Category: For Developers

Posts and information of interest to Property Developers.

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How to Choose CRM Software for the Property Industry

When it comes to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, there is
a multitude of products that you can choose from. There is the ‘off the
shelf’ CRM software, such as Goldmine and ACT, that you can purchase at
most computer stores and install yourself, the large CRM vendors such as
Salesforce and Microsoft CRM that you will need a dedicated IT consultant
to install and configure for you, and then you have the many software
packages written specifically for the property industry (such as we provide), all of which are
designed to meet the needs of a property business ‘out of the box’.

So with all of these choices, how do you choose the right CRM system for
you?

In this article we will look at how to ask the right questions, identify
your key requirements and, ultimately, how to choose the right CRM software
for you.

Step 1: Get a core team of people together

Implementing a CRM system is a company wide initiative. It will impact
everyone from senior management down to your receptionist, so it is
essential that you get a team of people together to not only run the
project, but also so that you have involvement in the decision making
process from each area of your business. This team will be responsible for
creating the original brief, reviewing all products and, ultimately,
selecting and implementing the CRM system.

By ensuring you have a team involved in this process, you also ensure that
you immediately have several key people in your business who have ‘buy in’
on the whole process. Change management is an issue whenever new software
is implemented in any business, and the implementation of a CRM system is
no different. These team members should represent your core agents for
change within the business and will assist with driving implementation from
the inside out.

Step 2: Identify and write down your CRM objectives

Generally the search for a CRM system starts due to an actual or perceived
failing in the business. It is essential that you clearly identify what
that failing(s) is and document it. You then need to look a little broader
within your own business to try and identify other opportunities for
improvement that can derive from the implementation of a CRM system. You
are, in effect, trying to derive the core objectives of this project. Here
are a few of the key objectives from CRM projects we have been involved
with in the past:

(a)   Improve customer service by tracking all interaction with our
customers

(b)   Capture all customer data into a central company owned database so
that it can be managed and protected (from staff change over).

(c)   Ensure every lead is captured (never lose another customer!)

(d)   Improve sales through implementing better sales management
processes.

(e)   Improve business decisions through capturing sales and marketing data
and being able to analyse this.

Step 3: Shortlist your preferred CRM vendors

The project team will probably already have a few CRM products in mind. It
is important to ensure that you genuinely consider at least 3 options. This
will ensure you are exposed to a range of features and also pricing and
support plans.

Creating your shortlist is one of the most important steps in the entire
process. So how do you know you are short listing the right products? Here
are a few questions you should consider that will take you in the right
direction:

(a) Do we have the resources to configure and extensively customise our own
CRM system?

If you elect to purchase one of the off the shelf or large US CRM vendors
products, you will need to heavily customise it to ensure it includes
property centric features. Generally this requires either having your own
IT staff inhouse or bringing together a team of external consultants to
manage this for you.

If the answer is yes, then shortlist the systems that have the ability to
be extensively customised. This will preclude many but not all ‘property
specific’ systems that generally do not have the ability to be customised
in any significant way.

If the answer is no, shortlist software systems that have been built
specifically for the property industry. They should ideally meet your needs
‘out of the box’ without any customisation.

(b) Does the software have the features to meet your identified
objectives?

You need to do a short initial review to bring down the number of systems
you will shortlist. This can be a simple analysis of the features promoted
on the CRM Vendors website or brochure and comparing this against your
objectives. Eliminate any products that clearly fall short.

Step 4: Product Reviews

In reviewing each of the shortlisted products, it is essential that you go
through the following process:

(a) Product Demonstration

Obviously you will want to get a demonstration of the software. Be careful
however that you drive at least some of the demonstration itself. Some of
the most successful CRM companies don’t necessarily provide the best CRM
software — but they certainly can sell it the best. The demonstration you
will get is probably the same as all of the preceeding demonstrations the
sales consultant will have supplied, so it should look slick and
professional. 

To ensure that you get a very good review of the product however, you need
to ensure that you are specifically shown how the software will address the
issues you have identified that are important for your business. For
example, if you run a commercial real estate business, ask to be shown how
you will manage lease reviews or perhaps how to generate reports that show
rate per sqm/sq ft returns, or if you are involved in project marketing,
ask to be shown reports that would be supplied to Developers or perhaps how
your would track project specific KPI’s.

When reviewing your shortlisted systems, try and rank each on a scale of 1
to 5 in being able to meet your identified objectives.

