Added value of a partnership: success through connection to an established brand

INTERVIEW WITH MAXIMILIAN RISCH, HEAD OF EXPANSION (ROOF) AT VON POLL IMMOBILIEN, AND WOLFRAM GAST, CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER (CDO) AND MEMBER OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD AT VON POLL IMMOBILIEN.

Never in the past 20 years have economic and political circumstances been as volatile as they are today. The effects of the pandemic, difficulties in supply chains, the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and rising inflation and interest rates have led to great uncertainty. In the face of these challenges, the question arises: why should people take the risk now and venture into self-employment or expand their existing business? The answer lies in using the challenging situation as an opportunity, preferably in cooperation with a strong partner who has a renowned brand in the background. Because despite all the uncertainty, this time also holds many opportunities. Right now, entrepreneurs can position themselves and benefit from the changes. A partnership with an established brand offers security and trust, which is invaluable in uncertain times.

Mr. Risch, you are Head of Expansion at VON POLL IMMOBILIEN and are currently looking for new partners and brokers who want to join your company and open their own store in Germany. Isn't this a rather unfavorable time from an economic point of view?

MAXIMILIAN RISCH

The current market situation also offers a great opportunity for new partners. Because right now it is becoming clear how important it is to have a strong brand behind you. We made our partners aware of the market changes at an early stage last year and prepared them for them. After all, the focus is now back on the actual brokerage business. And we can and love that. Many smaller brokerage companies or individual brokers will hardly be able to keep up with the rapid changes. The rapid steps towards digitalization that we have taken in the last two years - with not inconsiderable investments - will also give us an enormous advantage and head start in the future.

Maximilian Risch, Head of Expansion (DACH) at VON POLL IMMOBILIEN and Wolfram Gast, Chief Digital Officer at VON POLL IMMOBILIEN, on the added value of joining an established corporate brand (Photo: von Poll Immobilien GmbH)

Mr. Gast, you have been instrumental in driving the digital transformation in your company. Why have digital tools become indispensable in the real estate industry?

WOLFRAM GAST

Customer needs are constantly changing and are becoming ever more demanding. Today's customers expect a fast, efficient and transparent service, comprehensive expertise in all aspects of real estate and up-to-date information on new real estate offers, price developments, the status of marketing or financing plans. In addition to personal support, they also attach importance to being able to use all services online around the clock, 365 days a year. At the same time, the markets are becoming increasingly dynamic. Marketing times are lengthening, demand patterns are becoming more complex and more properties are coming onto the market. As a result, real estate brokerage is becoming increasingly challenging. Against this backdrop, it is important to exploit all the opportunities offered by an optimal interplay between brand, technology and people.

Mr. Risch, what has changed, especially from a sales perspective?

MAXIMILIAN RISCH

In recent years, it was almost easy for real estate agents to earn money as demand for properties was very high. Practically every offer could be sold. However, the market has changed and estate agents have many properties in their portfolio, but far fewer potential buyers. This makes it all the more important for real estate agents to use their expertise and experience to provide the right advice and guidance between sellers and potential buyers.

To what extent does the situation differ for individual estate agents compared to large brokerage houses when it comes to operating successfully in the current market situation?

MAXIMILIAN RISCH

As an established brokerage firm, we naturally have many more options and resources. Individual brokers, on the other hand, have to manage all the tasks themselves. In today's fast-paced world, it is hardly feasible to deal with legal aspects alone. In addition, you have to maintain your own website, engage in traditional and online marketing, keep up to date with the latest market developments and look out for cooperation partners - all in addition to your main task of real estate brokerage. With us, on the other hand, our agents can concentrate fully on their core competence, the brokerage activity, because we take care of everything else in the background.

Mr Gast, why is it so difficult for smaller estate agents in particular to keep pace with digitalization?

WOLFRAM GAST

As an innovative and data-driven brokerage company, we have built a digital real estate platform that is divided into two core areas - firstly, a comprehensive real estate platform for buyers, owners, sellers and financing customers and, secondly, a brokerage platform with an impressive selection of over 80 digital services that support successful real estate brokerage. These services can be activated by our agents with practically one click and used immediately. Imagine if every single estate agent had to research these services themselves, negotiate attractive contracts with the providers and then integrate them into their day-to-day work - there would hardly be any time left for actual estate agency work.

And how exactly can we imagine the digital broker platform?

WOLFRAM GAST

The broker platform offers our real estate experts round-the-clock access to state-of-the-art digital tools and services for the successful development and operation of a VON POLL IMMOBILIEN store, which efficiently support them in their day-to-day business. This gives them more time to provide high-quality advice to their customers. At the same time, our customers benefit from fast, transparent and helpful premium services. We have also created an internal exchange platform where our brokers can share their knowledge, experience and best practices. Our offering also includes numerous digital tools that provide support in various areas, such as customer acquisition or customer acquisition, digital property valuation, the creation of AI-supported exposés, 3D tours, photo, drone and floor plan services and a website builder.

So what added value is offered to potential partners?

WOLFRAM GAST

Our partners benefit from simplified customer acquisition thanks to the three success factors of brand, technology and people. We offer a company website with regional company presences that guarantee high visibility in search engines. In addition, we provide active support through centralized marketing services to increase visibility and attract customers through targeted paid measures. The technologies we use make customer retention much more successful and resource-efficient, which sustainably supports long-term success. The bottom line is that we are already enabling our brokers to look after more customers in the same amount of time and with a higher quality of service thanks to numerous automated processes, a digital customer platform to complement personal on-site advice and a pronounced mobile-first mindset.

Mr. Risch, where are you currently looking for new partners?

MAXIMILIAN RISCH

In fact, there are still individual regions throughout Germany with great potential for which we are looking for new partners. The district of Pfaffenhofen, for example, is becoming increasingly attractive due to its proximity to Munich, but is still somewhat underestimated at the moment. But even supposedly more rural regions are interesting, as we can differentiate ourselves relatively quickly from regional estate agents with our quality and brand. Irrespective of this, we are currently looking for a partner for the Berlin district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, which is still very popular. Füssen, the popular vacation region in the Allgäu, is also of interest to estate agents due to a number of second homes. And these are just a few examples.

Do career changers have a chance?

MAXIMILIAN RISCH

In recent years, we have been very successful in bringing career changers on board. People with a strong focus on sales, who enjoy and are enthusiastic about working with people and have the desire to be entrepreneurial themselves can develop into very successful branch managers with us. In addition, we offer our partners comprehensive and personal support, including IHK-certified training as real estate agents and further training as DEKRA experts. We actively support our partners right from the start so that they can market real estate quickly and successfully. Our training modules are based on our company's many years of success and are no ordinary sales training courses. Our aim is to pass on our knowledge in a targeted manner.

Mr. Gast, let's finish by taking a look into the future. What can partners expect from VON POLL IMMOBILIEN?

WOLFRAM GAST

In the long term, we will expand the best of the three success factors - brand, technology and people - to such an extent that it will be almost impossible for individual agents to keep up with the speed and quantity of digital possibilities. On the other hand, customers also increasingly expect new digital services to be an integral part of a broker's service offering. We have a modular and scalable business model that enables rapid and successful broker growth. For our partners, this means that we offer them the best digital solutions for setting up and expanding their store. We have already reached many milestones, but still have many exciting goals ahead of us.

Link: https://www.von-poll.com/de/immobilien-lizenz/geschaeftsstellenmodell