CRMs have evolved quite a lot in recent years, and far too often the narrative has shown a distorted reality as to how the modern day software can actually make your life easier – and strengthen your business. Today’s real estate CRMs are all about enhancing your client relationships, improving client retention, and helping you achieve your overall business goals.
CRMs give you the ability to get personal with your customers at scale, and to handle more business more effectively than you ever thought possible. There is a new breed of real estate CRM that is more marketing oriented, infused with automation, and easier to learn and use than ever before.
With that being said, it’s time we pull in the top ten misconceptions on real estate CRMs – and debunk them once and for all.
Myth #1: It’s Expensive
Let’s be serious – you pay more buying lunch than you would for a monthly subscription to a high-powered CRM nowadays – not to mention the infinite amount of value you get from the latter. It’s fair to say this myth can be accurately logged in the debunked file. Enough said.
Myth #2: Requires too much upkeep
As recently as 5 years ago, most real estate CRMs gave you a blank newsletter template and you had to write and create your own copy and design from scratch.
Leading edge CRMs like IXACT Contact now provide you with a professionally designed and written e-Newsletter that’s also fully automated. It’s the industry’s first true “set it and forget it” monthly e-Newsletter – it’s like having your own copywriter on deck.
Myth #3: They can’t automate everything
The magic today is in the automation. Leading edge CRMs allow you to automate your lead capture and lead nurturing, mass assign automated keep-in-touch call reminders and drip email campaigns, and send e-Newsletters to your database without you having to do a thing.
So yes, you can in fact automate and outsource much of your core client and relationship marketing tasks.
Myth #4: Social media is disconnected
Social media is a great way for agents to build relationships with clients and prospects, so it’s critical that it integrates with your CRM. Today’s best real estate CRMs have a Social Intelligence feature that gives you instant access to all your contacts’ social media info and channels with a single click.
Myth #5: It Doesn’t Connect to Mobile
Americans collectively check their phones upwards of 8 billion times per day; so to say that mobile devices are the way of the future would be an understatement. Real estate CRMs today usually include a Mobile App that make it easy to respond to leads, keep in touch with key contacts, and stay on top of your daily tasks. Real estate agents want a seamless transition from mobile to tablet to desktop – picking up right where they last left off – and that’s exactly what their Mobile CRM App gives them.
Myth #6: Starting from scratch with content
“CRMs don’t provide content; they’re just software!”
There was a time when this was true, but not any longer. Even as the technology progressed and content began to be included, it was usually a one-time upload of Action Plan related content.
Premium grade CRM’s now also provide a stream of fresh, high quality, marketing content that greatly enhances agents’ marketing efforts. Examples include monthly e-Newsletters, blog posts, and event e-Cards.
Myth #7: I Can’t Determine my ROI
The best CRMs give you all the tools you need to see exactly how your CRM is helping your business and what Return on Investment (ROI) you’re getting.
Let’s start with the ability to track the source of every contact, so you can see exactly which marketing investments and activities are driving business, and which ones aren’t.
There’s also the ability to see who’s opening your emails and who’s clicking through on links in those emails – which isn’t just reserved for dedicated email marketing platforms such as Constant Contact and MailChimp. It’s all about determining your key-performance indicators as it relates to your business objectives.
Myth #8: Easier to keep in touch the old school way
Even the old school methodology has become obsolete. Remember one of the points that kick-started this segment – CRM’s allow you to get personal at scale. Meaning you don’t have to earn this sweat equity by trying to be everywhere at once.
Mass assigned automated keep in touch call reminders, plus automated reminders for birthdays and move-in anniversaries, means you don’t have to use the antiquated method of sticky notes all around your office.
Myth #9: There aren’t any video capabilities
Did you know that 43% of people want to see more video content from marketers? The reason why is because video is one of the more innovative and intimate ways to connect with audiences. It also helps to have a video recorder and video library built directly into your CRM making it easy to create and insert videos into your e-mails.
Myth #10: I’m stuck setting this up by myself
Gone are the days when help guides and tutorial videos were forwarded your way to serve as your customer service representative. The best real estate CRMs genuinely want you to succeed with their product and do everything they can to get you up and running as quickly as possible.
We’re a long way removed from the old days where you would have to come in on a Saturday for a tutorial session. Now you get end-to-end setup help, and the onboarding team works closely with you to get every aspect of the system that you want to take advantage of set up and functional. Did we mention that this entire wire-to-wire service is done at no extra charge?
Consider these modern myths on CRMs completely debunked. Join the next evolution of high-performing real estate CRMs right here.
Start your FREE 5 week free trial of IXACT Contact now.