(b) Consider how user friendly the software is

The number 1 reason that your CRM project will fail will be because your
staff do not use it, and the number 1 reason they will not use it is
because it is not user friendly. It is essential therefore that you choose
a CRM system that is easy to use.

(c) Consider implementation time

The less upfront customisation your system requires the more quickly the
implementation process can be completed. Ask your CRM vendor how long the
implementation will take and what factors may increase or decrease the
amount of time needed.

(d) Consider product development

You need to analyse and understand the CRM vendors vision for their own
product. How will they be developing it over time? Is it going to be
enhanced into the future or are they going to replace it with another
system? Can you have input into feature enhancements in the future?

When you purchase a CRM system you are not just purchasing a product you
implement today, but you are also selecting a CRM vendor that you hope to
do business with over the coming 3 to 5 years. Your investment needs to
grow over time, and the only way this is possible is if the CRM vendor
continues to improve the product. It is essential therefore that you select
a product with a clear upgrade path for the future.
 

(e) Evaluate technical support

You need to know that you will receive support for the ongoing use of your
CRM system. Here are a few questions to ask regarding support:

* Do you have a SLA (service level agreement) with customers?

* What hours does your support desk operate?

* Do you have user manuals, answers to frequently asked questions, online
training video’s and other self-help resources?

* What charges or service plans are involved?

(f) Cost Analysis

Last, but not least, you need to consider costs. Obviously you want the
very best CRM system for your business but costs are always an issue. Look
at the total cost of ownership for each CRM system. This should cover all
upfront and ongoing costs over the timeframe that you believe you will keep
your CRM system. Generally this would be a 3 to 5 year period.

Step 5: References

You should ask your preferred CRM vendor for some references. If they are
as good as they tell you they are, they should be able to point you towards
a number of similar businesses that are using their product that you can
talk to.

Step 6: Try and get a Fixed Price Quote

Unfortunately the IT industry doesn’t have a great reputation for being
able to deliver projects on time and on budget. Good CRM vendors have a lot
of experience in successfully delivering CRM projects, and the good ones
will have enough confidence in their product and skills to provide a fixed
price quote in most instances.

Summary

Choosing the right CRM system for your business is not an easy process. It
needs to be done methodically and with careful planning, as it is a
decision that will impact on your business for the next 3 to 5 years.

Brightfox Plug!

Did you know that Brightfox is one of the world's leading providers of CRM software and
online marketing solutions for the property industry. We have a suite of
software applications to suit individual agents, small, medium and large
agencies, multi-office agencies, property developers, investment networks
and retirement village developers and managers. We would welcome the
opportunity to show you how we can help your business, so please do not
hesitate to contact us.
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In property networking is a fundamental key to success

Many real estate offices work in conjunction with the same businesses over and over again, so why not take advantage of this and use it as a way to market your business to new or different markets?

Everyone at some point is going to look at buying or renting a property so, rather than market to the same people over and over again, using joint ventures promotion with local businesses is a way to reach people who may not normally come knocking on your door.

A joint venture doesn’t have to be a big marketing agreement or event between businesses, it can be as simple as contacting the businesses who work in and around your area and agreeing to include details of their business in your weekly or monthly newsletter in exchange for them doing the same or similar. By doing this you are gaining access to an entirely new database of contacts and potential customers.

Some types of businesses you may consider entering into a joint venture promotional agreement with might be mortgage brokers, insurance agents, financial planners, accountants, solicitors, property inspectors, interior designers and other complimentary local businesses.

All of these people should be marketing to their database of clients and contacts on a regular basis in one way or another so it won’t be any extra effort for them to include some information about your business with this.

Some examples of ways you could promote yourself through other businesses might be:

  1. Agreeing to write an article each month to be included in their monthly newsletter.  You might include an interesting story on one of your current properties or a profile on a different agent each month.  Make it interesting and a little out of the ordinary so that it captures people’s interest; you could include a short interview with one of your agent’s where they answer questions about themselves and why they are in the real estate business.
  2. Getting them to reference your website on their site and include some information about your business and how you work with them.
  3. Putting signs and brochures in their office.
  4. An interview with you to be published in their newsletter or on their website on a topical market issue.

 These are just a few ideas of how you could use other businesses to help you market to new contacts.  In exchange for this you would do the same for them so it is a win-win situation for everyone and is also a low cost way for you both to market your businesses.

