Make no mistake, real estate sales is one of the most challenging sales job there is. Many agents get into the business thinking it’s an easy way to make money, and very quickly realize it’s nothing but easy. Pair that with the lack of knowledge of running a business and lone-wolf approach of most agents, there is little surprise this industry has such a high turnover.

It is also of little surprise that over the past few years real estate teams have increased in popularity. As published by Inman in their “Secrets of high-growth real estate teams” the use of CRM’s and technology can give agents, teams & brokerages alike an advantage over their competitors and we expect it to be a growing trend.

One such example is Home.ca a leading real estate search engine in Canada with over 1M unique visitors per year lead by a young and tech savvy team in Toronto. Having a limited budget the team knew from early on that they must utilize the MLS data to build a website that provided the most up-to-date database of real estate properties in Toronto on the market and generated leads for their sales team.

Behind the website is a highly organized real estate team using technology to improve the way agents find customers and keep in touch with them.

Imagine it’s Thursday night and you’re at home couch surfing. Your iPhone beeps to notify you that a client has sent you a message. You tap the notification and send the client a quick response “Sure, I’d be glad to help you. Can we have a 5 min chat?”. Few minutes later you’re chatting with a new client and booking an appointment for the weekend. You think to yourself, eh that was easy. But can it really be true?

“The key is providing our agents not only world class technology, but also superior training and support” says Rafal Starmach, team lead at Home.ca. “Our website is designed to empower consumers with data, insights and knowledge, while instantly connecting them with local licensed real estate professionals.” says Mr. Starmach.

Agents are offered a platform to meet and connect with customers who are looking at real estate properties online by way of an integrated Client Relationship Management (CRM) system. The system is available to Agents via mobile devices or desktop computers so they stay productive regardless of where they are.

Once an Agent is matched with a lead, the CRM system tracks customer interactions on the website and instantly displays these activity in the agent’s dashboard. This means agents are armed with real-time intelligence about the customer’s preferences long before they connect on the phone.

The CRM system also helps the team track customers and their interactions with agents, while managers can also track each Agent’s interactions and performance by monitoring Key Point Indicators such as lead follow-up time, outcome of conversations and closing rates. Therefore everyone using the system has the benefit of transparency and visibility.

The team can serve their clients better and operate efficiently while working out of the office. It’s a win-win situation for the team and it’s members. The team operates a highly efficient website to attract new leads and team members can focus on doing what they do best – showing homes and closing deals.