Most people see buying and selling a property as one of the most stressful events in modern life. So even before they engage with a Real Estate Agent, they’re already feeling a sense of trepidation.
It's no surprise then that a client is likely to choose an agent based on their initial experience. They're looking for a professional, reliable, organized, trustworthy agent.
One sure way to provide a positive experience from the start is to look after them well by understanding their needs and communicating regularly. A CRM system will help with this and more.
Specialist Real Estate CRM?
There are many CRM systems in the market and some are built specifically for the real estate market. But you don’t need to limit your choice by going niche - you may lose key functionality as a result.
Some CRMs, including Capsule can be easily tailored to suit your specialist processes, plus you’ll get features and integrations that drive growth across other industries too, which will provide a good source of inspiration.
CRM for communication
The great advantage of a CRM system is the ability to easily organize your data so you never miss an inquiry, follow up call or statutory deadline again.
Setting up a CRM system for real estate is very easy. Your standard ‘Organization’ field for example would become a ‘Family’. The contacts under the ‘Family’ could be the individual members who you’re dealing with.
Or your 'Organization' could become the property itself and all individuals interested in the property could sit underneath. You can choose the best way to set up your contacts depending on what you'd like to track.
Once a contact is in your CRM, all your correspondence is stored so you’ll know exactly what’s been said and sent to whom. No more relying on memory or partners updating one and other.
Capsule also allows you to link your contacts to an external URL, such as Rightmove or Zillow, so you can link a person or property to the online listing very easily too.
CRM to organize your day
It can be a full-time job for an agent to stay on top of all the administration of buying and selling a property but a CRM system can automate a lot of the activities for you and keep you on track.
Emails can be connected to contacts so all correspondence is stored under one name or family. All the relevant paperwork such as ID, contracts can be stored in the same place too so you know the exact information you have on file for each person and what’s outstanding.
As Capsule links a contact to an external URL, when you’re off to meet a client at a property, there are no more worries about directions as you can simply find the client in Capsule, click on the address of the property they're booked to see and open up Google maps for directions. It's that easy.
Screen recording of house admin
At the viewing, when a client asks questions you can’t yet answer, you can create follow up tasks in your CRM from your mobile. You can assign them to other team members so they can get on with tasks straight away. This speed of turnaround and organized way of working will provide a stellar experience to your clients and keep them loyal to your agency.
If you would like to be super organized, in Capsule, you can even set up a standardized list of tasks for follow up processes. This makes sure nothing gets missed and you provide a consistent client experience to everyone.
Some CRMs like Capsule are also set up to store information on products, services and in this case properties, without interfering with you day to day sales data. We call them Cases in Capsule and you can create a case for every property. This becomes your online folder for each property and better still, you can link all your emails and activities on that property there too. It’s an incredibly useful way to manage your listings.
CRM for Real Estate sales
Every CRM system has a sales pipeline which tells you exactly which stage of the buying process your sales are at. This is perfect for real estate as you can track the progress of each house sale and even compare how quickly they’re moving between agents or different agency locations.
Most CRMs will let you customize the stages of your pipeline so it makes sense to you. Capsule certainly does. It gives you a very clear picture of which properties are shifting and those that may need more attention. Properties that aren’t worked on for a while will be highlighted in orange as going stale so you know where to focus attention.
See what properties are shifting
Being organized and tracking sales is a clear benefit of any CRM system, it helps you build relationships with clients as you’re more informed. But when you want to work more effectively and plan strategically, analyzing your sales and productivity is key.
CRM reports vary across different suppliers but the basic reports on your pipeline will tell you how long each property is at a specific stage so you’ll see the agent who keep sales moving and those properties that need more focus.
This insight on what’s selling, why and for how much, will help agents when they’re trying to add new properties to their portfolio. They will have the facts and data to hand to set clear expectations for prospective clients, which could be a strong differentiator for your agency.
And if your agency wants to report on very specific data not covered in the CRM, you may be able to connect to Google Looker Studio. Capsule’s Growth Plan is connected and you can create practically any report you wish.
We’ve covered the quick ways to tailor a CRM to suit your real estate business but if you would like to uncover more, try Capsule and take advantage of our 14 day free trial today.
