4 Ways Agently Digital Platform Can Boost Agent Engagement
Go beyond basic email for your brokerage's communication. Here's how one company is using the Agently platform to keep agents engaged, accountable and productive.
Philadelphia-based Eric Flohr, chief operating officer at Cairn Real Estate Holdings, was looking for a way to improve productivity and accountability among his company’s 4,000 agents across 31 states.
At a conference, he met the founder of a web-based productivity platform designed to improve communications, streamline operations and reduce business expenses. He saw potential in the platform but felt it wasn’t practical for agents to be tied to their computers to use it.
“I told [the founder] that to get real value from it, the platform needed to be more accessible—something they could use right from their mobile phones, which they always have with them,” he explains.
Once the mobile version of Agently was developed, Flohr’s brokerage participated in a 90-day pilot program last fall, providing the platform to newer agents at two of their brokerages: JPAR Real Estate and JPAR Franchising.
Flohr says they noticed improvements in agent engagement right away.
“We put our mentorship program into the app, so that agents could download the app on their first day working with us,” he explains. “It tells them what they need to do each day, like set up their website, their CRM and social media. It helps agents complete tasks and [progress] through the mentorship program more quickly. Our mentors would also be notified and could follow up much faster, asking, ‘Are you stuck?’ or ‘How can I help?’ instead of waiting weeks for a new agent to acknowledge they were struggling. Seeing the app’s success, we decided to roll it out more broadly across our brokerage. It’s still likely too early to measure its impact on our agents’ transaction counts, but we’ve already seen stronger engagement, better attendance at events and more agents consistently completing tasks.”
There are quite a few similar platforms from which to choose, but Flohr’s real estate company is happy with Agently.
“Even leadership saw the benefits, and the response has been great,” he says. “We branded the app as part of our brokerage’s technology suite, naming it JPAR Nova, so agents see it as an integrated tool rather than just another software we’re pushing on them.”
Pricing starts at $59 per month for single agents and ranges from $459 for brokerages with up to 50 agents to $1,299 for those with 250 agents. Enterprise-level pricing is available upon request for large brokerages like Flohr’s.
Here are benefits they derive from the platform:
1. Keep agents in the loop
Flohr relies on JPAR Nova to ensure important information quickly reaches agents throughout the company.
“Emails were frequently being missed, especially by our part-time agents who weren’t regularly checking work-related email,” he says. “We use the app to push notifications—announcements related to market updates, regulatory or compliance changes, brokerage events and educational opportunities—to our agents’ phones. They don’t have to constantly check email or social media.”
The app’s tracking features allow Flohr and his colleagues to see how often certain tools are being used. “We can even track usage down to the individual agent, which helps us understand who is accessing specific features,” he says. “We can track who opens emails and follow up with agents who haven’t seen a particular message.” As a result, he is seeing higher event attendance.
Since cell phones are ubiquitous, people tend to check them first thing in the morning, throughout the day and before bed. This makes it easier to get messages out and drives a higher degree of participation.
2. Built-in accountability
Flohr sees Agently as a tool that keeps agents accountable and helps them reach their goals. “It prompts them with reminders like ‘Have you made your five calls today?’ or ‘Have you posted on social media this week?’ or ‘Did you attend your latest training session?’ Our agents can also set business targets in the app—like commission goals and transaction counts,” he says. “It then automatically breaks those targets into weekly actions that remind them to make their contacts, update their database or schedule appointments.”
These notifications help agents stay on top of critical tasks that might otherwise fall to the bottom of their to-do lists.
“Cold-calling or reaching out to someone you haven’t spoken with in a while is easy to put off, but having a reminder pop up makes a difference,” he adds. “Hitting ‘ignore’ makes people feel guilty but checking it off gives them a sense of accomplishment.”
From a brokerage standpoint, the impact has been clear. “We benchmarked engagement when we first rolled this out, and the number of agents participating was several times higher than before,” Flohr explains. “I’m proud that we’ve had over 150 of our agents set up their business plan inside JPAR Nova and are now getting regular reminders on their performance. It’s helping them remember to make their calls, connect with their sphere, and do their prospecting and gives them ideas on how to do those things. This is much better than agents attending brokerage training on a business plan and then having no idea what happens after they leave the session.”
3. Stay in the know
Understanding that the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) commission rule changes that took effect last summer was complicated for many agents to grasp, Flohr wanted to make the information easily accessible. “We put material inside JPAR Nova that agents can pull up on their phones—whether they’re in a listing appointment or buyer consultation—to explain what the rule changes are, how things are now different and to answer common consumer questions,” he explains. “It’s much more convenient than bringing printed documents or relying on memory.”
Seeing a need for accessible training, Flohr’s brokerage also integrated courses into JPAR Nova to give agents on-demand videos and written content on topics like lead generation and listing presentations. The firm started the year off with a series of training sessions.
4. Ready-made content
Many of Flohr’s agents struggle to stay active on social media. “They know they should post content regularly but hesitate because they’re unsure about what to share, nervous about creating a video or struggle with writer’s block,” he says. “There’s no reason they can’t get started because Agently has created content for them. They can easily customize and brand it with their photos and contact information and then post directly to their social media.”
Flohr admits that, in hindsight, he would have incorporated the app into training sessions from the start.
“Initially, we were still using spreadsheets and PowerPoints for business planning, but agents could’ve done it right on their phones,” he says.
He also wishes the platform’s chat feature had been rolled out sooner to facilitate better communication between agents. “Agents value connecting with each other,” he adds. “When they can easily communicate, it strengthens the entire brokerage.” For agents working remotely, the chat feature helps combat isolation and makes it easier to access the collective knowledge of their peers. “Instead of relying on emails, agents can simply type, ‘I’d love to meet with others who focus on new construction Wednesday at Starbucks,’ for example, and instantly connect with like-minded colleagues,” he says. “With so many features already in the app, we had to be strategic—if we tell people about 10 amazing things, they might remember one. Plus, with thousands of agents, notifications could quickly become overwhelming. We didn’t want people to ‘check out,’ so we introduced features gradually.”
Leslie C. Stone is a Vero Beach-based freelance writer.
Florida Realtors® does not endorse or recommend products mentioned in this article.