Introducing Real Estate Agents to Their Digital Destinies

We all get 168 hours in a week. No more; no less. But as the week winds down, real estate agents are often left tapping their watches, wondering where all the time went between showing homes, driving clients around, and negotiating deals. And thanks to the influx of internet leads, time management looms even larger. Ninety percent of home buyers begin their house hunt online, and they'll ask about properties whether you're on the clock or not.

Here's the disconnect: After reaching out to agents, leads usually have to wait hours — or days — to hear back, and nearly half of them won't even receive a response. What a huge missed opportunity! People are impatient, making cold real estate leads highly perishable. In fact, your chances of converting a cold lead into a client increase 21 times if you talk to that lead within five minutes, and 72 percent work with the first agent they meet.

Being busy may be a rite of passage in the real estate industry, but what happens when agents simply can't keep up with all their leads? The key to beating the clock isn't to work yourself silly or leave leads high and dry, but rather to leverage different tools and technologies to turn your one-man show into a multiperson powerhouse.

Meeting Your Digital Destiny

Here are three tech tools that will help you start scaling your business:

1. CRMs featuring marketing automation: At the ground level, real estate agents usually start with little to no tech. As they build lists of customers and leads, however, they typically look for CRMs, or customer relationship management systems, to organize client information, operate drip campaigns, and nurture prospects over time. CRMs can be very powerful, offering built-in automation capabilities that allow you to keep in touch with clients anytime, anywhere. Most importantly, they help you organize “hot to not” leads, enabling you to invest your time and resources where they’re most useful (and profitable).

2. IDX-powered home search websites: If you don’t currently have a website or your website lacks an IDX-powered search, it’s time to scale up. A well-designed IDX website allows you to drive leads and clients back to your site to search for homes. This is key because it ensures the leads stay in touch with you first and foremost. Prospects who head to sites like Zillow risk being picked off by your competitors, even if you were the first to initiate contact. In addition to having IDX capabilities, your site should build trust and confidence by featuring hyperlocal information about everything from neighborhoods and market conditions to past sales and customer reviews.

3. Lead engagement and qualification solutions: The most important tool for an agent today is a powerful lead engagement and qualification solution, which will allow you to be "on" at all times. This solution will help you convert leads at far greater rates because it ensures leads receive a response quickly. When looking into partners, look for those who employ human concierges. They should be able to answer questions, build trust and affinity, and help schedule a time for you and the client to meet face-to-face. These services also make your one-man show appear to be a well-oiled team that provides incredible, instant customer service — which is not just admired in today's consumer world, but expected.

As an agent, you're busy — there's no denying that. You respond to and qualify leads, set up appointments, nurture clients, and manage transactions. Tech-enabled agents, on the other hand, use tools that allow them to focus on the highest revenue-producing activities and leave the rest to tech. This way, they can maximize their resources to stay lean without limitations.

With hot new technologies, you can guarantee stellar customer service and turn yourself into an enviable closer.