Using customer relationship management software (CRM) for real estate can help realtors manage leads and close more deals. In this article, we’ll cover how using a CRM in real estate works, CRM software recommendations, and useful features for helping real estate businesses succeed.
Why use a CRM for real estate?
Do realtors need a CRM? Real estate transactions take time. There’s a lot that buyers and sellers need to consider and get done before making a deal. Real estate leads also often come as referrals from friends and clients, and taking care of these relationships is crucial.
CRM software can help you with contact management so that you can keep prospects close and better align your offers with what clients need. From boosting efficiency to gathering more accurate data, CRMs offer many benefits for real estate professionals.
Realtors and real estate agencies alike can benefit from CRM platforms by:
- Centralizing client information and communications
- Managing clients
- Better understanding of client needs
- Staying in touch with clients
- Easily scheduling visits and meetings
- Responding faster to inquiries
- Reaching more leads
CRMs can help improve the sales cycle by 8-14% and are used by over 55% of US-based businesses. With the ability to improve your sales cycle, marketing efforts, and customer support, it’s no wonder CRMs are fast becoming essential tools.
So how can they be used in the real estate industry?
What is a CRM in real estate used for: 7 use cases
Real estate agents and brokers have to manage clients, warm new leads, coordinate viewings, and send all sorts of thank-yous, followups, and messages in between.
What CRM offers is a way to easily manage client relationships and keep track of all tasks associated with each client. Many of these tasks can also be automated. From first contact to followups, CRM for real estate is the key to improving the sales cycle.
Below are some of the following ways real estate professionals can use CRM.
1. Improve lead generation
Using a CRM for real estate helps make sure no leads fall through the cracks with lead-collecting features.
Further reading: How to Build an Email List: 10 Tactics that Work
2. Focus on qualified leads
CRMs offer lead-scoring software so you can sort curious contacts from those ready to buy or sell. Improve the efficiency of your sales cycle by prioritizing leads that meet your business goals.
3. Easier lead management
Whether you’re monitoring referrals or connecting with website leads, CRM tools simplify lead management.
When juggling various clients, pipeline management tools streamline the sales process. Pipelines are a great addition to any CRM for real estate and will help your team members make smarter offers and outreach efforts.
4. Keep track of customer information
A CRM database stores your clients’ preferences and interactions in a customer profile. All contact information, such as call history and mailing list preferences can be found there. This tells you more about what they want and need so you can send them relevant offers and timely communications.
Profiles update in real-time when prospects interact with your emails, website, and other connected channels. This means your team is always prepared to provide an excellent customer experience.
5. Manage communications with prospects
Between new real estate leads and current clients, you’ll have a lot of messages to send, read, and keep track of.
A CRM can connect to your various apps and integrations to keep all of your conversations in a universal inbox. From there you can see conversation history and respond to conversations, no matter where they started.
Centralize conversations from all channels such as:
- Social media accounts like Instagram and Facebook
- SMS
- Phone calls
Multichannel communications help you stay in touch with clients where they are. Power up your CRM for real estate and sync all of your communication channels. Never miss a question or leave a potential new lead hanging.
6. Easily schedule viewings and meetings
Rather than go back and forth with emails and calls, CRM solutions with built-in booking landing pages allow businesses to seamlessly coordinate meetings or video calls with clients.
7. Make communication easy with email marketing automation
Email marketing software is part of any good CRM and can help you connect with leads and build relationships. Automate informational messages or notifications to keep leads close.
With automated campaigns, lead nurturing efforts can have a bigger reach and greater impact. Your clients will appreciate automatic updates and always being kept in the loop.
Further reading: Automated Emails: Benefits, Examples & Tips to Grow Your Business
Tips on how to use CRM for real estate
Capture more leads with Facebook ads and landing pages
Expand your reach with Facebook Ads and set up dedicated landing pages for your listings to target your ideal audience.
Get to know new contacts with signup forms
CRM features like signup forms automatically add leads to your CRM. Use signup forms to add new real estate leads to email lists and get a head start on targeting our audience.
