships across the real estate industry in Australia will also be invaluable to LocalAgentFinder as it continues on its growth trajectory,” he said.
The chairman of LocalAgentFinder, Pat O'Sullivan, welcomed Mr Harrod’s appointment.
“It’s a wonderful vote of confidence into the LocalAgentFinder business model to have a person with such a deep understanding of real estate, consumer behaviour and data-driven marketing join the board of LocalAgentFinder,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
“While LocalAgentFinder continues to experience strong growth in terms of agent registrations and visitors using the platform, Grant will be able to provide invaluable insights into both these audiences that will inform the business’ thinking and targeting strategies moving forward.”
During his tenure as the CEO of LJ Hooker between 2014 and 2017, Mr Harrod was instrumental in repositioning the group and overseeing a substantial earnings growth.
Mr Harrod is the current CEO of Pro-Pac Group, and from 2008–2013 built Salmat into the country’s leading multi-channel communication services company.
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