In the second of a two-part interview, Boomin’s managing director, Athena Hubble, explains more about the platform’s strategic growth plan heading into 2022, and shares with agents what it is like to work with co-founders Michael and Kenny Bruce.
You can read the first part of this interview by clicking here.
Q: Several agents have voiced their discontent at the low number of leads they have received from Boomin so far. Do you accept that there is room for improvement?
Building a brand is never instant as you will appreciate. When you launch a platform like Boomin you don’t expect to immediately get everyone in market because those in market have been doing their research, are out viewing etc, so you build up your audience, some early in their journey, some ready to do business now and so on.
We are pleased with how our audience is building and although it is a low infantry market at present, we are very confident of driving a highly profitable relationship for every Agent. Quality is important to us and the feedback from Agents is that they want us to lead the way on quality business whether it is sales, lettings, mortgages or ancillary revenue. They want us to play a part in helping to manage the quantity, nurture and engage the audience to encourage them into the market.
We do recognise, and expected, that some Agents would achieve more volume than others whilst we grow our traffic although those who are maximising engagement are all winning much more. We are investing in marketing, have created new TV adverts that will go live at the end of this year, are No 1 on YouTube with over 1 million views and more subscribers than all the main classified advertising property portals put together, have achieved over 50% brand awareness already, so the strategy is working, it just takes time.
The more an Agent engages with our features, the more successful they are and the more they drive up their performance.
I don’t believe Agents just want volumes of leads, I believe they want qualified connections with motivated buyers and vendors as early in their journey as possible.
That’s what we are focused on delivering. I would encourage Agents to contact us to learn more about the power of deeper engagement our features can do for them.
Q: Boomin has already been rejected by a number of agents, and based on many of the comments by readers on EYE, this appears to be because the website is backed Michael and Kenny Bruce, formerly of Purplebricks. Do you think the Bruce brothers’ involvement in the portal is a ‘positive’ thing?
Undeniably the founders have divided opinion but as Boomin continues to evolve and agents engage more with the platform and the team, opinions are changing. At the outset Boomin launched with a record number of Agents and has since grown signings by over 55%. But it is also fair to say that some Agents are concerned about the intentions of the business, predominantly as a result of the involvement of our founders.
Michael and Kenny set out a vision to help Agents with the fundamental issues created by the dominance of property portals and have invested heavily with their own money to do so. They are the hardest working people I have ever met and everyone who meets them and works with them knows they are genuinely seeking to deliver the very best outcomes for Agents and consumers.
We accept that there will be a small number of Agents and commentators who will struggle to see beyond the history of Purplebricks. Michael and Kenny have been out of the business coming up to three years and it has been nearly five years since they ran the UK business. They are very engaging and will always meet Agents directly to discuss any issues they might have. I joined the business because of their passion for agency, Agents and the power of technology to give everyone a better experience and to bring Agents and their customers back together.
Their vision for Boomin was not only to create more transparency for consumers, as classified portals have made it incredibly hard for buyers and renters to get on the front foot, but also to put Agents back in the front and centre, back in control, by creating features that they work to their advantage, releasing all the depth of data for them and rewarding them for the relationships they make by sharing rewards that their customers help create.
So you can choose to like them or not like them (I don’t care for Jeff Bezos but I still shop on Amazon for value and convenience) and yes, I do believe having ex Agents and successful entrepreneurs in the property space is a good thing. Given the scale of the challenge I think we need proven leaders with Michael and Kenny’s drive and expertise if we are to effect positive and permanent change.
Q: Boomin recently launched its SmartVal property valuation tool, but how has this been received by agents?
Whilst there was some initial scepticism from some Agents there was also a genuine excitement to engage with a feature that involves valuations, putting the Agent front and centre particularly where agents have been involved in its creation. We have already launched version two of SmartVal as a result of feedback which takes Agent engagement and outcomes to the next level.
As you would expect with something new it takes time to get complete engagement from busy Agents. The key driver with this feature, is the connection with a real local expert. To deliver these in real time required Agents to shift to a more digital way of working. Text’s, after hours and at weekends. Some embraced this from the outset, some have taken time to adapt their internal processes. SmartVal did however get adoption very quickly and now we have around 80% of our Agents actively operating the feature.
