Jacqueline Kyo Thomas
Up until recently, you, like most other agents, have operated a traditional real estate business. You pounded the pavement, went door-to-door, shook hands, schmoozed prospective clients, attended in-person networking events, and spent most of your time physically present.
But now that we’re dealing with a global pandemic and abiding by social distancing mandates, it’s pretty difficult to do real estate business as usual. Half of the activities that you’re accustomed to doing as a real estate agent are now frowned upon. Simple actions like handshakes are cancelled. Casual coffee meetings to catch up with former clients are cancelled, too.
The world has changed rapidly in the last year. However, you still need to eat. And your prospective clients still need to buy or sell their homes, so your services are definitely in demand. The dilemma becomes how to run your real estate business now, in the face of all of these new challenges.
Here’s the simple answer: Use technology.
Instead of trying to make old-school lead generation strategies work, embrace change and develop a new plan for how people buy and sell real estate these days.
Real estate has gone virtual with everything from open houses to staging. If you want to compete and attract prospective clients, you’ve got to get online and make use of apps and software.
In this post, we’ll share how to use technology to power your real estate business and get more clients.
Task Management Tools
You have an ever-growing list of tasks to build your real estate business. This includes answering emails, leaving voicemails, making cold calls, and implementing marketing strategies for new listings. You need a tool to help you organize your workflow for the day and week. Task management software allows you to create and manage your tasks in one place.
Here are the top tools for managing your real estate tasks:
ProofHub - ProofHub is a task and project management software that you can use individually or with a team. ProofHub provides a calendar which allows you to see all of your tasks at a glance. Create and assign new tasks, set due dates, and make notes on tasks. With ProofHub, you can keep all of your information about a property in one spot, including marketing material files and notes about the property.
Pricing starts at $45 per month.
Notable Alternative:
Intervals - Pricing starts at $29 per month after a free 30 day trial.
Note Taking Tools
Is your desk covered in sticky notes? Sticky notes are great for jotting down quick information, but terrible for helping you recall that information at a later time. This is why you need to digitize your note taking process. Fortunately, there’s an app for that.
Here are the top note taking tools for real estate agents:
GoodNotes - Have an iPad? With the help of GoodNotes and a stylus, you can take handwritten notes on your tablet just like your would with an old-school notepad. The benefit is that your handwritten notes are archived digitally and easily searchable through GoodNotes. Make notes about your clients' preferences, questions, and concerns and then easily reference them after you get back to your workspace. You can also securely sync your notes across multiple devices, such as your tablet, phone, and desktop so that your info is always accessible. (Microsoft OneNote is a GoodNotes alternative for Android Users.)
Price is $7.99
Notable Alternative:
Evernote - Pricing starts at free.
Client Management Tools
You need a CRM (customer relationship management) tool to organize and better serve your clients. While a note taking app allows you to quickly record pertinent information about a client, property, or transaction, they don’t replace CRMs. Your CRM can tell you everything you need to know about your client at a glance, including the last time you spoke to them. CRMs also allow you to automate your interactions with your prospective clients so that you reach out to them at the perfect time, before they lose interest or trust.
Here are the top tools for managing your real estate clients:
Wise Agent - As a CRM created for real estate agents, Wise Agent has features that enable you to build a better relationship with your clients, including unique fields such as spouse information, pet names, and children's birthdays. You can also use Wise Agent to track referrals so you know how many leads you've received from your clients/contacts. Beyond managing your contacts, Wise Agent also includes a built-in transaction management system that allows you to organize everything you need for your clients, including transaction due dates.
Pricing starts at $29 per month after a 14-day free trial.
Notable Alternative:
Streak - Pricing starts at free.
Lead Generation Tools
If you don’t generate real estate leads, you won’t make money. Fortunately, technology can help with that, too. There are dedicated lead generation tools made specifically for real estate agents. These tools will find you unique leads when other lead generating efforts don’t.
Here are the top tools for generating new real estate clients:
Zillow Premier Agent - To generate buyer clients, look no further than Zillow Premier Agent. Zillow has carved out a huge niche for itself in the real estate market and many house hunters head to Zillow first (not Google) when looking for a home. After signing up to become a Premier Agent, Zillow will directly connect hot leads to you. It's hands-free lead generation from one of the most popular real estate sites on the Internet.
Pricing varies based on zip code.
RedX - To generate seller clients, RedX is a great choice. They provide accurate phone numbers for expired listings, pre-foreclosures, FSBOs, and just about any property. Through its GeoLeads feature, you can use RedX to farm an entire neighborhood. RedX also gives you access to a dialer, which makes cold calling a lot easier and more productive.
Pricing starts at $39.99 per month.
Notable Alternative:
BoldLeads - Pricing starts at $399 per month.
Social Media Management Tools
Social media is life for every real estate business, especially these days when it’s difficult to meet prospective clients face to face. You definitely need to step up your social media marketing game, and these tools will help you do it.
Here are the top tools for managing your social media presence:
MeetEdgar - Automate your social media posts with MeetEdgar, the robust alternative to popular tools like Buffer and HootSuite. MeedEdgar can automatically write posts for you by picking quotes from articles and blog posts. It can also re-share content, even if you forgot to schedule new content to share.
Pricing starts at $49 per month.
Notable Alternative:
CoScheduler - Pricing starts at $49 per month.
Tools for Showing Houses Virtually
Usually, it’s not hard to show a house, however, social distancing mandates have made the process exponentially more difficult. How do you show a house if prospective buyers are afraid to stop by and look? You go virtual with the help of an innovative software, like the ones below.
Here are the top tools for showing houses virtually:
iStaging - iStaging allows you to create home tours using your smartphone. Capture a 360 degree view of the space by using a special fisheye lens and rotator that attaches to the base of your phone. You can also talk to your clients remotely through the app during your tour.
Pricing starts at $5.
Notable Alternative:
Zillow 3D Home App - Free download and can be added to any listing for free.
Website Creation Tools
A website is a basic necessity for every real estate agent. It’s even more important these days when a great deal of real estate transactions are done online. Both buyers and sellers start their real estate journeys online. Buyers are looking for listings and sellers are looking for suitable representation. You need a website that can attract your prospective clients and start building trust right away.
Here are the top tools for designing your real estate website:
Placester - Placester is the place to create a real estate website. Use one of their 20 professional templates to build your website in a matter of minutes. IDX integration comes standard with all Placester websites. Your website will be optimized for search engines, making it easy to find on Google and Bing, et al. It also includes built-in social media marketing tools so that every page of your site can be shared.
Pricing starts at $99 per month (plus a $99 set up fee).
Notable Alternative:
IDX Broker Home - Pricing starts at $150 per month.
Final Thoughts
In 2020, the real estate business changed in a big way. Fortunately, there’s an app for that. Use the above apps to modernize your real estate business, generate new leads, and convert them into clients.
Before you go, check out these related posts on our blog: