For those working in real estate, the two critical factors are property prices and customer contact.
While agents can't do much about real estate prices, they each have their own way of managing their relationships with their clients. Some rely on their memory, while others are used to taking notes or recording everything in Excel files.
The savviest real estate agents have already figured
out that the best solution is a good CRM software.
Why use a CRM to manage your contacts in real estate?
As its English name – Customer Relationship Management – suggests, a CRM is a customer relationship management tool. You can use it to save all your client information, add your own notes, schedule your next appointments, and much more. In short, it's technology that handles the small details so you can focus on what matters – closing sales.
Let’s talk a bit about the advantages and all that a CRM software will allow you to accomplish:
- Better staff collaboration: By bringing data from all your departments together, you reduce data silos and promote cooperation. For example, you can maximize the efforts of marketing and sales teams by allowing them to share every lead generated on your website with the salesperson most likely to convert them into customers.
- Simplified sales pipeline management: CRM tools allow you to better visualize projected sales (sales pipeline) and identify the most promising contacts and those who need to be stimulated.
- Greater productivity thanks to automation tools: If you have spotted a lot of repetitive tasks within your real estate agency, you can speed up a lot of things by choosing a CRM equipped with automation tools. For example, you can schedule a reminder email, send a marketing campaign or transfer a contact to a salesperson with just one click.
- Enhanced customer service: CRM tools are also very useful for help desks. Since you have already registered all the information about a customer on a single platform, it is easy to customize the assistance you offer to them according to their needs and to provide them with a fully personalized service.
- Flexible setup and workflows: This is especially useful for real estate agents who spend a lot of time away from the office. A good CRM tool must be accessible 24 hours a day and from any device — smartphone, tablet, laptop. This will allow you to expand your staff and hire employees working remotely or away from your agency, and give them access to the most recent customer data, as if they were in the office.
- Always consistent reporting: Most CRM software includes reporting features to help you get the most out of your data. These analytics tools can help you make more informed decisions, test your marketing campaigns A and B, and better gauge the effectiveness of your strategies for your real estate agency.
What is the best CRM software for real estate agency?
Here we have listed the most common CRM tools used by
real estate agents. Here you will find the major CRM brands, as well as all-in-one
solutions.
Salesforce
Salesforce is probably the best known in the world. This solution is suitable for a variety of business models, including real estate businesses who will be able to adapt its pipeline management, lead scoring, and reporting features.
Be aware, however, that Salesforce is mainly aimed at medium and large companies with well-stocked bank accounts. The basic price, although comparable with that offered by Act!, only gives access to a very limited selection of features. Count at least €75 per month per user, and that does not include customer support by phone which costs 20% more per month per user, nor marketing automation which starts at €1,250 per month! Custom fields are included in the Enterprise rate, at €150 per user per month, which represents a considerable investment. And that's not all, once installed, maintenance can cost more than buying the software. Most companies need to hire a Salesforce administrator to maintain their software, for example.
To make a profit from such a budget, you must use Salesforce as your main sales tool. Also note that setting up and learning can take between 5 and 10 days and cost up to €4,400 before having a reliable and solid CRM tool.
Salesforces offers a more acmarketable to SMBs as Salesforce Essentials, which is priced similarly to Act! But that doesn't include features like telemarketing, call lists, or hot leads.
Benefits of Salesforce
- Integration with other Salesforce tools
- Powerful reporting
- Proven and reliable solution
Disadvantages of Salesforce
- Complex and time-consuming software implementation and staff training
- Limited customization options
- Many paid options
- Expensive
Zoho CRM
Among the other best-known CRM software, there is also Zoho CRM, which is very successful, in particular thanks to its free version and its inexpensive options. Features are obviously limited depending on the plan chosen, but the customization possibilities, integrated campaigns and invoicing tools make it a good choice for real estate companies.
On the other hand, the email telemarketing solution leaves something to be desired and does not offer automatic lead tracking based on contact with your sales team. We also know that customer service is not always up to par due to the large number of customers particularly attracted by the free plan.
Benefits of Zoho CRM
- Free Plan
- Accessible Enterprise Plan
- Integrated billing
Disadvantages of Zoho CRM
- No automatic emails
- Slow and unreliable customer service
HubSpot CRM
HubSpot is renowned for its excellent software and solid online presence. The free offer, despite its limited functionality, is interesting for the self-employed and for real estate agencies that only hire a few staff.
