Real estate industry is changing
Residential real estate is very different than Commercial real estate. While resi market is moving fast towards high frequency house selling - with automated valuations and "robo-buyers" like industry leaders RedFin. The Commercial real estate is still pretty much relationship selling business. Where past clients form 80% of a broker's future sales.
So we have market leaders in residential real estate selling like RedFin. And at the same time, we have big brokerage firms like Cushman & Wakefield, who are still mostly relying on their brokers' strong relationships with clients to do business.
CRM systems for real estate have been around for a while. Yet, most CRM projects fail. Why? Because brokers consider them to be tedious
Real estate CRM software is not enough
Most CRM software implementations fail because of user adoption. Most real estate agents consider CRM to be tedious and time consuming. Real estate professionals don't want to do data entry, which is a waste of their time. Most brokers use CRM software as a simple contact management tool - an "Outlook on steroids". Classic CRM software is not enough, because users don't adopt it.
Future of Residential Real estate agents
The residential real estate market will be fully automated. Real estate agents will do viewings only on the most expensive properties. The low and mid tier market will be fully automated.
Real estate CRM will be working as a large cloud computer with integrated AI to do all the transaction management.
Real estate Buyers and Sellers will be communicating via online portals, minimizing transaction management costs. Valuation models will become more accurate and instant selling would become more mature.
Future of Commercial Real estate agents
Commercial real estate industry would remain pretty much unaffected. Commercial properties in majority cases are unique, have individual criteria which do not repeat across the real estate markets.
Given the complexity of any sale, lease or development projects - managing involved parties is a separate process on its own.
Because Commercial real estate cannot be harmonized - every deal will be done in semi-manual mode. Yes, there is a lot of room for automation. But is it possible to replace humans completely (like in residential real estate)? - The answer is no. Commercial real estate is much more complicated.
The future for commercial real estate agents is in tracking communication and building customer relationships. External sources like LinkedIn are great, but internal sources (that can help with warm introductions) would prove to be decisive for real estate professionals.
Next generation of CRM for real estate
The next generation of best Real estate CRM in commercial industry - will be platforms that combine: smart marketing automation tools, advanced lead scoring, market analytics, tenant risk analysis, market analytics, real estate websites that produce more leads, ability to leverage internal customer relationships.
Let's deep dive
Smart Marketing automation tools - include working with "dark funnel", active leads scoring, email marketing campaigns, click tracking, real estate websites visit tracking, lead routing.
Market analytics - include property tracking, lease and sale comps, tracking industry changes
Collaboration for real estate teams. Most agents will use secure file sharing, deal approval, create tasks, make conversations.
Transaction management tools. To track historic real estate market events to improve sales process and asset valuation.
Best real estate CRM will have modern UX/UI that will shorten learning curve. It will have lots of customization options.
Such a Real estate CRM system will track client relationships in the real estate business. Client communications, click to call capabilities, advanced features, third party integrations.
Common questions about Real Estate CRM software:
What is a CRM in real estate business?
Advanced contact management is not enough for any realtor. Modern real estate agent must be able to do 3 things:
Must have smart Marketing automation tools. Tracking the "dark funnel" (i.e. tracking customers while they are still researching).
Powerful real estate analytics - to predict when your tenants need a bigger office. Or to see your asset occupancy.
Collaboration tools. To efficiently work with your real estate sales teams. And track customer relationships
Does a Realtor need a CRM software or a tailored Real Estate CRM?
For basic communication with customers - most CRM solutions would be enough. However when your deals are long (like in commercial real estate industry) and you have a large team - then a more advanced Real estate CRM would provide bigger benefit.
Is Salesforce good for real estate business?
Salesforce is just a horizontal CRM software. It is one of the market leaders, however it is not tailored for specific real estate industry needs. It is one of the good modern CRM solutions.
Unlike Real estate CRM - Salesforce lacks capability to track lease and sales comps, doesn't have deal rooms to track communication history with your clients, doesn't have listing website.
Conclusion
Real estate industry needs a new way for lead generation, customer relationship management to help real estate agents.
Client management, tracking sales process and sales pipeline is vital in any commercial real estate businesses.
Best real estate CRM will have all the features above. And the companies that would embrace the new generation - will become the market leader.
