What is Real Estate CRM?

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a critical process in the business world. It allows businesses to manage and track customer interactions and data throughout their lifecycle.

It’s often used to improve marketing efforts, customer service, and sales strategies. When it comes to real estate, CRM is just as important.

In fact, according to ReferMe IQ™, around 60% of real estate agents who make more than $100,000 a year use a CRM software.

So…

What is Real Estate CRM?

A Real Estate CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a software that helps businesses in the real estate industry manage their leads, contacts, and deals when it comes to sales, marketing, and customer service.It enables agents and brokers to stay organized, track sales or support calls, automate tasks, and much more.

A good real estate CRM platform will help you generate leads, convert them into customers, retain them, and turn them into loyal customers.

It will also give you insights into what’s working and what’s not, so you can continuously improve your real estate business.

Some of the features of a Real Estate CRM software include:

• Lead capture and management
• Contact management
• Deal management
• Property listings
• Workflow automation
• Marketing automation
• Reporting and analytics
• Integrations
• Drip campaigns
• Listing alerts
• Client portals

Lead capture and management

The first and most important feature of Real Estate CRM is lead capture.

Whether you’re doing offline or online real estate marketing, you’ll need a system that captures leads from different sources and keep them all in one place – sources like your local promotion campaigns, website, social media, or any other platform you advertise on.

Once you have captured the lead, you need to be able to manage it effectively.

This includes adding notes, tagging, assigning to team members, and setting follow-up tasks.

The best Real Estate CRMs will also allow you to score your leads, so you can prioritize them according to their likelihood of conversion.

Also, great CRM platforms allow you to automate tasks related to your lead like:

• Capturing process – automatically adding leads to your CRM when they fill out a form on your website or sign up for a newsletter
• Nurturing process – sending automatic follow-up emails, drip campaigns, or listing alerts.
• Conversion process – setting up automatic tasks and reminders for when a lead is ready to be contacted or nurtured further.
• Lead handoff – automatically assigning a lead to the appropriate team member when they’re ready to be contacted.

Contact management

The next important feature of Real Estate CRM is contact management.

You need to be able to store all your contacts in one place – leads, customers, prospects, partners, vendors, etc.

It records and retains behavioral data such as when a user opens an email, clicks on one, visits your website, downloads materials, joins your email list, and so on.

A great CRM will allow you to add custom fields so you can store any kind of information about a contact. It avoids data entry mistakes and saves you time by automatically enriching contact records with data from social media, email, and other sources.

It also makes it easy to segment your contacts into different groups so you can send them targeted emails or drip campaigns.

Other great features of contact management give you the ability to:

• Sync your contacts – across your devices so you can pick up where you left off no matter what device you’re using – mobile, tablets, or your desktop PC.
• Integrate with your email – send and receive emails from within your CRM, or have your emails automatically added to contact records.
• Have two-way conversations – with contacts through live chat, in-app messaging, or even text messaging.
• Increase customer satisfaction – by automating tasks by giving you a deeper look at your contacts’ interactions and journey with your business.
• Resolve issues and complaints quickly – by routing them to the appropriate team member and personalizing their experience to solve their individual needs.

Deal management

The third important feature of Real Estate CRM is deal management.

You need to be able to track your deals from start to finish so you can stay on top of every detail, avoid duplication of work, and increase your closing rate.

Deal management also allows you to see the status of each deal, so you can prioritize and manage your pipeline more effectively.

A great real estate CRM will allow you to:

• Create custom deal stages – that fit your unique sales process so you can track each stage of a deal and know exactly where it’s at.
• Add custom fields – to deals so you can track any kind of information that’s important to your business.
• Set reminders and notifications – so you never miss a beat and always know when a deal is about to close.
• Assign deals to team members – so everyone knows who’s responsible for what, and no one drops the ball.
• Generate reports – to see how your deals are performing and where you need to make improvements.
• Track deals – every detail of a deal including the listing, the property, the buyer/seller, the agent representing them, the offer amount, contingencies, deadlines, etc.

Property listings

The fourth important feature of Real Estate CRM is property listings.

If you’re in the business of buying, selling, or renting properties, then you need to be able to track your listings in one place.

Your CRM software can act as a database that stores and distributes your listings to your website, MLS, and other listings platforms.

It should also allow you to easily syndicate your listings to social media, email, and text messaging so you can reach a wider audience.

It’s that one source of truth for your business that allows you to:

• Manage your listings – from one place, so you can easily keep track of their status, price changes, open houses, etc.
• Publish your listings – to your website and other listing platforms with just a few clicks.
• Add unlimited listings – so you can track as many properties as you want, without having to worry about storage limits.
• Generate listing reports – to see which listings are performing well and where you need to make improvements.
• Integrate with your website – so your listings are automatically added to your website and updated in real-time.

Workflow automation

The fifth important feature of Real Estate CRM is workflow automation.

Workflow automation is a game-changer for real estate businesses because it allows you to automate repetitive tasks so you can focus on your core business.

For example, you can set up your CRM to automatically send a listing to a new lead when they sign up for your newsletter.