Because SmartVal connects Agents with sellers and landlords, and we share the consumers details as soon as the submitted SV is reviewed by the consumer, Agents are able to make an immediate connection and begin to foster relationships, turning them into living room meetings and influencing them to the market earlier.
With most Agents and their teams embracing SV and with our offline process enabled last week, they are able to make sure no vendor is missed.
Q: According to Boomin, more than 40,000 SmartVals have been delivered to agents since the product was launched less than three months ago. How do you qualify the quality of those leads?
SmartVal has been quite incredible and shows the thirst of consumers for easy to use, time friendly features. With an average of 100,000 home sales a month in the UK, to surface 40,000 vendors in 8 weeks is quite amazing.
In order to secure a SmartVal vendors share details of their stage of readiness, details of their property, the condition, the value they believe it’s worth, even photos if they choose to. When an Agent submits their SmartVal, these details, together with the contact details, are shared with the Agent so they are pre-qualified.
We could have chosen to ask for less data, which obviously impacts the conversion rate, but the aim is to focus on quality and delivering as much detail as possible, giving Agents the best opportunity to build those relationships, influence decision making and go on to convert business.
Some Agencies who follow up quickly with vendors are reporting 24-hour turnarounds to living room valuation meetings and instructions within a week. Others are building those relationships and helping bring them to the market earlier over time.
Once an Agent has developed a relationship with a vendor, they can foster that relationship and ensure they are chosen for the instruction. It also means that the vendor is less likely to go and start new conversations with other Agents or send multiple leads elsewhere, if they are happy with the Agent they have built the relationship with, they stay connected.
The results so far have been better than expected. We didn’t expect to convert such high numbers to living room valuations so quickly which is great for Agents.
Q: What’s next in the planning pipeline for Boomin?
Lots. Everything we do builds on what has come before and solves problems for Agents and consumers. In addition to the V2s we have just launched ChainMaker, which has already received thousands of buyers registering their interest in properties sold subject to contract and we are launching a Boomin podcast series this month. Looking ahead we are introducing technology to generate mortgages and landlords for mortgages and we’re taking new homes to a whole new level to name a few.
Marketing remains a constant priority, with more investment, new campaigns and adverts, continued focus on YouTube and social as we build communities of fans for local Agents and the Boomin brand.
We are ramping up in Playground, with over 30 new major Retailers, adding to 100,000’s of products on the platform, making UX improvements, adding exciting exposure and functionality for new homes, significantly increasing the 2,200 Professionals we have on the platform and making interesting and engaging connections from Playground back to live listings for Agents.
MatchMaker will be a key focus next year as there are endless opportunities to deliver ready-made matches to Agents. We are also developing richer reporting, creating back office improvements and widgets of our features for Agents’ websites and developing our App.
Everything moves so fast at Boomin and it’s shaping up to be a very big year ahead. We are all excited to continue growing and delivering more for our partners and customers.
Oh do be quiet, none of us care and refuse to help you make your next millions. We all know that you’ll sell out at the first opportunity, Boomin is nothing more than a RM/ZP wannabe cash cow.
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These two are amazing, the Nick Leeson of agency. I take my hat off to them. Made millions from a business that never made a net profit and now has people pumping money in again!!
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They accused agents of ripping off the public. Now they want to help us ‘rip off’ people. Can’t have it both ways matey. You tried to destroy high street agents now want to be their friend. No chance.
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The journey between ‘keen to’, ‘seeking to’ and ‘will do’ is paved with tears and a lot of cash. The April free trial deadline may prove to make fools of them.
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The headline is so ridiculous, I didn’t waste my time reading the article and just scrolled to the comments for some entertainment.
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Michael and Kenny Bruce “Seeking to deliver the very best outcome for Michael and Kenny Bruce”. There you go I’ve fixed it for you.
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We’ve got agents best interests at heart, ‘onest guv. Would I lie to you? Chambourcy nouveau as the french would say.
