As part of an industry notorious for its hectic workdays and long hours, I would wager a guess that you haven’t given as much thought to a real estate CRM as you would like to. That’s understandable! But now is a terrific time to research how a CRM can benefit your business and ultimately choose which one is right for you.
According to a study by ActiveRain, rich real estate agents are 87% more likely than poor agents to be using a real estate CRM. By putting the right practices in place and staying organized you’ll be more likely to become a top earner in the field.
Maybe you’ve signed up with a CRM that you’re halfheartedly using or you might be one of the many agents who know you should be using a CRM, but haven’t made the leap yet. We’ve distilled the overwhelming information about real estate contact management into the 3 things you need to know.
The most organized person still needs help.
It’s easy to stay organized when things are slow and your tasks are manageable. But what about when you have several different transactions on the go and you’re also trying to remember to send your client’s Birthday greetings? Top producing agents don’t want to let any important details fall through the cracks, so they enlist the help of tools to keep them organized on a daily basis.
IXACT Contact provides pre-defined activity plans that help you stay on top of tasks related to the listing or closing of any property. You’ll be reminded to complete things like putting up signs, running ads and sending client service reports. Email reminders will keep you organized and make it easier for you to plan your work day. A robust calendar, smartphone synchronization and even Birthday reminders are just a few of the additional features that will help you get organized.
A little communication goes a long way.
Sending out a monthly e-Newsletter is one thing that you, as an Agent, can do to stay in touch with prospects and clients over time. We recommend sending out monthly direct mail pieces to your A-List because direct mail often has the most impact. But, it can be costly to send direct mail to everyone in your database, so for your B and C lists, we suggest sending out a monthly e-Newsletter.
Why is keeping in touch so important? Consider this: the National Association of Agents (NAR) found that 85% of home sellers said that they would use the same agent again or recommend the agent to others. If you’re not keeping in touch and staying “top of mind” and relevant with past clients, they’ll forget you or move on to the next real estate sales professional they happen to come across.
With IXACT Contact’s real estate CRM, e-Newsletter templates have been professionally written and designed for you. All you have to do is choose your template and insert your images and text. It can’t get much easier than that!
Metrics will help you identify hot leads.
When you understand the statistics your email sending platform can provide, you can uncover easy opportunities for fresh new leads. By monitoring who is opening your emails, what links they’re clicking and whether they’re forwarding the message along to someone else, you’ll gain valuable insight into who is interested in your email and what topics resonate with your audience.
Email systems, such as those provided through IXACT Contact, often let you see who exactly is opening, clicking and forwarding your emails. These people could be hot leads. For instance, suppose you sent out an e-Flyer promoting your newest listing with a hyperlink at the bottom “Click Here to learn more about this amazing home”. Wouldn’t you like to know who opened this email, and especially, who clicked on the “learn more” hyperlink? Of course you would because these people have demonstrated with their behavior that they’re interested in the listing – even if they haven’t picked up the phone and called you about it. Even better, they’re not strangers. Because they’re in your database, you already have some level of existing relationship. Next step? Give these people a call and ask them if they got your e-Flyer and if they’re interested in the home, then let the conversation unfold naturally.
Knowledge is power and the more you understand about how a CRM can work for you, the better! These three points identified how a CRM can help you get organized, stay in touch and identify more hot leads. Try it for yourself and take IXACT Contact on a test drive with a FREE 5 week trial.
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