A CRM system is essential in any real estate agency’s toolset. Real estate CRM software grants agents centralized access to critical customer data, which helps them personalize services and provide better customer experiences. Real estate CRM also helps automate repetitive and time-consuming activities, from data entry to follow-ups, improving agents’ work performance.
However, implementing CRM for real estate agents can only bring tangible benefits if your agents adapt to the new technology, use it actively, and leverage its capabilities to the full extent. If this is far from the case, and CRM adoption among agents is low, your technology ROI will likely fall short of expectations.
This article provides recommendations to help a real estate agency ensure high CRM adoption.
1. Communicate the value of CRM implementation to your agents
If you plan to implement a CRM system, you most likely already know which of your agents’ existing workflows are the most time-consuming or inefficient and understand how CRM can help address these inefficiencies. However, since agents are expected to use a CRM solution, it is critical that they share your vision and understanding of CRM’s technology value. Otherwise, agents can be unenthusiastic or even skeptical about the new technology, hindering CRM adoption.
To gain agents’ “buy-in” regarding CRM, you should communicate the reasons behind the technology implementation to agents as early and clearly as possible. Initiate group or individual discussions with agents to share your motivation behind CRM adoption, emphasize the existing inefficiencies in their sales and marketing workflows, and highlight how CRM can help address these issues.
Suppose you know that agents spend too much time and effort manually entering data about new sales opportunities into an Excel spreadsheet. Explain to agents that CRM technology can help eliminate this bottleneck by automatically capturing information about opportunities from multiple sources and storing it in a centralized database. As a result, agents will spend more time generating sales and earning commissions.
If possible, refer to relevant statistics or customer success stories from CRM vendors to back up your assumptions and add weight to your arguments. If agents have any questions or concerns after the initial CRM project pitch, consider running additional QA sessions to clarify your point of view, dispel any possible worries, and sustain agents’ buy-in.
2. Choose a CRM system your agents would like to use
Your agents’ enthusiasm for new technology can quickly turn into frustration if they end up with a CRM solution that is unreliable, irrelevant, or difficult to use. So, if CRM user adoption is your agency’s top priority, choose the solution carefully.
To begin with, your CRM team should gather your agents’ requirements and expectations regarding the features they would like to see in a new CRM solution (this can be done via agent interviews and surveys). These features may include automated lead scoring, bulk email management, account-based marketing reporting, as well as any other capabilities.
After your project team conducts a market analysis and identifies several solutions that fit your agency in terms of functionality, it is time to study each of the selected CRM systems in more detail (here, product demos and trials requested from the vendors can come in handy). After that, your project team can build a software comparison matrix to help you weigh all CRM system options and choose one that can best suit your agents.
We would recommend selecting a solution that meets the following characteristics:
- CRM system that is customizable
If the software does not fit into your established marketing and sales processes, agents will have to get used to new processes supported by CRM, which can take time and slow down technology adoption. To minimize workflow overhauls, you can tailor CRM software to your existing processes. However, this is only possible if your CRM system provides robust customization capabilities.
Nonetheless, none of the CRM systems on the market can be considered fully customizable: Salesforce, for instance, only supports 800 custom fields per object, while Pipedrive allows a maximum of 180 automations per user. If your agents’ workflows are too specific, and their requirements go beyond these or similar limitations, off-the-shelf CRM software may not be able to cover them all. If that’s the case, consider building a fully-tailored CRM system from scratch.
- CRM system that is easy to use
Users are less likely to adopt software that is difficult to use, and real estate agents are no exception in this regard. Therefore, ensuring that the CRM system is user-friendly and provides intuitive navigation is critical. It should also offer robust search features, such as voice search, so your agents can easily find the required contact, account, or lead data.
Additionally, the CRM system should provide user-friendly data visualization tools. These can help your agents make data-driven decisions without spending time and effort going through bulky amounts of information. Choosing CRM systems offering in-app guidance is also preferable: obtaining contextual help and visual instructions within the CRM interface can make it easier for agents to understand and onboard for the new technology.
- CRM system that is scalable
As your real estate agency grows, the volume of processed customer data and the number of business users within an organization can grow quickly. If a CRM system is not scalable enough, it can be unable to handle the increased load without compromising performance, which can negatively impact user adoption.
So, you should consider scalability when choosing CRM software, especially if you expect your data and users to grow continuously. In such a case, consider adopting a cloud CRM system, which can be scaled smoothly without any performance degradation.
3. Implement a well-rounded and tailored CRM training program
Even if an agency manages to gain agents’ “buy-in” with the CRM technology and selects the right CRM software, it can still fail to ensure high user adoption if agents are not appropriately trained. After all, agents simply won’t be able to use the new software effectively, which can lead to frustration. So, it’s critical for an agency to develop a robust and comprehensive training program. This can include online courses, video tutorials, and in-person workshops.
Regardless of the specific format choice, it is important that the program is tailored to the needs of individual agents to ensure efficiency and high user engagement. For example, an agency can implement role-based training adjusted to its agents’ specific job roles and skills. 89% of 4,500 employees who participated in the 2024 survey by CYPHER Learning said they would feel more encouraged if offered training tailored to their work roles.
4. Track CRM adoption among agents continuously
Even after your new system is deployed and launched, it is important to keep track of CRM adoption among agents to identify user adoption issues and solve them promptly. However, achieving complete transparency concerning CRM adoption can be challenging. 70% of businesses lack full visibility into software adoption, as revealed by WalkMe’s 2024 report.
To achieve 360° visibility into CRM software adoption, you can integrate your system with a third-party digital adoption platform. This software can be used to monitor which specific CRM features are properly adopted and which are not. It can also help identify users who have issues performing specific tasks in the CRM system. Agencies can provide these users with additional personalized training or coaching, reducing knowledge gaps and eliminating barriers to effective CRM adoption.
Final thoughts
A robust CRM system can bring your agency numerous business advantages, including enhanced agent productivity and improved customer satisfaction. However, an agency can fully leverage these and other benefits only if it maintains a high CRM adoption rate among agents. For this purpose, agencies can use the recommendations listed in this article.
Involving an experienced CRM implementation partner in your project is also recommended. Experienced CRM consultants can help define the right CRM software and tailor it to your agents’ unique needs, assisting with user adoption and, therefore, maximizing the return on your technology investment.
