3 Ways a Unified Communications Platform Can Help Your Real Estate Firm

Mobile technology has revolutionized real estate communications.

Nearly nine in 10 realtors now use a mobile device to communicate with clients, according to the Realtors Property Research 2017 Realtor Mobile Usage Report.

Clients want housing alerts and market activity reports sent to them on their smartphones, agents say. Realtors are now increasingly texting their clients information instead of sending it via email, and over four in 10 say they spend five or more hours a day using their smartphones.

These trends illustrate why it’s so important to have a communications platform that helps you build and maintain relationships with mobile real estate clients. Here are three ways a unified communications platform can help your real estate business.

Consolidating Your Communications Channels

One of the challenges facing today’s real estate agent is the fact that mobile channels are multiplying the number of ways clients communicate with realtors.

Traditional communication channels remain the most popular ways to communicate with clients, with 94 percent of realtors naming email among their preferred communication channels and 91 percent naming the phone, according to a National Association of Realtors survey. But 90 percent also favor texting, and 34 percent favor instant messaging.

This means that information relevant to a particular prospect can be scattered through multiple channels, which can waste your time as well as your prospect’s as you search for the data you need.

Using a unified communications solution solves this problem by providing a single interface for accessing all data relevant to a prospect from all communication channels. This delivers a smooth communications experience no matter what channel you’re using, even if the conversation migrates from one channel to another.

Speeding Up Response Time

Another way a unified platform can improve your communications is by allowing you to respond more rapidly to alerts from prospects and clients.

When a lead attempts to contact you while you’re out, your odds of getting in touch with them are still very high if you get back in touch with them within five minutes, according to Inman research. But if you wait for a half hour to pass, your odds of making contact drop 100 times, and if you wait five hours, your odds drop by 3,000 times.

You can ensure a rapid response to incoming communications by adopting a unified communications solution that includes a cloud contact center. A cloud contact center allows your automated service tools or live human support team to field prospect inquiries no matter where you happen to be at the moment. Alerts can then be sent out so that you have the option of responding quickly when a rapid reply is needed.

Providing Personalized Alerts to Mobile Clients

Using a unified communications solution can allow you to provide real-time alerts to real estate clients as well.

One thing home buyers rely on agents to provide them is alerts to new home listings. Home buyers also need agents to provide them with other relevant information such as:

• Neighborhood reports
• Market activity reports
• Financial information

Traditionally, realtors send this type of information to clients via email, but this typically assumes the client has access to a computer. A unified communications solution makes it easy for realtors to send important alerts and files to clients who may be on smartphones or tablets.

Summary

Using a unified communications platform allows real estate agents to:

• Consolidate their communication channels
• Accelerate response to prospect inquiries
• Deliver time-sensitive alerts to clients on mobile devices

These benefits enable you to deliver a better customer service experience to clients, with faster transmission of vital information that can make the difference between losing and closing a sale.