What Is a CRM?

Central PA Real Estate Career Podcast with Dave Hooke

Here’s what to know about CRMs and which is the best to use. What’s a CRM? What’s the best CRM to use in your real estate business? There’s a lot of confusion around “shiny objects” in our industry; we’re one of the most sold-to groups of consumers I’ve ever met! We’re always responding to the next quick fix to take our business up a level. However, often those things aren’t very helpful at all. CRMs are one of the most-sold things to real estate agents. CRM stands for “customer relationship management”; it’s a piece of technology that helps us manage all of our customers in one database so we can hopefully provide them with value and nurture those relationships, turning them into clients. It organizes all that information and communication in one place. “Utilize a CRM every single day.” What’s the best one to use in this season for your real estate journey? That’s a bit of a trick question because the answer is the one that you’ll truly use. Frequently, an agent will use a CRM because it was sold to us or we saw someone else using it. In the past, I’ve used popular CRMs like Outlook and BoomTown, and we’re currently using Firepoint and Keller Williams’ system called Command. Even if it’s a simplistic CRM that’s not even real estate-related, if we use it every day and organize our databases in it, it’ll help our business much more than one we don’t use. A simple CRM that you use is better than a complicated one that you can’t figure out. Utilize a CRM every single day; track your business and lead gen time in it. I have demoed over a dozen CRMs, I know exactly what they charge, and I’ve onboarded and offboarded with many of them. The right one for you and your budget has a lot to do with the season of growth you’re in at the time. Just private message me, and I’d be glad to do a consultation to analyze your business and give you my top two recommendations for the CRM you’re most likely to use. Or if you have some simple questions about CRMs or any other real estate matter, call me at [phone] or email [e-mail]. I would love to speak with you.