My guest in this episode is Anton Babkov from Rexlabs, one of the new generation real estate solution providers. Rexlabs has a series of products based around a truly mobile CRM that help agents stay connected with their clients, and maximise their relationships. Now, Anton is a bit of a boy genius. He used to code tech solutions when he was in high school for him mum, Lana, who worked in a real estate office with an agent called Damien Merchan, and he went on to a career in law. But fast forward 20 years, and Lana now runs the Rexlabs sales team, and Damien heads Spoke.io, which is the social solution that is part of Rex. In this interview we look at the importance of mobile solutions for agents, why agents should be automating back end office functions and in a major aha moment, outline the perfect digital marketing toolkit and strategy for real estate. Enjoy!!

01:48): The Rex elevator pitch.

(03:21): The importance of mobile as a differentiator for Rex and how Rex meets thechallenge of getting agents to use their CRM.

(07:20): AI versus automation(10:07): US versus the UK. Why Rex expanded to the UK first.

(14:27): Covid-19 and how the UK has been a ‘dark mirror’ to what could have happened in Australia.

(18:37): How Rex managed the Covid-19 crisis with their customers by teaching them more about the functionality they weren’t using.

(21:25): Anton reveals the pain points that Spoke helps agents deal with in digital advertising.

(24:57): How social media is now delivering the ‘passive audience’ once dominated by print.

(27:50): We discuss the benefit of landing pages versus your own website pages.

(31:04): Anton discusses the role of content in mid-funnel engagement and staying connected and building relationships with your database.

(32:35): The importance of plugging in to peoples curiosity when it comes to building relationships.

(37:46): Anton gives an overview of the Rex team.

(38:45): Anton and I start spitballing about what the ideal digital marketing setup would look like for agents.

(42:43): Anton discusses the next five years and how his views have changed over the past few months with Covid-19 and the resilience he’s seen in the industry.

(45:23): The next challenges for Rex, including a sneak peak on new products.