Do you spend hours sorting through endless spreadsheets to organize sales opportunities for your real estate business? When time is money, using outdated systems will not only exhaust your energy in performing tedious tasks but will hinder you from spending meaningful time with prospects. Instead of subconsciously straying away from closing deals, top-level real estate agents leverage Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools to help boost their productivity. In this post, we define CRM and highlight the top 5 features agents should look for in a CRM system to run a successful real estate business.
What is real estate CRM?
Real estate CRM refers to the strategies, techniques, and tools that agents and agencies use to keep track of all interactions with leads, prospects, and existing clients.
A well-designed CRM software organizes all activities and centralizes your contacts and properties in one database so you can streamline work processes – from lead generation, tracking prospect behavior, retaining clients, down to closing deals. CRM databases are stored on the cloud so you can have full access to essential information whether you are at the office or on the go.
With a vast number of vendors offering CRM systems, how do you choose the right one? Deciding the right digital solution for your real estate business isn’t easy. As industry experts, we have narrowed down the key features and functionalities that every agent must look for in a CRM tool.
1. Data centralization to save time
From running between client meetings, drafting proposals, managing open houses, checking emails, and finding the perfect listings, juggling day-to-day tasks can be strenuous. Consolidating your database into a CRM system can alleviate some of the biggest challenges you face in your daily routine and save hours of valuable time.
By storing data in a centralized location (contact details, buying history, communication trails, and even website cookies), agents can spend less time sorting through multiple sources to find the information they need. Long gone are the days of searching through rows of spreadsheets, post-its notes, and third-party applications just to keep up with a single client. Instead, agents can easily track leads, opportunities, and deals in one place with minimal effort.
A CRM software can automate your workflows by seamlessly tracking information and data flow from lead conversion to qualified contacts, eliminating unnecessary data entry. It also ensures that your records are clean by deduplicating data and removing repetitive and time-consuming tasks so you can focus on revenue-generating efforts.
2. Data insights to help smarter decision-making 
When data is centralized across an agency, a CRM system can capture relevant statistics and translate this into holistic reports to aid better-informed business decisions. By automatically generating clear, colorful, and precise visualizations of key metrics in real-time, agents can get a complete picture of sales performance, a lead’s profitability, and the activities that lead to high conversion rates in between. Find which clients are most rewarding and, consequently, make smarter arrangements on resource allocation. Moreover, you can map out sales strategies based on data-led insights while ensuring that you align with your organization’s goals, targets, and OKRs.
3. An integrated mobile app to respond faster to inquiries
Every agent knows that the quicker you respond to a new lead, the higher chance they will become a prospective client. Meanwhile, your existing clients will be expecting you to reply almost instantly whenever they come to you for expert advice. No matter how large or small a real estate organization is, dealing with an abundance of inquiries is never easy.
Choosing a CRM system that has a native mobile app integrated will allow you access to crucial information from anywhere, at any time, so you are well equipped to respond on the go. You could even update the property or client data in real-time, access listing information instantly, and manage communications from the palm of your hand.
Working remotely means you can be proactive with your business leads and prevent them from feeling neglected or searching elsewhere for a better experience. With a synchronized desktop and mobile system, you can stay on top of your client’s expectations whenever called upon and maintain healthy relationships with clients. Rest assured that you’ll never miss a lead or opportunity again!
4. Marketing templates to send automated personalized messages
Following up with prospects is essential, but sending personalized messages to every single potential house buyer can be extremely time-consuming. Not to mention, scrambling through documents to copy and paste content onto email templates risks human error, and nobody wants to lose a deal from careless mistakes.
With contact and property details already configured onto a CRM software, you want to be able to automatically tailor emails to suit each client’s particular style and send them directly from the same system. Some CRM tools offer a wide variety of email templates ready for you to easily update and create hyper-personalized emails for varying clients, deals, listings, and prospects for each lifecycle stage in a fraction of the time. Adding a personal touch can leave a lasting impression and increase the chances of future deals or referrals.
You can also go on autopilot mode and have such emails sent to each prospect’s inbox automatically. A CRM software that syncs with Salesforce Marketing Cloud allows you to establish marketing automation journeys to engage with prospects even when you are unavailable. Rest assured that your leads are getting the exact message you want at every step of the customer journey with a predefined communication plan.
5. AI-matching to find the best properties for clients
The most promising tools can do the toughest part of your job for you. In real estate, this is to find the perfect listing for your client. With a rich source of purchase history, demographic, and behavioral data, intelligent software can segment clients based on their needs and habits and identify patterns and behaviors that drive sales. Understanding the factors that define and influence various client segments allows teams to execute tight marketing strategies tailored for each person.
Property Raptor’s powerhouse CRM software that uses artificial intelligence and predictive technology relevant listings, or vice versa. precisely what you need to achieve that. Using advanced AI algorithms, you can identify prospective customers with the most relevant listings, or vice versa, based on users’ interactions. With all data congregated into the one CRM system, the software can draw upon the clients’ key attributes to generate high-confident search listings through behavioral analysis and machine learning. By automatically pinpointing the perfect recommendations for clients, you can leave the guesswork behind, save time from tedious work, and focus on doing what you do best – building meaningful relationships and closing real estate deals.
Whether you are a real estate agent or agency, investing in a good CRM software will help you organize and grow your businesses while maximizing your time. Improve client communications, lead generation, and double your capacity with tools that will do the hard work for you. Property Raptor is the world’s most powerful all-in-one agent management software that specializes in CRM. Request a demo today to learn about our robust end-to-end real estate management tool and take your productivity and performance to a whole other level!