Or, you can have it automatically generate a report of your top-performing listings every week and email it to your team.

The possibilities are endless, but the goal is always the same: to save you time and money so you can grow your business.

A great real estate CRM will allow you to:

• Automate repetitive tasks – like sending listings to leads, generating reports, and following up with clients.
• Optimize your workflows – so they fit your unique business needs.
• Integrate with other apps – to automate even more tasks with apps that will add even more value to your workflow.
• Save time and money – by automating repetitive tasks that would otherwise be done manually – like data entry, emailing, and follow-ups.

Marketing automation

The sixth important feature of Real Estate CRM is marketing automation.

Marketing automation is the process of using software to automate your marketing tasks.

It’s similar to workflow automation, but with a focus on marketing tasks like email marketing, social media, and lead generation.

Marketing automation allows you to strategize better and execute your marketing campaigns more efficiently.

With marketing automation, you can:

• Generate more leads – by automatically sending targeted emails, ads, and social media messages to your prospects.
• Nurture your leads – by automatically sending them timely and relevant information that will help them move further down the sales funnel.
• Close more deals – by automating your follow-up process and keeping your pipeline full of hot leads.
• Save time and money – by automating tasks that would otherwise be done manually, like social DMs, email marketing, and lead generation.

Reporting and Analytics

The seventh important feature of Real Estate CRM is analytics and reporting.

Your CRM software should give you insights into your business so you can make data-driven decisions.

For example, you should be able to see how many leads you’ve generated, how many deals you’ve closed, and what your conversion rate is.

You should also be able to see which marketing campaigns are performing well and which ones need to be tweaked.

And, you should be able to generate reports on demand so you can share your progress with your team or clients.

A great real estate CRM will allow you to:

• Generate reports on demand – so you can always have the latest data at your fingertips.
• Get insights into your business – so you can make data-driven decisions.
• See which marketing campaigns are performing well – so you can invest more in the ones that are working.

Integrations

The eighth important feature of Real Estate CRM is integrations.

Your CRM should integrate with the other software you use to run your business.

For example, it should integrate with your email marketing software, accounting software, website, and social media accounts.

The goal of integrations is to automate as many tasks as possible so you can focus on your core business.

Integrations make it easy to share data between apps and automate tasks.

For example, you can set up your CRM to automatically send new leads to your email marketing software.

Or, you can have it automatically post new listings to your website and social media accounts.

The possibilities are endless, but the goal is always the same: to save you time and money so you can grow your business.

A great real estate CRM will allow you to:

• Integrate with other apps – so you can automate even more tasks with apps that will add even more value to your workflow.
• Save time and money – by automating repetitive tasks that would otherwise be done manually – like filling up spreadsheets, crafting messages and following up with leads.

Drip Campaigns

The ninth important feature of Real Estate CRM is drip campaigns.

Drip campaigns are a series of emails, texts, or social media messages that are automatically sent to your leads over time.

They’re designed to nurture your leads and keep them engaged until they’re ready to buy.

Drip campaigns are an essential part of the sales process, and they can be used to:

• Nurture your leads – by automatically sending them timely and relevant information that will help them move further down the sales funnel.
• Build relationships – by keeping in touch with your leads on a regular basis and building rapport.
• Close more deals – by automating your follow-up process and keeping your pipeline full of hot leads.

A great real estate CRM will allow you to:

• Create drip campaigns – so you can automatically send a series of emails, texts, or social media messages to your leads over time.
• Schedule your messages – so you can decide when each message in your drip campaign will be sent.
• Analyze your results – so you can see how well your drip campaigns are performing and make changes accordingly.

Listing Alerts

The tenth and most important feature of Real Estate CRM is listing alerts.

Listing alerts are a great way to keep your leads engaged and interested in your properties.

They’re also a great way to generate new leads.

Listing alerts are emails or text messages that are automatically sent to your leads when new listings that match their criteria are added to your website.

For example, if you have a lead who’s interested in properties in the downtown area, they’ll get an alert as soon as a new listing in that area is added to your website.

A great real estate CRM will allow you to:

• Create listing alerts – so you can automatically send your leads new listings that match their criteria.
• Set up rules – so you can decide which listings will be sent to which leads.
• Measure your data – so you can see how well your listing alerts are performing and make changes accordingly.

Client portals

The eleventh important feature of Real Estate CRM is client portals.

Client portals are online dashboards where your clients can log in and view their properties, listings, transactions, and more.

They’re a great way to keep your clients informed and up-to-date on their real estate investments.

A great real estate CRM will allow you to:

Create client portals – so your clients can log in and view their properties, listings, transactions, and more.

Customize your portals – so you can decide what information your clients will be able to see.

A great real estate CRM will allow you to:

• Create client portals – so your clients can log in and view their properties, listings, transactions, and more.
• Customize your client portals – so you can decide what information your clients will be able to see.
• Track your data – so you can see how well your client portals are performing and make changes accordingly.

Why Do Real Estate Agents Need A CRM?

As you can see, there are many great reasons why real estate agents need a CRM.

