How A CRM Can Prepare You For The Next Downturn

1
How A CRM Can Prepare You For The Next Downturn

• The ups and downs inherent in business cycles
  guarantee that we will eventually see another
  economic downturn. It is not a question of if a
  contraction will occur, but a question of when
  and how severe. The mortgage industry is highly
  dependent on credit availability- when credit
  approvals and loans are hard to obtain, everyone
  from loan officers to processors, to the lender
  itself, suffers. It is imperative that you have a
  plan for when the market slows. Having a
  ready-to-deploy strategy in the case of a
  financial emergency could be the difference
  between your team succeeding or failing during a
  recession or housing crisis.

Get a Practical and Powerful CRM  One of the best
ways to prepare is to leverage your existing data
resources and squeeze every cent of profit from
your lead list. A practical and powerful CRM can
help you accomplish this goal. In this piece, we
will explore some CRM-centric steps that real
estate professionals can use to prepare for the
next downturn.
2
A CRM Can Boost Your Teams Efficiency According
to Nucleus Research, the average ROI for every
dollar spent on a CRM is 8.71. That is a
phenomenal return. Increasing your cost savings
and improving your efficiency is key to surviving
lean times in the real estate markets, and CRMs
can help boost output by 15 or more. Reducing
Client Attrition An eroding client base is
likely during hard times. For example, the
2008-2009 downturn saw millions of previously
eligible homeowners get wiped out financially.
Many borrowers had to default and suffered from
poor credit ratings for years after. Others lost
their jobs and were no longer in a financial
position to afford to purchase real estate. When
the total pool of available RE clients goes down,
your existing client list becomes more valuable
than ever. To retain as many clients as possible,
it is imperative that you can categorize, access,
and contact those clients at a moments notice. A
good CRM can help you organize your contact list,
give everyone in your organization the ability to
manage contacts and send messages to them via
text or email.
3
In addition, By leveraging automation through
workflows and followups, a good CRM will help you
and your team stay on task and keep clients up to
date with minimal effort. Find a tool that helps
prioritize and score leads, gives you flexible
communication tools (like email campaigns,
autoresponders, and SMS), and pipeline management
features. Leveraging Existing Data Resources We
live in the Information Age and your data is
among your companys most valuable resources. A
CRM can help you prioritize RE leads with a
higher chance of converting and closing and
improve your bottom line. You can also use the
data you gather and input to understand your
customers better- during a downturn, customer
engagement is incredibly powerful and being able
to target your customers in their ideal
acquisition window will help get the responses
you need when times are tough. Taking Advantage
of Cross-Sell Opportunities The right CRM will
give you the ability to maximize your cross-sell
opportunities. For example, lets say you have a
commercial client that is requesting credit to
purchase a multifamily unit. You can use your
software to track info that relates to their
purchase as well as any potential purchases in
which your clients may have an interest. If in
conversations with their loan officer they
mention they want to purchase a retail property
six months down the line, you can program your
CRM to auto contact that client with relevant
information six months ahead.
4
This action seeds your company for future growth
while responding to the borrowers needs. One
firm found that 72 percent of companies with less
than 50 new sales opportunities per month were
unable to reach their revenue goals. If you are
not taking advantage of digital solutions to
increase your cross-sell ability you are leaving
profit on the table. Increasing Pipeline
Productivity Just as important as your lead list
is how you manage your pipeline of incoming
borrowers and clients moving through the lending
process. Your pipeline is your lifeline, and it
can help you weather bad economic times with less
damage. When times are good in the mortgage
business, the percentage of deals left by the
wayside is much higher. If a loan officer is
working more sales than they can handle some LOs
will prioritize some deals over others. Easier,
more lucrative deals will take the drivers seat
while harder deals fall by the wayside. This
attitude may fly during boom times, but it can
kill your business during a downturn. If you are
a broker or oversee loan officers, you can access
their client and lead lists via the CRM. As long
as you require them to keep detailed notes on
each buyer, you can follow the progress of loans,
see contact history, and get a fuller
understanding of what is happening with that
transaction. Taking these steps will ensure that
you are squeezing every dollar out of your
pipeline and can help your company to survive
until market conditions improve. If you are
unable to take advantage of pipeline
opportunities, your business will suffer.
5
Improve Accuracy in Down Market
Forecasts Instability and uncertainty work hand
in hand during a recession. Understanding the
depth of the slump and creating accurate
financial predictions can go a long way to
helping you make it through a downturn. These
financial projections can also help you get into
the best position possible to take advantage once
the economic situation improves. Mortgage lenders
that were ready to take advantage of the steady
rise in home prices following the Great Recession
saw record profits in just a few years after the
bottom. Creating sales forecasts using a CRM will
give you hard metrics relating to growth. These
data points are available in real-time to provide
you with the power to track sales over time and
adjust your strategies accordingly. While past
performance is no guarantee, understanding where
you were is critical to getting where you want to
go. The Takeaway There are many ways to survive
during a downturn. However, your goal should be
to flourish rather than just get by. Utilizing a
configurable CRM that includes powerful sales and
marketing automation features will keep your
business growing when times are good and properly
prepare you when the downturn arrives. Will your
business be ready with your current technology
stack?  Article Source- https//setshape.com/blo
g/how-a-crm-can-prepare-you-for-the-next-downturn