Real estate industry experts report that only 10 percent of real estate website visitors are ready to make a purchase within the next six months. The other 90 percent are in “just looking” mode, searching for exactly the right property. Agents’ biggest challenge is to identify and match clients’ needs with the listings available on the market, in the quickest and most efficient way.
Forward-thinking companies within the real estate sector are looking to create competitive advantage through differentiators such as better management and servicing of the clients. Leveraging a CRM (customer relationship manager) designed specifically for real estate companies helps to unite fragmented processes into a single path along the client journey, through every step in the sales pipeline, from needs analysis to keys-in-hand. Let’s explore techniques and approaches that help real estate professionals to close more deals.
1. Personalize your content.
The key to successful lead management is to aggregate all qualified leads in one place and deliver the most valuable content to target audience. Warm up your opportunities through automated email campaigns, and allocate more time for personal communication with your best clients.
Tip: Deliver most relevant content to match a lead’s interest, and transform it into a workable real-time scenario. For example, if a prospect has children, he might be interested in moving to a larger property. Send the prospect some information about new developments or tips about the benefits of living in the suburbs, or present him with some ideas of how to best accommodate the needs of his growing family.
2. Evaluate channel performance.
It’s imperative to have a system in place that keeps track of all inbound communications, including web inquiry forms, social media, phone calls, emails, etc., and instantly provide accurate information regarding what’s available in the market. Employing CRM for real estate streamlines this process and allows for precise matching to your clients’ needs, which results in more closed deals.
Tip: Closely monitor request conversion to identify channel and marketing effort performance. Use the system to save property searches and matching data. This will allow you to restart a process with a client from where you had previously left off. Take advantage of a unified customer request database, and capture received leads to improve matching quality and reduce the risk of losing a lead. Automatically select the MLS listings that match a particular request, create a brochure and share it with your client with the push of a button.
3. Coordinate your showings.
Personal meetings and showings are a huge part of a real estate agent’s life. Using an automated system to find the most convenient routes to accommodate your schedule will help you squeeze in as many showings as possible for a more productive day.
Tip: It’s vital to have instant access to other listings. If the property is not exactly what the client is looking for, you need to be able to quickly find alternative options nearby to save time and opportunity. Increased effectiveness with an automated scheduling process, results in more showings with less frustration and quicker sales.
4. Close more deals by automating routine operations.
Entrust the system with the property settlement, and automate the process of getting the paperwork ready for signing, accurately calculate closing costs and make sure that all parties are properly prepared so no documents are forgotten and no deadlines missed.
Tip: Use CRM for real estate to rapidly prepare, transmit and retain documents as well as get instantaneous critical information at the office from remote locations including on your phone. By using the system, you eliminate the need for tedious manual tasks and provide the clients with the kind of service they increasingly expect.
5. Build sustainable business with referrals and repeat sales.
According to a survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors, 88 percent of buyers purchased their home through a real estate agent or broker — a percentage that has steadily increased in recent years. Whereas, 40 percent of buyers found their agent through a referral from a friend or family member, and 12 percent used an agent they had used previously to buy or sell a home.
Tip: Next-gen CRM for real estate is enriched with capabilities of “knowing” when lease terms are expiring, and new needs arise. All you need to do is react to the alerts and notifications in a timely manner. Let the system that will work tirelessly until the perfect match is found take over finding a perfect property for those prospects that are not ready to commit to a purchase yet. The integration of social networks will help to create a 360-degree view of your client to supplement their profile with details needed to develop the best scenario of working with them.
From lead generation to managing opportunities and sales activities to closing, there is a need to improve operations on every step of customer journey through the real estate sales cycle. Using a CRM real estate application for process automation, allows you to raise your real estate sales capabilities to a whole new level.
Yulia Karnaukh, Senior Marketing Manager at bpm’online – a premium vendor of process-driven cloud based software for marketing, sales and service automation. Follow Yulia on Facebook.