The team model is one of the most powerful ways to do business in real estate, and for good reason. Real estate agents have to wear many hats (three guesses which my favorite is — see my profile photo), and not every agent is good at every aspect of the business.
Teams free up individuals to focus on their strengths — maximizing their effectiveness with the work they enjoy most. But as a team lead, your job is to empower these specialists to be as productive as possible.
Which is why everyone’s top question is this: which is the best CRM for me?
My answer is simple: the best CRM is the one you will actually use. But there really is more to it than that. The most effective CRM has characteristics you need to look for to know it will truly be the backbone of a successful real estate team. Here they are.
Scalability
Every dollar counts when you are just starting out. You shouldn’t invest in a CRM that costs twice what you’re bringing in every month. Not at first.
The trouble with many CRMs is that they “scale” by only doing part of what you need it to do. But you need all the parts to work — even if it’s just a team of two. Look for a solution that offers a front facing IDX web site that talks to the back end. It needs to have follow-up and conversion capabilities.
For example, Ignite by Firepoint is our starter CRM and you start with all the functions you need to manage a small team. You pay for what you really need, nothing more.
Ease of use
Have you ever seen a brokerage buy into a tech platform and then struggle to get started? Adoption is one of the biggest hurdles team leads face when starting out.
We designed Firepoint to help you get in and get right to the dollar-productive activities that truly make you money. We don’t back a truck up to your office and bury you in bells and whistles — we focus on the ones that count to help you generate and convert leads. You’ll find intuitive usability and a workflow that makes sense. You’ll even find communication tools — all in one place.
Kris McCullough of KSA Real Estate Group put it this way, “I’m trying to make a living. I’m trying to build a business and run a team. I don’t want the extra stuff — I just want what works.”
Integrations
Your CRM should not operate in a technological vacuum. There are too many other powerful tools for your team to use.
Take video. One of my favorite tools for this is BombBomb. Firepoint integrates directly with it and a host of other tools such as Mojo, Happy Grasshopper, Ylopo, and more. Even better, we are constantly adding to our list of integration partners.
Integrations help make your CRM a much more usable, valuable, and effective command center for your team.
Accountability
The job of the team lead isn’t just to generate and distribute leads. It’s to help your team grow and succeed. But to do that, you need to be able to measure their performance and provide specific feedback.
When you start using a system like Firepoint, you have built-in tools to help team members be accountable and help you provide valuable coaching to help them achieve their potential. They don’t have to remember to log their calls, for example, because it’s automatic with the dialer. Then the team lead can listen to it, providing critical feedback and direction on the conversation and scripts.
Kris McCullough says this feature has been a game-changer for him.
“I used to have new agents come with me in my office for a week or so before I cut them loose to make calls,” he said. “With Firepoint, I can listen in from anywhere and know they made the calls because it’s automatically logged.”
As a team lead, you have your hands full. I’ve been there, so I know firsthand that it can be an exciting and rewarding business model. And it’s why we built Firepoint the way we did — it’s a CRM that’s built by agents, for agents. Once you find the CRM that works for you, there’s no stopping your success!
Ignite your business growth with the CRM built for real estate — by real estate professionals. Firepoint offers best in class speed to lead distribution with a CRM built to help you close more deals and take control of your database and time. Learn more or watch this video: