Why do you need a CRM Software for Real Estate Business?
As a realtor or any real estate developer, it is necessary to keep the clients satisfied. When you are starting your business, it’s easier to maintain 2-3 clients, but when more clients are added, it gets tougher. So, you start adding more people to your team and administration function to understand each of client’s demands, follow-up with them regularly, build a relationship, upsell the product and much more. As you know, selling in any business is not easy, and you need to be at the top of your game to outrun the competition.
The traditional way that real estate developers used to maintain client data was with the help of a spreadsheet, use of email to forward company brochures, property flyers, email campaigns, etc. to the potential customers.
But, with the rapid growth in technology, the developers can maintain and automate all their tasks with just one business tool known as the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software. The software helps to ease various tasks right from collecting lead information to potential revenue forecasts.
Now let’s dive in, to know what exactly is a CRM software, how can it be useful for real estate industry, & why do you need one?
What is CRM software?
As defined by Bain & Company, a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a process that companies use to understand their customer groups and respond quickly—and at times, instantly—to shifting customer desires. CRM technology allows firms to collect and manage large amounts of customer data and then carry out strategies based on that information.
What is a Real Estate CRM?
A real estate CRM software stores all the client information in one centralized database, wherein it is accessible to all the real estate professionals. The software automates the real estate marketing and sales process, which in turn strengthens the customer relation and eases the task of closing deals.
The CRM software for real estate brings sales, marketing, and customer support activities together, to streamline the processes, policies, and people all under a single platform. Eventually, it helps tracking the conversation with the client, managing their database, follow-up with them regularly, etc.
How does a CRM Software process for Real Estate work?
Now that you know what a real estate CRM is, it’s time to understand the working process.
When campaigns are run through email, magazine or any other sources, a brand awareness is created, and the customer visits the website. After which, the leads are generated, the data is entered manually or through automated processes into the CRM software. Later, the leads are assigned to the sales executives as they can look after the booking process and the invoice generation process.
After assigning the leads, the sales executives can follow-up with them via phone, email, direct meeting, etc. The leads are then converted to potential customers or prospects. After the conversion process, leads are classified as per the accounts and contact. Eventually, the sales executives will follow-up the potential customers to confirm if the deal is done or not.
Key features of Real Estate CRM
After understanding the detailed working process of the CRM software for real estate, let’s get through the key features of the CRM software and why do they play a prominent role in the industry:
1. Lead Management System
A real estate CRM software mainly focuses on the lead base. It categorizes customers according to the referring agents, partners, competitors, leads, and clients. Later, the lead management system sub-categorizes clients by cold/warm leads, current/past clients, and dissatisfied/satisfied/highly-satisfied clients. Hence, it helps in similar grouping of data to manage sales and marketing processes better.
2. Contact Management
The contact management feature of the CRM software is responsible for recording the client’s conversation with the sales executive and storing the customer data. This feature allows companies to improve sales, leveraging extensive data. Also, monitoring client interaction helps to follow-up regularly with the prospect.
3. Email Management
Emails are a more professional way of reaching out to potential clients. With email marketing, you can send professional-looking email newsletters, update clients with recent real estate news, show them newly listed properties and open home times, or link them to any latest article on the website.
4. Sales Automation
Sales automation includes sales and report generation. This automation process categorizes the leads based on zip code, state, city, a product of interest or any other criteria. Then the process prioritizes the leads based on the ones that are most likely to be converted. The sales representatives can automate reports that provide information about their sales process.
5. Mobile Compatibility
The mobility feature of the CRM enables sales, marketing and customer service teams to access information from wherever they are. This feature is compatible with all the devices like desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone.
Types of a Real Estate CRM Software
The real estate brokerages and agencies rely on the CRM software that offers them the best security and maintenance of data. Once you have known the features of the CRM software for real estate, it’s time to dig deeper into the types of Real Estate CRM Software.
