No real estate agent will disagree that the industry has become hyper-competitive. In cities across the U.S., you see countless billboards for agents, often promoting a name not around even a month before.

As the industry competition continues to increase, forward-thinking brokers and agents are turning to future-proof technology for a competitive advantage in their market. Real estate-specific CRMs are one great example of that technology, but there is a big difference between a smart CRM and a dumb CRM.

Face the reality of most real estate CRMs

The unfortunate reality is that most agents and brokers still using outdated CRMs. These agents and brokers think a CRM is too much of a time-consuming tool for “tech-savvy agents” or it’s just a tool where they dump leads into “cold storage” for possible later use. Both of these perspectives couldn’t be farther from the truth. If your company has embraced either of these attitudes, it’s time to update your CRM to a Smart CRM.

Smart vs. dumb CRMs

A dumb CRM requires a human input for every action, forcing constant management from the agent and broker. This wastes time, money, and causes hot leads to turn cold.

A smart CRM is like having another employee who is always on the clock. It will help nurture leads with text messages and emails based upon their interactions with your listings and website without you even being logged in, categorizes and prioritizes your leads for follow-up, leverages your sphere of influence, and provides ratings for each contact.

Still not convinced you need a smart CRM? Below are the three main differentiators between dumb, dusty CRMs of old and today’s modern solutions.

Lead validation and predictive scoring

Leads and contacts hit a CRM database from a variety of sources. The goal of a smart, efficient conversion protocol involves tailoring follow-up actions based on where leads come from, but it’s difficult to drive efficient results with wrong information or missing context.

A smart CRM validates data sources, determining where leads come from while supplementing contacts with additional details such as phone numbers and email addresses, social media information, occupations and more. Predictive data and scoring then clicks into gear to provide a rating of how valuable each lead is.

The right CRM will take unorganized, unknown data and quickly sort and highlight the best leads for you to contact next — then send them directly to your phone.

Integration with intelligent marketing solutions

A smart CRM doesn’t wait for you to tell it what kind of marketing to conduct. It will automatically reach out to your leads and contacts with branded engagement tools such as automatic search alerts, reminders and market insights — it can even set up phone calls for you.

The best CRMs know when a lead takes action online and will leverage automation such as text messages or calls that trigger based on contact behavior. A smart CRM manages your marketing for you, whereas dumb CRMs require massive manual management.

Lead routing with rules and logic

The hard truth is that not all salespeople are created equal. So why distribute leads equally? A smart CRM automatically routes leads to the agents best suited to convert them, and holds them accountable with strict timelines and reminders. When the system delivers a lead to agents, it provides them with all the information they need directly to their smartphone.

As the industry gets more competitive, technology will become a key factor in agent and broker success. Don’t be afraid of change, especially if it frees up your agents’ time to close more deals. It’s time you ditch your dusty, time-consuming CRM and upgrade to a smart CRM.

Inside Real Estate provides lead generation, website and CRM solutions through an all-in-one system—the kvCORE Platform. Inside Real Estate serves as a technological partner to real estate brokers, teams and agents. It aims to transform the real estate industry by helping teams embrace a modern, scalable system that boosts efficiency and revenues.

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