Keep It Real: 3 CRM Systems for Real-Estate Businesses
Can you hear that? That’s the unmistakable sound of real estate agents discovering CRM. They must have read our last article. “What a time to be alive!” they scream… before, predictably, they start to whisper… “the only problem is… we don’t know which CRM system to choose”. But fear not, giddy realtor. NetHunt is here with another informational article to help you decide exactly which CRM system suits your real estate needs.
We called it. Real estate and CRM go together like french fries and ketchup. A well implemented CRM system does the heavy lifting for realtors who have grown tired of their unsociable hours, anxious from constant rejection, and bored of waiting for spreadsheets to load.
CRM automates processes that are at the heart of real-estating. It helps estate agents stay in touch with old clients, improve communication between team members, find and contact new clients, and generate more referrals. The only hurdle left to overcome is choosing the perfect system that suits your business and team.
There’s a lot of great options out there, but we’ve chosen three of them at different points on the spectrum to keep on top of real-estate for you.
Option A: Propertybase. Specialist. Functional. Pricey.
Founded in Boston, USA in 2010, Propertybase have their fingers in just about every real-estate-tech pie you can think of. As well as offering marketing, back office, and web design services; they offer a CRM system that is dedicated to the real-estate industry. Their website describes the system as a powerful suite of tools that connects all data and amplifies sales and marketing processes across all brokerages.
At the time of writing, Propertybase scores a respectable 4.2 stars on Capterra. Let’s dive in and take a closer look at some of the features that might (not) persuade you to integrate this established CRM system with your business.
WHAT’S HOT?
Propertybase offers everything you would expect from a CRM system, such as contact management, segmentation, communication tracking, and email campaigns. On top of that, they also offer features that define it as such an industry-specific platform.
Their CRM system has the ability to match clients and leads with properties, thanks to their property database function. There is also a referral-tracking function, that visualises relationships between clients in the form of a referral report.
In terms of customer support, Propertybase offers online assistance during business hours (EST).
LEAD GENERATION
Propertybase’s unofficial motto is “no lead gets left behind”, and there are a couple of features that stand out when it comes to lead management.
The first is called Front Desk; a system that allows users to capture leads from different real estate mobile app development portals around the world. This feature automatically imports data from different industry sources and plants them inside a Propertybase contact file.
The next impressive feature is lead scoring; allowing users to assign point values to leads based on their with your team and brokerage. Each new lead is given an initial score, and this score goes up or down depending on whether they complete supported actions or not. In the end, agents are able to see exactly which leads are ripe to be actioned.
WHAT’S NOT SO HOT?
Propertybase is packed with features. Such a feature-heavy CRM system might be a little daunting and overwhelming to new users, and it might take some time to fully integrate the system into a team’s daily routine. Still, third party functions are not available out of the box, and users have to pay extra for some of them.
Considering the price, this could be enough to put some less-established organisations off.
PRICE
First time users can benefit from a free trial, giving them the opportunity to try out the dozens of different features for a limited time. After that, their plan starts at $79 per month, placing it on the more expensive end of our spectrum.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Propertybase is an uber-functional, sophisticated, specialist CRM system. It is a great system for seasoned real-estate veterans, who know how to get the most out of a plethora of different functions. However, some smaller, start-up businesses might be put off by the sheer size of the system and its price tag.
Option B: Wise Agent. Experienced. Affordable. Dedicated.
Wise Agent are the old grandpa of the CRM real-estate world, sitting on the porch; swinging back and forth in a creaky rocking chair. Founded way back in 2001, it’s fair to say this Arizona, USA-based company has been around the real-estate block a few times. They know what they are doing.
Their software is described as an intuitive client-influence CRM… built and loved by agents all over the US, and the most coach-recommended CRM in the industry. At the time of writing, they have an impressive score of 4.4 stars on Capterra. Not bad, considering that’s an average collected across a staggering 526 reviews!
WHAT’S HOT?
After 19 years of playing the CRM game, Wise Agent have got the CRM basics down to a tee. They offer simple functions for everyday processes, such as contact management, interaction tracking, segmentation, and email marketing. Their real-estate specialist tools are similar to Propertybase’s, and users are treated to functions such as client-property matching, property alerts, and referral tracking.
Where Propertybase could seem a little daunting to new users, Wise Agent have managed to keep things simple after all this time. They offer 24/7 support to all their users, which is not an easy commitment to make. They also only have two price plans for their system: free and paid. Easy.
