List of Best Real Estate CRM Software

Real Estate CRM Software: A Buyer's Guide

Real estate CRM software is emerging as the most important tool for analyzing and strategizing customer data and interactions in the real estate sector. This, in turn, helps the businesses to formulate their policies toward product development and customer retention.

Since manual sorting of data is inefficient and prone to misinterpretation, most big companies, across sectors are now looking at ways to automate their CRM activities and are investing quite heavily in CRM software.

Real estate buying and selling are some of the most personalized and high-value financial decisions that one has to make. As a result, real estate agents spend a considerable amount of time and resources to generate leads that can be translated into actual sales.

The best real estate CRM software can capture and store customer data, and their interactions, and share data and reports. Real estate CRM software can also automate many sales, marketing, and customer support workflow processes.

What are the Benefits of Using Real Estate CRM Software?

If thoughtfully planned, meticulously integrated, and used well, there can be a number of direct and indirect benefits of real estate CRM software. Some of the notable benefits are:

• Saves Time

  The CRM software collates and stores all the customer interaction databases centrally, thus saving data management time. All the team members can see the relevant data of a prospective real estate customer or a hot lead and work on converting it into a sale.

  This speeds up the decision-making process and helps the employees to become better organized.

• Saves Effort

  Effective CRM systems can assign tasks and targets automatically to an individual or a team of employees. This makes the system more data-driven, predictable, and transparent, helping the top management focus their energies on planning and executing the other core aspects of the business.

• Increases Revenues

  CRM software will be able to maximize revenue generation by helping management teams to know the customers better so that they can formulate data-driven policies and frameworks to meet sales targets.

  By helping to maximize operational efficiencies, most real estate CRM programs provide the industry benchmark practices tested to be efficient and effective in improving processes and increasing revenues.

• Easily Customized and Scaled

  Most CRM software is developed with long-term needs in mind and considering future growth. To that end, this software is easily customizable and scalable. Initially, a business can use software with some key functionalities of CRM, but with the growth of business operations, more functionalities and advanced solutions can be integrated.

• Improved Social Media Marketing

  Reaching out to prospective customers through their existing and frequently accessed social media accounts has advantages of cost and maximizes customer engagement. Most CRMs these days offer integration with social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. This allows real estate companies to track customer behavior, engagement, and real-time feedback.

What are the Key Features of Real Estate CRM Software for Real Estate Agents?

Based on the exact nature and requirements within the organization, the real estate CRM solution can be heavily customized. Having said that, however, there are indeed a few basic features that all real estate CRM features should have. These are:

1. Automation of The On-ground Salesforce

   Basically aimed at preventing duplication of efforts between a salesperson and the targeted customer. An effective real estate CRM system can automatically track the contacts and follow-ups between the customer and the real estate company.

   Suppose, at a later point, a different salesperson has to take the lead forward. In that case, they already have enough data to refer to the customer and the previous interaction regarding the sales pitch.

2. Automation of the Customer Contact Centre

   Real estate CRM software can be quite effective in easing the call center executives' jobs by using pre-recorded audio messaging that can help manage customer queries and provide information, especially the ones asked more frequently.

   There are many tools in the CRM software that can cut down the call times and make customer service efficient and predictable.

3. Use of Location-Based Service

   Most modern CRMs have the technology for creating location-specific marketing campaigns. These are based on the customer’s physical locations and are tracked through GPS tracking software.

   These kinds of geolocation technologies can also be used for location-based networking or customer contact management.

4. Automation of Marketing Campaigns and Strategies

   The best real estate CRM system can automate marketing engagement with the customer by automatically sending marketing communication through emails or social media.

   The software can analyze and track customer behavior and send specific communications that target the requirements or queries of the clients.

5. Sale Forecasting and Analytics

   CRM software can aid the real estate sellers in formulating a scientifically arrived sale forecast hence defining the metric to analyze if the performance has matched the efforts put in.

   Analyzing the hard data of past sales campaigns can also determine the future course of action.

Which Real Estate CRM System Should You Choose?

There is a large number of real estate CRM systems available, and it is very important to try and figure out which one is best suited for the individual needs of your business. Basically, a good CRM software should be easily customizable, easy to use and train people on, and should have rich features for helping the business with sales, marketing, and data management.

