Real Estate CRM Helps Close the Deal
Any business needs to be heavily focused on its customers, but some more so than others. That's certainly true of the real estate vertical, especially rental property management operations. The relationship with the customer is not only especially close (they effectively live in your business) in real estate, it's also especially long lasting (the entire term of the lease). Businesses like this need an effective means of maintaining accurate customer records, and the first place to start that quest is with customer relationship management (CRM) software.
You can spend your budget on CRM packages designed and dedicated to real estate from the ground up, which will likely satisfy many real estate scenarios. However, committing to a dedicated solution means accepting that software maker's interpretation of how a real estate business should operate. Since the general aims and broad capabilities of CRM remain the same, the customization and integration features offered by general-purpose CRM packages often let customers create solutions more closely aligned with how their businesses operate. Rather than altering your business processes to fit a software designer's preconceptions, customizing a tried-and-true CRM platform gives you more control.
The trick with any real estate operation is that it's subject to numerous legal and regulatory requirements. These are often local, meaning they're enforced at not just the federal level but also at the state and even municipal tiers. At the same time, the regulations are also different enough that they have significant impact in how real estate businesses can operate in different locales. Housing laws, reporting and credit requirements, lease language, eviction processes, zoning laws—the list of requirements for any real estate operation is long and can have a significant impact on how that entity can do business. This makes building a single, dedicated, and all-encompassing real estate software tool a difficult proposition.
The general CRM platforms featured in the table above can be extremely powerful in a real estate scenario, provided you can fully utilize the customization and integration capabilities offered. This can often provide a better result that not only more closely aligns with how a given real estate operation does business, but can also more readily adapt should that business' requirements change in the future.
What Is Real Estate CRM Software?
Even among purpose-built real estate CRM tools, there's no single feature set that will satisfy every operation. What the CRM software needs to accomplish depends entirely on what kind of real estate operation you're running. Residential or commercial? Sales, rental, condo, or development? Low-income or luxury? How you answer these basic questions has a heavy impact on how the business will interact with its customers. To drill down to an effective set of features, start at the beginning: your sales process.
Any real estate operation will be involved in selling; the only thing that differs is the conversation. Your real estate CRM needs to help manage this process and that starts with lead management. No matter where your organization is getting its leads—purchased email marketing, web advertising, purchased social media marketing, telemarketing, or even simple referral, to name just a few—the system needs to be able to absorb that lead information and then either dole it out to sales staffers automatically or let sales managers tweak and disseminate leads as they see fit. To accomplish that, your CRM needs to support several features and capabilities, including:
- Data importing from whichever digital source is supplying lead information, preferably on an automated or scheduled basis
- Efficient data entry if your operation inputs lead information manually, which should include customized software forms that data entry personnel can fill out, associate with a customer, and route to an appropriate repository or manage
- Pipeline management, which at the least should let managers track which salespeople are working on the most leads and how many deals are closing
- Customizable workflows: Many real estate operations require input from multiple executives in the organization, so the system should be able to route deal information and alerts automatically as well as on an ad hoc basis
- Role-based access and security to let managers see leads before sales staffers do and route them appropriately
As long as your chosen platform supports these general capabilities and lets your IT staffers customize them, you'll be able to meld the software to mirror the same sales processes your organization already follows. That will pay dividends in faster user adoption.
Focus on Data and Reporting
Another key area on which real estate CRM platforms must focus is data and reporting. Depending on what kind of operation you're running, you'll need to attach different sorts of customer information to a given CRM entry. Smaller operations might be satisfied with filling in a series of fields in a software form that eventually become a database entry in the CRM.
But, most operations will need to attach third-party records and documents to customers and deals. Luxury apartment renters, for example, often require tax forms, income verification documents, and referral letters from potential renters. Home sales operations might run credit or even criminal background checks, or require previous rental or mortgage payment records. Commercial operations might attach copies of articles of incorporation, employee lists, and commercial tax information. Developers will likely require localized documents such as inspection records, zoning forms, and similar documents. Exactly what documents will be required is subject to what kind of operation you're running and the laws that govern the locale in which you're doing business.
To satisfy this need, your real estate CRM needs to be able not only to append documents to a database record but also needs to:
- Support multiple types of file formats, depending on what kinds of records you need attached
- Accept automated importing of those documents into the system
- Provide the ability to effectively secure those documents, especially if your operation is storing customers' personal and private data in the cloud
- The option to edit those records within the CRM, as in the case of lease documents that get filled out as a deal progresses
The Cross-Platform Need
Whether they're renting, selling, or building, real estate operations tend towards mobility. Sales personnel, maintenance engineers, construction professionals, and project managers are all examples of real estate staffers that need to move around and usually also need to update records in your CRM. These folks also tend to use their own mobile devices as most real estate operations operate around loose rather than stringent IT management rules. In most real estate operations, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is the order of the day.
