Signs of the Times - The development and implementation of AgencyQR
Embracing new tech is all part of being a good franchisor – we’re all now au fait with Teams, just about getting the hang of Office 365 and many of us have even dabbled with the dizzying capability of Chat GPT or Bard AI.
However, embracing ‘old’ technology has been the key to Agency Express’ most recent innovation - AgencyQR.
QR Codes are most definitely not cutting edge; they were developed in 1994 by the Japanese corporation Denso —a division of Toyota, to track automobile parts during the assembly process. Their use in the property industry is not new either; many estate agents have tried and failed over the last 10 years to make them a ubiquitous part of the house hunting process, but with no luck.
Post pandemic however, at Agency Express we recognised it was the perfect opportunity to capitalise on the adoption of QR codes into our day to day lives. We have all become used to using our mobile phone to scan our entry into venues, accessing interactive menus in restaurants and even keeping our plane tickets safely stored in our digital wallet – using QR to find your next house is a logical progression to the digital revolution.
Agency Express franchisees already use SignMaster3, our online business management tool that enables them to manage all of their daily processes online and via a native built mobile app. SignMaster3 receives all daily job requests from our Estate Agency clients and translates them into a user-friendly interface so our franchisees can simply draw around the requests on their territory map that they wish to service each day. SignMaster3 will then plan the route, produce a packing list to ensure we travel as light as possible and then download itself to the SignMaster App on their mobile phone.
Once on the mobile, each request uses Google Maps to get us to the right location and enables the franchisee to mark the job as complete whilst adding a picture for accuracy and validation of the completion.
AgencyQR harnesses the power of QR codes to turn the passive For Sale board we have erected into an active marketing tool.
The ordering process is simple -the instructing agent selects the use of an AgencyQR panel by entering the URL of the respective property details when instructing for the board to be erected in SignMaster3. The URL they chose can be directed to their own website, a property portal or a virtual tour. This information is transferred to the franchisee who will be instructed to add the AgencyQR panel when completing the For Sale board installation.
Once the panel has been installed underneath the For Sale board, it’s time for the magic – the code is scanned by the franchisee for the first time, which immediately live links the AgencyQR panel back to the property URL supplied. The AgencyQR panel is now live and ready to actively direct potential purchasers to the agency customer.
Once the panel is live, it can be tracked via our SignMaster3 portal to see the location, scan count, and most recent scan details. The customer can change the URL as many times as they wish and can even reproduce the QR code to use on their marketing materials. The AgencyQR codes themselves are generic, so can be used on any property for any customer – good for the environment, the customers and the franchisees - all Agency Express operators carry stocks of AgencyQR panels and supply them as part of the service fee.
As the AgencyQR panel is added at the same time the agents sign board is erected, our franchisees have no additional service costs to complete the action. Each panel erected only incurs the minimal cost of producing and storing the panels themselves – the rest of the charge applied is pure profit.
The design, build and roll out of AgencyQR took just over 12 months from initial discussions to the first code added to a board. All tech developments at Agency Express are supported by the franchise network who were asked for development input, feedback, and the ability to become ‘alpha’ testers should they so wish. The build process was documented through our monthly ‘Franchise Chat’ web meetings, and ongoing email documentation to ensure everyone knew exactly how the project was going and when it would be ready. Because the franchisees were involved in the design and build process, their personal investment in the end product and their knowledge of how it worked was second to none – by the time it was released we already had active clients signed up, and ready to begin using.
Initial feedback from our 7,500 clients has been enormously positive. After three months of launching the system, we had erected more than 2,000 AgencyQR panels, with the average number of scans received being just over eight. The record number of scans so far was achieved by a beautiful property in Cambridgeshire, which has been scanned more than 450 times! That’s 450 leads for an Estate Agent who otherwise would have relied upon the passer by picking up the phone, or noting the property details separately.
No doubt then, value added both to our clients, our franchisees and to our brand as a whole.
With more exciting tech developments already under way, we’ve learned a lot from our AgencyQR journey, even though its just beginning. Remember if you see an AgencyQR panel in the wild, give it a scan – it might just be the key to your next dream home.