Having been in business more than 20 years, I know that effective communication is the key to building client relationships that last and lead to repeat business. How – and how often – we communicate shows our clients we “get” them and helps us to serve them more effectively. As a Realtor you understand this better than anyone because your business so heavily relies on customer referrals and leads to drive a steady stream of clients.
Whether it’s a move across the country or across town, your clients want to feel like they’re your top priority. A CRM system can help you organize and grow your business by segmenting prospects and clients, delivering targeted communications that generate leads, nurture clients at every stage of the buying or selling process and close deals faster. Let’s examine five ways CRM can help you connect and engage your clients better.
Welcome Messages
The pandemic has significantly decreased the number of open houses as more people go online to search for listings and view virtual tours. Whether the client saw your ad on social or found the perfect listing online, quickly responding to prospects is crucial given the fast-paced and competitive nature of the real estate market. As soon as a prospect completes a request form, a friendly introduction email can be automatically sent to share your contact information so you can begin building a rapport. You can even include a link to book a showing appointment, provide a list of comparable homes or offer a market analysis on their current property. This simple, timely message can help move them further into the sales funnel.
Nurture Campaigns
You must be able to meet your prospect’s needs regardless of where they are in the sales funnel. With CRM, you can segment contact lists by demographics, interactions with your listings or content, buyers versus sellers, and more. This allows you to build mailing lists with custom forms for new listings, leverage automatic lead scoring to reach out to your most promising leads first, and even provide critical information on different financing options, market trends and key advice (like managing appraisal gaps), and more. A relevant nurture drip campaign fosters the agent and client connection while providing helpful information that demonstrates your industry expertise with tips prospects can use, which can help speed decision-making.
Manage the Sales Pipeline
With so much market competition, you want to make sure you know where every client is within the sales cycle to ensure you keep clients engaged and moving quickly through the funnel. Automatically triggering personalized communications ensures prospects and clients get the perfect message at the perfect time, based on their actions and behaviors at the various pipeline stages. You can also efficiently manage your pipeline by initiating automatic tasks that close deals or send documentation for home inspections, estimates, submitting a mortgage application before deadline, collecting keys, and more, while keeping your clients, teammates and partners informed at each phase.
Appointments
Sometimes it seems there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Automating your scheduling allows you to send out a calendar link when someone fills out the contact form on your website to book an appointment. You can help reduce appointment no-shows with automatic reminders sent via text and/or email that include a means of contacting you in case the client needs to reschedule. You can even send broadcast text or email messages to notify other prospects and clients of open appointment slots resulting from cancellations, which can help move them through the sales funnel faster. Ensure your clients and potential customers have all the information they need about new showings, open houses or other marketing events with automated confirmation and follow up emails – freeing you to focus on cultivating your client and partner relationships and closing deals.
Referrals
A home is the largest purchase most of us will ever make – but rarely is it a one time purchase. Job transfers, familial commitments, and schools are just a few of the reasons people move, and that’s why referrals from past clients are so vital. Referrals cost less than traditional advertising and individuals referred by friends and family have a higher likelihood of becoming clients. After closing, automatically send an email thanking your clients for their business and asking them to provide a referral. Using a unique link clients can instantly send out to friends or family that directs them to your website can be highly effective. You can add an incentive such as gift cards, staging services, home warranties, and more to motivate customers to reach out to their networks.
A CRM can be your secret weapon to getting more done while providing the high-touch service that makes your clients feel special. You’ll have the tools to engage with clients more effectively to move them through the funnel and trigger actions in the sales pipeline that will close deals faster. Imagine your clients delight when you deliver dinner or a welcome home basket on move-in day, send a card on their birthday or move-in anniversary, or provide a virtual tour of their new community. Offering these little touches sets you apart from competitors and increases the likelihood of repeat business and more organic referrals.
