November 10 , 2006
Real Estate Technology News

A marketing and integration agreement between Point2 Technologies and RealEstate.com gives agents access to lead incubation and conversion tools. Read on to see why the groups believe the time is right for lead management technology to take off.

Point2 Technologies and RealEstate.com, a division of LendingTree, have announced a commercial technology and marketing agreement. The RealEstate.com Agent Network will integrate and market Point2's real estate lead management and online marketing platform, Point2 Agent Professional, as part of its RealEstate.com Agent Network Connect2Close solution bundle.

Agent Network members can use the solution to access all Point2 Agent Professional functionality directly from their RealEstate.com interface at no additional cost.

Point2 Agent's Web site functionality, online Listing Exposure Engine and listing advertising syndication network are also expected to help maximize online exposure and drive incremental leads to RealEstate.com users.

RealEstate.com said it chose the Point2 Agent Professional platform primarily for its lead incubation and conversion capability.

Point2 claims 100,000 subscribers in 82 countries for its lead generation, incubation and online marketing platform. Andrew Taylor, vice president and general manager, RealEstate.com Agent Network, said his company was impressed that Point2 has established that customer base not through advertising but through word of mouth.

Components of Point2’s products also lend themselves to RealEsate.com, he said.

Agents can publicize listings so they're pooled and syndicated through search engines. Joint customers will get leads through RealEstate.com and through their own Internet marketing efforts.

“It gives the agent the full suite from capturing leads to working that pipeline,” he said.

For RealEstate.com, the deal represents a large expansion of its vision. Point2 has a strong lead management platform, and RealEstate.com has a great marketing/lead generation engine, Taylor said.

Agents need tools like those offered by Point2 because consumers are starting the research process much sooner these days. Incubation technology will help agents work bigger pipelines and stay in front of consumers, Taylor added.

According to Brendan King, chief operating officer with Point2, the industry’s approach to lead management is changing in several ways as the real estate market returns to normal conditions:

• The industry is returning to a normal market, and houses are no longer selling before they even enter the MLS. Therefore, agents have to return to a focus on lead management;
• Consumers have changed and now want to shop like they do on eBay — anonymously
• Technology is now offering predictive modeling so that online tools can determine where a consumer is looking for homes and provide homes that match their criteria automatically.