Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Original article by Somos Cidade
Two decades after the beginning of the creation of a planned neighborhood in a family farm area, Cidade Pedra Branca has been reaping the results of another transformation: the digital one. The consolidation of the project as an international reference community in sustainable urban planning, located in Palhoça, at Greater Florianópolis (SC), as well as the growth of the group – with the creation of new companies and addresses – led Pedra Branca Empreendimentos Imobiliários to invest in information technology and digital communication to improve management.
The adoption of technological tools and the incorporation of digital services and new communication and marketing strategies into the processes provided greater organization and transparency, as well as the possibility of measuring results for a more efficient management and constant improvement of results. This digital transformation process has been happening gradually over the last four years, involving the analysis of the customer journey, capturing and managing leads, content generation, communication and marketing strategies, digitization of processes and optimizing sales stages.
“All this generates a lot of work, persistence, a focused team, a connection between Marketing and Sales and an emphasis on results on the part of the board. Our CEO, Marcelo Gomes, has always provoked us in our management meetings, and this process has always been extremely challenging and enriching”, says Clarice Mendonça de Oliveira, Marketing Manager at Grupo Pedra Branca. Graduated in Business Administration, with an MBA in Marketing and Agile Project Management and a specialization in Digital Marketing, Clarice reveals that, little by little, the reports were being simplified in a monthly polishing process, being adjusted “to the right questions”. “In this period, from 2017 until now, we saw the need to consolidate performance indicators and change them as they became obsolete”, she says.
The customer journey
The transformation process started, more specifically, with the participation of a team from Pedra Branca in the 2017 edition of Conecta Imobi, one of the most important technology, marketing and sales events in the real estate market. “Our objective at the event was to collect news for our sector. We left there with the intention of mapping the journey of the Pedra Branca customer and, from there, nurturing with the right content, at the right time; put intelligence and automation and measure results. How many things opened up from these three points…”, remembers Clarice.
The first step was to analyze the different content that could be produced for the market, for its different audiences, defining the appropriate personas and strategies. “Then we move on to the second point: putting intelligence and automation. For this, we evaluated several software available on the market, we benchmarked with many companies in our segment, listened to and tested some startup products and services. We needed to have this whole journey clearer,” she explains. The customer journey was then traced as follows:
From the understanding of the customer journey, the team advanced in the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system used by the company. “We tested the pre-sales system with an outsourced company for a few months, but we concluded what we already knew: there is no way to sell Pedra Branca without knowing Pedra Branca! It is broad, complex, deep. There are many concepts that need to arrive before the residential or commercial unit. You have to understand Pedra Branca to buy Pedra Branca”, argues Clarice.
Thus, in 2018, the team participated in Conecta Imobi for the second time with this issue in mind. “We came back excited to review our website and redesign it to help boost our sales. We have included price consultations, product photos and more complete descriptions”, she says. That year, the company and associated businesses were considered “one platform”. “With new places emerging, we needed to use this asset among the group’s companies, to strengthen the whole. Our content platform now embraces the six companies of the group: Cidade Pedra Branca, Passeio Pedra Branca, Passeio Primavera, Mercadoteca Floripa, SAE – Sistema de água e Esgoto (Water and Sewage System) and Passeio Endereços”, explains Clarice.
The strategy was structured as follows:
Leads: capture and management
The defined strategies allowed the company to take greater steps forward in the management of Pedra Branca leads in 2018. The CRM system was changed and the team dedicated itself to connecting the systems and tracking all possible information. “We were able to follow the journey of practically all customers, especially those coming from digital capture campaigns. Monitoring takes place through software that helps us map the customer’s step by step”, says Gabriela de Moura Rosa, Customer Management Analyst at Pedra Branca. Graduated in Social Communication, with a degree in Journalism, she is responsible for the monthly analysis of indicators together with the help of the company’s commercial team.
From the moment of the first conversion or interest in a real estate product, the customer “stays” on the marketing platform, RD Station, through which the content that generates the most clicks and the digital campaigns that generate the most results are mapped. “All this combined with our CRM, the Sales Builder, where it is possible to closely monitor the performance of the sales team with each client”, explains Gabriela. The CRM allows the monitoring of visits to the showroom and visits to the properties available in stock, in addition to the generation of proposals and, later, according to the evolution of the process, the generation of a purchase and sale agreement and digital signature through the DocuSign platform.
