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Irvine, California-based SetSchedule, a lead generation company for real estate agents, has announced updates to its mobile app in a press release sent to Inman.
The company states that it uses artificial intelligence to uncover listing and buyer leads on its Referral Radar feature. With the feature, users search maps of their preferred markets to find company-vetted leads and pass to other users leads that might not be a good match for their business. Those non-preferred leads can be blocked from appearing again.
The new version of the app also employs a new dashboard function that details daily tasks, new and current leads, level of quality and current deal activity. The app also allows agents to buy bundles of leads outside of the Referral Radar feature.
A large part of the data backing the lead quality stems from social media, RealtyTrac and real estate portals such as Zillow. Some leads are further scored personally by SetSchedule staff and if warranted, are given the “Verified” badge on the Referral Radar map screen.
Another new feature is the ability to add an assistant to a Premier Level account, which grants access to a marketing assistant or lower-level agent to follow up on leads, and in general, manage the account.
Founder and CEO Roy Dekel said the new version of his company’s app is driven by user needs.
“Every enhancement of our application comes directly from user feedback and is designed to make the busy real estate agent’s life easier, arming them with all the up-to-date insight they need to deliver excellent service and close bigger, better deals,” said Dekel in the Oct. 24 press release.
After granting a 3-star rating for its app in April of this year, Inman was inundated with emails and article comments from customers of the company claiming many of their leads were bogus and that the company’s customer service disappears after payment.
Inman spoke with Dekel after the review, at which time he promised that all complaints are addressed.
“I want you to understand that we take every single bad comment extremely seriously and study them to improve,” Dekel said in April. “The lashing out is really a derivative of an agent’s inability to make money or get a refund if they don’t get a commission.”
Many of the agents’ concerns are similar: leads are elderly or under care, unaware of how or why agents reached them and that the company refuses to refund money or return calls about lead quality.
The same themes are echoed in more than 26 emails to Inman from agents since our initial review, many of which use words like “fraud” and “scam” and ask Inman how we could help them get their money back.
In a phone call last week with Inman about the new release, Dekel said the complaints are being addressed by a new Director of Customer Relations, Dahman Gill, and that they are stemming from legacy, “pre-app” customers.
“The vast majority of the complaints you’re getting are from individuals that bought into a dream,” Dekel said. “They very quickly realized that it would be easier to go after their marketing partner. Not all sales agents are created equal, nor are all leads equal, and we’re not perfect.”
Inman found last spring that Dekel is barred from working in the securities industry by the SEC for, according to the SEC ruling, “misappropriated $3.29 million of investor funds as CEO of Diverse Financial Corp, of which he owned a 45 percent stake.”
“He [Gill] is growing the account executive leadership team, we have a 15-minute requirement to answer agents, agents can chat with us on our site or connect with us on the phone where there’s a live person answering 7 [a.m.] to 7 [p.m.], seven days a week,” Dekel said. He added that lower-level needs are supported by an off-shore team.
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