PROPERTYSPARK ARTICLE

CRM Systems & Best Practices For Real Estate Professionals

Working in real estate means juggling lots of customer relationships, and having a solution in place to manage this process is a must.

So which CRM options are right for realtors, and what are the best approaches for using them to deliver the biggest boost to your career?

Platforms to consider

There’s no ‘right’ answer when it comes to choosing CRM systems to use in a real estate context. It’s a case of weighing up the various packages out there, and seeing which suits your needs.

Top options at the moment include services from brands like HubSpot, Zendesk, Zoho, Pipedrive and Apptivo.

The importance of integrations

In terms of analyzing CRM setups, you can more easily decide between competing platforms if you look at what integrations are supported by them.

For example, if you’ve already got a phone system solution for real estate agents, selecting a CRM which will integrate with this seamlessly can save you time and money.

The same goes for things like instant messaging platforms, email services, cloud storage solutions and so on. If there’s no native support for the packages you’re already using, think twice about settling on a CRM.

Best practices to follow

Success in real estate comes from many areas, and having lots of experience behind you will certainly help. However, with a solid CRM and a set of strategies to use it, you can catalyze all sorts of key elements of the job, such as:

Lead generation

Generating and capturing leads means wrangling contact info from all sorts of sources, and most importantly homing in on those who fall within the most appropriate demographics for the properties you have available.

CRMs can automate much of this, ensuring that you not only generate valuable leads more consistently, but also follow up on opportunities efficiently, whether you’re working solo or you’ve got a team of agents under your wing.

Customer support

Being responsive and helpful in real estate can mean the difference between securing a sale and letting a major prospect slip through your grasp, and is part of a wider skill set you need to develop.

Relying on older methods of communicating with clients does mean that the quality of the service that’s available to everyone in your contact list falls short in some scenarios.

With a CRM, you have the chance to address this, whether by automating responses to queries made by customers, or by creating a self-service option for tackling troubles.

From chatbots and automated email solutions, to knowledge bases which contain answers to frequently asked questions and which can be expanded over time, taking advantage of all of the features of your CRM will stand you in good stead.

Cross-channel communication

Speaking of leveraging everything that a CRM system has to offer, you also need to look beyond email and phone capabilities found on modern platforms.

For example, social media functionality is a given these days, and using this to ensure that you’re engaging with prospects on different social services, as well as staying abreast of any brand mentions, will enable you to manage a disparate online presence from a single, unified interface.

Furthermore you can send out information to existing customers through a CRM so that they are always kept in the loop regarding the progress of a sale. Automation is once again on your side here, and it allows smaller teams to take on larger customer bases.

Conclusion

If you aren’t yet using a CRM system and you work in real estate, don’t delay in rectifying this. It’s better for your business, and better for your clients as well, so long as you keep best practices in mind.