My guest in this episode is Zoe Pointon, CEO of OpenAgent. OpenAgent began eight years ago selling leads to agents on a transaction by transaction basis and taking a clip of the commission. But now they've grown and matured to become a sophisticated big data business that is partnering with select agencies to manage lead qualification, to give both agents and consumers a better real estate experience. And they've also pivoted their charging model. They're a great example of a PropTech business that has started out with a revolutionary idea, successfully scaled, grown, and now pivoted. Moving from being an industry outsider to a trusted data partner that can help agents grow their business, save time, and deliver better services to consumers.

01:31  The OpenAgent elevator pitch – for both property sellers, and real estate agents and how the company started.

02:58  OpenAgent today – eight years since they started. 03:55  Why does the industry need an independent lead generator? How OpenAgent helps consumers.

05:01  Does OpenAgent exist because agents do a terrible job of establishing trust with sellers?

06:45  OpenAgent’s evolution to becoming a pre-sales outsource business and the steps OpenAgent goes through to qualify a lead.

11:18  Why would consumers go to OpenAgent rather than an agent website? Zoe talks about how having a shopfront is no longer enough.

12:05  OpenAgent’s role in establishing benchmarks of what great service looks like – and how they share that with future property sellers and how they use digital marketing to drive leads.

14:06  How agents should ‘service stack’ to deliver the best services through outsourcing.

15:23  Zoe outlines the trends driving lead generation.

16:41  Realestate.com.au is moving into lead gen. Zoe shares her views on their move.

19:01  How – and why – OpenAgent are changing their charging model and how its changing their business.

22:52  Zoe talks about the new Behaviours of Real Estate Agents report that looks at the data behind how agents convert the most leads.

24:48  Zoe gives her predictions about where the real estate industry will be in five years time.

26:50  Zoe predicts that the technology is going to allow agents to double or triple the volume of transactions you can do in 5 years.

29:48  Zoe runs through the volume of leads they see through their system, and how they qualify them. You’ll be impressed with these numbers.

32:15  Zoe gives some advice on how to get the most out of your lead generation partner.

34:37  The future for OpenAgent including some exciting developments on their roadmap to watch out for.