4 Benefits of Rich Data in Your CRM
When is the last time you used your cell phone just for making phone calls? Not for checking email or texting, or checking the weather or reading the news, or even sending someone a photo—just straight up using your cell phone as a phone. Chances are the answer is years ago (if not decades, if not never). As technology evolves, so do we, and objects, like phones, serve multiple purposes. As do CRMs.
Customer Relationship Management has been around for years. It was touted as a game changer, as the must-have software for any serious business professional looking to reach the next level. But for years, CRM systems…and the data feeds that enable them…were clunky and cumbersome. It’s true. They were inefficient and ill-equipped to handle a business’s specific needs. But not anymore. CRM systems, just like phones, have come a long way.
Initially embraced but B2B industries such as high-tech OEM and manufacturers, retail and financial services, real estate traditionally operated differently. Today, there are real estate-specific CRMs. These systems address the needs and challenges of real estate professionals. But yet, they have been slow to reap the benefits other industries have. Additionally, most of today’s CRM platforms offer mobile apps, which give you the flexibility to do business from anywhere at any time.
If an on-the-go, customizable CRM platform isn’t enough of a game changer, then read on for four reasons why using a CRM can revolutionize your business.
1. Embrace Data-Powered Brokerage Lead Qualification
Current methods for lead qualification—call centers that can take days to reach a lead and qualify via phone—are being replaced with big data and immediate response by tech-enabled agents. This type of instant, tech-enabled access to prospect profiles is a huge advantage when when converting leads to a sale. Quality data promotes personalized interactions, drives connections and conversations, turns prospects into leads, and ultimately converts qualified leads into buyers.
And a CRM makes this possible. A CRM system lets you enter everything you know about your clients, serving as both a database and an automatic reminder. As JR Suppa, Licensed Real Estate Salesperson with William Pitt Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty, states, “It’s like having a personal assistant for a fraction of the cost. It’s a no-brainer.”
2. Make it Personal. Lead routing based on availability yields more conversations.
What good is a lead if it doesn’t reach the right person? You determine what kind of lead distribution you want for your agents, and your team knows what to expect. Will leads be distributed by geography? Day of the week? Or, will agents be alerted with a simple prompt to accept or not via routing that executes a waterfall series of instructions?
When your lead generation sources are connected with your lead routing tools to a CRM, you will have the ability to automate lead distribution, which cuts down agent response time and eliminates the guesswork, and this is huge when it comes turning a lead into a sale. Only 45% of leads are generated during business hours of 9am to 5pm. Imagine being able to communicate with leads in real-time, on their time, when they’re searching? With the right lead routing and response process in place, you will be able to satisfy your consumer’s expectation by responding to them promptly.
Today’s consumer has an extremely short attention span, so the faster the response the better off you’ll be. Sound like hogwash? Then chew on this, “An analysis of more than 2,200 American companies found those who attempted to reach leads within an hour were nearly seven times likelier to have meaningful conversations with decision makers than those who waited even 60 minutes.” The difference is literally minutes.
Additionally, most lead routing functionality include text-messaging or calling, which allows you the ability to follow up with prospects in real time. When it comes to relationship marketing, a simple message during the buyer’s moment of intent goes a long way.
3. Simplify the Day-to-Day with End-to-End Accounting
A good CRM system captures all the details so you can evaluate the quality of your lead sources, and therefore separate which marketing campaigns are successful and which ones are not. A CRM system will help you identify traffic patterns and ultimately determine which lead attributes indicate they are most likely to close, and what nurturing will ensure that. Brokers and their marketing teams know doing so will also help reduce the time and money spent on ineffective campaigns.
4. Experience Automated, In-House Marketing
Today’s CRM systems are more than just databases, they also incorporate features to handle an ongoing, nurturing relations with your leads. It will automatically trigger phone, email or in-person outreach to leads and it can even set up phone meetings with prospective customers for you.
The right CRM system will transform a best practice into an everyday reality. Think about the areas of your business that are rote, such as data entry or thank you messages. If automated, which areas of your business slip through the cracks? What your day would be if you didn’t have to do all of those processes manually.
If a tech stack with lead generation, routing and data entry is not currently part of your sales process, it should be. Stay competitive in hot markets with a good CRM to nurture prospects and clients properly. The one thing that hasn’t changed in real estate is the power of the personal relationships buyers and renters have with their agents. The technology is here to let you keep building those, by giving you back time to do what they do best.