Effective communication and follow-up can make or break your success in the industry. Whether you are managing multiple clients or juggling a range of properties, having a streamlined approach to client communication can save you time—and help you build stronger relationships with your prospects and clients.
But with the fast-paced nature of the real estate industry, keeping up with all that communication can be a challenge. From missed calls to delayed responses, there are many potential roadblocks to establishing yourself as a professional and gaining trust through communication.
To optimize your client communication and follow-up, we’ve compiled a list of 5 time-saving strategies to ensure you don’t drop the ball.
1. Use a CRM software
From initial contact with a new lead to closing the deal with a buyer or seller, you need to keep track of every conversation, every email, and every follow-up task. This can be overwhelming (and somewhat tedious), but the right CRM will help you save time and streamline your client communication and follow-up.
One of the most significant benefits of using a CRM is that it allows you to centralize all your client data in one place. This means that you can access important information about your clients, such as contact details, communication history, and preferences, with just a few clicks. This can save you a lot of time and hassle compared to manually tracking client information through spreadsheets or paper notes.
Of course, in order to reach the full potential of your CRM, you need to use it consistently. Plan on updating your CRM daily by inputting notes from any conversations you have throughout the day.
Using your CRM effectively will help you streamline client communication and follow-up in several ways:
- Schedule reminders for follow-up tasks
- Organize your prospects and clients using different filters
- Keep track of past conversations
- Set up automated email campaigns to keep in touch with leads and clients
This can help ensure that you never miss an important opportunity or lose track of a client’s needs and preferences. And when you use your CRM to take note of important life details or decisions, your clients will recognize how much you care about their needs.
2. Set up email templates and responses for FAQs
You likely receive numerous questions from clients and prospects every week—they pop up in your email, text messages and DMs. To save time—and ensure that your responses are consistent and professional—utilize email templates and canned responses for frequently asked questions (FAQs).
CRMs typically have a variety of email templates that you can customize and send to clients or prospects after some quick edits. Take some time upfront to review the templates available to you, and save the ones that you use the most.
Canned responses, on the other hand, are pre-written responses that you can insert into an email, text or DM to quickly answer the questions you keep getting on repeat. When you notice a new question popping up over and over, draft out and save a response. Be sure you can access it from your phone so you can copy and paste into emails and text messages.
To make your responses feel more personalized, consider saving blog posts, articles, or social media posts that are relevant to consumers in your local market (even better if it’s content you’ve created!). Then, when a client asks a question, you can respond with a few lines of copy, and direct them to a relevant source for more information.
Yes, these things do require some work upfront. But once you’ve created some responses, it saves an immense amount of time each week because it eliminates the need to write and re-write responses to the same questions over and over again.
Not only will you save time, but it helps ensure your responses are professional and accurate no matter how busy you are. (It’s also a great hack for those days you just can’t deal with any more client questions). This helps build trust and credibility with your clients—and improve their overall experience working with you.
3. Schedule regular check-ins
Once a lead has turned into a client, the worst thing you can do is leave them wondering what’s happening with their transaction. Regular check-ins help maintain a positive relationship with clients, keep them informed about the status of their transactions, and ensure that everyone is on the same page.
Here are some tips for setting up a regular check-in schedule:
- Determine the frequency of check-ins: Determine how often you will conduct check-ins with buyers and sellers and make it clear to them what to expect. If, for example, you agree to check in every Monday, then follow through with a call every Monday, even if there has been no activity over the past week.
- Use a calendar or scheduling tool: Time block your calls on your calendar to ensure you don’t miss any check-ins. (You can also delegate this communication to a transaction coordinator to save even more time).
- Provide multiple communication channels: Offer multiple communication channels to clients such as phone, email, and text, so that they can choose the method that works best for them. This will make it easier for clients to communicate with you, and ensure that you can respond to them quickly and efficiently.
Pro tip: If a client wants to schedule a time to talk outside of your regular check-in, send them a Calendly link with 10-15 minute time slots specifically for this purpose. This way, you can avoid the back-and-forth of trying to find a time that works for both of your schedules.
Regular check-ins help save time and improve client communication helping you catch any issues or concerns early on, before they become major problems. In doing so, you continue to build trust with clients and demonstrate that you are committed to helping them achieve their goals.
4. Use video and voice messages
In today’s fast-paced world, communicating via video and voice messages has become increasingly popular. Real estate agents can take advantage of these tools to enhance communication and follow-up processes.
Using video and voice messages can significantly improve client communication. Here’s how:
- Faster response time: You can respond to client inquiries more quickly, which can help you build trust and credibility with your clients.
- Better understanding: Seeing and hearing you can help clients understand your message more clearly, which can help avoid confusion and misunderstandings.
- Personal touch: Video helps you build a personal connection with your clients, which is essential for building long-term relationships.
5. Leverage automated messaging and scheduling
Chatbots aren’t exactly personalized—but they can help you deliver fast responses and make your clients and prospects feel heard. So while you shouldn’t use chatbots and automated messages for all your communication, here are some examples of when these tools can be helpful:
- Lead generation: Chatbots can be used to generate leads by asking visitors to a website or social media page for their contact information.
- Appointment scheduling: Chatbots and automated messaging systems can be used to schedule appointments and send reminders to clients.
- Property search: Chatbots can help clients search for properties that meet their specific requirements by asking them a series of questions and providing recommendations based on their answers.
Time is your most precious commodity. And for real estate agents, managing client communication and follow-up can be extremely time-consuming. By implementing the tips above, you can streamline your communication process and free up more time to focus on other important aspects of your business—all while making your clients feel seen and heard.
