Proptech and the OSC

Does anyone know what that actually means?

The OSC is supposed to be the tech person on the team, right? I’ll let you in on a little secret: for all the tech I use to make my day more efficient and communicate better, I find myself identifying with Luddites more than I care to admit.

This week I read a post from someone on LinkedIn who was really frustrated with a closet supplier. They wanted a quote and not to spend hours in an in-home consultation. Instead as they said, ‘they got put into a process just because it was ‘the process’’.

So, how does this relate? Well, it had me thinking about the mental gymnastics we go through to gatekeep pricing and details from our potential customers just to score a meeting with them.

For subscribers: Do we need every single app? When does it enter the sales process? What about interactive floor plans and pricing on the website? Does this completely remove the need for an OSC?

Read below for my take on how proptech gone wrong turns into a gatekeeping strategy that turns off your customer and diminishes your relationship.

---

Let’s Talk About Gatekeeping

The irony is not lost on me that I’m about to gatekeep free subscribers (send me a line and I’ll unlock the rest of this post for you!) - but let’s talk about it with your builder and OSC programming.

The reason I’m bringing up gatekeeping right now is because it’s a part of all the tech and apps you are getting bombarded with right now. Here’s how I see it play out:

Builder installs cool new tech. Builder wants to see return on that investment. Tech company knows how important this is, so they gatekeep the basic information of the builder behind their tech. Now the customer has to use the tech and boom, they send you a report saying 99% of users answered their questions!

So you’re telling me I have to give up a lot of personal information, download apps, etc. etc. before I can see a floorplan?