BUSINESS, SALESFORCE, TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
CRM in Real Estate
Real estate is one of the most competitive industries out there, and this is because it is not just about finding a buyer for your property. It is about a variety of factors, finding a buyer who wants to buy your property at the right price, in the right condition, with the right financing terms...all while keeping the transaction moving along as quickly and smoothly as possible. This can often be overwhelming!
To help agents and firms alike stay efficient, we have put together a collection of tools and tips that will help kickstart your real estate CRM strategy:
CRM in Real Estate
From electronic closings to cloud-based CRM systems, there are more ways than ever to streamline your business operations and improve your client experience. But there is a reason why the big players in the real estate space — especially the most-successful ones — use a CRM software as their primary source of management in the office.
With agents often juggling multiple clients at the same time, CRM comes in particularly handy, as it allows you to keep track of your sales pipeline and manage your time more effectively.
By managing your contacts through a CRM system rather than relying on spreadsheets or sticky notes for this type of information management – which is often done incorrectly anyway – you will be able to streamline, automate and retrieve accurate information in real time!
The Reason CRMs in Real Estate are on the Rise
With 88% of all real estate transactions coming from repeat customers and referrals, agents need to be constantly on their toes to keep up with quality customer service. With an industry that is highly dependent on good aftersales service and connections, real estate agents often face many hurdles when business picks up pace. A well-setup and reliable CRM take the burden off the agents and provides efficient solutions to these hurdles, such as:
- Clients Expect Immediate Responses
Did you know that if you respond within 5 minutes, that lead is 21x more likely to convert into a sale?
With statistics like these, customers expect top service while making a big purchase such as real estate. Hence, the lack of automation and management can quickly overwhelm a firm if lead generation suddenly picks up. The ability to respond to inquiries quickly is often a make-or-break for realtors. CRMs can automate the process by sending a customised direct message and reminder to agents if a lead or client is trying to get in touch.
- Real Estate Agents are often away from the office
With agents out and about, it's hard to keep track of the latest details and updates through phone calls back to the office. A CRM takes the bulk of the work out of their hands, displaying key data instantly in an easy-to-understand dashboard, all the while remaining accessible through channels like cloud!
- Real estate agents benefit from collecting contacts
Real estate is one of those industries where lead generation and lead retention is key. Hence, new agents will often find themselves managing multiple lead databases coming from a variety of sources. With a CRM in play, it sets up the perfect rock-solid scalable foundation, so that firms do not have to worry about information getting lost in the shuffle. In a larger firm, colleagues can easily correspond with each other as well, since there is not chance of data disparity between agents when handing off a client.
- Real estate agents need insight into sales performance
New agents often find initially diving into the industry like going in blind. It takes time, money, and effort to develop the skills and experience to close deals effectively and stay afloat in the real estate business. CRM systems cut that experimentation time down with the ability to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of workflow and tactics in real time. With this newfound insight, agents can quickly pivot and abandon courses that are not paying off in the form of results.
- Real estate firms need to stay connected to social platforms
Prospective buyers are increasingly coming in through websites like Squarefoot, 28Hse and Property.hk. By using a CRM system, it can seamlessly integrate into those platforms and stay on top of new property listings and key metrics of real estate market trends in the local area. CRM integrations also prevent overlooking messages of interest on these sites.
How Can a Real Estate CRM Help You Close More Deals?
CRM does not just help with customer service and retention, in fact, reports show that with every dollar invested in a CRM system, it brings in a $8.71 return! In terms of the sales side of the business, CRM helps with:
- Lead Management
CRMs excel at tracking, managing, and generating leads. It is easy to keep track of all the information needed to close a deal — including notes on each lead, their contact info, and any other relevant details.
- Keep Track of Potential Clients
Whether it is an open house or another chance encounter with someone who might want to buy or sell their home, you can use your CRM system as a way of keeping track of all these interactions so that you are not missing out on potential sales opportunities.
- Contact Management
The more contacts you add to your database over time (and the more active those contacts are), the better equipped you will be when it comes time for them to reach out about possible deals or simply need advice about other things related to real estate in general.
- Calendar management
If you are juggling multiple clients at once (which many real estate agents do), then the calendar feature in CRMs will come in handy for scheduling meetings with each one of them. In fact, this feature could even save lives by preventing overscheduling by accident!
- Keeping Track of Deals
This is another helpful feature which allows users to view all their past deals in one place rather than having them spread across multiple tabs within the CRM itself.
What Makes Salesforce the Best CRM for Real Estate Professionals?
When talking about CRMs, Salesforce undoubtedly is the name that comes up the most, and not with ill-reason. Salesforce is a full-featured CRM that allows you to manage your clients, leads, and prospects in one place. It is also the best CRM because it can be customized based on your specific needs.
Salesforce helps you find new opportunities and grow your business. Upload your leads and connect with them through email, phone calls, live chat, or social media. Manage your accounts quickly with automated tasks like setting up follow-ups or taking notes in one place so they are always available when you need them. Plus, all of Salesforce's powerful features are customizable to fit your unique needs as a real estate professional.
What is Salesforce?
Salesforce’s most well-known package, the Sales Cloud is, as the name states; a cloud-based solution, which means you can access your data from anywhere at any time. You do not have to worry about maintaining servers or software licenses—the system will always be up to date with the latest features and functionality.
You can manage your contacts, leads, tasks, and calendar events on your computer or smartphone — no matter where you are or what device you are using, which enables you to make better business decisions by providing clear insights into what works and what does not. You will be able to see which types of listings sell fastest and at the highest prices, how long it takes for people who do not contact you first after seeing your listing online to contact you later (and why), as well as much more.
Besides the standard CRM benefits, Salesforce also empowers users with familiar real estate integrations such as the real estate application IDX (Internet Data Exchange), RETS (Real Estate Transaction Standard) and MLS! By doing so, Salesforce can play seamlessly with industry specific tools, truly being the best of both worlds between industry standards and efficiency.
How to Get Started with Salesforce in Real Estate
Now that we have talked about how Salesforce can help you stay organized and on top of your leads. One of the first steps to getting started with Salesforce is importing your existing data into the system. You can do this in bulk by uploading a spreadsheet, or one contact at a time by adding them manually. From defining key metrics, to planning out your year in advance, Salesforce’s Sales Cloud makes it simple and quick to define key processes and make adequate plans for your team!
After you have setup your CRM and made it unique to your business, you will want to set up new customer profiles for each prospect or client that you are working with (a key detail many real estate moguls never overlook). This will allow you to track their information more easily and efficiently than before!
Next, create new opportunities and leads from within these profiles so that all relevant information is in one place instead of scattered across multiple documents or spreadsheets (which would be bad). Finally, set up contact profiles so that prospects' information remains consistent as they move through various stages within their buying process–— and voila! You are now ready to get started working with Salesforce CRM!
The Takeaway
Time and time again, CRM has proven to be the best investment and an irreplaceable tool for businesses all over the world, but it makes an impact in assisting agents to help individuals make home-buying less stressful and daunting.
Even though CRM is not a new concept in real estate, it is still something that many agents overlook and are not using effectively. It offers the chance to make your work more efficient, allowing you to spend less time looking through mismatched databases and more time building relationships with clients.
