Nearly everybody runs their lives from their phones these days, so it amazed Adam Stupak and Jordon Keltz that brokers, landlords and owners weren’t handling sales leads the same way. The two came together in 2018 with chief technology officer Collin Rodolitz to create a more efficient way to manage real estate leads. “When half of these leads are lost, you obviously can lose a tremendous opportunity and revenue,” Stupak said.

They created SpaceIt, which automatically funnels information from phone calls, texts, emails and listing sites into a centralized, online lead-tracking platform that agents can access in real time, on the go, through their mobile devices. Gone, they say, are the days of relying on written notes and unorganized agents; of forgetful receptionists and forgotten voicemails; and of waiting a day or two to reconcile notes and to direct action. Stupak said the product is tech forward but simple to adapt to and user-friendly. According to Stupak, clients have said: “We love the automation SpaceIt offers us. We no longer have to write anything down or guess who is calling and what property they are interested in. We have all our leads in one place with visibility to the source of the lead to allow us to optimize our marketing and track ROI.’”

He spoke with Commerce + Communities Today contributing editor Paul Bergeron.

Why did you build SpaceIt?

There are fewer and fewer calls being made and a lot more texts being sent. We brought together a group of advisors in technology and telecom, mobile and real estate to solve the problem by creating a lead-engagement system that can capture leads via any channel. SpaceIt was designed to bridge the gap between those looking for space and landlords/owners and brokers representing that space. The major industry issue is lost leads and poor response times. Immediate response time is key to successful customer acquisition.

Explain how SpaceIt turns calls and texts into leads that are easier to act on more quickly.

Signage for available units typically reflects a tracking phone number to call or text, which is provided on our listing via a customized or branded QR code. These calls automatically capture the caller’s name. The phone numbers are filtered through a sophisticated name-look-up database. The database matches the cell phone number to the person whose number is associated to the mobile phone. It’s not a typical caller ID. It has an 80-plus percent success rate of finding the correct name. This technology allows SpaceIt to automatically capture who is calling, their phone number and the associated property they are inquiring about.

Agents can then promptly share marketing materials via text in real time with the new lead. During the call, the agent could say: “While we’re on the phone, let me just share a few documents with you. I could share a URL,” etc. The parties can also text back and forth. The lead then receives a text message with the documents. All interactions are documented, providing a history of what was shared and if the documents were opened. Voicemails are recorded so they don’t go onto the agent’s phones where they are potentially lost. There’s never that “Oh, it’s on this agent’s phone and in this agent’s mailbox.” All members of the team have access to view it. SpaceIt can answer calls in multiple languages. “Press 2 for Spanish,” etc., and then the lead is routed to agents who speak that language.

How else does SpaceIt capture leads?

Just consider all the channels used today. There are the traditional ones such as phone, text, email and website listings. There are social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook and others. SpaceIt captures leads from social media channels, as well as listing sites such as CoStar and Crexi, to have all leads from all sources in one database. And QR codes are everywhere. SpaceIt is set up to leverage QR codes and brand those QR codes, as well. The system works through open APIs. It’s very simple for us to do. We connect to it, we pull in [the listing and its details], and it’s done.

I understand that lead-sharing is another benefit. Please explain.

Leads can be shared with other agents or other teams should [a property representative] want to refer a different property [represented by a different agent]. Phone-routing priorities, [meaning who gets what leads if they’re available], can be determined, too, which can save time.

What is the “SpaceIt way” of tracking leads?

Every lead that would typically be received by one individual agent now gets routed to a team of agents, automating the workflow to make sure the lead is responded to in real time and properly followed up with. The lead detail and all the follow-up [communications and materials] are captured in the software, as well as part of the history, including a recording of the call for training purposes. Agents use their own custom dashboards where they see their current leads, new leads that have come in and the open leads that are available to claim. All follow-up communication and the general status of the leads is provided. There are variable workflows based on the user and sources: for commercial owners, brokers, individual properties and a unit within a property when space within a shopping center becomes available.

How granular is the system’s reporting?

SpaceIt provides analytics [like a lead pipeline report] that show all activity. We can track response time and other call stats, such as the number of leads that were answered and how many were missed, and then determine a miss rate.

What other features does SpaceIt have that make it easier to do business?

There is a full calendar integration, so not only are the scheduled tours visible but agents can also connect to their personal calendars. When booking tours, this helps agents see what times they have available. You can change everything about it to fit your needs. It can send reminders and alerts.

Are you a customer relationship management system?

We can act as a lite CRM for companies that aren’t currently using a CRM, or we can integrate seamlessly into a workflow where we export into many other CRMs.

What does it cost to use SpaceIt?

It’s software, and we charge per agent per month with a minimum of five agents for a client. We require a minimum of an annual contract, but there is flexibility. There are telecom passthrough charges, but there is not an administration charge for executives to view the analytics. Agents can be trained to use SpaceIt within an hour. We have a team of developers and a support team that helps clients with training and managing accounts.

What type of financial backing has the product received?

We are well-funded, backed by a number of prominent New York real estate families. We have raised over $2 million in our initial seed round, which we have used primarily for technology development and product research.