Anyone who has used a real estate CRM to run their business will tell you that making good use of one is a no-brainer. A CRM allows you to build detailed client profiles, oversee transaction management, and be more organized and productive. But did you know using a CRM can also increase your profitability in even more ways in 2018 than ever before?
How? Well, for starters, one of the basic benefits of a CRM is being able to quickly find the information you want. That saves time—and, as we all know, time is money.
In this blog post, I’ll go even deeper and share 4 big ways that using a real estate CRM will save you a significant amount of money.
1) Postpone hiring an assistant.
As a real estate agent, the most important work you can be doing involves listing and selling. That’s what generates income. But running a successful real estate business also requires that you stay on top of a myriad of daily administrative tasks.
When all of that administrative work starts taking too much time away from income-producing activities, you’ll probably start thinking about hiring an assistant—someone to handle those necessary (yet time-consuming) details, so you can put all of your focus on listing and selling.
You could hire an assistant…or you could invest in a CRM.
A common sentiment is that having a CRM is like having an assistant. With a CRM, you can automate many of those tedious tasks that are taking up so much of your day. In zero time, you can set reminders, update your calendar, send follow-up emails and birthday texts…the list goes on and on.
Instead of spending time writing up a new paper To Do list each morning, your CRM can automatically provide you with a daily list of what tasks need to be completed for which contacts/listings/closings. In Realvolve, this is set up through a feature called Workflows. It may not sound like much, but the alternative is that you have to review each property folder checklist or evaluate your contact database to see who you need to call that day—and that takes a lot of time!
Automating tasks through your CRM is like setting up auto-pay for your bills. You just set it and forget it. Think about how much time you used to spend paying bills the old fashioned way, with paper and envelope. What a tedious waste of time, right? I can’t remember the last time I looked at a bill, and that makes me a very happy camper. I’ve saved so much precious time. I can’t believe I waited as long as I did to set it up.
If you use a CRM with workflows to automate the majority of your administrative tasks, it will speed you up—a LOT! That translates to not needing an assistant for a while longer than you normally would. Not needing an assistant means…increased profitability!
2) Then, hire a virtual assistant.
When you do get to the point where you must hire an assistant, that person doesn’t have to physically be in your office. Your CRM makes it easy for you to hire a virtual assistant (VA). Set them up as a user, start the workflows, and the VA will know exactly what to do because they will have that automatically-generated task list right in front of them!
There will be almost zero need for phone calls and emails back and forth between you and your assistant, which will save you a ton of time (time that can be spent prospecting). You’ll also save the time you would have had to spend training a full-time, on-site assistant—all your VA needs to know is how to work within the CRM. You won’t have to provide office space, a computer, or a phone—more money saved! And you should be able to pay a lower hourly rate for a virtual assistant.
What does all of that translate to? Increased profitability!
3) Don’t pay a transaction coordinator.
There was a transaction coordinator at my real estate office and the broker provided that service for free. That said, I would still check with her a few days prior to closing to confirm that everything was done. I had every last detail recorded in my CRM, so I knew exactly what she was supposed to have done and when.
Had I been working for a different broker who didn’t provide that service for free, there’s no way I would have paid someone $300+ for each transaction—not when I already had everything organized in my CRM.
Instead of paying a transaction coordinator, allow your VA to handle it, and do all the communicating right from within your CRM. You can be very detailed with exactly what you need them to do, and you can see everything that is being done in real time from within the CRM—that’s way faster than having to go ask your transaction coordinator to give you an update.
How does this all shake out? Increased profitability!
4) Track your source of business for smarter advertising spends
With a CRM, you can make smarter, more informed decisions about where to spend your advertising dollars.
If you’re running ads, you’re probably advertising on several different websites, and maybe even in print. But are you tracking which ads are leading to sales? If not, how will you know what is working best?
In your CRM, you can record the source of each new client or listing, then step back and analyze your spending to determine which advertising medium is giving you your best ROI.
Let’s say you spent $3,000 in 2017 for Realtor.com advertising. How many sales did you get from it? What did you net from the sales? If you only did one transaction from it and that netted you $2,500, you lost money on that advertising. But if you had not been tracking the source of your business, you wouldn’t know that.
Use your CRM to track your business sources. You won’t waste money on advertising that doesn’t work, and you’ll make more money by using more effective advertising. Bottom line: increased profitability!
Ready to be faster, smarter, and more profitable?
As you can see, a CRM can make a huge difference in the way you operate your real estate business. A CRM makes it easy for you to hire a virtual assistant (or run your business with no assistant at all). It automates tedious administrative tasks so you can spend more time prospecting. It eliminates the need for a transaction coordinator. It allows you to track your business sources so you can make smarter ad spends. It’s a tool every business needs.
And the benefits of a CRM aren’t exclusive to the real estate industry. My daughter is starting a career as a high-end wedding photographer (her goal is to travel the world doing weddings on location). She’s watched me be the CRM guru her whole life, so I didn’t have to say anything to her. She found a CRM specific to her industry and never looked back. It saves her a ton of time and keeps her organized. She won’t be needing an assistant for a while. 🙂
(By the way, she already got new business from a referral because someone she worked with was impressed not only by her work, but by her organization and presentation. Thank you, CRM!)
Try Realvolve free for 14 days
So, did you get your bills automated yet? Right after you do that, come talk to us about automating your real estate business with Realvolve. Impress your clients and increase profitability. Get started now with a free trial—no credit card required!
