The EA Masters last week was the best content that I have heard at a conference for many, many years.

Making everyone happy is a thankless task, in particular when running a conference, but I really think that Peter Knight and Joanna Knight OBE got as close as you can at last weeks EA Masters.

As Peter will tell you I give honest feedback, especially to a friend. What made last week’s conference so valuable is that a lot of us have been trying to make sense of AI and Automation and it’s impact on the industry. What Peter has given us, is a map to apply it sensibly.

When I first was given the opportunity to speak about AI by Peter in 2023 I went to two of his roadshows, as Ian Preston of Preston Baker and shared how we had integrated Chat GPT into our CRM (that has now become Greenhouse OS ) to write property descriptions. I also shared how we had created a prospecting AI agent that could get in touch with your prospective sellers to book valuations. We were amongst the first to bring these tools into the minds of businesses. Now it’s mainstream, and the debate has changed from if it’s a good idea to how do I do it?

The ‘how’, is now the key question. A lot of owners will now fall into two categories

This is a people business and that will never change!

and

Look at what we can do now, everything could be automated!

Both positions are true to an extent, and my big takeaway from the conference was this.

Start with a crystal clear vision of, who you are, why you exist as a business, and who you customers are.

How best might you serve them?

Then design your own unique experience for them. Then, and only then is where AI and automation comes in.

Where so many of us go wrong, is that we listen to company’s promoting bolt-on’s and think, “that’s a really great product” but without really considering what we are trying to build. In my work with agency leaders the most important thing I do is to spend time with the business owner clarifying exactly what they want and why they want it. Imagining what success looks like, becuase until that is both articulated and written down, the work cannot begin.

My small contribution at EA masters was to share the work I do on Flexible Fees and the remarkable financial results it generates for agents. The second, and in many ways the key message was that you have to be able to control and design your own customer journey.

Ten years ago only a small fraction of the estate agents journey was digital. What is it today? It depends on the agency, but I would suggest it is bigger in every agency than it was ten years ago. Where will it be in five years time? Bigger again – by a large margin in most companies.

This will mean two things:

1. Our cost of service delivery will fall
2. Our dependence on third party’s to deliver our service will increase

The first point is positive, the second point is a huge trap. I believe it will accelerate the commoditisation of a lot of businesses in the sector (meaning they can only differentiate on price). Just look what happened with the rise of Rightmove – a lot of customers think it’s all we do.

When I think about why I co-founded Greenhouse OS, it’s only reason to be is to allow businesses to create their own operating system rather than be a slave to a CRM’s offering.

Greenhouse OS provides the functionality of a CRM with one huge difference. Everything can be customised. Your Greenhouse OS is totally different to your competitors. You can add fields, change the journey’s, make new screens, make your AI behave differently.

Everything works out of the box on day 1. Each week you make a 1% improvement to the system so it gradually morphs into something that is totally in line with what you want and how your customers need to be served.

The outcome, an industry where we don’t all look and sound the same. Because if we do, what’s the point?

If you want to talk about any of the points raised in the article, feel free to drop me a message.