During recent years, Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRMs) have become increasingly popular in the real estate industry. CRM’s offer real estate sales professionals the ability to keep track of all interactions with clients, market directly to them, encourage strong relationships with them, and also connect with other professionals in the industry. This means more time spent on the deal itself and less time going back and forth to get there! CRM’s also result in better organization with greater ease.
So while this is well and good, real estate sales professionals have a whole host of platforms to consider when choosing the right CRM for their needs. Most CRMs offer many of the same capabilities: marketing, tracking, workforce automation, etc. and, of course, there are pros and cons for each kind. So does size matter when choosing your CRM for real estate? Is bigger always better?
Let’s take a look at a CRM like Salesforce. As one of the most popular CRMs available, Salesforce is a major player on the CRM scene. CRM, and others like it, offer a plethora of options for businesses looking to fully automate their workflows. And this is great, but does one size fit all?
Your budget is an important consideration when it comes to the CRM that best fits your business size and needs. Larger, major players can charge more for their services, and if your budget allows for expansion, one of the big names might be a great fit for you. However, smaller businesses, especially real estate professionals who work largely independently, would likely find a CRM with a proportionately smaller price point to be a better option.
Does less money mean lower quality? Not by any stretch. But it will likely boil down to fewer capabilities – which this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes narrowing down the list to include only what you actually need just makes better business sense.
Configuration should also be taken into consideration. With the big name companies, configuration can take more legwork. If you have the support to carry configuration out with no issues, then it is advantageous for you. But if your team consists of you and you alone, perhaps you may want to consider how much time you can devote to configuration. Again, this is all relative.
A CRM custom-fit for your business may actually be one that is better when bigger – especially if you have the time and budget to make it work for you. However, bigger isn’t the answer for everyone, and many businesses have chosen to cater their CRM to fit their needs, doing so without attachment to a big name. It’s perfectly viable to opt for specifics rather than adopting the ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ approach.
What CRM are you using? What capabilities are most important to you? Join the discussion.
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