Know how interested leads are in your offer
Lead scoring models help you assign points to leads when they show interest in your offer. This way you and your team can focus on warming leads that have potential, saving you time and resources.
Collaborate easily with shared tools
Shared dashboards allow your teams to coordinate seamlessly. Assign tasks to team members, automate reminders, and get a clear overview of deals and campaign reports.
Improve the sales process with pipelines
Set up customizable sales pipelines to help you improve the sales process. Monitor each lead’s progress to a deal and anticipate followup actions like calls and appraisal offers.
Good to know: You can get insight into your pipelines with reports that help you understand why you won or lost customers at each stage in the pipeline.
Simplify meetings, visits, and appraisals with booking pages
Two-way booking pages allow clients to book an appointment based on your availability. You can set up a booking page on your website, or include it in your email. All you need to do is set up your available hours and let clients find what suits them best.
39% of respondents in the National Association of Realtors Technology Survey found that video calling was the most valuable feature for their business. CRM for real estate allows clients to book video calls with Zoom, Google Meet, and internal video calling tools.
Further reading: How to Let Clients Book Appointments with You Online
Send real estate newsletters
Some of your prospects might be interested in understanding more about you, your business, or the local area before making a purchase or using your services.
Send out a monthly newsletter to build trust in your business. Share sold and new listings, talk about the attractions in the area, or return on investment opportunities for commercial buyers.
Whatever the topic, newsletters are a great way to create a relationship with your subscribers and get them familiar with your business. They’re also a great use of CRM for real estate.
Further reading: How to Create a Newsletter in 9 Easy Steps (Completely Free)
Automate lead nurturing sequences
Use email marketing automation to prepare replies and followup communications. Send leads exclusive listings or open house invitations tailored to their preferences.
You can even set up automated workflows that trigger notifications to clients such as when a listing is sold or a document is ready to sign. Automate text messages, emails, or WhatsApp messages — whatever they prefer.
Best real estate CRM software
CRM platform providers offer tools for everyone, from email marketing to deal pipelines. Whether you’re a solo realtor or part of a real estate agency, these solutions will help you meaningfully connect with clients.
Brevo — Best CRM for real estate and small businesses
G2 rating 4.5/5 (Sales Platform), 4.6/5 (Marketing Platform)
CRM type: Cloud-based
Having reached Centaur status in 2023, Brevo is a growing CRM powerhouse trusted by 500,000+ clients. The Brevo CRM offers all core features for sales, including sales pipelines, contact management, and workflow automation.
Communication and management tools that are particularly interesting for real estate are:
- Video call meetings
- An integrated business phone system
- Sales pipeline
- Sales reports
- Landing pages
You can enhance your CRM with Brevo’s Marketing Platform to access marketing tools. Show off your listings with gorgeous emails designed in Brevo’s drag-and-drop email editor, or start with pre-made email templates. You can also stay in touch with SMS text messages and share notifications that way.
What users love: Brevo lets you store unlimited contacts and is easy to use. Brokerages can easily share information between teammates with the shared dashboard.
Challenges: Brevo users cite setting up advanced automation workflows can be a bit of a learning curve in the automation builder. While the interface is easy to start using right away, your team may need time to get familiar with if/else/then workflow creation.
Brevo has pre-made workflow templates so you can get started right away and an academy to train your automation-building skills.
Brevo pricing
Brevo’s Sales Platform and Marketing Platform have free plans to get familiar with the platform. Paid Sales Platform plans start at $12/user/month and give you access to a customizable deal pipeline, contact management, and task automation.
Pipedrive — Good for micro companies or solo entrepreneurs
G2 rating: 4.2/5
CRM type: Cloud-based
Pipedrive is a CRM for real estate with good sales management tools. It offers a pipeline for visually tracking leads and allows you to assign tasks to teammates. You can enhance your CRM with add-ons like website visitor tracking or email campaigns.