The CRM system should also be easily integrated with the existing solutions and economical to install and use. It should have the latest security and accessibility features and good after-sales backup and support.

The above pointers can be used as reference points for selecting the most optimum CRM software for your needs, whether you are a small business buyer or an enterprise buyer.

How to Choose the Right Real Estate CRM Software?

Finding CRM Software for your real estate business can be an overwhelming task. There are plenty of CRM software providers available in the market today, and this means you have a wide choice of real estate CRM system packages to choose from. But the question is - How do you select the “right” CRM software for the real estate industry?

Here are the significant points you should consider in order to make your selection process easy and quick:

• Find Out Your Requirements

  When choosing software, it is essential to make a clear and concise list of your requirements before you start looking at Vendors. In addition, it would be a good idea to find a real estate CRM system that is industry-specific with features and tools designed to address your business requirements.

  The more specific you are upfront, the more detailed your vendors can be in their proposals. Unnecessary requirement definitions and ambivalent priorities often lead to poor implementation. Try to involve upper management in the evaluation process. Lack of participation from the senior level in the evaluation process can lead to poor acceptance and user adoption.

• Keep Your Options Open

  Contrary to popular belief, more than just three or four primary vendors provide real estate CRM software. Although three to four software vendors have the most market share and revenues, there are more than hundreds of CRM solutions available in the market, all with varying degrees of strengths and functionality.

  Too many businesses have an uncanny knack for opting for a solution based on the brand name. Instead, it would help if you considered the options that are going to best meet your specific business needs.

• Compare The Vendors

  Vendor comparison is something that you should do before a CRM software purchase. One of the benefits of Vendor comparison is that it saves money for you. Vendor comparison is successful when you compare across reliable real estate CRM providers.

  You should select those companies which have a good track record of providing good customer service. It is worthwhile to consider the vendor’s reputation. While comparing the vendors that provide CRM solutions, it is essential to know whether they can prove to be good partner for your business.

  The vendor should have long-term stability to support and improve the solution in the future.

• Find Out What Others are Saying

  Ask your friends, colleagues, employees, and other contacts what they recommend or use for a business like yours. It is in the fitness of things that you should conduct thorough research on the internet.

  You can also hire a CRM consultant if the necessity arises. In any case, it is not good to assume you have all the answers if you don't have experience with CRM. Look for other independent sources of real estate CRM advice to verify what information is provided by the sales representatives.

• Consider the Total Cost of Ownership of Your CRM Software

  You should have a clear picture of your CRM purchase's total cost of ownership (TCO). It is a truism that the costs involved with a software purchase are generally hidden and confusing.

  Apart from the software costs, the costs can include hardware, implementation, internal and external project resources, maintenance, integration, customization, training, support, updates, etc. Whether you need a turnkey solution or a customized system depends on your choice. While a turnkey generates less cost in the initial deployment, customization keeps burning a hole in your pocket.

• Choose Cloud CRM Software

  With the growing popularity of cloud computing, it's no wonder why many businesses are going for cloud-based real estate CRM software. Hence, over the years, there has been an aggressive adoption of cloud CRM and bringing data in and out of the cloud is increasing more than ever before.

  Almost all CRM vendors have already made their presence felt in the cloud market with their offerings. It is good to avoid that software that is described as "on-premise."

• Take a Test Drive

  Before purchasing a new real estate software, ask for a free trial. Most CRM vendors offer a free trial so that the users can test the benefits, functionalities, and features. In addition, a free trial will give you a much clearer picture of what the solution can deliver.

  Moreover, don't ignore mobile users. As the BYOD system (Bring Your Own Devices) and mobility are gaining momentum, accessing CRM systems from desktops only is no longer an alternative. Therefore, it would be wise to select a commercial real estate CRM solution that allows users to be productive on tablets and smartphones.

How Does Real Estate CRM Affect Lead Conversions?

The way you manage your leads determines the conversion rate of your sales team. For example, you may have the best collection of properties, an agile sales team, and an innovative marketing team.

But if you fail to nurture leads in the desired manner, you will lose sales. This is the reason you must invest in a real estate CRM for managing the client’s journey, right from acquiring a lead to closing it.

