Customer Relationship Management is Needed for Optimum Real Estate Services Delivery
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ESV Georgeline Duru,
To deliver effective and efficient real estate services, strong customer relationship management is a must skill for professionals and firms in the real estate industry and the entire ecosystem of property business.
To begin, customers are the reason why any real estate firm is in business and the ability to professionally manage these customers will go a long way in defining the success of the business. In a simple definition, Customer relationship management includes all communication strategies deployed by an organization, real estate brands in this context, in its interaction with its clients and prospects. These communication channels could be offline or online.
The nature of the real estate business has made it possible for direct or indirect interaction with customers and prospects as well. Initiating and closing real estate deals would require communication between the clients and the real estate firms or agents as the case may be. And to close a business transaction, a relationship must be built and maintained over time especially for clients who are not one-off customers like long-standing tenants and business partners cum investors.
In a recent report by a leading global professional services firm, Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC). The report has it that 88% of all real estate transactions come from repeat and referral businesses. The report further opined that this can only be possible when a real estate agent or firm has been able to professionally manage its growing customer base over the years. In this regard, firms and agents should be sure that their communication policies are customer-friendly and in line with global best practices.
There are a number of strategies a firm can deploy to improve its customer relationship management. The most important of these is the deployment of real estate CRM, a software that helps real estate brands professionally manage their prospects and customers. Among many of its benefits, the real estate CRM helps to generate leads, anticipates clients requirements, stores extensive customers data, monitor customers journey, helps in managing marketing campaigns of products and services, project analysis, maintain inventory, etc.
To achieve this, real estate firms will not only deploy the CRM application in their firms, there is need to train staff and agents on the use of the application. Bridging this knowledge gap will definitely improve the overall business processes in the real estate ecosystem for the common good of all players in the industry.
While communicating with prospects and even existing customers, one of the major aims of a relator or a professional real estate firm is to generate leads and follow up for possible closure of businesses. Adopting modern ways of marketing communications will help firms manage this important task of their business. A strong online presence will be a good leap in this regard.
Gathering the needed data and information of a client or prospect will help the firm maintain an up-to-date relationship, strengthen communication, and add to the bottom line of the business.
For already existing customers, the use of modern communication gadgets will also help firms to maintain relationships with them on their special events like birthdays, anniversaries of all kinds, and business millstones in the case of corporate clients.
To deliver optimally in todays real estate world, all real estate businesses should not only embrace CRM applications, but they should embed them in their growth strategies. The importance of CRM in the real estate business cannot be overemphasized as the industry keeps evolving both in the domestic and international market space.
ESV Georgeline Duru, a registered Estate Surveyor and Valuer, and the Principal Consultant at Georgeline Duru Consulting, a leading Nigerian firm of Estate Surveyors and Valuers sent in this piece from Port-Harcourt.
