Blog / Leadership
Warren Campion, Interaction with CRM Systems, does centralising work?
A centralised customer relationship management (CRM) system is a tool which can be used by real estate agencies to increase effi ciency and give a competitive advantage.
CRM systems provide centralised database management for tracking, communicating, property alerts and storage of information on buyers, sellers and future property prospects. The lack of implementation and effective usage of these systems in agencies across Australia means a lack of consistent client and data management which would produce a stream of listing leads and qualifi ed buyers. CRM systems are designed to reduce labour costs and increase an individual’s effi ciencies, yet many managers do not see this technology as having any effect on effi ciency or reducing labour costs.
Many agencies have a CRM system loaded on computers, however most are not utilised. Salespeople tend to resist the implementation of an offi ce CRM system, thus preventing agency owners or sales managers from having a centralised system working effectively.
On the fl ipside, most salespeople have their own system (electronic or paper based), and they are constantly looking for ways to be more effective in communication and look for competitive advantage via marketing, electronic newsletters, fl yers and profile building.
The industry has a code of conduct covering business behaviour, which outlines ethical practices (REIA, 2010), yet the fundamentals of what is required in vendor management, buyer tracking or property marketing is left up to the individual agent. Many agencies struggle each month to obtain new properties to sell, as they do not have a turnkey operation for the production of new listings.
Agents control the style of processes and data collection in the majority of agencies. The salespeople have control of the business (through management’s fear of staff turnover), yet have no ownership. The salesperson’s individual ideals have a huge impact on what an agency does. Owners of agencies have a fear of implementation of centralised data collection, hence CRM systems have had a slow take up in the industry. Another driving factor is the issue around the industry acting under a ‘pay for performance’ style rewards system, and that sales agents are inducted with the slogan ‘it is your business working within our agency; it is up to you to make it work.’ Agencies are found to be reactionary more than proactive in growth, positional direction and market place trends.
Real estate agency managers can see the benefi ts of using a centralised CRM system to gain competitive advantage in:
- Obtaining simpler means for reports and accountability to control their business
- Being in a stronger position to drive growth
- Ability to implement a sustainable customer service program
- Having real time performance and activity reports on individuals within the sales team
- Reducing administration costs and increased delivery of service to clients and customers
- Ability to manage client’s requirements and property data at a set standard, every time.
Salespeople who used an office CRM system, but did not like it, highlighted the following issues:
- Not understanding what the CRM system did and what benefits it would give them
- Lack of or no training on the system
- Risk of system not working
- Did not want the agency to have a copy of their database of clients
- Resistance to micro management and performance monitoring by manager
- Belief that salespeople sell and do not type, as that is an admin job.
Many of these agents admitted they did not have any keyboard skills and found using a computer frustrating and painfully slow in record keeping. They also expressed a resistance to having the latest mobile/smart phone technology, saying their daily activity revolved around pen, paper and their mind.
This group of anti-CRM users of an office system did give indications they would be interested to gain the benefits of mass communication, buyer tracking and property feedback if an additional person could gather and enter the information into the system. They felt the information could be used to benefit them if it was produced by another party and they were not involved with input or learning of the system. The large majority of salespeople in this group acknowledged they had ‘their own private’ list of clients and managed these via: Outlook, Excel or similar single user database style systems.
CRM systems give benefits for clients, customers, staff and management once implemented by a team. The major change required for CRM system advancement is in the human capital of the agency accepting the technology, learning the system and gaining an understanding of how to drive it for their designed outcome in line with company guidelines. When an agency’s employees are aligned with the system and technology in a cooperative union, it is easier to develop and manage the value a business creates.
Organisational culture must change to accommodate a technology platform as the central data capturing device of the agency. Management will need to address privacy issues and work process. Therefore it needs to understand the changing dynamics a CRM system will have on operation and the relationship matrix in the agency. The rules and regulations to conform to a system will need to have strategic thinking to gain approval from senior salespeople who have been indoctrinated with the belief that they run their own business inside the agency.
Once a decision is undertaken to implement a CRM system, management must adopt a culture of continuous training. Induction of staff will need to be formulated and all positional roles must be evaluated for defining of skills. The agency should then undertake a training needs analysis and embark on a solution to close the gaps.
The end result is an agency that has started to create a turnkey business model through the use of today’s proactive prospecting methods, mass communication tools, relational database management and internet linking controlled by employees. These, once harnessed in a harmonious team environment with strategic integration, will give an agency a competitive position in the marketplace.
To book Warren for an inhouse business health check or consultancy, contact Real Estate Academy on 1300 367 412.
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