If you’re a small company or a solo entrepreneur who needs something more sophisticated than a spreadsheet, but not too complex, this could be a good CRM for real estate.
Challenges: Advanced features are limited. While it does offer a solid pipeline, its marketing features are not as versatile. If you’re looking for stronger communication and marketing tools, this might not be the CRM for you.
Pipedrive pricing
Pipedrives starting plan is $14.90/user/month. This gives you access to sales tools like a sales pipeline and integrations. To start accessing marketing tools like automation for email campaigns you’ll need to pay $27.90/user/month.
Hubspot — Good for contact management
G2 rating: 4.4/5
CRM type: cloud-based
HubSpot is a well-known CRM. While it’s not a dedicated CRM for real estate, HubSpot’s wide client base means they’ve got tools for even the unexpected needs that might pop up.
Like Brevo, HubSpot has sales pipelines and marketing campaign capabilities so you can both monitor and encourage leads to a sale. You can also use call tracking to help you pinpoint why people are calling you.
HubSpot is a good all-around tool for managing contacts and leads. Hubspot could be the CRM real estate software for you if you need more management and communication tools and have a solid network of referrals and contacts.
Challenges: If you want to really customize your ads, you’ll be a bit limited with HubSpot. You’ll also need to copy information from individual leads into deals, which can take some time. HubSpot is also a bit pricier than other CRMs on the market.
HubSpot pricing
HubSpot sells subscriptions to hubs. Each hub offers different features such as marketing and sales. You can try HubSpot’s free CRM with limited features or go straight for a starter hub plan starting at $20/month (annually). Second-level tiers start at $500/month and increase based on the number of contacts you have.
The full CRM suite starts at $1,580/month. If you’re aiming to grow, it might be wise to consider a HubSpot competitor.
Wise Agent – Best CRM for lead generation
G2 rating: 3.6/5
CRM type: Cloud-based
Wise Agent CRM offers a good, no-frills experience for users looking for basic tools to capture leads and do contact management.
Main features include landing pages for lead generation, SMS campaigns, and online ads. Rather than offering pipelines, you can manage each lead directly from a lead profile. If you’re good at managing information and just need to find new leads, Wise Agent could be a good fit.
Good to know: Wise Agent has a mobile app so you can work on the go.
Challenges: If you need an integrated booking calendar, business phone system, or other advanced management features, this might not be the CRM for you.
Wise Agent pricing:
Pricing starts at $32/month for 1 account holder and 4 users.
Additional users and more landing pages can be bought for a monthly price.
LionDesk – Good for power dialing
G2 rating: 3.3/5
CRM type: Cloud-based
LionDesk is made specifically for real estate agents who function well with more traditional methods. From online ads to automated calling, LionDesk helps you find leads and follow up with them.
Main features include bulk texting, AI-powered text content and followups, and power dialing. This allows you to constantly reach your clients without wasting any time. Commercial real estate companies will benefit from power dialing large lists of contacts.
Challenges: LionDesk is mainly focused on phone communication. If not having pipeline management isn’t a deal breaker for you, and you prefer ads and calling, this is a good solution for you. Otherwise, you might want something more versatile.
LionDesk pricing:
LionDesk pricing starts at $30/user which gives you access to bulk SMS messaging and pre-built drip campaigns. There is no free plan available, but there is a 30-day free trial.
Related: The Best CRMs for Consulting Firms & Professionals
Try the best CRM for real estate
If you’re looking for a multi-functional CRM system to manage your relationships and close deals, Brevo is a fairly priced yet feature-rich option.
With detailed pipeline management and automation tools, Brevo helps you nurture leads and close deals more efficiently. Team members can easily see what others are doing with Brevo’s user-friendly shared dashboard.
Brevo’s platforms offer plenty of customization options so you can build your CRM as you grow. Start using the Sales Platform and begin building your sales pipeline today.
Try Brevo’s Sales PlatformGet unlimited contacts, deal pipeline management, tasks, inbox, automation, meeting scheduling — all in one place. |