It's when you get bigger that the problem arises, as the Pro and Enterprise plans cost between €5,000 and €13,000 in membership fees. These solutions give you access to everything you'd expect from out-of-the-box software, like lead scoring and call lists. The Growth Suite is more accessible, starting at €46 per user per month (billed annually). Otherwise, it equals €103.50 per month.
Benefits of Hubspot CRM
- Free Plan
- Solid software
- Kanban board for pipeline management
Disadvantages of Hubspot CRM
- Expensive membership
- Free plan too limited
Act! for the real estate sector
Our solution is specifically adapted to the needs of SMEs. We have long studied the challenges of real estate agencies and consultants before including the necessary features to better contribute to their growth and success, all at an affordable price, with no membership fees or other hidden costs.
- Powerful built-in tools: Manage customer relationships with groups and filters, opportunity tracking, call lists, hot leads, and other features that will quickly become indispensable.
- Easy setup: The installation process and learning about Act! are among the easiest for those new to the world of CRM. The dashboard is modern, intuitive, and fully customizable based on what you're looking to do with your customers, past buyers, and new leads.
- Cloud technology: manage your business 24 hours a day, wherever you are. The mobile app lets you update your customer information so you can take care of them at any time.
- Transparent rates: we offer three plans and rates per user, per month. You can add as many users as you want as your business grows and while keeping budget and ROI under control.
- Telemarketing by email: send thousands of emails each month, to as many contacts as you want, and reduce the budget invested in other newsletter management tools.
- Powerful automation tools: Take advantage of pre-programmed campaigns, social media sharing tools, and landing pages specifically designed to attract buyers to their dream property. Everything you need to capture leads automatically and speed up the process of turning your potential buyers into owners!
And the best news of all is that you can experience
CRM features with our free trial.
What Realtors Are Saying About Act!
“I would be lost without Act! I wouldn't know where to turn. I estimate the value of my Act! at least $500,000. » Hal Hanstein, president of the Cardinal Realty group, a real estate company in Saint-Louis (Missouri, United States).
“With Act! marketing automation, I can really personalize my marketing. Once set up, the campaigns run on their own and I have more time to focus on other aspects of my business. Jeffrey Gazlay, Managing Partner of Paul Homes, one of Florida's largest construction companies.
“During this whole first quarter, I worked on 21 or 22
contracts at a time. I could never have done all of this without my Act!
system. Gretchen Osgood, salesperson and manager of Hawai Isle Real Estate.
Are there CRM platforms specifically designed for real
estate?
In addition to the most commonly used CRM solutions,
there have recently been several specialized solutions, including some for real
estate. You will finddozens of decent CRM tools, many of which consist of
adding an extension to the Salesforce platform.
PropertyBase
Property Base is an example of the tools built into
SalesForce. Starting at €79 per month, it includes the automated marketing tool
and the IDX which brings together ads and customer management. To get access to
the online access and the lead generation tool costs €353 per month, which is
only worth it if you want to send mass emails and thus reduce your newsletter
costs. Available in English only.
LionDesk
With two plans at €22 and €43 per month, our next contender, LionDesk, is much cheaper. The most expensive plan includes customizable fields and the new text2Sell feature that lets you text leads directly from the dashboard.
The app's biggest drawback is the dashboard, which is
clunky and difficult to organize. Real estate agents looking for the best
compromise will have to rely on future improvements in the user experience.
Available in English only.
Contact
Finally, IXACT Contact is an excellent CRM + IDX tool for real estate agents. In the United States, it offers promotions to real estate agents who have been open for less than a year, with free access to social media and telemarketing tools.
The plans are customizable according to the desired
tools. The first price is €30 per user per month, plus €20 per employee. It is
also necessary to count 30 € per month to connect the system to your internet
advertisements. Available in English only.
Is it essential to choose a CRM specially designed for
real estate agents?
If you are new to the real estate sales and rentals market, do not hesitate to consult the list of software above. It is sometimes advantageous to choose an integrated solution that will allow you to both create a site and link it to your CRM.
Not only are these systems more expensive than
standard CRMs, but they also commit you to sticking with a system, which can be
a problem when it comes time to scale up. For example, it may be difficult to
move all of your content to access new CRM or website management features.
How to find the best real estate CRM? Next steps
You are interested in CRMs, but you are not a real estate agent? Find out everything you need to know in our article on CRMs for SMEs. We even have an eBook entirely dedicated to the best features of a CRM that you can download here.
You have more questions ? You want to try the free
trial of our CRM to see if its features are right for your real estate
business. Do not hesitate to contact us, or start your free trial now.