This is the final post in a series of 5 articles demonstrating the impact templates and workflows can have on your real estate business.
When I think back to how I used to run my real estate business before using a CRM, it makes me cringe. So much time spent with incomplete paper checklists and things falling through the cracks.
Then, one day, I decided to take the leap and start using a CRM. After the initial setup, I noticed an immediate difference. I was saving time, saving my wrists from carpal tunnel syndrome, saving my sanity…and saving my real estate business, over and over again.
In this blog post, I’d like to share three different times when a real estate CRM came to my aid!
1) Innovation Implementation!
How many times have you been at a convention, webinar, or dinner with a mentor, and you made a list of great new ideas you wanted to implement in your business? How many times have you not gotten around to any of them?
I had picked up a great little tip—to send an automatic email to the client with a link to the USPS change of address page a couple weeks before they close—and I knew I needed to make this idea a procedure, not just a scribbled note that I would soon forget.
Here’s one way I could have proceeded:
Create the email template. Alright, this is pretty quick and easy…but how do I make sure it gets out to them when it needs to? I know, schedule it on my calendar! Okay, that works, as long as I don’t get busy and forget to do it….
In this scenario, I would probably do it a few times and then forget about it.
Fortunately, I had a real estate CRM—complete with workflow superpowers—to help me make sure this new idea would be implemented. Here’s how my CRM saved the day:
- I created one email template.
- I created one activity.
- I spent one minute adding it to an existing workflow.
And the real beauty of it? I only had to do it one time, and now it will be part of my process forever.
2) Litigation Mitigation!
I once had a listing for a divorcing couple. The husband was living in the home and the wife was not. My only communication was with the husband. The market was very slow and the listing wasn’t selling. This was an important client—he was also a builder, and he would give me future business if I did a good job. I was doing a great deal of marketing, networking, and communicating, and it was all documented in my CRM.
Out of the blue, I received an email from the wife’s attorney, essentially saying that I was doing nothing to get the home sold and they wanted me off the listing. Because I had everything already documented in my CRM, I made a quick copy of my efforts and sent it off to the attorney. I never heard from them again, and not much later the house sold.
It took me literally only a few minutes to fend off the attorney because I was already prepared. CRM to the rescue!
3) Vacation Salvation!
You know the drill. You’re about to embark on a wonderful vacation—but first, you have to sit down for hours and write a list of all the hundreds of details that need to happen while you’re gone…in a way that is actually intelligible for whoever is stepping in for you.
I’ve been there, and in my experience, you can’t create a truly comprehensive list. This has either prevented me from taking vacations altogether, or my excursions have ended up being working vacations with all the calls I had to take.
Finally, one day, I started using a CRM with workflows. And I had my first actual vacation in years! Since all of my processes were documented and automated through workflows, the person filling in for me received reminders of exactly what needed to be done each day.
Once again, my CRM saved the day!
Does your CRM have superpowers?
I hope, through these stories, I’ve convinced you that using a real estate CRM will be extremely beneficial to your real estate business!
As you may have noticed, two of these stories mention the use of workflows. Workflows are our superpower here at Realvolve. These are what allow you to automate your processes, ensuring that the right tasks are performed at the right time.
Not sure if workflows are for you? Ask someone who is effectively using them. They’ll tell you it requires a significant amount of time and work to get your workflows set up and refined. But they will also tell you that when they look back, they can’t imagine how they got it all done—and done well—without using workflows. They may even call it one of the best investments of time and money they have ever made in their real estate business.
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