- Automated chat-based lead qualification tools are on the rise in the industry as agents learn to deal with a growing list of online lead sources and their respective quality. The more data, the smarter the solution.
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Automated lead qualification company HelloAlex announced this week the acquisition of Botplan, a chat tool for engaging online leads. Financial details were not revealed. All of Botplan’s IP and customer information will fall under HelloAlex’s oversight.
Based in Tampa, Florida, HelloAlex was a 2018 Inman Innovator Award finalist, and it received a four-star Tech Review in January, 2018. Botplan was initially reviewed in 2017.
Photo credit: PRNewsfoto/HelloAlex.io
Botplan customers are actively being notified of the news. Jatinder Singh, CEO of Botplan, will be moving on after the acquisition is finalized in 30-45 days, said Dave Fulk, co-founder and COO of HelloAlex.
“Botplan has been successfully servicing the industry for a few years with a loyal following, and we’re new to the game,” Fulk said. “Their data and chat history is extremely valuable to us. The more data, the smarter your AI solution.”
The two software products are part of a growing presence of chat-based lead cultivation tools in the real estate industry. The need to ensure lead quality comes at a time when agents are flush with online sources for finding buyers and sellers, but with some of those sources providing offering lead quality.
In April, Inman reported on a class action lawsuit filed against realtor.com for its lead quality.
That same month, after a new app by lead provider and appointment setter SetSchedule was reviewed, Inman has been innundated with emails about the company’s lead quality.
In brief, both HelloAlex and Botplan offer products that engage potential clients in bot- or artificial intelligence-driven conversations designed to ensure the person is sincerely interested in the help of an agent or the agent’s listing. Upon qualification, an actual agent personally intervenes.
Each product has a range of additional features for marketing, tracking, reporting and unearthing public online data about a lead.
In January, 2018, HelloAlex had six employees. It now has 26, and hasn’t yet finalized arrangements with staff from Botplan.
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