“In addition, we have a call tracking system by type of media, through which we are able to identify all phone calls and the respective origins of digital leads”, adds Clarice. This tool also made it possible to assess the quality of the sales team’s telephone service. “We had some very frightening examples, which showed us the need for continuous training. It is a challenge to keep the team of real estate brokers always ‘sharp’ with the concepts, since, in general, in this segment, the turnover is very high. But it takes persistence and maintenance of this process,” she considers.
On the occasion, it was decided to implement a chatbot on the website with the objectives of serving the lead (lead nurturing and forwarding to the CRM system), diverse service (questions about the neighborhood, student visits to the showroom, etc.) and customer service (on billings, statements, with guidelines on how the customer could obtain this information autonomously). “Not everything worked out as we would like, but we matured a lot and involved other areas of the company in the innovation process, which was a very positive thing”, she admits. Currently, the form-format chatbot is being replaced by a WhatsApp format. “We tested it and this is a very popular channel”, says Clarice.
Sales: efficiency and results
The process of implementing the CRM system, with integration via API (Application Programming Interface) to the ERP software, Sienge, had a great impact on sales optimization. “The process has become more agile, more dynamic and more isonomic in dealing with real estate agencies”, says Marcelo Bonnassis, Commercial Manager at Pedra Branca. He says that, before the CRM, the information was organized in Excel spreadsheets and the proposals were handled with the brokers of the six accredited real estate agencies via WhatsApp, which often caused disparities between negotiations, such as flexible delivery deadlines of documentation, etc.
“With the implementation, the entire commercial relationship scale is automated, leaving the rules well defined and reducing human error,” he celebrates. He exemplifies by citing that, when a real estate agency registers the reservation of a property, the system itself informs that the broker has 72 hours to upload the necessary documentation after the proposal is approved. After this deadline, the system itself drops the reservation of the property, which becomes available for sale again. “There is no more ‘Bonna’s hand in this’. Everything is very clear and transparent”, he reinforces. The whole process became automated: proposal, proposal approval, counterproposal, insertion of documentation, checking, contract preparation, contract signature.
The signing of the contract is another step that was qualified from the digitization. The documents, with about 60 pages – including contract and descriptive memorandum, were prepared and sent, in hard copy, to customers, who needed to initial all pages and validate the signature at a notary’s office, totaling, on average, 20 days for these procedures. “With digitization, through the DocuSign platform, the process now takes around 5 days”, celebrates Bonna. The procedure is accompanied via a videoconference with the client, for clarification of doubts.
For the manager, the digital transformation made it possible to increase productivity and the detailed analysis of processes for continuous improvement. “It has greatly improved my day-to-day as an area manager. I became much more productive and I can do more, with more quality. I can work with the information based on the data that we generate for the decision-making of managers”, he emphasizes. According to him, the main indicators monitored are the gross PSV, the net PSV, the percentage of “down payment” (amount received at the time of sale), the percentage of discount granted on the real estate product, the time of conclusion of the contract and the NPS (Net Promoter Score) obtained from satisfaction surveys carried out with Pedra Branca’s customers and with visitors to the sales showroom. “Another indicator is the conversion of leads that enter the showroom and end up buying the property. Our target is 10% of the total visitors who have identified one of our real estate products,” he explains.
In addition to monitoring the results through digital platforms, the company maintains direct contact with the sales team, that is, with the real estate brokers who are at the forefront of the process. “Monthly, we talk to each one who sold and we manage to extract details that they would not be able to put in the ‘system’. In this way, we reconcile this human contact with the process, not only visualizing numbers, but also seeing the people involved”, reinforces Gabriela.
Technology, communication and marketing
In 2019, the focus shifted to making people’s experience in the communication journey more welcoming, including technology in marketing. “Our focus has shifted to measuring results and looking deeper into our content generation process, capturing leads and understanding the origin of leads, nurturing, managing leads in CRM, origin of the sale, improving the buyer profile”, explains Clarice. Since 2020, attention has turned to the consolidation of storytelling, with the production of content about cities, business experiences, the institutional side that is related to the mission, vision, values, and growth to new locations. “All this is content, and all this helps to sell”, points out the executive.
