Over the last few decades customer relationship management software, or CRMs, have become an essential part of the sales and marketing process for builders. These tools have evolved to help manage large amounts of data across multiple channels from a central location, and provide the best experience for leads and customers alike.
Many platforms have emerged over the years, some specifically built for the new home construction industry. With so many options out there, it's difficult to know which is the right option for your business.
Customer relationship management has come a long way since the rolodex. These days, CRM has become an all-encompassing term used to describe different types of software, with varying features, that help businesses manage sales, customer data, marketing campaigns, inventory, and more.
Over the last 10 years cloud-based solutions have come to dominate the market, and the introduction of social media platforms has changed the way people consume and share data online. This is creating new opportunities for home builder marketing that didn’t previously exist.
CRM software has grown to serve different business needs and can have varying feature sets. But the typical CRM today includes:
Builder-specific CRM solutions often include features for contracting, construction scheduling, cost management, warranty services, and much more. While these systems aim to provide an all-in-one solution for home builders, they've actually become something else. With so much emphasis on the trades, contracts, and time-of-construction, most production builders use it more for BRM, or what we call Builder Resource Management. However, these industry solutions are so focused on the operations of the company, they usually leave out the customer. And they often fall short when it comes to lead intelligence, marketing automation, and integration with other systems.
Creating a personalized buyer experience starts with marketing, but it doesn’t end when someone signs a contract. When you can bridge the gaps between marketing, sales, and construction you can create a unified customer experience that delivers the right home, on time, and exactly as the buyer envisioned. Who doesn’t want that?
Over the last decade the trend has been to replace standardized CRM solutions with those built specifically for one industry. And a number of companies have built solutions specifically for new home construction.
The “right” solution depends on a number of factors, but when considering the best solution for your business it’s important to consider these points:
When choosing a CRM it’s important to remember the first letter in that acronym – the customer. One of the most frustrating experiences for buyers is to feel like they’re just a number in a system. They want to be treated like a valued customer who chose you for the biggest purchasing decision they’ll ever make. It’s important when considering a CRM to look beyond the operational aspects and figure out how it will help you to build a unified customer profile (take a page from the book of Ritz-Carlton).
Another thing a builder CRM should do is tap into lead intelligence. This helps you paint a detailed picture of your prospects, one that can help you to personalize your marketing strategies. The data allows you to put a personal touch on your sales and marketing efforts to increase the quality of your leads. And when you use this customer profile throughout the entire process, you're able to go from simply selling more homes to creating happier customers.
Remember, nobody wants to spend their time referencing complex manuals or going through a lengthy training process. Find a solution that’s intuitive, and it will set your team up for success.
One of the most common problems we see in the home buying process is a failure to properly set and deliver on expectations. The right CRM can help you learn as much about prospects as you can, and tailor your messaging to that person.
Understanding someone’s family or work situation, hobbies, and more can give your team the power to deliver the right message at the right time. Having this information available not only to your sales team but also to construction managers can help you keep the building process on track and in line with what the buyer is wanting in their home.
Even within the niche market of builder-specific CRMs it’s difficult to find one piece of software that does everything you’re looking for. With varying business needs and departmental budgets, you may end up needing to use multiple systems for things such as online sales, marketing automation, customer satisfaction surveys, and other types of builder resource management (e.g. contracting, loan approval, customer portal, etc.)
For example, if you’ve had a prospect move down the sales funnel and set an appointment or sign a contract, you may want to inform your marketing automation platform of this change so they no longer receive emails regarding new communities or product offerings. It seems simple, but having this kind of valuable information centralized allows you the freedom to easily create a unified customer experience from beginning to end.
What’s best for one builder may not be right for another, and when it comes down to it there is no one-size-fits-all solution for every builder. While there are industry solutions that aim to provide a single solution for every phase in the home buyers journey, and some that do multiple things well, many builders will find themselves looking at several different pieces of software that work together. It's no easy task.
Regardless of the size of your company or your sales process, keep in mind these important points when deciding on a CRM solution:
When you start your search with this strategy, you'll be equipped to find you own answer to the question "What's the best home builder CRM for me?"
The Bokka Group has helped builders around the country improve their sales process by building solutions to create a unified customer experience.