On-Premise CRM
The real estate agencies using the on-premise CRM are responsible for administration control, security, information and maintenance of their database. While doing so, the company purchases licenses upfront rather than purchasing yearly subscriptions. Also, the software is placed on the company’s servers and is responsible for any upgrades.
Cloud-Based CRM
The data in the cloud-based CRM is stored on an external network, where it is quickly and easily accessible anytime and anywhere with the availability of internet connection. The installation and maintenance are under the supervision of a third-party provider.
The data from Superoffice shows that in 2008 only 12% of the businesses used cloud-based CRM. Whereas now the number has increased to 87%.
Source: CRM Software Statistics
Why do you need Real Estate CRM Software?
Relationships play a prominent role in the real estate industry. When you build relationships, you have to check in frequently, catch up regularly, provide ideas and share potential properties with the clients. While doing so, you require the right information, at the right time, on your fingertips. It may be about the available properties, the potential customers, and many more. Hence, to keep track of all your tasks, CRM software is all that you need.
A report from the State of Inbound shows that 13% of companies chose to invest in CRM as a top sales priority for 2019. Also, as per the CRM statistics from Super Office, CRM is expected to reach more than $80 billion in revenues by 2025.
Let us now go through some of the reasons why you need a real estate CRM:
1. Increases Revenue
CRM software helps to boost revenue through higher sales conversion rates. As the sales representatives have better access to the prospect information, they can automatically gain the ability to sell the product. The CRM software eases the task of managing customer profile, keep track of client meetings and better evaluate the issues. Hence, it enhances the ability to get more sales from opportunities.
2. Improves Business Processes
CRM software enhances real estate performance by increasing up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. These two strategies are easily implemented through the CRM, as the sales representatives will have a better understanding of the needs, wants and pattern of purchase of the leads. As all of the information is available in a central database, the marketing team can promote the product accordingly.
3. Enhances Automated Marketing
A few CRM integrations will help to transfer lead information between sales and marketing. The automated marketing system of the CRM will run effective, personalized marketing campaigns based on the information about the client interaction. Eventually, there is a better alignment between marketing and sales system that will enhance the automation process.
4. Better Sales Closing Management
When you require a successful closing of a deal, it is necessary to keep track of the mortgage application deadlines. The software sets appointments for all important dates and milestones for clients and others, who are a part of this transaction. Doing so will help provide automated follow-up reminders, encouragement, and referrals as needed.
5. Focus on the Sales-Ready Leads
The process of ranking leads based on their engagement with the business is Lead Scoring. The lead scoring process will aim to target the leads that are more likely to convert, depending on their interest. This technique saves time and effort as the sales representative will follow-up only the leads that are most likely to get converted into potential customers. The sales individuals can also categorize the leads as hot or cold based on the level of engagement.
6. Streamlines the Payment Process
The extended payment cycles and varying payment structures are a few challenges that the real estate industry faces. Not getting enough information from the customer side will create anxiety and chaos for the property developer. The CRM software manages the payment process by providing the real estate developer with the appropriate information at the right time. The CRM software also generates demand letters and invoices, which simplifies the booking process, saves time and minimizes the effort of the organization, providing transparency to the buyer.
Final thoughts
Right from lead generation to closing sales, a CRM software automates all your tasks. A well-organized CRM system will help you generate more business and allow you to focus on things that are more important to you and that you’ve been missing out since long.
One such CRM software for real estate is the In4Suite® CRM.
The In4Suite® CRM platform has a simple user interface that brings all the customer data at a single place to help you manage and sell properties quickly. The real estate CRM software also provides a holistic view of the leads and opportunities to enhance the decision-making process. With sales automation, the pre-sales to sales closure process gets more comfortable. The user-friendly dashboard of In4Suite® CRM captures leads to the CRM from all sources, including the online and offline campaigns.
To find more about the CRM software for real estate like In4Suite® click through the link below: Click Here
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