For a stress-free purchasing process, a good CRM make all related operations efficient. In particular, it should minimize physical travel, which, in turn, should reduce unnecessary delays. A real estate sales team should therefore have the following essentials on their digital platform:
- Entering customer information almost instantaneously
- Electronic sales contracts
- Electronic signature for all types of legal documents
- Automated cheque collection
- Real-time inventory management on the project website
Personal Information Entry
Artificial intelligence is undoubtedly revolutionizing and streamlining many aspects of the buying process, including capturing the information of potential buyers. It used to be a time-consuming process for both the customer and the sales rep, but now it’s accelerated and only requires one action: capturing a photo of a valid driver’s licence. Indeed, a seller can simply take a screenshot of a driver’s license and have the desired (basic) personal information about their client, which will be filled directly in the required boxes, making data collection and transcription smoother and easier.
AI is, without a doubt, a huge asset for digital real estate platforms. Moreover, it is increasingly integrated, at several levels, without even being noticed. For example, it’s because of AI that the analysis and interpretation of prospect data are done in so much detail, helping real estate developers to target their clients accurately. In short, make sure to adopt this innovative technology and consider incorporating it when choosing your CRM, as this will allow you to generate maximum leads effortlessly.
Electronic Contracts
Electronic contracts are the best option to complete a formal sales contract. This is a transparent process because everything that has been heard and chosen with the future owner will be automatically recorded at every stage of the sale. Therefore, each click and/or specified information will be listed in real time, so there is no chance of error thanks to this method. Note that everything will be listed: parking and/or storage spaces, selected extras and/or modifications requested by the customer, etc.
Thus, once the representative has checked all the terms specific to the contract with their client, they will only have to proceed with the electronic signature which also improves and accelerates the conclusion of the sale, avoiding potential delays.
Electronic Signatures
As mentioned earlier, in terms of efficiency, electronic signatures greatly facilitate the conclusion of a sale. In addition, it is important to point out that the advanced electronic signature made by specialized and recognized software, such as DocuSign, has the same legal value as a handwritten signature, so there is no need to worry about the validity of signatures.
In fact, there are so many good reasons to use electronic signatures. It allows all stakeholders involved in a transaction not to physically travel to sales offices to sign legal documents (which is really “à-propos” at the moment). It also makes it possible to avoid printing documents that would not be environmentally friendly and would, in addition, generate the risk of losses or errors; not to mention the administrative costs of managing all of that paperwork.
In short, electronic signatures reduce everyone’s workload and speed up the sales process, helping everyone. They enable better productivity, lower costs and assured customer satisfaction, among other things.
Efficient Cheque Collection
As mentioned in a previous post, pre-configured reminders can be sent via email or SMS so owners can know exactly when to make their payments. These messages can be delivered at different times or even provide a countdown before a given deadline, making tracking easy and greatly reducing late payments. It will be the sales team that will decide the frequency and the interval between each message. We can apply different reminders for different kinds of payments: deposits, condo fees, etc.
Furthermore, the actual collection/deposit of said payments can be fully done online. Wire transfers can be automatically matched to a deposit in the system or, for the old-school customers, cheque can alternatively be sent by mail or deposited directly to the sales office. Then, a representative simply takes a picture of the cheque to file as proof of receipt and everything is sent to the head office for processing. All of this allows for rigorous monitoring of payments made or due, without ambiguity.
Real-time Inventory Management
For high-visibility, much hyped project launches, having an online inventory that automatically updates in real-time is a must-have when implementing online sales. If a person decides to acquire a unit that they are interested in, it is possible for them to simply visit the project’s website, click on Buy and thus engage in a purchasing process by making a deposit and sending a photo of their driver’s license or passport. Someone from the sales team will then contact them in order to complete the transaction as Fintrack and identity checks still need to be completed by a human. This online-sales process prevents developers from having to pay brokers and/or sales agents thousands of dollars in commissions, which can easily pay for the entire technology bill at the end of the year.
Furthermore, having detailed online inventory makes the shopping experience much easier for potential customers, allowing them to have an overview of the available units, see floor plans, take virtual tours of each unit, and more. This allows them to better visualize the dimensions, the locations of the rooms and sometimes even to see the view from each of the windows. With technology, the limits of reality are pushed back and this allows everyone to shop with more confidence, on their own time, wherever they prefer.
