by Joe Taylor Jr.
A housing slump, slow credit markets, and rising gas prices add up to a perfect storm for real estate agents. Making the most of today's economy requires cutting expenses and speeding up response time. That's why today's most successful real estate professionals rely on mobile CRM applications.
Most real estate agents already use some kind of customer relationship management tool. Some agencies provide in-house tools to manage leads and to process transactions. Other agents supplement their recommended systems with private arsenals of BlackBerry devices, iPhones, laptops, and even mobile inkjet printers. These investments frequently pay for themselves through saved resources and increased commissions.
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Mobile CRM applications for real estate agents can offer maps and directions--some of which can even be plugged into an agent's GPS system. As a result, agents can schedule back-to-back field trips without returning to the office. Over time, the savings in gas and mileage help agents invest more in their marketing.
With fewer buyers probing the market, agents who move the quickest tend to land the most deals. Mobile CRM applications offer most--if not all--of the same powerful research and tracking tools as their desktop counterparts. Using this powerful information, sales professionals can assemble profiles for buyers and sellers en route to a property with little advance notice.
Choosing the Right Details for Mobile CRM SoftwareAccording to productivity experts, customizing CRM applications to work on a user's preferred mobile device often means the difference between a successful implementation and another wasted resource. On a notebook computer, CRM software can boast many of the same features and data fields as its desktop counterpart. In fact, many real estate agents now use full versions of popular customer relationship management tools on their field machines. Today's notebook computers are powerful enough to run sophisticated CRM applications while still being light enough to carry around.
However, mobile devices require a different approach to CRM application development. Simple adjustments to interfaces and a scaled down approach to capturing critical data set the most successful CRM applications apart from their competition. Without a user-friendly interface, a real estate agent is more likely to rely on his or her paper notepad instead of unlocking the potential of mobile CRM software.
Integrating Mobile CRM Software with the OfficeOf course, the real power of customer relationship management tools lies in their ability to connect everyone in an organization. Real estate agents use CRM software to process transactions with their brokers, coordinate details with virtual assistants, and confirm appointments with clients. Even a tool with a perfect interface can't help an agent if he or she doesn't have the ability to share information with the rest of their team.
Therefore, mobile CRM applications offer two ways to keep everyone on the same page. Traditional CRM software, installed on mobile computers, can be synchronized with the office in person or over wireless Internet connections in the field. Hosted CRM applications offer an even more streamlined approach. Although they require agents to maintain a stable Internet connection, all data is updated instantly throughout the day. Either way, agents can leverage technology to stay connected to their offices, even if they don't visit quite as often as they used to.
SourcesComputer Technology Review
Inside CRM
TechTarget
Wi-Fi Planet
About the Author
Joe Taylor Jr. is an internal business consultant for a Fortune 500 company, who writes about finance, culture, and design. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Communications from Ithaca College.
