In what seems like a blink of the eye, the business of real estate looks very different than it did even just a few years ago. Many agents remember a time when the MLS was printed in a physical book, and now, it seems every step of the transaction and beyond is taking place in the digital space.

These shifts have left agents scrambling to piece together a virtual client experience that matches the personal one they may have spent years perfecting. And, many have found that this virtual experience falls short.

This gap between the personal and the virtual is where Keller Williams has targeted its technology-development efforts. At Mega Camp, co-founder, chairman and CEO Gary Keller and president Josh Team took the stage alongside mega agents and industry leaders to outline all the ways the company is empowering agents to command this new real estate reality.

1. Saving Time (and Money)

Throughout the Labs process, Keller Williams agents consistently requested tools to help them reduce the amount of time and money spent on non-dollar productive, functionary tasks. SmartPlans, the workflow automation tool baked into Command, is just one tool created as a result. While automated marketing drip campaigns are already available, soon, agents will also be able to leverage a custom SmartPlan builder to create step-by-step workflows for any and every event that happens in their business. So, if a new lead enters their pipeline, Command can automatically send out a text, phone call reminder, email or any other series of actions. Everything agents may be paying virtual assistants to handle can now be conquered by SmartPlans.

2. Supporting Repeatable Success

Models and systems are what underpin every successful real estate business. That’s why Keller Williams technology is designed to let agents customize and create specific action plans and processes that work for their individual businesses. The Opportunities dashboard in Command – where agents manage their entire book of business from lead, to close, to payday – enables the creation of custom stages for every deal and even more detailed action steps within each stage. That way, agents deliver the same world-class client experience, every single time.

3. Differentiating the Agent Brand

Another challenge agents identified through Labs was creating a consistent and unique brand across every marketing piece and channel. “Whether you’re an agent that does 2 or 2,000 transactions, we all have to make collateral,” explained mega agent Jason Abrams. “When you use a third party that isn’t designed for real estate, it all ends up looking the same.” Enter Designs. Designs allows agents to quickly and easily create print and digital marketing materials specifically crafted for real estate. And, Designs works in tandem with other Command applications like Campaigns and SmartPlans to ensure your messages are amplified.

4. Nurturing by Neighborhood

In an effort to further differentiate the agent brand, Keller Williams researchers discovered that when agents provide information that is organized by neighborhood, client engagement increases roughly 300 to 400 percent. “The closer you get to the home, the more relevant it is to the consumer,” explained Team. From the new KW App to reimagined Command IDX websites for agents, Keller Williams is empowering agents to stoke the curiosity of their clients through neighborhood-based information. One such example? The Designs application in Command now houses a marketing suite that allows agents to quickly drag and drop neighborhood-specific stats directly into their collateral.

5. Creating a Curated Client Experience

One facet of the new real estate reality is that consumers now expect the level of personalization they see in other digital spaces they frequent (think Amazon or Netflix). The new KW App combined with Command will allow Keller Williams agents to provide a fully curated, on-demand experience for each of their clients at an individual level. Instead of a generic search map or collection of featured listings, clients will see a personalized feed tailored to their preferences and their neighborhood. And, because agents are equipped to push out information their clients truly care about, deeper connections are fostered.

6. Serving On-Demand Information

Every agent has been there: The phone rings at an ungodly hour or an unending string of texts interrupt dinner. Consumers may seem to want an agent that is on-call at any moment throughout the buying and selling process, but what they really want is on-demand information. The new KW App provides said info via a fully customizable and agent-branded buyer and seller guide, which quickly quells any client anxiety with answers – no matter what time it is.

7. Reimagining Search

The new KW App will also allow users to discover homes in a more organic, open-ended way … inviting them to tap into their curiosity. Instead of searching in a linear fashion by number of bedrooms or by price, clients can find homes based on their unique preferences, such as lifestyle or whether they prefer hardwood floors or tile. “The world believes that search has been won by the big search engines,” explained Gary Keller.

“We disagree. The battle for search is just beginning.”

Gary Keller

8. Encouraging Open Communication and Collaboration

With Keller Williams clients, agents and teams all using the same connected platform, communication becomes seamless. For example, if an agent’s client favorites a listing on the KW App, the agent receives that information instantly through Contacts. If your buyer’s agent goes on a successful appointment, there’s no need for an email or text to let the rest of the team know – it’s right there in Opportunities. On-demand information is available not just for your clients, but for you and your team as well.

9. Maximizing Insights

Because delivering personalized consumer experiences is how successful businesses thrive, the ones with the most data and insights win. An individual agent may be able to recognize some patterns in their business, but they quickly run up against limiting factors. “There’s only so much data you can crunch by yourself,” explained Keller Williams chief product officer Neil Dholakia. That’s why the idea of a collective platform is so important. The 60,000-plus agents already working in Command are generating a massive amount of proprietary insights, which in turn provides a distinct competitive advantage for individual Keller Williams agents.

10. Unleashing the Agent’s Potential

When technology allows agents to have more time and more mental energy, it allows them to release their real superpower – creating personal relationships with their clients. After all, real estate is a relationship-based business and real estate agents are people people. And, that’s why Keller Williams technology was designed to enable agents to be more present, more human, more everything.