Because We've Always Done It That Way with SJ Taylor

Why do so many businesses keep doing things in ways that no longer make sense?In this episode of The Viking Chats, Kristjan is joined by SJ Taylor of Greenhouse OS for a wide-ranging conversation about estate agency, lettings, technology, AI and one of the most dangerous phrases in business:“Because we’ve always done it that way.”SJ’s route into property was, by her own admission, fairly typical. She fell into estate agency, started as a junior negotiator with Countrywide and went on to spend more than two decades working across sales, lettings, operations and technology.Along the way, she helped steady and rebuild a struggling lettings operation, worked through acquisitions, rebrands and rapid business growth, and developed a deep understanding of what happens when good people are let down by bad systems, poor training or processes nobody has stopped to question.That experience now shapes her work with Greenhouse OS, a Salesforce-based CRM platform designed to give estate and letting agents more freedom to adapt, automate and innovate.But this is not really an episode about software.It is a conversation about how businesses think.Kristjan and SJ explore why so many teams become trapped in inefficient processes, why technology is often implemented badly, and why innovation rarely succeeds when a business simply buys a new platform and expects transformation to happen on its own.They discuss the burden placed on property managers, the need for better training and professionalisation across the lettings sector, and the damaging attitudes that can develop when teams are overwhelmed, underprepared and left to spend their days handling complaints rather than building relationships.They also challenge one of agency’s favourite sayings: “people buy from people.”Of course they do. But they buy from people they know, like and trust. If those people are too busy with repetitive administration to answer properly, listen carefully or add real value, then the human element is already being lost.SJ explains how AI can take on the high-volume, repetitive work that people either dislike or struggle to do consistently. Used well, it does not remove the need for people. It gives them more time to do the work only people can do well: building trust, understanding motivation, negotiating, advising and helping customers make decisions.The conversation covers automated viewing bookings, prospecting, feedback, data, CRM migration, customer experience and why sixty-two percent of enquiries now arrive while agents are closed.It also gets into the uncomfortable reality of technology adoption.Why do some businesses implement a new system and see transformational results within weeks, while others introduce the same technology and conclude that it does not work?Often, the difference is not the software. It is the thinking, consultation, training and implementation behind it.As SJ puts it, people are like water: they will always find the path of least resistance. If old processes remain available, teams will often return to them, especially when change has been forced upon them without explanation, support or a clear understanding of the problem being solved.Kristjan argues that technology should be treated like the head of a new department. You would not hire someone to lead a major function, put them quietly in a corner and expect them to transform the business without introduction, authority, training or structural change. Yet that is effectively how many companies adopt software.From Yorkshire sayings and sausage-making equipment to AI agents and customer data, this is a candid, funny and practical conversation about business change.It is for anyone who has ever looked at a process and wondered whether it still serves a purpose, anyone trying to get more value from technology, and anyone prepared to ask the question that work-experience students and six-year-olds are often brave enough to ask:Why?Because the way something has always been done may explain how you got here.It does not mean it is the right way forward.Send us Fan Mail