This new strategy has been considered fundamental for Shaiane Konrad Bogeo, marketing analyst at Pedra Branca. “For me, communication needs to have storytelling. Because of this, I seek to link the contents of the different media, according to ‘their tone of voice’. So, normally, they all talk about the same thing, but in a different way. This gives strength to the brand and ensures good communication. Everything is interconnected, from social networks to the email marketing we send to the commercial base”, she comments. Graduated in Business Administration with emphasis in Marketing and postgraduate in Digital Marketing and Social Media, Shaiane is responsible for planning the content that will be produced for the channels of all Pedra Branca Group companies, adapting it to each profile. “The tone of voice in each profile varies from company to company. For example, at Mercadoteca Floripa the language ends up being lighter, relaxed and on the wave of memes. On Passeio Primavera, it is more technological, younger and, now, familiar. At Passeio Pedra Branca, the language is in a very familiar and retail moods. And on the Cidade Pedra Branca’s page, it’s informal without being too relaxed, because on this channel we talk about products and commercial actions”, she details.
The Inbound Marketing strategy was developed with the objective of bringing the buyer and the product closer through a genuine relationship. “Of course, to promote this type of relationship, we need to initially focus on personalization”, highlights Ricardo de Bem, a partner at Blocco Ag., a digital marketing agency that works for Pedra Branca. According to him, the first step was to identify and qualify Pedra Branca’s contact base according to their interests. “With these researches, it was possible to identify some niches of interests, and from that, model the conversations in the right directions. Each user began to receive personalized communication according to their preferences”, he details. Ricardo highlights that the focus on the best experience with the brand was the motivation for structuring the entire strategy. “The idea of promoting a good relationship between the interested parties and the construction company aimed at success for both: acquisition of the ideal property on the one hand, and the marketing of their products on the other”, he adds.
Considering all the digital channels involved – blog, email marketing, chatbot and social media – he highlights the effectiveness of email marketing. “Sometimes the success you get through this channel can seem unlikely. The curious thing is that, as the number of digital channels grows, e-mail maintains its position as one of the most profitable channels in terms of sales”, he reveals.
Strategic objectives
Clarice Mendonça shares two of the Pedra Branca Group’s major strategic goals and some of the actions taken to achieve them:
1.Make the soul of the brand the customer’s desire
“For this, we work to generate unforgettable experiences: events at our locations (except now during the pandemic period), monitoring and responses by an internal team of reactions, comments and shares on our social networks, visits by university students, customers and people in general in our showroom.”
2. Increase the branding awareness of the Pedra Branca platform
“Generating several new videos a year and an infinity of new texts about the companies of the group, in addition to countless photos, monthly marketing emails, landing pages by products or campaigns, rich materials, lead generation and lectures we give – in which we estimate the number of people impacted by the brand per year.
As Marketing Manager of Grupo Pedra Branca, my goals are to keep marketing investments within the budgeted levels for the year and I also consider an analysis in relation to the total PSV of the product’s life (our segment has a long journey from launch to after sales). I also track the total number of leads and visitors, the percentage of unique visitors that come to our showroom and that show interest in real estate products, the percentage of unique digital leads that visit every month and the number of leads we capture for our showroom, considering the efforts of Pedra Branca and the efforts of partner real estate agencies, global access to the group’s websites and the volume of interaction on our social networks. And we also monitor all negative mentions, which are all answered and brought to the attention of all company managers, for alignment of responses and for dealing with problems.”
Individual feedback on each issue raised is extremely important for the group. “It’s a way for us to be close to our audience, to answer questions, criticisms and praise as well. When we do this, we are able to tell these people that, yes, we are concerned with solving a problem, that we are available for anything and, also, we are able to make it clear what is part of our administration. Many messages are not always within our power to resolve, but we always seek to understand and engage the parties involved so as not to leave anyone without an answer,” says Shaiane.