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Patronising article. I only know one agent who has given the Bustin Boomin a free trial. Virtually NO leads. Lots of BS. Will come off in April after “free trail” ends. However good this website might be, most agents simply will not use it after the vitriolic abuse received from purplebricks. If agents won’t use it the public will never get to see the stock. They certainly will never see mine. (Nor will Zoopla – but that’s another story!)
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Just because you say it doesn’t mean its true. what a load of waffle
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We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
Zoopla are hounding me daily to re-sign with them so that they can hit me with a 7.5% price hike next year, for what? I fired them because my local pet shop had more quality leads.
Rightmove are Rightmove, and we know what’s coming.
I don’t know of another industry that gets routinely shafted by the suppliers that need them to survive.
There has to be another way…..
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“They are very engaging and will always meet Agents directly to discuss any issues they might have.” Oh really? OK here’s some honesty, what the Bruce brothers have done to industry is disgraceful.
It’s like a victim of a burglary, asking the burglar to help tidy up after they have ransacked their property and stolen all their valuables.
You cannot take a massive dump on an industry, make massive profits from it and then wonder why people don’t react positively to your new business. Are they really that dense?
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I’m actually shocked how many agents have signed with them albeit in a free capacity at the moment, they must have short memories or the pure hatred for Rightmove has overcome their senses.
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I had a look at the list and it does include several franchise brands where the franchisor will have signed up for the free trial on behalf of franchisees but they might not not sign up at the end of it.
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Like most I am here for the comments. Athena, a career in stand up comedy beckons.
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Come on PIE, you’re supposed to be better than this.
Just repeating the drivel pumped out by the Bruce brothers’ egos, or what they call their PR department is not good enough.
This comment section should not be where their interview gets analysed, your editorial should be….
Boomin is a hopeless disaster with virtually no customer position. Nobody is using it to buy or rent their next home. As I have said before, we have had one sales lead since April and two lettings ones. It will die a death the minute they ask agents to pay for it.
Nobody, but nobody has done more harm to the entire residential property industry in the last 50 years than the Bruce brothers, to no purpose whatsoever. ‘Disruption’ that clears out deadwood and leaves a healthier system for agents and their clients could be a good thing I can completely see, but that is not what they did.
Purplebricks sold/sells a bare faced lie to its customers. Its investors have lost many millions of pounds and the damage that it does to the industry as a whole benefits nobody. The Bruces’ avarice knows no bounds nor do they carry any compassion for the lives that they have ruined along the way.
PIE should do better than just repeating their hollow justification for the damage that they have done.
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Hopefully, whats happened is, loads of Agents have signed up for the free trial, given the Brucies great hope that this is going to be huge, they’ve pumped a couple more million in and then in April all the agents withdraw their support and properties leaving them high and dry…
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Love this – I so wish it was true that all the agents conspired together to get them to waste a load of money and then pull out, but unfortunately I don’t think its what happened, and whilst I hope its what will happen, there will still be a load of agents that pump money into it every month as they have to be on every portal – even though Boomin isn’t a portal.
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I predict come March/April the free period will be extended. It will be dressed up as helping the industry etc but in reality they will have had virtually no one commit to pay.
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How to have a full on Boomin advert hidden (not very well hidden) in an attempt to make it look like a nice Q&As for the industry.
April 2022 will be interesting when there is a bottom line for Boomin agents.
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Too many comments to make…..struggling not to explode….most comments ending with them being called bankers, well kind of.
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Any estate agent that has any ounce of self respect will ignore these bores.
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As the kids tend to say these days; GFSF.
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If Tomorrow Never Comes
(an acrostic)
Believe me when I tell you straight –
Our new site will be so great that
Over other sites we’ll lead,
Making US the one you’ll need.
If I’ve managed to make you swallow that..
Nip ‘round….and watch me eat my hat!
Bucket loads of cash I’ll bring, for
Our new online offering
Offers you referral fees –
More than there are leaves on trees!
I might as well admit right now though,
No one but me seems to think so.
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