According to a recent study, 87% of real estate buyers go through an agency. This same survey concluded that 94% of these buyers were satisfied with their experience. A satisfied customer is a customer who is more likely to recommend a service, and this satisfaction is therefore a crucial element of success for professionals in the sector.
Investing in a quality CRM solution is therefore an
excellent way to keep in touch in order to be the natural choice of your
customers when the time comes to sell their property or buy another one. Read
on to define the qualities of a CRM in the real estate industry and understand
how it can give you a competitive edge.
CRM seen by the real estate sector: definition and
qualities
Particularly in the real estate industry, a CRM (customer relationship management software) is usually combined with an automated marketing system.
A real estate-focused CRM should be designed to help real estate agencies and professionals run their business effectively. This type of database is useful for all activities related to sales, communication, data management and maintaining good customer relations. CRM software is used to nurture prospective customers, track KPI and projected sales (pipeline), close sales and assist customer service.
While CRM solutions are not considered essential by the majority of the real estate industry, it is nevertheless an invaluable tool for those who want to boost their productivity and their communication efforts. Customer relationship management (CRM) software helps companies refine their contact management processes to attract new leads and maintain good relationships with existing customers. For example, with the help of CRM software, a real estate agent will be able to review the contacts that his agency has already had with a client and consult the information thus collected regarding his personal preferences. This then makes it possible to better target all communications.
The best CRM software is one that includes marketing automation features and aligns business activities and communication efforts, including email marketing. Marketing automation software gives real estate agents the tools they need to develop and maintain strong relationships with their clients through personalized communications and drip-marketing campaigns. They generally make it easy to create emails using customizable templates, which can be triggered automatically following a specific event.
CRM software is simply the link between a company and its customers. It is he who facilitates lead management, which allows an organization to understand the needs of its customers and which mobilizes their attention.
A CRM is found in companies of all sizes, whether they
sell products or services, and even in non-profit associations, government
agents and other types of organizations.
Benefits of a CRM for the real estate sector
Real estate-focused CRM software can help an agency improve communication, track leads, and automate their sales process. It is also a way to increase sales, by creating personalized emails and campaigns.
Attracting more leads and scheduling appointments is the best way to increase productivity, but getting organized efficiently is vital.
A CRM tool designed for the real estate industry is an indispensable tool for managing large volumes. And the more you increase sales, the more you increase your turnover. Real estate agents can benefit from customizable reports to access detailed information about each transaction to measure actionable data, such as the length of a sales cycle, business trends in the sector or a demographic profile, or to feed the property estimates.
On the other hand, this type of tool simplifies manual administrative tasks related to lead generation or contract and transaction management, thus saving valuable time.
A CRM helps real estate agents organize themselves so they can better focus on a specific important activity, such as calling priority clients, and easily access records and data from previous or prospective clients.
Property management software can improve tracking of
sales and communication activities. Agents can plan their work more efficiently
without getting overwhelmed. Finally, this type of software stores and
organizes the coordinates of customers (address, telephone number, email
address) in order to better automate processes.
Different types of CRM for the real estate sector
There are several forms of customer relationship management software, suited to different needs. There are two main types of CRM software: cloud installations and local installations.
Cloud-based CRM solutions are ideal for agents who travel frequently and want to access their data remotely, across multiple devices, through an online platform. This is especially important for real estate agencies that have multiple branches, subsidiaries, or departments. Cloud solutions are usually more cost-effective because the provider takes care of technical updates and changes, so the agency doesn't need to invest in technical skills or hardware to do so.
Local installations are hosted on the agency's computer or network. These solutions offer more control and seem more secure since it is the agency that manages.
Some CRM software offers a hybrid approach by synchronization with the Cloud in order to give agencies the best of both worlds: they can control the installation and the applications to secure it, while retaining the flexibility of an online accessible platform.
Click here to learn about the security, flexibility,
and cost-effective pricing of on-premises, cloud, and hybrid solutions from
Act!.
How to install CRM software in your real estate agency
It is easy, quick and tempting for a real estate agency or other professional in the real estate sector to set up a ready-to-use CRM. However, there are many advantages to choosing an all-in-one solution instead that offers additional marketing automation features and contributes to a growth strategy. A well-thought-out commercial and advertising strategy will be reflected in the growth of your real estate agency, and in particular will allow you to adjust your activities according to the results published in real-time reports.
The first step is to carry out a complete audit of your company. It is a way to identify the current state of your operations and the performance achieved. You can then choose the type of CRM that suits you. First, review your current practices. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What data do you keep in your physical records?
- What activities does your team practice?
- What types of data do you collect?
- Which of your processes are automated?
Having thus completed your audit, you can focus the choice of your CRM on the most important functionalities in order to give your agency the tools it needs to achieve the best possible performance.
It then remains to integrate your communication
strategy. Leverage the combined capabilities of CRM and marketing automation to
streamline your campaigns, react to interactions on your web pages, and create
personalized landing pages.
Are you ready to boost your real estate agency with a
suitable CRM?
Real estate-focused CRM software is an essential tool for real estate agencies and professionals today. This type of software can help you attract serious buyers, organize your appointments, communicate the dates of your next open houses, monitor your customer engagement and manage your workflows.
CRM tools are used to effectively manage contacts with your customers and leads by giving you easy and efficient access to personal information concerning their previous purchases, the value of their goods or their bank credit situation. They can help better manage your working methodologies, organize all your activities from the first visit to signing the contract, and predict future sales and revenue in the pipeline.
It is important to choose a CRM that suits your needs
and your budget, and that is scalable enough to grow with your business. Some
CRM systems require a considerable investment and offer features that you will
probably never use. There are less expensive or scalable solutions that allow
you to adapt the functionality of the CRM software to the current needs of your
real estate agency.