How to Choose the Best Real Estate CRM without Going Insane

Posted on 13th Feb 2019

What is a Real Estate CRM, Really?

Article By: Brittany Ryan in Leads Management

In the noisy real estate tech landscape, it’s easy to lose sight of what a CRM actually is.

At its core, a CRM is the software you use to run your real estate business. The acronym CRM stands for ‘Customer Relationship Management’. As the name implies, your CRM can touch pretty much any aspect of your business from tracking and managing your leads, sending drip campaigns, uploading contracts, booking and managing appointments — and a whole lot more.

But beyond the star-rated features of any CRM, is the level of productivity it can bring to your business. Because at the end of the day, there’s only one major difference between a solopreneur and an entrepreneur.

Why Bother Tracking Your Leads Through a CRM?

The business perks we just mentioned are just the beginning.

With a great CRM, you’ll also have all of the following benefits for your real estate business:

Better organization to save you time and headaches.

How many times have you asked someone on your team for a follow-up on a client or another important piece of information, only to find it takes them way too long to deliver what you need?

With a CRM, this won’t happen.

By keeping everything in one central location, everything will be organized and consistent. Anytime you need something, you hop into the CRM and get it yourself.

This type of organization can also help you nurture leads.

Close more deals using lead nurturing.

If you want to close cold or warm leads, you need to send your potential customers the right message at the right time. The best way to do this is through lead nurturing.

A great CRM makes it easy to segment parts of your list, depending on which stage of the buying cycle your lead is in, and then send only that group of contacts a message specific to where they are in the buying cycle.

Instead of sending generic messages to your entire list, you’ll be able to tailor your message to match your lead’s exact buying stage.

Your personalized message will resonate with them on a deeper level. Your leads will see that you’re going above and beyond to help them out. And you’ll naturally increase your conversion rates. #WinWin.

But you can’t do this if you don’t create customized drip campaigns, which is another key feature that a good CRM should come with.

Customized drip campaigns can improve your close rates and retention.

As we mentioned, the magic of a real estate CRM is in the lead nurturing.

To tackle lead nurturing, you’ll use your CRM to set up customized drip campaigns that are only sent to certain portions of your list, as previously discussed.

This is something your Excel spreadsheet and stack of business cards can’t do.

The right CRM will have a good balance of automation and customization so that none of your leads every feels like they’re reading a message that was written by a robot.

How the Best CRMs Help You Handle Each Stage of the Customer Lifecycle

Every real estate business needs to manage three main phases of their customer lifecycle in order to grow their agency and close more deals.

Fortunately, you can manage all three using an awesome CRM:

Properly Manage Your Leads

While you can manage all of your leads right from your CRM, you shouldn’t manage them in the same way. Each lead requires a different level of attention.

Portal Leads Should Be Contacted Immediately

Whenever you receive a lead from a third-party portal, it’s crucial that you follow up right away.

Potential customers in this category are usually browsing multiple listings and tend to reach out only to the properties that pique their interest.

These customers have an extremely short buying cycle, which means you need to act fast. These leads are also more likely to book a showing with any realtor who replies the fastest.

But, let’s face it, with a jam-packed schedule, you may not have the time to reply to each lead right away.

That’s where your CRM comes in.

With a CRM, you can set up auto responder messages that are triggered any time someone fills out a form on a third-party portal to you.

Set up one message and configure it to send to anyone inquiring about specific properties. This buys you some time to get in touch with them and gives the customer an instant response.

In your follow ups, be sure to include a thank you for reaching out and a call to action that focuses on scheduling a time to chat or discusses an immediate showing.

Since these leads can be a little more expensive than some of your others, it’s essential that you work them right away and do so using an immediate follow up, like a text message.

Your IDX Registrations Need Lead Nurturing

At the other end of the spectrum are your IDX registration leads.

Unlike your third-party portal leads, these customers are not exactly ready to sign. They’re just beginning to dip their toes in the real estate market waters.

But that doesn’t mean you should wait to contact them until they’re ready to buy.

Instead, use lead nurturing to keep the conversation going until you can convert them.

To do this, you need a good system in place with a solid strategy behind it.

There are a two things to keep in mind when you’re creating your game plan:

1. This relationship is going to take time. Don’t start out by sending these potential customers requests to schedule a showing or book a call to chat. Instead, think about how you can help them browse available homes better.
2. You need to add value before you can gain their trust. On top of needing time under your belt, you also need to offer these customers something for free before you ever think about asking to show them a house.

Fortunately, you can do all of this by sending specific follow ups.