Wondering how customer relationship management tools (CRMs) are evolving to meet today’s challenges? Agent Publishing surveyed readers of their magazines in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston and Miami about what tools they use for relationship management. The report also gathered readers’ opinions about CRM tools on the market, breaking down respondents into three categories: brokers, team leaders and managing brokers.
Agent Publishing looked at the question from the other side of the coin as well. The report analyzed various CRMs to understand which ones offer the best functionality for broker needs. It also collected pricing and subscription breakdowns, various integrations prioritized for real estate professionals and interviews with CRM executives to gain insight about the next CRM advances.
As a tool to manage and build a client base, CRMs traditionally provide a centralized location where real estate businesses can store customer data, and compile marketing information and property listings. Only 7% of respondents told Agent Publishing they don’t use some version of a CRM.
While CRMs have been a vital tool in real estate for many years, CRM companies are adapting to shifts in real estate sales techniques. Sphere marketing, a strategy focused on selling to people a broker has a relationship with or to people who are in the agent’s sphere, has grown in popularity so much that many CRM companies are now catering to agents’ needs in this regard, according to York Baur, CEO of MoxiWorks.
“The real estate CRM industry is waking up to understand what we’ve known for five years: Sphere marketing is the way to make the biggest impact,” said Baur in the report.
Providing brokers a CRM that can capitalize on personal relationships is at the core of CRM provider PipeDrive, according to the company’s global head of inside sales, Raul Perdigao.
“In real estate, the broker guides the buyer and seller as a friend, confidant, pseudo-psychiatrist and anchor. A CRM should be the super administrator assisting the process,” he said in the report.
I have been involved in CRM strategies for almost 30 years. I became very excited about selling to Real Estate agents here in Australia some 20 years ago and had amazing success with the only one I worked with after speaking to many! But most RE agents, like the car industry, are only focused on the next listing. Very few see the longer term.
In Australia, we sell our home – on average – every 5 years. Sure, that’s a long time to wait for repeat business. But, you look after your customers, and they will refer business to you – big time!!
I would love to know if there are any RE agents out there actually communicating with their customers and taking the longer view