Real Estate Brokerage CRM and Leads: Working in the Old vs. NEW

Why is it that you run into so many old-fashioned "CRM" systems? And then there are the quasi-CRMs with a little bit of lead management, and then there are the standalone, sweet-technology systems (like call tracking or auto-texting).

What a brokerage, successful team or large real estate company truly needs is high integration and high automation around some very simple tools that make your life easier. But, at the end of the day, those tools still need to help close transactions and kick out some reporting.

Well, it turns out that you not only need the right system or solutions, but you also really need the right mindset around those tools. More specifically, it is about making sure you mentally commit the team to the new way of doing things.

For today's post, we have brought together some of the ways that working leads and contacts in an old system or process contrasts with the way they can (and should) be worked in a new technology system.

Scenario 1: What Actually Happened to Your Lead

OLD:

Lead comes in, you manually pass or email it out to an agent, and create a task for yourself to follow-up with the agent in a week. One week later, you email the agent for an update.

New:

Lead enters the system from any source, and distributes out to a single agent or group of agents. Once the lead is accepted, automated emails and text messages can begin going to the lead, and the agent can click-to-call, click-to-text, or email the lead immediately – which activity is tracked in the system. One week later, the lead manager checks the prior week's leads, and views the leads activity alongside the agent's auto-logged activity.

No self reporting, no "All these leads stink," no BS.

Scenario 2: "This $20M in real estate transactions came from..."

This one doesn't even need the old/new... everyone knows it.

One of the worst things about running a real business is when you feel like you are guessing. And the worst place to make guesses is about where your transactions ACTUALLY come from.

If you find yourself a little uncertain about where the deals are actually coming from OR wondering why all of the lead generation seems to result in very few deals, it is time to stop chasing your tail.

Transaction source-tracking is tricky because many times you are very strict about where you track the actual transactions, but extremely loose on tracking leads. So, you inevitably end up with transactions that came from... somewhere. And would an agent ever treat it like a personal lead if they didn't know? *Gasp* Never!

The trick here is having the Transaction-Tracking/Task Management system tied directly to the Lead-Tracking/No-BS system. At that point, with the new tech, even a call-in or text-in lead from six months ago gets matched to the new lead that the agent brought in this week!

Scenario 3: Branding vs. Lead-Gen vs. Waste of Money

Old:

So, you can EITHER brand your website with a custom design, but you will never receive leads; OR you can buy leads from an external source where you will never control anything. And, for a limited time, you can waste your money with either of those package options!

New:

You can build lead generation AROUND your brand. Farming activities can hit landing pages that belong to your root domain (or if you have a custom domain, at least they tie into the same system). PPC or SEO can be built in, and even managed for you. Guarantees? Well, when it is done right, you actually can have those, too.

The key is that the technology, the value-adding services and the lead-generation need to work hand-in-hand, so you don't have to make trade-offs between critical elements to your business growth plan.

Some common questions we answer about doing the right technology with the right system, and the right services:

• Is it free? Of course not.
• Does it give big returns? Yup.
• Who is this best for? Real estate companies, real estate brokerages and successful teams in the top 15%.

Inside Real Estate works with top teams and brokers to attract, engage, and close.

To view the original article, visit the Inside Real Estate blog.