Want to know what success looks like these days the best real estate CRM?  Well, it ain't an easy game - before the glory, the top real estate crm system really needs a whole lot of guts.Really, as with any software, real estate crm providers have to make vital trade-off decisions about what is most important for them to build in and support the most.  We provide additional information on how Inside Real Estate's CRM solution leads the pack, but let's take a look at some MUST-HAVE'S in a top brokerage or team CRM these days:

1. Your Real Estate CRM has to Drive Lead-Collection and Lead-Generation

Most times people don't think of their CRM as a lead-driver.  Sure, it is supposed to hold leads, but does it really drive leads?One of the biggest benefits a great CRM can have for your business is the ability to automate processes that enable you to turn PROSPECTS into LEADS.  So, while your industry-leading website that is connected to your CRM ( A little birdie told me there are companies that give you both ), is really supposed to help you drive more leads,  your CRM is often what makes them more than a simple prospect.How do you ensure that you have the right set of automation and follow-up in your CRM?  Well, one of the big items to verify these days, is whether or not Text-Message automation and things like auto-Search-Alerts are built into your CRM.  These are some of the latest tools that can literally multiply your qualification and lead conversion rates.

2. Real Estate Lead Distribution is Second Only to Generation

The second golden rule of working leads is really in how you get the leads to the right people (agents).  Now, the one disclaimer here is that if you have Virtual Assistants or ISAs answering calls directly, you may see some adjustment here.  For everyone else, the common struggle is response time and best-practices around the first contact point in the process.Lead Distribution is a game of speed, matching the lead to the right agent and accountability.  Your CRM needs to allow you to determine what kind of lead distribution (blast or round-robin, for example) that you need to do with your group, as well as who is a part of the lead-distribution pools.  Should the leads be split out by geography, or should the lead notification alert simply have the location for the agents to choose whether to accept or not.Regardless, the team knows that there is a set of automation and expectations with accepting leads - you work them hard, fast and smart.  And the system helps you do it.

3. Lead Follow-Up Best Practices is Another Name for Smart-Automation

It is easy to throw around the idea that we need to embrace best-practices.  What your real estate CRM should be doing for you, is providing ways for best practices to become the reality.Make sure that you have a system that:

• Can notify you when your leads and contacts reach a certain age in the system (time to move them one way or another)
• Can send a smart campaign of Emails, text-messages, Tasks and alerts to you - these are all key in a full follow-up routine
• Report on the true Time-to-First-Action on your follow-up with leads
• Trigger different campaigns based on status change, lead-tagging and other normal Workflow-Based items.

The longer you use the automation systems, the easier it is to make small adjustments that can have big impacts on your conversion and success rates.

4. Don't Fear the Rea... Real Estate Text-Messaging System

There is a shout out to '76 and all of you Blue Oyster Cult followers.  But it is also a a shout out to the fact that SOMETIMES, people of an age to love Blue Oyster Cult, tend to shy away from leveraging text-message automation in their new systems.What we've done is put a little more cowbell in the... alright, I'll stop.We have, however, tied in the latest Text-messaging tools right into the CRM to make sure it is painless to embrace best practices like turning your 5-minute follow-up into a 3-minute text and a 10 minute call.  Something like a "Hi John, just saw you were on my site.  Just finishing up with something, but I'll buzz you in a minute." .. followed by a call a few minutes later.This is a smart way to engage someone in a personal way, but let your system take care of some of the things that agents regularly miss in their follow-up.

5. Real Estate Lead Reporting is as Important as Lead Generation

Many of the lead or management systems in the industry provide only partial reporting.  What you need in your real estate CRM is a full end-to-end accounting of where leads and contacts came from, what kind of traffic patterns generated the leads, what activities drove them through the pipeline, and which ones really close best.Big spoiler here, many times, your biggest lead drivers are not your biggest deal drivers... many times they are.  The reality is, when you are marketing smartly, you probably have 5-10 different marketing touches that people will see, but it is still important to know how they found you in the first place.The right reporting will avoid the duplicates, and ensure that you can see where that person came from initially - even if it is 90 days from when they first landed on your website to when they capture.  A smart website and CRM system can provide you with that 90 days worth of activity right at your fingertips.More and more brokerages and teams, from the smallest to the world's largest, are understanding that having the right CRM is really at the heart of the full set of solutions you employ, from lead set of solutions is really a combination of turn-key setup together with customization and flexibility tailored to the business needs.Our goal at Inside Real Estate, is to ensure that you have the tools and automation in your business to drive more success, and use your marketing dollars more intelligently.