Keller Williams Technology Tools - eEdge

eEdge – the new way to do business.

We heard an alarming statistic, 67% of the internet leads for real estate go unanswered. The Keller Williams Realty solution to this is eEdge.

In February 2011, at the Keller Williams Family Reunion, Keller Williams Realty launched their new enterprise tool, eEdge, the lead to close, agent productivity tool. Sponsored by Keller Williams International, eEdge will capture leads for the agents in one database, provide the tools for the agent to keep in touch with the lead, and help convert the lead to an appointment, which then becomes a contact.

Once a contact is ready to make an offer on a house, eEdge will provide the electronic contracting system fully integrated with the Keller Williams payment system. Scheduled to be implemented by region this year, the electronic contract system will allow cooping agents to “loop” into the transaction with their clients. This was a big concern for me, having an information technology background and perfectly happy with our Colorado eContracts system. But when I looked deeper into the tool provided by DotLoop, I was pleasantly surprised. The technology supporting the contracting system is state of the art and sure to meet our needs.

eEdge also provides an extensive marketing library for listing agents. All the material is totally customizable. Currently, only electronic versions are available, but print versions will be available soon. The design of eEdge for Colorado Springs agents is one data entry point for the listing into the MLS. Then the listing is carried over to the KWLS (Keller Williams Listing Service) and then pushed to 35+ third party tools. Within eEdge, the listing is tagged to a contact where all the listing documents are located (no more hard copy files). The seller is invited into the Loop to sign all their documents electronically, which is a click of a button after they are authenticated. When an offer is received the cooping agent is invited into the Loop for the property and they invite their buyers. All the documents remain in DotLoop for a totally paperless transaction.

The contact database sits on the renowned Market Leader system. Used by many high producing agents, this system should meet the requirements of most agents. Market Leader does provide a Pro version with added functionality for marketing as well as the Market Insider.

This is the first time ever a real estate company has provided such a tool. In fact, many companies choose to capture the leads and sell them to their agents, but Keller Williams has the philosophy “your listings, your leads.” As a result, Keller Williams has negotiated separately with many third party search tools, such as Zillow and Trulia, to ensure that when an inquiry is received on a Keller Williams listing it goes directly to the Keller Williams listing agent (via eEdge). This is a very different business model than most real estate companies, and probably not very popular with our competitors.

The most amazing part about eEdge is that our technology bill to Keller Williams Realty went from $10/month to $25/month – only a $15 increase for all this functionality.  I estimate that we will save about $150/month by turning off other tools after eEdge becomes fully functional.

Now, doesn’t that make economic sense in a market where everyone is trying to trim their budget!