Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Team from a report by Letting Agent Today. Read the original article for full details.
Agents 'Automating Chaos' by Rushing to AI and PropTech, Warns Consultant
Letting agencies are pouring money into AI and automation tools that will make their businesses worse, according to Sally Lawson, founder of Agent Rainmaker. Lawson says the rush to automate, driven by tighter margins and the compliance burden of the Renters' Rights Act, is hiding a deeper problem: most agencies were never 'designed' in the first place.
"You can't automate what you never built," she says. "Most agencies didn't get planned, they just happened. Someone was good at letting property, the phone kept ringing, so they hired help."
She describes how agencies can reach a point where, ten years on, there are twelve people, six hundred properties on the books, and no processes that anyone in the business could lay out in the exact same way. "Automating that just makes a broken business break faster," she warns.
Hiring by Accident
Lawson adds that agencies which grew by accident also tend to have hired by accident, ending up with teams built for yesterday's business rather than today's. "People get taken on for the job which needed doing at the time. The business moves on, the job changes shape, and the person is still there. Often loyal, often great at something, just not the 'something' that the agency now relies on to grow sustainably," she says.
"Nobody wants to have that conversation, so they buy software instead and hope it fills the gap. It rarely does."
Technology Is Not the Enemy
Lawson insists she is not against technology — in fact, the opposite, provided it is planned and implemented properly. "I've built my career on systems that bring in business while people sleep. But every one of them worked because the thinking came first," she says.
"Automation is a multiplier. Multiply a well-built agency and you get scale. Multiply a mess and you get an even bigger mess, with a monthly subscription."
She is urging agency owners to map how their business really operates and decide which roles actually need filling, as well as to consider whether physical staff are needed in the office or whether external resources such as virtual assistants and AI tools are better suited.
Source: Letting Agent Today