Tom Russett

Congratulations on the success you’ve been having with ActivePipe! How long have you been using the platform for?

ActivePipe was first introduced to me when I came into real estate in Australia in 2015. It was already implemented in my office!

How do you incorporate ActivePipe into your everyday routine?

It’s actually now a daily KPI. On a weekly basis, we use it a lot at OFIs. We take the usual name and number at an OFI but I question whether a lot of agents are taking an email address too. You’ll find that with 25% of people that come through for an OFI, it doesn’t matter how many times you call them or send them an SMS, they may not call you back. If you have ActivePipe, you’ve always got the security of it running in the background. This means that if you can add someone’s name and email address into the system, you can rest assured that that even though you can’t reach them, they’re still getting your weekly email.

When you moved to Australia from the UK did you have any experience with a product like ActivePipe?

No, this was completely fresh!

So how did being introduced to ActivePipe change the real estate game for you?

It was really eye-opening! A really great thing about ActivePipe is that although it might not be speaking with people personally, it’s working behind the scenes for me and that’s what’s generating appraisals. I’ve actually just listed an appraisal through the platform and it’s going to auction at the end of September. Without ActivePipe I wouldn’t have got that.

In fact, I’ve still got clients to this day that contact me because they may have seen a property online, through ActivePipe and can’t make the OFI. I always tell them, “if I can’t reach you or if there’s something you might have seen that I might not have thought of feel free to email me and I’ll arrange for you to do a walk through”. So, ActivePipe is really offering that extra bit of service, which I’m really enjoying.

You are doing so well out in the field but you’re also quite young! What advice do you have for young agents starting out on how they can succeed early in their career?

From day one, if you’re going to be at the front door at OFI’s with a more senior agent, ensure that you ask for names and numbers but also grab the email addresses. Always ensure that you slow the conversation down and get an email address. That’s something that can really set you up well, so you can hit the ground running

How important do you feel embracing technology is for the future of real estate?

I think it is the future of real estate and we’re seeing that first hand with the power of social media. Instagram, Facebook and even LinkedIn are so important with consumers who are now generally online. I think the agent who has the biggest digital footprint wins.

What would you say to other agents who are thinking about giving ActivePipe a go?

Definitely give it a go. Trial it and see how it impacts your business. More than anything else, in an industry where we are always trying to be front-of-mind, there’s no better way then with a weekly email that’s not intrusive. It includes your new listings to the market and you can make it as personal as you want. It ensures that you don’t always have to pick up the phone because you know that on a weekly basis, you’re front of mind whether that’s actively or passively looking. Maybe that golden listing that someone’s been looking for might pop up on that list. You just never know where that next phone call may come from.