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Building Smart Websites for Smart Phones (and Ipad’s!)

We blogged recently about the amazing growth of smart phones. Smart Phones and Tablets (think IPad and the upcoming Android and Windows Tablets you will see next year) are going to be the dominant platform for accessing the web in the short to medium term. More people will access the web using these devices than PC’s. Let me assure you it is going to happen.

So what does that mean for websites? Well pretty much every single one has been designed for viewing on a PC so this means a lot.

We have long been pushing the importance of building mobile friendly websites and have been doing so as far back as late 2007. As mobile phones and tablets simply become more and more powerful, and 3G and (coming 4G) internet speeds faster, it is simply more convenient to use them to access websites and web services. The huge growth of social networking is also a strong driver of this user adoption. People start using their mobile to access Twitter or Facebook, and as they become increasingly comfortable with the medium, start using their phone to access all manner of content.

The future for real estate on the web is to provide a true cross platform experience to the customer. Whether it is via a PC, a mobile phone or on the ‘about to explode’ tablet and touch screen devices, users simply expect a great experience. This means delivering an experience optimised for that specific environment.

To explain a little further, the experience of accessing the web via a mobile phone is very different to accessing it via a PC. The screen resolution and functionality is vastly different, not to mention the environment in which it is done. This results in large useability variation between the two, which in turn requires a different design to your website or services and often a modification to the service itself. One simple example is sending an enquiry on a listing. On a PC the most common action is to complete a register interest form and send an enquiry via email. Mobile phone users are far more likely however to want to send an SMS.

We have just launched a website that demonstrates the difference in design for a PC to a Smart Phone.

Visit www.precinctpropertygroup.com This is a standard website when viewed on a PC however if you visit this site from your phone you will be automatically taken to a mobile friendly website at the following URL: www.precinctpropertygroup.com/mobile

You will note significant differences with the design and if you are using a smart phone, integration with your GPS, call and email functions – all making the website user friendly and actually useable!

To effectively target this every growing market we now recommend that our clients build a website for these very different user platforms. The additional cost really is not that great and the benefits are significant.

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How to become more efficient – online and offline!

In this age of instant transactions and having almost everything available to us at the click of a button, more and more people are working longer hours and simply don’t have the time to complete real estate transactions the way they used to.  People are increasingly expecting to be able to speak to someone straight away or, at the very least, be contacted within a few hours of making an inquiry.

For this reason, it is essential for you, as a real estate agent, to make yourself available to your target market as much as you possibly can.  This will often mean that you need to be available to meet with clients after normal work hours and on weekends but this is not the only way you can be more accessible.

Here are just a few ideas on how you can make yourself more accessible to your clientele, even when you’re not available!

  • Use your website to its maximum potential.  Make sure you include up-to-date information about all of your listings and that they are as detailed as possible.  If you can narrow down the options for potential buyers they will have a much better idea of what they are looking for when they actually get to speak with you.  If you are an individual salesperson you might consider spending the money to build your own website so that customers can come directly to you and view all of your listings in the one place.
  • Use social networking sites to interact with your customer base.  Update your Twitter account with new listings and open house times and encourage your clients to “follow” you.
  • Use your mobile when you are mobile!  Take the time to update your voicemail message with a direct message on days when you know you won’t be available. By putting in the effort to record a message that includes the date and advising callers that you will be in meetings/unavailable that day, you are showing your customer base that you care that they are calling you and will take the time to call them back when you actually are available.  Make sure you keep it up to date though as an out of date message of this kind will have the opposite effect!
  • Use your “Out of Office Assistant” when you are going to be away from your desk for long periods of time so people who email you know why you haven’t replied to them.
  • Consider getting a BlackBerry or similar mobile device, if you haven’t already got one, so that you can check and respond to emails while you are away from your desk.
  • Use SMS as a way for clients to contact you.  You can set-up direct SMS functionality on your website so that potential clients can send you an SMS direct from your website to request a call back. Similarly, it is a good (and simple!) idea to have your office Receptionist or Administrator send you messages for call-backs via SMS rather than send you an email as you will get it immediately, as opposed to getting the message the next time you check your email; which could be up to 24 hours later.
  • Start your own Blog – this is an easy way for you to make yourself more accessible and approachable to clients on a virtual level.  Use your Blog to post your ideas on current market news and talk about situations you have been in that are relevant and useful for both vendors and buyers.

