First, an app that helps agents mine and market to existing personal networks, has announced a major update called Personal Network Efficiency.
The new feature tracks users’ performance by reporting on business won and lost. Supporting that is a behind-the-scenes connection of a user’s database to respective properties owned. It then links those addresses to any local MLS activity to provide agents with additional transparency into what’s happening with contacts’ homes.
First launched to help agents stay in front of their sphere, or “one degree of separation” contacts. It earned a four-star review in 2017.
It’s not uncommon for agents to focus solely on new leads and take for granted that people they know will automatically work with them when it’s time to buy or sell.
First leverages a number of proprietary algorithms to unearth activity that suggests a contact might be entering the market.
Like similar lead-generation software, the company’s tools intricately probe social activity and public data records (in this case, more than 700 sources) to build predictive models and offer users suggested timeframes for a person’s likely next step in real estate. In that respect, First can also be considered a coaching app.
“Personal relationships are an agent’s most important asset, and on average, agents are missing 80 percent of the deals from people in their own relationship network,” First CEO Mike Schneider said in a press release. “In its initial launch, we’ve observed as many as five to nine additional deals per year.”
The app earned $5 million in Series A funding in 2018, funded by MATH Venture Partners.
Beyond identifying potential leads in a database, First helps agents scrub their contact lists for duplicates, provides links to social channels, offers in-app outreach mechanisms, reminders and alerts, and proactively ranks the quality potential leads.
First is based in Durham, North Carolina, and was founded in 2016. It can be used by individual agents or brokers.
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