The CRM primer for real estate agents

Real estate is a relationship business, or so we’re told. Yet, why do so many agents let the relationship grow cold when the transaction closes?

Clients bought or sold a home, they didn’t die.

They are still roaming the earth, making friends, having kids, having grandkids. Their networks continue to grow, while yours (if you’re one of the non-nurturers in the industry) stagnates.

Think about this:

“The typical REALTOR® earned 15 percent of their business from repeat clients and customers and 19 percent through referrals from past clients and customers. 

(2021 NAR Member Profile)

Since repeat clients and referrals from those clients seem to be the primary source of business for “the typical REALTOR®, it’s a little nuts to lose contact with those clients.

And, if you think that your name will pop to the front of their minds and the tip of their tongues when someone asks about good real estate agents, check this out:

The average American knows about 600 people, according to research from Columbia University.

How many agents are among those 600 friends, relatives and acquaintances? Why gamble?

Since we’re heading into a brand-new year, developing the nurturing habit should be at the top of your list of “to-do” activities.

And nurturing, consistently, starts with being organized. If you don’t have a CRM, put one into your budget and then start filling it with valuable, career-saving information.

For new agents: real estate CRM is a shortcut for “customer relationship management.” It’s basically software, akin to the old “database,” but on steroids.

A “CRM shows a company what a customer looks like …” according to Sarah Amsler, managing editor at TechTarget.

How a real estate CRM helps your business

A real estate CRM allows you to segment the folks that populate it

When leads, clients and your SOI are segmented intelligently, you’ll waste less time on those not yet ready to transact, freeing up more time for folks who are.

There are any number of characteristics by which you can segment the people in your real estate CRM. Here are just a few:

• Hot, warm and cold leads
• A, B, C leads
• By buyer, seller, past client and SOI

Additional segmentation possibilities will streamline your real estate CRM even more:

• Type of residence
• Tenure – This helps you narrow down your marketing focus to homeowners if you’re looking for listings. Those who have lived in their homes seven years or longer, the average home seller tenure in Q1 2021, according to attomdata.com.
• Birthdate – For the entire family. Birthday wishes offer a chance to reach out several times a year.
• How this name got into your real estate CRM – Cold call, door knocking, newsletter recipient, website lead, Referral, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• Interests and hobbies – Gary David Hall, vice president of customer success at realvolve.com offers a brilliant example. The agent sees an ad for discounted greens fees at a local golf course. He searches his CRM for golfers and then zips off an email or text letting them know.

A real estate CRM helps you to easily customize marketing

Building closer relationships is a worthy goal for all real estate agents. Allowing the folks in your real estate CRM to get to know, like and trust you is even easier when the marketing messages they receive are customized.

A real estate CRM helps streamline the customization process.

Your real estate CRM is your very own in-house historian

The history of every transaction, every lead, every person in your CRM is there at the push of a button. 

This helps you personalize communications, offer relevant value (for example, the discounted greens fees, mentioned above), and keep track of where everyone is located in the pipeline.

How to choose the right real estate CRM for your business

A real estate CRM is integral to client retention and provides the data necessary to know how to reach these people. As time goes on, additional useful information is added, such as:

• How they found you (were they referred, are they relatives, friends, family or past clients?)
• Personal details that you’ve gathered, such as hobbies, career, names of kids, etc.
• How and when you’ve engaged with them (for instance dates of “touches” and the vehicle, such as direct mail, phone call, etc.)

“While actual packages may differ in terms of features offered, most CRM systems will help you track real estate leads, monitor campaigns for lead generation, manage and access contacts and upload legal contracts and documents” according to Tracey Velt at realtrends.com.

The first thing to figure out before taking a look at all the different CRMs on the market are which features you’ll need. This decision may be based on whether you need more new leads or you need to nurture relationships with those you have.

Anything that will help you narrow down the choice of a CRM will keep you from becoming confused by all the choices available when you start shopping.

The most important feature, in our opinion, is that the CRM can be integrated into your MLS. Other features offered by real estate-specific CRMs vary by company and include:

• Transaction management capabilities
• Templates
• Social media marketing tools
• Marketing automation
• Automated relationship workflows
• Lead capture
• Follow-up tools
• Auto update
• Email integration

Those are just a few of the more popular real estate CRM features. If you’re new to the business, query other agents about what they felt their first CRM was missing and ensure you don’t make the same mistake.

Check out various real estate CRMs and read reviews at G2.com.