The Best Real Estate CRM(s) + Latest Technology To Stay Competitive

March 9, 2021

As agents navigate real estate in a COVID-19 world, technology has taken a more important role. This month’s Keeping It Real Training from Real Geeks, features Greg Harrelson and Frank Klesitz discussing, “The Best Real Estate CRM(s) + Latest Technology To Stay Competitive.” Get the resources you need to function more effectively in 2021 in this training session.

Starting with the basics, Harrelson names Real Geeks as his preferred CRM and technology solution. Stating that his team produces over 3600 transactions a year, Harrelson has compared it to other systems and still finds that the Real Geeks system “does everything that I need it to,” he said. By being able to “drill down to small segments” with Real Geeks, Harrelson has been able to outperform his competition, having over 2,000 specialty pages on his website. Each of these pages are connected to custom Facebook audiences, as well. Harrelson also likes the LIVE feed of client engagement and that the Real Geeks CRM allows his team to be able to follow up in real time. “It’s a nice integration,” Harrelson explained, adding, “I do the ads through Real Geeks and the leads go right there… Lead capture, to lead management, to marketing… I can do all that within one system, that’s why I use Real Geeks.”

Beyond and in addition to Real Geeks, Harrelson has other tools he uses to add a “soft touch” to nurture his clients, using sold reports and market reports. He also suggests using HomeBot. Homebot gives line graphs and pulls in a client’s mortgage balance, interest rate, and equity with name, email, and address. It shows the sellers interest rates and shows how much they can save by refinancing, calculates how much buying power they’d have on a future property, and estimates the opportunity they could have if they list their home as an Air B&B. Using a tool like Real Synch agents can integrate these services together for a seamless solution.

Based on speed and accuracy, Harrelson uses exactdial.com to harvest client information that has partial information. Harrelson strives to have all points of data on each potential client. The service provides email and physical addresses, phone numbers, and IP addresses.

When contacting expired sellers, Harrelson suggests that agents subscribe to Vulcan7 and RedX and for transaction management, his team uses DotLoop. For PPC he uses Real Geeks and has great success with the Real Geeks home valuation tool. Harrelson feels the biggest mistake agents make is, “Judging the quality of a lead based on how long it takes to convert…. We’ve got to stop thinking like that!” he exclaimed. “Low quality has no correlation with time to conversion.”

Harrelson uses Canva for thumbnails on videos but doesn’t use many other tools. “I believe in going deeper on the tech we already have,” Harrelson said. When he considers other tools, he debates on whether the features they offer produce measurable return or duplicate existing tools. “I want to get every dollar and value I can out of the one tech I use, before I start looking for new tech,” he added.

Klesitz discussed the tools he recommends for clients in his marketing practice and outlined why he found them to be valuable tools. 

• CallRail – is what Klesitz suggests having as your main phone to have referencing and monitoring of all inbound calls.
• Vulcan7 – is a compliant call dialer.
• Everybody Answers – is a circle calling solution.
• Dialpad – is a VOIP Phone system that integrates with most CRMS.
• Woodpecker – is a cold lead email solution that links to gmail or outlook and sends multiple emails to a large database. Klesitz even shared how he would use this service if he had to start a business with nothing.
• Letter Printing – is the tool Klesitz recommends for direct mail.
• Paperform – is a form builder that he uses on landing pages.
• Emma – is a resource for a broadcast email with the best deliverability.
• NeverBounce – takes all contacts from everywhere and compiles and cleans the list.
• Hubstaff – is a service that provides ISAs and related management.
• Upwork – provides on demand talent.
• Onlinejobs.ph – works for hiring virtual assistants in the Philippines.
• MyOutDesk – is a hiring agency for overseas outsourcing.
• Slack – allows teams to communicate in real time across a variety of channels.
• Vocaroo – is recording software that Klesitz uses for initial overseas interaction.
• Property Radar and PropStream – provide industry focused property data.
• LandGlide – helps to identify land owners and property information.
• Likely.ai – is a predictive seller company that has a 10% listing rate.
• OpenCorporates – finds owners of LLC owned property.
• Trello – is a resource for managing transactions.
• Eventbrite – is perfect for hosting online workshops.
• Hubspot – is a free CRM that lets you pay attention to lifecycle stages.
• Zoom – can be a resource for listing presentations and buyer showings.
• FaceTime – also works well for video calls.
• Loom – is a video messaging call service.

As they focused on tech, both Harrelson and Klesitz were quick to point out that all of these tools are nothing when compared to relationships. “We’re not guaranteed that there’s going to be a tomorrow,” Harrelson reminded. “If we don’t make an extra million, but our family experiences a little more love, that’s wealth.”