LEAD MANAGEMENT
Wise Agent offers modern lead management functions such as pre-written drip campaigns and bulk email templates. It’s also easy to combine social media functions with Wise Agent, which allows users to find new leads. You can download integrations for platforms like Facebook and Instagram from Zapier.
On top of that, this CRM system offers some more original functions. The first is the landing page generator. With this tool, your business can customise and set cool and original landing pages for your website in minutes. Keeping it old-skool, Wise Agent are also the only CRM on this list to offer an SMS marketing function, where users are able to send bulk SMS messaging campaigns without picking up a phone. Finally, the Wise Printing feature that was launched in 2019 allows users to create personalised listing, open house, and just sold documents from industry-proven templates.
WHAT’S NOT SO HOT?
After decades of hard work, Wise Agent’s interface is in need of a facelift. There’s a lot of colours, words, and menus happening, and the design could benefit from a lick of modernising. Furthermore, Wise Agent doesn’t integrate with Outlook, Gmail, or other systems that a realtor might be using. So, another system could be the final straw for some.
PRICE
Wise Agent offer their decades of expertise for just $29 per month. If you sign up for a full year of the system, you receive two months free… that’s $299 per year. What’s more, these nice guys also offer a free trial for new users to test their product.
BOTTOM LINE
Wise Agent offers an old-skool CRM system. This and the price could be tempting to estate agents who are new to the business and want to start from scratch. Similarly, it is a useful tool for realtors in more rural areas who have to conduct a more traditional style of marketing.
Option C: NetHunt. Simple. Functional. Dynamic.
Founded in 2015, we are the proud baby of this CRM list. Despite not having the experience of Wise Agent, we make up for it in our drive and passion for our product. These are exciting times at NetHunt, and we are ready to streamline your real estate processes and make sure no leads slip through the cracks.
At the time of writing, NetHunt’s Capterra rating stands at 4.8 out of 5. Our software blends directly into Gmail, placing a fully-featured CRM at the heart of your Gmail inbox. The best thing about our system is that we put your CRM everywhere, leaving no stone unturned in the perpetual quest for customer experience and lead management.
WHAT’S HOT?
Our functionality list is long and growing. NetHunt offer typical CRM features such as contact management, communication and event history, and task management inside your Gmail inbox.
Our developers have designed a simple system that can be used by any team, no matter how many people are in it. It doesn’t matter in what industry your company operates, from Ukrainian wealth management, to Mexican startup management, our CRM fits snug inside your Gmail inbox to keep on top of things for you. Real-estate is no exception.
Live, online customer support is available between 8am and 10pm GMT, so we are here to help no matter what time-zone you live in.
LEAD MANAGEMENT
Because NetHunt lives inside your Gmail, no lead slips through the cracks. As soon as you receive an email, you are able to create or update a client’s data at the click of a button.
Furthermore, our list of integrations is growing. You can integrate social media with NetHunt, allowing users to scrape lead data from platforms such as LinkedIn. These leads are then added to your contacts within NetHunt, so you can keep on top of them and develop a strategy for which steps need to be taken next.
The bulk email campaign feature is perfect for maintaining existing contacts, as well as providing guidance for writing the perfect cold email to find new leads. It allows users to create and send targeted email campaigns to segmented lists of users, giving them the opportunity to personalise email templates and gauge the success of these campaigns by monitoring the campaign reporting function.
WHAT’S NOT HOT?
In terms of real-estate, our CRM is not a dedicated system. This means that it doesn’t share the same property-specific features that the other systems on this list might have.
PRICE
For first time users, there’s a 14-day free trial waiting for you. After that, NetHunt’s pricing starts at $24 per month for the Professional plan. If you need more functionality, you can sign up for the Professional Plus plan at just $28 per month, or the Enterprise plan for $48 per month. For further information about what our different plans give you, check this out.
If your business is an early-stage start-up, you can apply to get NetHunt for free for up to six months!
THE BOTTOM LINE
NetHunt is not specifically designed for real-estate, but our system is diverse and customisable enough to fit in with your daily realtor processes. The simplicity of our system and its implementation means it is great for those trying to get ahead in a hyper-competitive industry.
CRM and real-estate need each other. This is by no means a definitive list, but an example of three different systems that could help your business.
Still not sure? Let us help. Schedule a demo with our customer success team to see what all the fuss is about.