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Forget having to implement remote work procedures in response to the current pandemic, this real estate company has been doing it from the very beginning.
Real Estate Business recently spoke with Adam Rigby, the CEO and founder of Upside, a real estate company that operates by way of a remote workforce.
“From the start, we believed that real estate is moving in a direction that negates the need for a brick-and-mortar office for agents to work out of, especially as agents spend most of their day meeting with clients,” Mr Rigby explained.
“Given that Upside is a full-service national real estate company, with a workforce that has operated remotely from day one, we are one of the better-placed agencies to respond to the current crisis.
“We have no need for our agents to commute to an office every day when they can carry out the majority of their processes using our custom software NurtureCloud — an end-to-end enterprise platform that combines the functions of CRM, market automation, transactional and lead generation tools into one.”
With health concerns obviously top of mind, Mr Rigby said the uncharted nature of the COVID-19 situation is still unprecedented for his business, with the founder highlighting how “the health and safety of our agents, in addition to our clients, is of utmost importance to us”.
He said Upside has been closely monitoring the situation and updating its approach to help support its workforce.
“Our local agents already work from home and only travel to appraisal appointments, to meet with their clients and to manage open homes or auctions,” he said.
In addition, the real estate company is now providing the option for buyers and sellers to communicate virtually with their Upside agents over digital devices for any real estate services they require.
For Upside real estate agent Gee Adams, the move to a remote workspace has been a productive one.
A boost to her efficiency has been credited with not having to compete for use of a marketing assistant or designated sales support.
Despite widespread closures and restrictions now severely impacting the way businesses can be run, Ms Adams isn’t fazed, exclaiming it’ll be “easy” to keep business ticking over.
“We can literally do virtual inspections/appraisals, negotiations over the phone and exchange contracts and documents via DocuSign,” she explained.
And so with the majority of real estate services able to be accessed and carried out online, the CEO expressed the belief that “it could be a wake-up call to traditional agencies starting to think about how they are positioned to respond in a way that won’t impact upon the services they provide for their clients”.
But it can’t happen immediately, with Mr Rigby conceding that it would require training and changing some facets of work culture “to efficiently carry out change industry-wide”.
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