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Agile CRM is a customer relationship management solution.
Platforms: Browser; mobile-optimized
Ideal for: Large teams; brokerages
Top selling points
- Established, multi-industry CRM
- Built-in marketing tools
- Multiple forms of task automation
- Simple, highly visual user interface (UI)
Top concerns
This is a big system developed from years of expertise serving other industries. It’s best for teams and brokerages planning on fully committing to a CRM.
What you should know
Agile CRM has been providing its solution for sales teams in a number of industries since 2013, which is a good thing for the real estate agents it’s now looking to acquire.
Being good at real estate, after all, is about being good at sales. Agile CRM packs much of what it has learned over the years working in other verticals to offer real estate agents a smart, visual platform to track seller and buyer interactions, listings and deal timelines.
Like most CRMs, the dashboard offers a high-level view into an agent’s deal picture.
There are a series of panels depicting various snippets of data, accessible via a very cool main navigation slider that deftly hides and reveals categories of information as needed.
Users can scroll and click to reveal a lead status timeline, contacts, notes, events, tasks, deal status, documents and listings.
It’s easy to do most tasks within the system, as it minimizes information in stark, borderless panels with clear headings and evident functionality.
I especially dig Agile CRM’s use of wordless iconography on its main left-hand nav.
Far too many software products combine visuals with menu descriptions, which can clog interfaces and vacuum much-needed white space.
Overall, the user experience offers a lot of smart ways to manage information.
Part of Agile CRM’s explanation for the broad feature stack is that the solution is designed to also accommodate commercial real estate, multifamily, land and essentially all forms of real property, should any of those additional categories fall under the purview of a brokerage.
While commercial deals are not common in most residential brokerages, that level of menu control can help office’s separate property management or luxury property leads from standard listing business.
Listings are pumped in via an internet data exchange (IDX) feed and multiple listing service (MLS) connections through ClearMLS, a new industry application programming interface (API).
Leads can be pulled into the system from major portals. Listings can then be pushed out into an Agile-generated website, if so desired.
The website feature doesn’t “wow” me much, as I believe those are tools best left for website professionals. But if you choose to use it, it won’t disappoint.
The website can capture and score leads, attach buyer interest to current listings and track which listings are getting the most overall attention.
I was pleased to see Agile CRM’s integration of video emails, a technology that’s going to feature large in 2018 industry marketing.
The software also enables agents to launch and manage direct marketing campaigns and create follow-up automations for lead cultivation.
The feature uses a graphing tool to drag-and-drop connected actions. These types of interfaces make it easy to understand causes and effects, but can be annoying to set up. I wouldn’t let it deter me from using it though, as automation can be a powerful way to do more in less time.
Agile CRM has built a worthy competitor for the industry to consider as they kick off 2018 sales goals. Much of what makes a CRM a powerful business partner is here, as well as a few other odds and ends to add value and simplicity.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe.
