When it comes down to managing time and juggling multiple tasks, real estate professionals have their back up against the wall. From multiple listings to demanding clients and a range of other external pressures, it doesn’t take long for things to start slipping through the cracks.
That’s where a customer relationship management (CRM) tool can help real estate professionals to keep their ducks in a row and make sure that opportunities (and listings) aren’t being fumbled.
In this article, we’ll look at why real estate professionals must adopt a CRM and how they can be used to increase operational efficiency, improve time management, and maximise time efficiency for greater profitability.
Table of contents
- What is a CRM?
- Are there specific CRM tools for real estate professionals?
- Features and benefits of a customer relationship management tool
What is a CRM?
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a tech product that is designed to help professionals (like real estate agents) to effectively track and monitor customer interactions from new and existing customers.
For real estate professionals, juggling vendors, buyers, and a myriad of other interested stakeholders is all part of the job. But as your practice expands and the numbers of customers that you come into contact with continues to swell and grow, the need for effective customer relationship management grows too.
Whether you’re a real estate agent, buyer’s agent, or assistant, when your team isn’t on the same page, your customers are the ones who suffer. From a hot prospect to a qualified lead that needs nurturing, a CRM effectively tracks and monitors communication to avoid costly misses. Additionally, a CRM provides context to your team and ensures that there are no double-ups or mishandling of customers.
With a CRM in place, your team has a centralised place to organise customer details, track customer interactions, and gain insights into the relationships that make your real estate practice tick.
Are there specific CRM tools for real estate professionals?
As far as ‘specialised’ CRMs for real estate agents go, there’s no shortage of options on the market. In most cases, however, agents will opt for a customer relationship management program not because it says ‘intended for real estate professionals’ on the exterior, but rather for what the tool can offer.
The truth is, a CRM is designed for application across all industries that handle sales and juggle multiple different parties.
That said, there are some real estate CRM tools that offer specific features that can be especially beneficial for real estate professionals. MLS integration on some CRMs allow agents to easily track listings and leads, whilst other CRM tools offer the ability to automate email marketing, nurture leads, and stay in touch with prospective customers throughout the sales process.
Ultimately, the best CRM for real estate professionals will depend on their individual needs, their team, their budget, and the processes that they need help with the most.
Do your due diligence, look up functionality, and get in front of the salespeople from different CRM tools so that you can explain exactly what you need and how they can help. CRMs are soft product offerings which means that in many cases, they can be changed and updated to suit your intended usage.
Features and benefits of a customer relationship management tool
So, a CRM can help your real estate practice to operate more efficiently, but how exactly does that happen and what can it help with? Well, here are some of the key features and benefits that a CRM can offer a real estate professional.
- maintain a centralised data base of prospects
- better understand customer demographics and insights at a glance
- segment your prospective buyers and communicate more purposefully using these unique customer profile insights.
- integrate with MLS tools to ensure consistency and continuity across different listing platforms at a glance.
- streamline your email direct marketing (EDM) database and segment customers based on location, profile, and other key demographics.
- set reminders to follow up on prospects at pre-defined intervals
- create sales reports and integrate with accounting software to reduce the sales stress and ensure you’re across sales, accounting, and communication in one place.
- effectively forecast based on real insights to help with staffing, planning, and prospecting.
- track customer communication. Effectively reduce double ups and reduce pain points with customers that receive too much (or too little) communication.
- ccale your CRM with your real estate practice as you grow.
- improve customer retention and provide a better experience for customers. Happy customers are your best marketing tool – so ensure that you leave them delighted with a seamless and professional communication process.
- protect customer data and ensure that there are no security leaks with staff.
- increase business efficiency to spend more time on prospecting and less time on paperwork.
Final thoughts
Take a look behind the glamorous exterior of the most successful real estate practitioners in Australia (and across the world) and you’ll see a CRM delicately balancing and juggling the sales process to ensure the best outcome for all interested parties.
From capturing leads through o closing deals and staying in touch with interested parties throughout the process, a CRM is essential for real estate agents that are serious about providing the best possible experience for customers.
A well organised and properly utilised CRM can be a transformative tool to help you capture more new business, take back lost time, and effectively make the most of your existing customers.
Entry Education are Australia’s leading real estate training provider. With online course offerings across the country, Entry Education is here to help you become a real estate agent that will thrive in such a fast paced industry. For more information on our real estate or finance courses, get in touch with our friendly team today.