A CRM will save you time and money, keep your leads engaged, generate new leads, and help you close more deals.

Business strategies that were used in the past are not as effective as they use to be. In order to stay ahead of the game, you need to be using a CRM.

A CRM will help you manage your business more effectively and efficiently. It’s an essential tool for any real estate business. If you’re not using a CRM, you’re missing out on a lot of potential business.

According to Salesforce, companies that use CRM software see sales rise by 29%, sales productivity improves by 34%, and sales forecast accuracy improves by 42%.

Now that you know the basics of what is real estate CRM, It’s time to talk about why real estate CRM is important for your business.

It Helps You Stay Organized

As a real estate agent, you deal with a lot of customers, properties, and transactions. It’s important to stay organized and keep track of everything.

A CRM will help you do that.

It will allow you to store all your customer information in one place. You’ll be able to see their contact information, property preferences, transaction history, and more.

You can also use a CRM to keep track of your properties. You can store information about the property, such as the address, square footage, price, and more.

You can also use a CRM to keep track of your transactions. You can store information about the transaction, such as the property address, buyers, sellers, agents involved, and more.

A CRM will help you stay organized and on top of your business.

It Helps You Reach Deadlines Faster

A CRM will also help you reach deadlines faster.

For example, let’s say you have a listing that’s about to expire.

You can use your CRM to set up a task reminder for yourself. The reminder will remind you to contact the listing agent and ask for an extension.

You can also use your CRM to set up reminders for your buyers.

For example, let’s say you’re working with a buyer who’s interested in a particular property.

You can use your CRM to set up a task reminder for yourself. The reminder will remind you to contact the listing agent and schedule a showing.

A CRM will help you stay on top of your deadlines and help you reach them faster.

It Helps You Create A Deeper Connection With Your Prospects

A CRM will also help you create a deeper connection with your prospects.

You can use your CRM to store information about your prospects. You can see their contact information, property preferences, transaction history, and more.

You can also use a CRM to keep track of your interactions with your prospects.

For example, let’s say you meet a prospect at an open house.

You can use your CRM to add a note about the interaction. You can include information about what you talked about, what the prospect was interested in, and more.

The next time you meet with that prospect, you’ll have all that information at your fingertips.

You can use that information to create a deeper connection with your prospect.

It Helps You Stay In Touch With Your Leads

A CRM will also help you stay in touch with your leads.

You can use your CRM to set up task reminders for yourself. The reminder will remind you to contact the lead and nurture the relationship.

For example, let’s say you have a lead who’s interested in buying a home.

You can use your CRM to set up a drip campaign for that lead – that way you can make sure your lead is updated with the latest changes in the pricing, availability, and more of the properties they’re interested in.

A CRM will help you stay in touch with your leads and nurture those relationships.

It Helps You Win More Listings

A CRM will also help you win more listings.

When you’re working with a seller, you can use your CRM to keep track of the listing.

You can store information about the property, such as the address, square footage, price, information that makes this listing unique, and more.

You can also use your CRM to keep track of the listing agent.

You can store information about the listing agent, such as their contact information, property preferences, transaction history, and more.

When you’re ready to list a property, you can use your CRM to send out a mass email to all the listing agents in your area.

The email will include information about your property – including information you stored that cannot be found anywhere else.

A CRM will help you win more listings by helping you stay organized and on top of your properties.

It Helps You Stay On Top Of Your Business

A CRM will also help you stay on top of your business.

You can use your CRM to keep track of your appointments, tasks, and deadlines.

You can also use your CRM to keep track of your clients.

For example, let’s say you’re working with a buyer who’s interested in a particular property.

You can use your CRM to set up a task reminder for yourself. The reminder will remind you to contact the listing agent and schedule a showing.

You can also use your CRM to keep track of your commissions.

Instead of filling up accounting spreadsheets, you can use your CRM to track your income and expenses.

A CRM will help you stay on top of your business and make sure you’re always organized.

It Helps You Stay Connected To Your Team

A CRM will also help you stay connected to your team.

You can use your CRM to assign tasks to your team members.

You can also use your CRM to keep track of your team’s progress.

For example, let’s say you’re working on a listing with another agent.

You can use your CRM to assign tasks to each other. That way, you can both keep track of the listing and make sure that everything is getting done.

You can also use your CRM to keep track of your team’s performance.

You can use your CRM to store information about your team members, such as their contact information, property preferences, transaction history, and more.

By using a CRM, you can stay connected to your team and make sure that everyone is always on the same page.

Wrapping Up

A CRM is a powerful tool that can help you grow your business. If you’re not using a CRM, you’re missing out on a lot of opportunities.

A CRM will help you win more listings, stay in touch with your leads, and stay on top of your business. If you’re serious about growing your business, you need to start using a CRM.

If you’re not sure where to start, we recommend checking out our list of the best real estate CRMs.

We’ve reviewed all the top CRMs and listed their pros and cons. We’ve also included a buyer’s guide to help you choose the right CRM for your business.

No matter what CRM you choose, you’ll be sure to see a difference in your business.