Richie Thornton

Overview:

Richie Thornton is a Career Real Estate Agent with 31 years experience and is Co-Principal and Licensee of L.J Hooker Tamworth.Richie has been integral in the introduction and development of several technologies within LJ Hooker. His decades of experience has enabled him to sift through the snake oil and spot a good product. He saw ActivePipe early in its introduction to the Real Estate industry and knew instantly that it was right for LJ Hooker.

How long have you been using ActivePipe for?

Since late 2014 and we migrated to the new LJ Hooker product in late December 2015.

How long did it take to see results from ActivePipe?

Oh, right away – from the first ActivePipe report my agents eyes were opened up to the opportunities that could be found in the information, they were rapt. We have recently converted listings from two leads that were a result of the new communications that we’re sending. This is fantastic and I’m sure there will be more coming soon.

What are the stand out features & benefits of ActivePipe in your opinion? 

We have had some feedback directly from clients that is just great marketing, that means to me that this is working away in the background showing people how active we are. Also ActivePipe in my office goes to everyone, no exceptions – the recipient might not be buying right now, but they might if they see the right property – and then they are motivated to sell, it’s not just a buyer tool – this is a listing tool. How good is that! I think that the best feature is that it works for the agent and the seller and the buyer, everyone is better off for being involved in this. More buyers see the emails and open them, which is good for the sellers, and of course that’s better for agents and it’s all automated.

Do you think your agents will change their behaviours to suit the new information on your clients available from ActivePipe?

Yes of course! As soon as that weekly email comes in they are on the phone calling the High Value Clients and others that have interacted with their properties, all they have to do is log on and see. If an agent did not see the value in this, they should not be in the business.

How does ActivePipe enhance your efficiency and practices in the office?

It’s happening on its own, it’s automated. We just plugged it in and off we went – now we have feedback, we have buyers, we have found sellers – we are not doing anything extra – in fact we are probably doing less – but that just means that an agent will have more time to focus on the important stuff. We send it to everyone too, not just the buyers – we don’t even get many un-subscribers – maybe one or two a fortnight and we have sent over 100,000 emails – I had to contain myself when I realised how many, so if we get one or two people drop off, we don’t even argue.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I have said to LJ Hooker recently that the whole real estate industry needs to come out of the woods and into the light, we need to adapt to the technology to move forward. Some agents hide behind the old way of doing things – but you can’t argue with genuine progress. It’s technology like this that benefits us as agents and offices and ultimately as a franchise. Like I said, we’ve had 2 recent listings that are directly from the ‘new’ActivePipe, which means it’s working – also we’ve had really great feedback from clients, one past client rang me – totally unprompted just to say “that’s great marketing, really valuable info” regarding our recent sales. That’s the image you want out there in the market, active, professional and doing the job. That’s what people want, they want to be up-to-date, and we have to give it to them, ActivePipe does that for us.