homes-com-logo-e1473182238955There’s a significant opportunity gap for agents to grow their CRM through online real estate sites. The statistics are in: While almost half of buyers find their home online, 89% still use a real estate agent or broker to seal the deal. That’s why advertising on a real estate site can do wonders for creating a robust agent CRM for agents… IF the agent understands how online marketing works to secure more traffic, leads, and clients. There are many online marketing options, but Homes.com ranks #1 in terms of lead quality and they offer a range of solutions for building a pipeline of potential clients.

Successful agents know a strong CRM depends on never missing an opportunity to place crucial business-driving links their personal website and Homes.com makes an online prospect’s decision to connect with an agent a simple click away. For instance, the Local Connect program highlights the registered agent’s contact information alongside an inquiry form just under the listing agent’s information. The Featured Agent program works similarly but takes the shape of a prominent banner ad featuring an agent’s listed properties. Since these programs are only offered to a select number of agents within any given city or zip code, they effectively decrease online competition for regional CRM expansion. Of course, agents can side step all of the advertising competition by signing on as a Preferred Agent, which enables sole placement of their profile alongside their listing bundle.

But while maximizing links to an agent’s contact information and website are fundamental for CRM lead generation, it’s critical to respond to them quickly. One industry study discovered that while 89% of consumers feel response time was a very important factor in selecting their agent, 45% of inquiries generated from real estate websites went unanswered. Homes.com offers a Lead Concierge program that immediately answers online queries from any real estate website (including competitors) and pre-qualifies leads based on elicited information such as whether the consumer already has agent representation or financing. Then, the concierge directly transfers the lead to the agent in real-time. This solution empowers agents to efficiently populate their CRM with high-quality prospects.

Other time-saving solutions for developing a promising CRM include end-to-end social media management, an essential task that is often neglected by busy agents. Homes.com can set up and maintain an agent’s accounts on multiple platforms such as Facebook and Twitter by posting regionally relevant content, including customized blog posts, on an agent’s behalf. In addition, Homes.com can run targeted social media ad campaigns and provide metrics of results. As we all know, social media is increasingly central to maintaining broad brand awareness that can be leveraged for CRM development.

Marketing online—when done right—is a dynamic and powerful strategy to mine quality leads for an agent’s CRM. The solutions provided by Homes.com enable agents to amplify their brand awareness, maintain strategic online touch-points with potential clients, and act swiftly on leads. These capabilities are influential in growing a high-caliber CRM for advancing key relationships that boost an agent’s bottom-line results.