ESG
The acronym ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance. It is a holistic approach to creating and sustaining long-term value for business with a focus on the impact of the business on the environment and society. ESG is used as a framework, therefore, its application will be different for every organisation as organisations might have a different impact on the three focus areas.
If your business isn’t focused on ESG it should be.
Put simply, an ESG approach to business will reduce risk, elevate your social license, and help you attract investment, customers, and staff. ESG practices will drive innovation and efficiency, enhance employee engagement, and strengthen community relations. An ESG focussed business will build a positive reputation while contributing to long-term sustainability, growth and success aligned with ethical and responsible practices.
When it comes to off the plan projects, there are several areas that require an ESG lens, however, one area where ESG is not often considered is sales.
How can Release.Me support ESG practices?
Environmental
Focusing just on the act of selling real estate, the biggest environmental considerations would be the waste produced by printed sales and marketing materials, the construction of temporary sales offices on site, and the impact of potential purchasers travelling to and from site for the release.
Release.Me is a digital platform that manages the release of off the plan real estate.
Release.Me eliminates the need for the old-fashioned glossy release brochures, with all documents relevant to the release uploaded to the platform and available for purchasers to download. Purchasers can participate in the release form anywhere in the world, eliminating the need to travel to site. Release.Me will save costs, reduce waste and reduce the carbon emissions associated with travel.
The requirement for a temporary or pop-up sales office for the release or ongoing sale of property may be unnecessary for some projects, as Release.Me helps to facilitate both the release and ‘buy now’ sales digitally.
Social
Diversity, Inclusion and Equal Opportunity are key considerations of any business with an ESG mindset. When selling real estate these considerations relate to your customers and your sales processes.
Release.Me uses an algorithm to allocate property to interested applicants. The algorithm does not recognise ethnicity, age, gender, race, religion or sexual orientation and where there are multiple applicants with the same property preference, the algorithm will allocate the property randomly. Release.Me removes all possibility of conscious or sub-conscious bias. Every person who participates in a release via the Release.Me platform will have the same opportunity as any other person.
Release.Me is an online platform, that allows interested buyers to participate in the release from any location and on any device. When properties are released via Release.Me customers have hours or days (depending on the seller’s preference) to submit their application, it is not first come, first served. Every applicant has the same opportunity to secure their desired property regardless of the time at which they submit their application. This process eliminates the traditional first come, first served model, where participants are required to be in front of a computer or on site at a specified time.
Historically customers have queued for days to secure properties. This fixed-time, first come, first served process excludes or makes it difficult for a large portion of the community to participate including:
- Parents
- Carers
- People who have to work at that time
- People with a disability (1 in 5 Australians)
- People who are interstate or overseas
When you consider that people will often be applying for properties across multiple estates, often unsuccessfully, it’s not just a matter of taking one day off or getting a babysitter for one afternoon – the process can take weeks or months.
Release.Me is inclusive, there is no need to turn up to site to queue for the sales office to open, and there is no need to sit by a computer as if you were trying to buy Taylor Swift concert tickets. Purchasers can participate in a release in their own time from anywhere in the world knowing that they have the same opportunity as every other participant.
When sellers use Release.Me to release property to the market, every purchaser has an equal opportunity to secure a property regardless of who they are, where they are or what their circumstance is.
Governance
Governance in ESG relates to the checks and balances that ensure the integrity of the business’s decision-making process, eliminating corruption and fraud.
To protect purchasers, the Release.Me platform is only available to licenced real estate agents. Furthermore, the allocation of the properties is managed by the Release.Me algorithm, there is no opportunity for corruption in the allocation process – either perceived or real. Purchasers can participate in the release process knowing that the game isn’t rigged and that they have the same opportunity as every other participant.
Adopting Release.Me for the release of your off the plan real estate will build trust in your brand. It will signal to your customers and stakeholders that you care about the impact of your business on the environment, that you strive for Diversity Inclusion and Equal Opportunity and that you will not tolerate corruption in the sales process. It will attract like-minded investors, employees and customers and contribute to the long-term growth and success of your business.
Book a demo at https://release.me/book-a-demo