100% Agent Adoption with Inman’s 2014 Most Innovative Brokerage

dotloop

August 11, 2015 | comments

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Generations of Mobile, Alabama is a brokerage preparing themselves for the future. Chairman and CEO, Leighton Dees, started his brokerage in November of 2008. At the time he was 28 and decided to open an independently owned brokerage by the name of “Oracle Real Estate” with a partner, Joshua Tanner. They joined Better Homes and Gardens three years later and have been with them ever since.

Their brokerage has 75 agents, 3X their size of two years ago. They were just awarded 2014 Most Innovative Brokerage/Franchise by Inman News July/2014. It’s safe to say that the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate of Mobile, Alabama is taking the initiative to prepare for their future. Recently, Leighton decided to integrate dotloop into their brokerage and have seen tremendous results. We had the opportunity to ask Leighton Dees some questions regarding their recent integration with dotloop and the response was more than we could have expected.

Walk me through your real estate transaction process before using dotloop. How do your transactions differ today, with dotloop?

“Before integrating dotloop we had a paper-based front end of the transaction. Agents would do business as normal and upon getting the sale into pending status they would then scan the signed docs into our transaction coordinator as a single PDF file. As docs came in before closing, the same process occurred. As a brokerage, we kept all files in the cloud utilizing dropbox and a logistics process of files moving through stages inside that environment.”

Are there any specific company strategies/goals/challenges that your company faces that you needed to address?

“Some examples of how the dotloop system has helped with our company systems is definitely the reduction in use of paper and waste. There aren’t 5 different versions of the same doc anymore, reducing confusion and inefficiency.”

Documents hosted on dotloop are updated in real-time, making it much easier to have the most recent version available at any time. In doing so, the integrity of documents is preserved across all devices and computers.

Collectively, how much (on average) was spent yearly on those services? How does that compare to the cost of dotloop-DASHBOARD?

“I think the current cost is easily offset simply by the speed and convenience of accessing out of town buyers and sellers. We can get homes on the market faster because of the ease for customers to use it from their phones or computers.”

Mobility is one of the most beneficial features As Leighton explains above, homes can be put on the market faster with dotloop than ever before. Mobility can aid in the proliferation of business to other cities and states with ease. Since everything is hosted online, it’s not required to be in the same area code as a client. Agents can move clients through the transaction from virtually anywhere in the country.

GENLIFE.Discover the Formula from BHG Real Estate on Vimeo.

Why and when did you choose dotloop DASHBOARD for brokers and/or how does it differ from other technology tools that you’ve used in the past? Are there any increases in productivity, deals made, new clients, etc. that you would attribute to your adoption of dotloop? Have the number of completed real estate deals increased since adopting dotloop? If so, by what percentage and at what rate?

“We adopted dotloop in January of 2014 because of our trust in the leadership of the company, the relationships we had developed with dotloop from Inman Real Estate Connect over the past few years, and it just felt right. But I think our real gain will be using it to recruit the next generation of agent talent to our firm. That’s where I feel we will realize exponential return on the investment…”

We love hearing that Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate of Mobile, Alabama is using dotloop to help recruit new, young talent. It’s no secret that technology as an integral part of the younger generations’ lives. They’re comfortable using technology and rely it on a daily basis. We definitely agree with Leighton that by using a digitized transaction management system can help entice the next generation of agent talent as opposed to brokerages that still use the paper and fax model.

What do your agents think about using dotloop? What percent of agents in your agency are using dotloop?

“Agents love it. We have 100% adoption. We initially accomplished this by only giving access to the company docs through dotloop. After the agents realized how easy it was to use, they took off with it.”

Would you recommend dotloop to another broker? Why or why not?

“I definitely would recommend it. One main reason is because it isn’t an option anymore whether you need to offer this tech to clients… It’s a given.”

We couldn’t agree more. Technology is becoming such an essential part of the business culture that it’s detrimental neglecting to use it. The level of efficiency that technology integration can bring is virtually endless and the capacity for technology to grow is even greater.

Describe one way that dotloop has surprised you and/or what is the one thing you love most about dotloop?

“The phone app is totally next level. You guys really nailed it with the app. It was the missing piece in the system. When it launched, there were no longer ANY rubs in the system. Seamless flow…”

A transaction system should inherently be more than a flashy solution for clients. It should work, too. The mobile app does just that. Presents itself in a beautiful, cutting edge way, but still helps you get the job done efficiently. Not only do you wow your clients with cutting edge technology, but you wow them with performance and efficiency like they’ve never seen before.

What does peoplework mean to you?

“I feel it’s the most spot on description of the evolution in the business of sales and service. It’s apparent change is happening. It’s apparent technology didn’t replace everybody in the processes. It’s apparent the value in transactions is still rooted deeply in the relationship. It’s becoming more and more obvious those who get creative with technology to enhance on that will emerge as the leaders in this next wave of growth.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Change within the industry is most certainly happening and happening fast. The relationship between clients and agents is still essential for successful results, but with the use of technology it becomes easier to maintain and build upon those relationships. Everyday operations can run more smoothly with technology than with the traditional paper, fax, and filing system. Efficiency is increased making clients happier, which makes the relationship between clients and agents far more successful. It’s all about providing the tools necessary to get the job done in the most efficient way possible. dotloop can provide these tools to increase productivity and become more efficient. We provide a technology solution to help people work better, together. It’s how we operate in order to make your company a leader for tomorrow.