That means your real estate CRM software needs to support two key criteria:
- Desktop and Mobile Uniformity
It needs to support the desktop and mobile platforms your staffers are using, and it needs to support them as uniformly as possible. That means the CRM software should look and function the same under Apple OS X as it does under Windows 10, and, while it'll certainly look different under a mobile operating system (OS), such as Android, it should also look and feel the same under different mobile OSes, such as Apple iOS or Windows 10 Mobile. Bottom line: Your employees shouldn't need to be re-trained on how to use the software whenever they switch computing devices. That may sound obvious but, when you extend it to supporting similar workflows that might incorporate third-party functionality, such as creating or editing a lease in Adobe Acrobat as a deal moves forward, that can get tricky when it's done across different platforms. Plus, this is a requirement that will serve to separate the high-quality CRM products from the chafe. - Cross-Platform IT Consistency
The need to work similarly across different platforms should also extend to IT features, not just the tools your users need. Your IT staff should be able to manage the software the same no matter what it's running on. Further, and this is important if you intend to tweak the software, customization should work across all mobile platforms, too. Typically, you'll customize a cloud-based CRM platform by adding fields and workflow automation. However, you might go as far as to change the code it's using to generate its web user interface (UI). If that winds up being the case, then the code needs to be responsive. This means it needs to be a single lump of code that can sense when it's being displayed on a desktop versus a tablet versus a smartphone, and render itself accordingly. That way, you only need to customize the code once and your CFO won't try using his or her 7 iron to give your skull a sun roof because you hired a bunch of expensive mobile specialists to customize for every individual mobile platform.
You should have this conversation with the sales rep of whichever CRM platform you're considering. Walk through their workflow features, understand their IT capabilities (and bring your IT manager along for that conversation), and make sure you see demonstrations of the software across every mobile platform in use in your organization today. When your IT, sales, and executive stakeholders test the software to see how it works in your day-to-day business environment, make sure they test it across multiple platforms, too.
The Integration Question
We've already discussed the need to integrate with third-party data sources, especially lead engines and document repositories. However, real estate is a fundamentally sales-oriented business no matter which particular subspecialty in which you might be—sales or rental, residential or commercial—it's all about moving inventory and closing deals. That means a good CRM implementation can quickly become the beating heart of your organization's software portfolio. But to do so, it needs to hook into the other software tools your organization uses.
Take a New York City luxury rental operation, for example, like that of Rockefeller or President Donald Trump. These companies own and develop large, luxury apartment buildings in one of the most expensive and competitive real estate environments in the world, the Big (and Only Semi-Rotten) Apple. They then rent or sell those luxury apartments to a carefully scrutinized and wealthy clientele for prices that make their accountants want to make out with an electric toaster in the shower.
If such an operation chooses a CRM, then it would certainly need to support lead input from the company's website, its social media pages, its third-party brokerage partners, and its email and traditional marketing engines (such as the New York Times Real Estate section, to name a few). The CRM would also need to have access to a document library of rental leases, sales contracts, inspection forms, and much more that have all been customized to fit the organization's business processes (and also conform to federal as well as New York State and City real estate law). To be efficient, most of those documents should support electronic editing so they can be properly filled out, approved, and digitally signed as deals move forward.
Relationships Last Beyond the Sale
But this being real estate, the company's relationship with a customer wouldn't end simply at the close of the original sales deal. A renter signing a lease might close out the sales portion of the relationship, but it would only kick off the relationship with the property management branch of the operation, and that relationship would last through the end of the lease. This means whatever service desk solution your management staff is using to allow renters' maintenance requests to be filed through the phone or the web, should be integrated with that customer's CRM record. This way, when lease renewal time comes along or if the customer decides to move to a different property owned or managed by the same company, the management staff there knows what they're getting into.
Your accounting system should associate its data as well, especially in the case of consistently late rent payments or damage to the property. You'll want that data associated with the CRM record in case that customer wants to do business with your organization again once the original lease expires.
The same could apply to facilities management software, such as HVAC management software, for example. For a complete management picture, a customer's CRM record should attach to any maintenance requests, which should attach to any HVAC management records that show what was fixed, when it was fixed, and how much it cost to get it fixed. In large apartment buildings that distribute heat, electricity, and water, you'd want the same information available for all three.
What all this boils down to is that you don't want to choose your real estate CRM in a sales-only vacuum. Sure, your sales staff will make the most use of the front end, but the data it stores should be modified and accessible by as many of your other software apps as makes sense. This means, when evaluating these CRM platforms, you'll want to pay special attention to how the software integrates with third-party apps.
