There is probably no more important purchase in a client’s life than their home. For most people, it’s the most expensive thing they will ever buy. It’s where they’ll spend a huge amount of their time and where they’re going to feel most, well, at home. So it’s crucial that it be built right by a builder or a company that they trust. After all, it’s the comfort and safety of themselves and their family that are at stake.
As a builder, you know that trust is everything. It makes for the smoothest communication between the client and yourself, and the best collaboration between your team, the client and other parties involved in the construction of the home.
If you’re reading this article, it’s because you know that a CRM for builders is a key component of building that trust. A CRM for builders helps you build and nurture relationships with clients and partners, to create loyal, lasting relationships sustained with care and trust.
But how to choose the best CRM for builders when there are so many both generic and specialized CRMs out there, each with compelling features, benefits and price points?
We have put together a list of 7 tips to consider when choosing the best CRM for builders.
Tip 1: Focus on communication with a CRM for builders
Would you say that you have a lasting and trusting relationship with someone you’ve only met once? Of course not. What about someone who is regularly in touch with you in a way that is unobtrusive and adds value to your life. Someone who remembers to greet you on special occasions and sends you good wishes for the holidays. Someone who always remembers the last thing you spoke about, and makes a point of remembering the name of your spouse, and that you have a killer golf swing? That might be the kind of person you could imagine keeping in your life for years to come. Someone who really puts in the effort and cares about your relationship.
That’s what a CRM for builders can do for you. Search for a CRM that can integrate any communication tool and gives you the ability to interact with your clients on their preferred channel, including email, Teams, chat, SMS, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and more.
Look for a CRM that allows you to create marketing campaign assets easily and quickly thanks to preexisting templates. And a CRM that lets you customize and automate email delivery. Your CRM should let you schedule email deliveries in advance and also send automatic reminders or follow-up emails. The client will experience greater engagement and communication from you, while all the while you will be spending less time preparing material.
Another important aspect of communication is the ability to share documents with clients, partners and subcontractors easily. Your CRM should offer the ability to share documents. This will help you and your clients, partners and subcontractors stay organized and help you meet deadlines on time.
Tip 2: Automation is vital to save you time
A good CRM for builders is one that allows you to automate repetitive tasks that are currently eating away at your time.
Automation can help you attract the right prospects by running targeted multi-channel marketing campaigns automatically. This includes sending out emails, reminders, follow-ups, invitations to events, telemarketing efforts, text messages and more. It’s basically like hiring an assistant, without having to actually hire an assistant. The CRM will take care of it for you.
You should be able to automate processes using built-in workflows. You can automatically generate reports based on your numbers for the month or the quarter or the year, or individual employee performance and have these reports sent to you or someone of your choosing for greater transparency and accountability.
So many tasks that take up an inordinate amount of time can be automated by a CRM so that you can spend your time and attention where it matters most.
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Tip 3: A CRM for builders that can handle Sales and Marketing just might be your new best friend
Market segmentation is the process of dividing potential clients into groups, or segments, based on different or shared characteristics. The segments are made up of consumers who will, in theory, respond in similar ways to marketing strategies and who share traits such as interests, needs, or locations.
By using built-in artificial intelligence (AI), a CRM for builders should be able to perform segmentation on your prospects and clients. By identifying characteristics clients have in common, the CRM can anticipate the needs of those clients and determine how best to approach them, with which type of offer or product, when and in what manner. It should also be able to automate the sending of emails or other forms of communication, including follow-up messages. This can be a terrific supplement to your marketing team, or it can help you conduct targeted marketing campaigns even if you do not have a marketing team.
The right CRM for builders should also be able to manage leads effectively by tracking and capturing leads and importing them into the database. The CRM can also qualify the leads, and automatically transition them from marketing leads to sales qualified leads based on the amount of interaction you have had with the prospects.
Look for a CRM that provides marketing templates to reinforce your brand. A good CRM should give you all the tools you need to better serve your clients.
Tip 4: Find a CRM for builders you can access anytime, anywhere
Business never sleeps, and neither should your CRM. Whether you’re in the office, working from home, on-site or in transit, you should be able to access your CRM.
Make sure that you choose a CRM that has a mobile app allowing you to access it on your phone, desktop or tablet.
Tip 5: Make the most of your data
Chances are you have more data on your customers, on past projects, on current projects, on past marketing efforts, etc. than you even realize you have. And chances also are, you’re probably not making the most of all this information. Having lots of data can be overwhelming. You know you have all the pieces to the puzzle, you just don’t know where to start. That’s where a CRM for builders comes in.
The CRM can help you structure your data in a coherent way. It should allow you to visualize it in the way that makes the most sense for you. Look for a CRM that allows you to produce analyses and reports on your data. These can be useful for yourself, for presentations to senior management, potential partners, current partners, and future clients.
Having lots of data on your clients doesn’t necessarily mean you know them well. You can have loads of data and not use it properly, which is as useful as if you didn’t have any at all. But having lots of data AND a CRM for builders to help you manage it? That’s a whole other story. It can mean the difference between understanding your clients and not understanding them. Retaining them, or losing them to someone who understands them better.
Tip 6: Make data-driven decisions with CRM for builders
This is related to Tip 5, but obviously, when you have organized data that you can visualize and analyze to the fullest, this will help you make decisions that are based on solid facts and evidence. You’ll know how many people responded to any given marketing campaign, and how many of those responses turned into sales. You’ll be able to see in black and white what worked and what didn’t, so that you can reproduce those successes in the future and avoid wasting time on less successful initiatives.
You’ll be able to see the performance levels of your team members and make personnel-related decisions accordingly.
Select a CRM that helps you make the most of your data and supports your decision making.
Tip 7: Choose a CRM for builders that helps you get paid faster
Getting paid faster is always better, and no one enjoys chasing after payments. When choosing a CRM for builders, prioritize one that allows you to create invoices.
Your CRM for builders should make it simple for you to send invoices, even automatically. Ideally, since your clients are also on the move and not always in the office, it should enable mobile review and approval of invoices from any device.
Your CRM can replace the manual processes associated with invoices and make your payments faster, more efficient, and more professional-looking to clients.
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Make the right choice for your CRM for builders
There are so many CRM options out there that finding the one that is most adapted to the reality of a builder can be challenging when going at it alone. It’s important to find the CRM that fulfills the needs that are specific to your industry. At Gestisoft, we understand building and we understand CRMs. We would be happy to speak with you about the best fit for your organization as you consider implanting a CRM in your company.