These are all simple and extremely effective ideas that you can use to make yourself available and accessible to potential clients when you are on the run.  In the fast-paced age of technology that we live in, it is imperative to stay ahead of the pack when it comes to communication and utilizing one or more of these suggestions in your day-to-day dealings will help you to do just that.

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Mobile Phone Traffic Triples in 12 months

Ericsson has reported that mobile phone data traffic has tripled in the past 12 months. This is really demonstrating the move by consumers to smart phones and the increasing trend to access internet data on these smart phones.
We have for some time been raising the long term trend for smart phones to be used to access to the Internet. It is the most active ‘battleground’ for technology companies as it is a new and quickly emerging market place without the dominant existing providers that exists in the more mature technology markets (think Microsoft in PC land and Google on desktop search).

However just as technology companies are scrabbling to stake out their place in this new market, so should property companies. As more consumers use smart phones to access the internet, they will naturally be driven to websites and web applications that are optimised for the platform. This simply provides a much richer and user friendly experience so it is entirely natural. However the vast majority of property firms have no strategy let alone website or web application to target this market.

We rolled out the service R.E. Mobile around 12 months ago specifically to target this emerging market and it has proven a big success in providing a fantastic experience for accessing and searching for property listings, staff member details and general company information. For more information on R.E. Mobile visit our website here.

To read about the Ericsson report click here.

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Domain.com.au taking private listings

A couple of interesting articles are circulating the web on the announcement that www.domain.com.au (Australia’s second most popular portal) will be accepting the upload of listings from the private seller site www.buymyplace.com.au. In this post a number of agents question why Domain would do this and how it will give a benefit to their major competitor www.realestate.com.au. See here.

I know agents have a vested interest in restricting the level of enquiry a private seller can get, but do they really expect marketing websites such as Domain not to take private listings? After all Fairfax (owner of Domain) have taken and continue to take private advertisements in their Newspapers so why would the website be any different.

It makes sense to have as much content on a Portal as possible so adding private sales, and increasing the depth of listings, can only help.

The real question here is how does a portal such as Domain reward its loyal trade customers i.e real estate agents? In every business model a loyal repeat customer is rewarded with discounted pricing, better service or a better product. If Domain is going to take private sales then they had better make sure they look after their core customer base and reward them appropriately.

I am sure all agents would be happy for Domain to take private listings if they (Domain) offered them (the Agent) something of value that a Private Seller could not obtain direct from Domain.

A few ideas could be:

– customer email alerts restricted to agent listings

– featured listings for just agents

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Launch of Agent Portal by leading Property Developer

Brightfox is proud to announce the launch of the Divercity Waterloo agent portal to assist Becton in marketing this exciting new project to the World.

The Divercity Waterloo Agent Portal is a secure website developed exclusively to enable authorised real estate agents from around Australia and Internationally to login and view live availability on the project 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It provides an indepth and rich experience, giving the agent and their client all of the information they need to analysis the project and to determine which apartment best suits their needs. Agents can then perform a real time reservation on the Agent Portal, immediately reserving the apartment and taking it off the market, no matter what the time of day or night.

Agent Portals such as the Divercity Waterlook Agent Portal open up a whole new world of sales opportunities for Property Developers, enabling them to reach hundreds of agents around the World at all times. Gone are the days of selling a Project with a small sales team that is restricted to local sales and very expensive road shows.

If you would like to know more about how a Brightfox Agent Portal can help your next project to be a success, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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Using Testimonials Effectively

In this article we are going to look at a simple but under-utilised and often misused marketing tool – testimonials!

Before we even start I want you to immediately throw away all of the preconceived notions you have on testimonials. As mentioned above, testimonials are generally not used well, so you should consider the possibility that what you are doing now is either not working or, at least, not maximising the opportunities that they offer your business.

Here are our 10 rules for making testimonials work in your business:

1. If you do not ask you shall not receive

Just like asking for referrals, asking for testimonials is not the easiest thing for a salesperson to do. Good salespeople are naturally looking for the next opportunity and want to start talking to the next prospect, however; you need to discipline yourself (or your team) to ask for testimonials as often as possible. We would suggest creating an automatic follow up plan in your CRM software to allocate tasks to the relevant people in your business to obtain a testimonial after a sale or purchase.

2. Time is not always kind to you

As we all know, time is not always kind to us. You need to ask for a testimonial fairly shortly after the completion of a transaction. The euphoria of the deal will wear off quickly, so ensure you ask for the testimonial within 14 days of completion to get the best testimonials.

