Commercial PropertyPrudential Explores Ways To Capitalize On eRealty Acquisition
Prudential Real Estate Affiliates Inc. is exploring ways to become its own listings portal, and may capitalize on its affiliates" and other brokers" listings to deliver "qualified leads" and collect referral fees from its affiliates.
Prudential has ambitious plans - it just doesn"t know how to pull it all off, just yet. All the company knows so far is that it has acquired one of the leading virtual office Website brokerages in the nation, eRealty. It has bought some great technology from eRealty; it has some eRealty brokerages to integrate into the system; and it has eRealty"s former CEO Russell Capper to help Prudential integrate eRealty"s lead generation/management technologies into a profit-making lead generation machine.
According to Chris Abel, spokesperson for Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., there are a "number of Internet homebuyers that we are not able to capture that are being captured otherwise."
"Our affiliates are missing those leads," says Abel. "If we can capture them, and it is determined that they would not have come to Prudential.com otherwise, then we will charge a referral fee to the broker affiliate."
Only one way to do that jumps to mind - the consumer will have to register, and they aren"t going to register unless there is a strong temptation to do so - to see listings. And if they have to register to see listings, that will make Prudential.com the biggest virtual office Website (VOW) around.
"We are not exactly sure what the fee will be or how it will work," says Abel. "The thought is that if they go through Prudential.com, and we are able to capture those leads and qualify them, then they are a bona fide lead. We can base it on closed business."
The lead generation-referral fee idea is only in the preliminary stages, says Abel.
"Nothing has been decided so far," he says. "We are still trying to figure out how to integrate eRealty"s technology and how to integrate eRealty brokerages. Our original plan was to have those companies absorb the eRealty companies, and we are still trying to work through that."
Don"t you mean absorbing the agents?
"Right," says Abel. "They had some actual offices, too."
How does Prudential plan to capture the consumer?
"We have a significant amount of traffic for our real estate site," says Abel, "and we think we can generate even more. We"ll be able to tap into the MLSs..."
Do you mean IDX and VOWs? Other brokers" listings?
"What would happen is that in each MLS market," explains Abel, "we would ask one of our affiliates to provide access to the MLS, and we would put that on Prudential.com."
The Prudential broker will supply their own and other brokers" listings. When a consumer comes to Prudential.com, then "our thinking is that they will register at a certain point, and once they register, they will be on their local Prudential Website at that point," he says.
Does Pru Affiliates have any cities where there are competing brokers? How will you choose which brokers get the leads?
"We haven"t crossed that bridge yet," says Abel.
"Is this what Russell Capper is going to be in charge of? Does he have a title yet at Prudential?
"He will be in charge of the integration of technology into Prudential.com," answers Abel, "more than broker outreach."
Bad news for Realtor.com?
Currently, Realtor.com is supplying listings to Prudential.com. Is there room for free-access listings and register-to-see listings on the same Website?
"I can"t answer that yet," says Abel. "We"re not sure yet. We are still trying to figure that out. We obviously have a great relationship with Realtor.com, and we don"t want anything to jeopardize that.
Does Realtor.com know they might be in jeopardy?
"Our agreement has not changed," says Abel.
Do you have a contract? When does the contract end?
"I don"t know the answer to that question," he says.
Would you dump Realtor.com?
"That" s not our intention, I don"t think," says Abel.
If there are so many questions about how to make the most of eRealty and its assets, why did Prudential buy it?
"It was an opportunity that we couldn"t pass up," says Abel. "We knew it was going to be a pretty lengthy integration process - 18 to 24 months. We had to make the acquisition before figuring out a lot of the logistics."
How are affiliates responding? How do they feel about referral fee leads?
"Very positive to this point," says Abel, "We haven"t had a lot of discussion about the referral fees. We are focusing more on the integration of the technology and eRealty operations at this point."
Will you require your affiliates to submit listings?
"We are not going to require our brokers to do anything," says Abel. "It is voluntary whether they want to participate or not."
As a major VOW operator, will Pru revisit some of eRealty"s traffic-producing relationships, such as with Yahoo!?
"We haven"t had a chance to delve into any of those relationships yet," says Abel.