All real estate professionals need the ability to manage contacts in a central place and to automate staying in touch with those people to the greatest extent possible. Standalone systems just don’t do a good job of supporting that type of relationship building. Integrated real estate systems are the key to success.
Standalone Real Estate Marketing Systems are a Nightmare
Traditionally, automated real estate systems were standalone systems. For example:
- An agent might have an IDX search framed into a website.
- Search engines can’t read information in an iframe, meaning that the listings in the search weren’t useful for SEO.
- Information from Internet visitors who filled out a form on the website was stored in the website’s database. Information from Internet visitors who created an account on the listings search was stored in the IDX database.
- If the agent received leads from other websites, such as Zillow, Trulia, etc., that lead information likely wouldn’t be stored anywhere.
- If the agent paid for online lead generation, that lead information wouldn’t be stored anywhere or it might be stored in a database associated with the lead source.
- If the agent produced a newsletter, odds are that the email list for that newsletter would exist in the newsletter system, such as MailChimp or Constant Contact.
- If the agent kept their own database of all their contacts, the odds are that it would need to be manually updated from other lead sources. If the agent didn’t have their own database, odds are they would keep track of leads that came from referrals or personal contacts on sticky notes.
Standalone Systems Don’t Support Real Estate Marketing
So, what’s the problem? In an industry that is focused on relationship selling, all those separate systems don’t make much sense. The biggest challenge for any agent is attracting leads. But, running an extremely close second is the challenge of converting leads into clients.
The only way to convert leads is to stay top-of-mind, meaning that whenever one of your leads is thinking about buying or selling, your name is the first one that comes to mind. The same thing should happen if they have a friend or associate who is buying or selling a home. People who are referred by someone you know are much more likely to become clients than a cold lead.
IXACT Contact is an Integrated System You Can Trust
I have been very glad to see the integration that is appearing in the real estate industry. A prime example is the powerful integrated solution offered from IXACT Contact. It combines your real estate CRM, email marketing and agent website all in one easy-to-use solution.
With IXACT Contact’s integrated solution, all your leads from all sources are automatically transferred into your real estate CRM where they can immediately begin being nurtured by drip email marketing campaigns. You gain insight into who is opening and clicking on your emails thanks to IXACT Contact’s email campaign reporting, which replaces the need for MailChimp. And your IDX integrated listings are SEO friendly, helping you gain more quality traffic and be more findable on the web!
The fact that IXACT Contact solves the problems I discussed at the beginning of this post means that real estate professionals have a choice to use a system that will truly support their marketing efforts. They can choose an easy-to-learn and use integrated system from IXACT Contact. Those who have tried it have seen outstanding results!
Sign up for a FREE 5 week trial of IXACT Contact today and enjoy the benefits of an integrated marketing solution!
Kathleen Allardyce has provided web-centric real estate marketing services to real estate agents and brokers in the United States, Canada and Mexico since 2004. She has established a solid reputation in the real estate industry for first-class expertise, extraordinarily good results and outstanding client service. Service offerings: real estate website design, CRM implementation, real estate marketing project support. Learn more at www.RealEstateMarketing.Center