3. Put your testimonials into context

Sliding a testimonial letter under a prospect’s nose can be effective, but not nearly as effective as providing the letter together with your ‘story’ on the nature of the transaction and what you did that made the client so impressed. A testimonial is an opportunity for you to prove that you will do what you say you do. It is an opportunity to show why you are different. You need to assume that the prospect will question the quality of the testimonial and the independence of the writer. Taking a few minutes to verbally describe the transaction and your relationship with the people providing the testimonial will make all the difference.

Another great way to provide a testimonial is to relate it to a historical sale that you are using in your CMA (comparative market analysis). First of all, talk about the property and the price achieved and then provide the testimonial. It is all about putting the testimonial into context which makes it far more meaningful and believable.

4. Testimonials are not just Client Testimonials

Now I know that when I say testimonial, you are immediately thinking client testimonial. This is the first misconception. Client testimonials are but a portion of all of the testimonials you should have. If you are a project marketer you should have testimonials from other agents that you have worked with, advertising agencies and other professionals such as finance brokers and accountants. If you are a residential brokerage agent get testimonials from franchise representatives, other agents and even respected members of the community. They all help to demonstrate your professionalism, credibility and trustworthiness.

5. Testimonials have a use by date

You need to include dates on your testimonials to provide them with credibility. Client testimonials in particular generally start losing their impact after 3 to 6 months. So replenish with new ones at least every 6 months.

6. Reward people who provide testimonials

A good testimonial is tantamount to a referral. You should reward people who provide you with a testimonial as a sign of gratitude. A voucher at a local coffee shop or a simple bunch of flowers will suffice.

7. Use the full testimonial

Don’t be tempted to cut the seemingly bad or irrelevant parts of a testimonial out. Provide the full testimonial with the full name and details of the provider (ensure you have confirmed it is ok to supply their details). It will make it far more believable.

8. Start thinking multimedia

Written testimonials are the most common and practical, but certainly not the only way to present a testimonial. Consider using audio and video as a means of delivering a testimonial. You can syndicate this content on iTunes and Youtube as well, providing additional marketing benefits.

9. Use testimonials on your website

Don’t limit testimonials to your marketing presentations only. Maximise the benefits by putting them on your website and even consider including some particularly positive comments in your print marketing material. If you are getting great testimonials you should ensure you use them.

10. Create marketing material requesting testimonials

Create a poster and put it in the reception of your office requesting testimonials. Add a call to action asking for testimonials to your website. Add it to your email signature. Use your existing marketing channels to actively generate testimonials.

Action Plan:
Print out this article and work your way through these 10 points. If, by the end of the week, you have implemented an element of each item, you will be well on your way to using testimonials effectively in your business.

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To tweet or not to tweet!

The property industry has been pondering for some time the importance of being active on twitter. I personally have equally been skeptical as to its benefits. I really question agents or consultants who think that there are a large pool of people who want to be bombarded with regular tweets on new listings, price changes etc. As a consumer, and a technically orientated one at that, I just can’t see how I benefit from that. Email alerts will do just fine and I get to read them when I want (the one exception I would make here is for rentals in particularly tight markets. In some cities I know of instances where people pretty much fall over themselves to find out about new rental properties when they come available. A tweet would be great for that).

However, as a technical company, we needed to give it a go so we set up a couple of Twitter Accounts a few months ago and got started.

Not much feedback and quite a few followers and then, out of the blue, a genuine enquiry! Yes that is right, a genuine enquiry from a real estate agency that had come across one of our tweets and then contacted us.

So I guess the proof is in the pudding as they say. Not a huge number of leads but certainly it is a start. So maybe my thinking on twitter and the value it offers is starting to change…..

By the way you can find us at @brightfoxhq

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If you are targeting Asia, you need Brightfox!

A recent article in Real Estate Business (see it here) interestingly talks about the amount of business Victorian agencies are doing with Chinese buyers at present.

Brightfox has been doing business in Asia for over 9 years, and we can successfully market properties and projects to Asia.

One of the suprising facts that most people wouldn’t appreciate until they start marketing to Asia is the fact that most languages require the PC to be Unicode  compliant. This requires the CRM software and the website to be similarly Unicode compliant.

Both foxAdvantage and foxEnterprise meet these requirements and can market your properties and projects in the native language of your target audience – a key requirement to successfully penetrate these markets.