Typically, this is done with support for the REST API, which developers commonly use to tie different cloud-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) apps together. But those same packages often also support deeper integration with third-party apps built by their partners. Those deeper integrations often supply more benefit than you can manage on your own, so companies with big partner ecosystems, such as the Salesforce Sales Cloud, for example, should warrant special attention paid not just to the software's features but also to the partners they support and how those offerings can help. In the Salesforce example, some partners will have not only built value-add real estate functionality on top of Salesforce, they will likely also have forged their own software partnerships with yet other software manufacturer's to offer even deeper and more targeted solutions. You'll want to look for and evaluate these offerings carefully as many can provide functionality and pricing advantages that'll be hard to beat on an in-house basis.
Last Word on Security
Most of the CRM packages detailed in our roundup operate in the cloud. While that's (a) cost-effective, since it works on a per-user subscription pricing model, and (b) convenient because it can be accessed from any device with an internet connection, it also means your data is being stored someplace other than your office. And, especially in a real estate operation, this can be very sensitive data.
Going back to the luxury New York apartment operations we mentioned earlier, those operations tend to require a lot of personal information about potential renters or buyers before they'll agree to rent or sell. Tax returns for several years, letters of employment and reference, receipts or payment records for previous residences—that's just a few. Folks who want to live in Trump Tower will fork that information over but they'll also hire lawyers that can make a syphilitic wolverine look sleepy by comparison if that data is suddenly exposed to the world. And that's just the customers. In a really difficult situation, you could wind up dealing with regulators and local auditors, too.
To avoid such situations, don't give data security and safety short shrift. The marketing materials you'll receive from any SaaS CRM vendor will sound like your data is as secure as it can be, which naturally causes customers to gloss over data safety and move on to sexier features. That's a mistake. Take some time and discuss effective data security with your own IT professional, whether they're in-house staff or simply an IT management consultancy your company regularly uses. Discuss options for securing your data, such as its location, for example.
Most CRM vendors will automatically store your data on their servers, but that may or may not extend to all those third-party documents we discussed earlier. Pin down where that data will reside and then decide whether your primary CRM data might be better off located there as well, and whether or not your CRM platform even gives you that option.
In general, being able to store your data in a place of your choosing gives your IT staff more choices when it comes to protecting your data than if you simply rely on someone else to do it for you. Data encryption, granular role-based access control, and even storing files in multiple locations for reliability and redundancy, are all made easier when your IT professionals are in control. However, some CRM vendors have taken great measures to also secure customer data so, once you've talked things over with your IT pro, be sure to discuss those requirements with your CRM sales rep to see which bases are covered and what the potential difference in cost will be.
Featured Real Estate CRM Software Reviews:
Base CRM Review
$25.00 MSRP
%displayPrice% at %seller% Base CRM is customer relationship management (CRM) software that offers a generous set of features for small sales teams, though it doesn't have many third-party integrations. Read the full review-
Insightly CRM Review
$12.00 MSRP
%displayPrice% at %seller% Overall, Insightly is a beautiful and powerful CRM tool that is not only affordable for the sole proprietor, but is also loaded with team-friendly features. Read the full review -
Zoho CRM Review
$0.00 MSRP
%displayPrice% at %seller% Zoho CRM's fresh, responsive dashboard and user experience update rolls its sales, email marketing, reporting, and customer service power for small and medium-size businesses in a modern, intuitive package at an affordable price. Read the full review -
Less Annoying CRM Review
$10.00 MSRP
%displayPrice% at %seller% Less Annoying CRM offers an easy-to-use product for small, cost-conscious businesses. Read the full review -
Salesforce Sales Cloud Lightning Professional Review
$25.00 MSRP
%displayPrice% at %seller% If you're willing to pay top dollar, Salesforce gives SMBs a mature, robust, highly customizable CRM platform that's second to none in performance. Read the full review -
Pipedrive CRM Review
$12.00 MSRP
%displayPrice% at %seller% Pipedrive's CRM service offers organizations a quick way to track deals and activities, but it offers less in the way of built-in features than the best of the competition. Read the full review -
Oracle NetSuite OneWorld Review
$999.00 MSRP
%displayPrice% at %seller% Oracle NetSuite OneWorld is an easy-to-use, comprehensive financial application that can be quickly scaled to a full enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite suitable for most any large organization. Read the full review -
Bitrix24 CRM Review
$0.00 MSRP
%displayPrice% at %seller% While Bitrix24's functionality is a lot to take in, it has the potential to be the one-stop CRM and collaboration tool for your business. Read the full review -
Bpm'online CRM Review
$25.00 MSRP
%displayPrice% at %seller% Bpm'online CRM lives up to its promise of making business more efficient, though its huge feature set means it may take some time to get up to speed. Read the full review -
Apptivo CRM Review
$8.33 MSRP
%displayPrice% at %seller% Apptivo stands apart as one of the most flexible and affordable CRM tools on the market. Read the full review