The real estate lead management software equips your sales and marketing team with the right software to manage contacts and clients. How does a real estate CRM system assist your employees in setting up the pitch for conversions? Let us discuss this in detail. 

• Organize your Leads

  The game begins with the process of generating real estate leads. To accomplish this task, the marketing and lead generation divisions deploy various strategies. Some of them include online and offline advertising campaigns, email campaigns, social media posts, website optimization, gathering references, etc.

  Listing properties on real estate portals and collaborating with real estate bloggers are also prominent sources of collecting leads.

  Now once you have the lead, you can organize them into a proper format with the assistance of real estate CRM software. This is necessary to allow contact information to the salesperson.

  Moreover, you can easily manage contacts if you can access them in a particular format. You can also analyze the complete lead conversion cycle from the CRM dashboard.

• Personalized Interaction with Clients

  The communication begins once the lead comes in. The real estate software notifies you of the generated leads, giving you an opportunity to break the ice. Now, you can either use the automated responding system or personalize conversations.

  The latter is a preferable option if you are adamant about rendering a seamless user experience to the clients. So whether it’s a welcome message or a property alert, focus on personalizing conversations.

  As the real estate CRM software keeps you notified of the complete lead conversion cycle, you can curate customized messages at every step.

  For example, if you come across a property with a sprawling lawn, you can notify customers regarding this property. The software will assist you in setting up the message and sending it at the right time. Moreover, it will maintain a complete record of client interactions.

• Automating Workflows

  The main purpose of real estate CRM software is to automate workflows. Whether it’s categorizing leads according to business processes, allotting leads to sales experts, getting real-time notifications, managing calendars, segmenting leads database, or communicating via chatbots, the real estate CRM software takes care of these aspects.

  This is beneficial for the salespersons as they can shift their focus on cultivating relationships with the clients and also discover ways to close sales.

  The real estate CRM tools also support integration with third-party tools and property networks. If you are using marketing software, communication software, or any other software system, you can seamlessly integrate with CRM software to automate workflows and exchange information. Integration with MLS networks and real estate portals also allows you to manage property listings.

• Retarget Existing Customers

  According to research, there is a 60-70 percent probability of selling to an existing customer. However, in real estate, a customer seldom makes a repurchase. Obviously, who buys properties again and again (unless it’s for investment purposes)? But your clients may buy in the future, or they may act as referrals.

  Therefore, it is crucial to maintain a relationship with your past clients. The real estate CRM assists in maintaining fruitful relationships with your existing clients.

  The software also allows you to create targeted campaigns for customers showing interest in particular properties. For example, if you have apartment options in a particular area, you can create an email campaign to target customers who have signed up to know more about apartments.

  In this case, the CRM software acts as the apartment management software. Similarly, you can customize the software’s segmentation feature to target customers.

• Reporting & Feedback

  Reporting & analysis is an indispensable feature of a real estate CRM system. It enables you to track performance, estimate sales forecasts, identify weak points, shuffle responsibilities, and make data-driven decisions. The real estate CRM software lets you measure, analyze, and react.

  For example, you can measure email campaign success rates, analyze the factors that can be improved (such as subject lines, time of email, etc.), and react accordingly to maximize conversions.

  The reporting feature generates insightful reports that enable you to make quick decisions. And if you want more information, you can ask for feedback from your clients. Send them emails, text them, or ask them to leave a review on your website. There are numerous ways to gather valuable feedback that will ultimately help you in improving your work methodology.

• Prepare for Conversions

  If you feel that you have not been exploiting the complete potential of the top real estate CRM software, then it’s time to tighten your seat belt. Leave no stone unturned when it comes to nurturing relationships with potential clients. Accustom yourself to CRM software and reap maximum benefits in the long run.

  It is of utmost importance to ensure that the functions and features of the real estate CRM solution you are buying are compatible with your system. This includes checking browser compatibility, OS compatibility, server compatibility, etc.

  By adhering to the above-mentioned steps, you will be on a firm footing to ultimately select the right real estate CRM software for your organization.

The real estate CRM system provides multiple functionalities and should be analyzed towards its specific features that can be effective in maximizing its benefits for the business. Features such as call management, lead management, access control, document sharing, social media integration, storage options, etc., should all be compared feature to feature across the available CRM software and, accordingly, a choice made.