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The number of business-building tools available to agents can be overwhelming. With so many available, how do you narrow it down to the ones that best combine your ability to create personal connection and professional presentation?
Here are seven of the most underutilized apps available to help you scale your business.
1. BombBomb
Customer communication in our industry has become awash with drip campaigns filled with automated property updates, impersonal emails, and scripted texts. To stand out from your competition, personal connection and authentic communication have never been more needed. This is the gap that BombBomb fills.
BombBomb’s software allows you to record a video message from your computer or phone, making it simple to add a human touch to your emails or texts. Plain text emails can be misunderstood or come off as cold, but video emails allow the client to see and feel your excitement, energy, and passion for the home they are considering buying or selling.
You have the option to record a straight video of you speaking to them via the camera or to share your screen.
Here are a few examples of ways BombBomb videos can help you stand out above your competition:
- Video introduction to a new lead
- Screen share to discuss a contract or listing agreement
- Screen share aerial maps to show how close schools, work or desirable amenities are from a home
- Video unsolicited CMAs
- Video updates to listing or buyer clients
If you’re looking for the best way possible to connect or reconnect with real estate clients or prospects, BombBomb is the tool for you.
2. Homebot
The ability to consistently add value at a high level to past buyers or listing prospects is a challenge for most agents. This is the need Homebot addresses.
Homebot drives repeat business for agents and mortgage lenders by providing high-quality home valuation analysis with tips on how to maximize the homeowner’s asset. Think of it like a monthly stock brokerage report but for a home.
Homebot draws from over 100 data points to provide a full valuation update of the home that is personally branded to you. The detailed, monthly report includes, but is not limited to, an automated valuation update, home equity analysis, and mortgage analysis options for tapping into the home’s equity.
With over 75 percent open rates for the emails Homebot sends on behalf of agents, this is the tool to stay top-of-mind when the time comes for homeowners to sell their home.
3. BoxBrownie.com
In a world where scrolling on social media is commonplace, the ability to post scroll-stopping photos and content is invaluable. That is exactly what BoxBrownie.com helps you do.
BoxBrownie.com provides photo editing, virtual staging, floor plan redraws, and renderings at extremely affordable prices. Their service enhances your ability to provide professional real estate photography that helps your listing stand out from other homes.
Here are a few options BoxBrownie.com offers:
- Day to dusk photo editing
- Image enhancement that can turn cloudy skies into blue skies and dormant grass into lush greens
- Virtual staging
- Floor plan redraws
- Virtual renovations
If you’re looking to take your real estate photography to a higher level, BoxBrownie.com is the place to start.
4. CamScanner
The need for speed in our business is more important than ever. Have you ever been on a showing, and your clients wanted you to submit an offer to the listing agent immediately due to a fear of the home having other interested buyers?
This usually happens when you are far away from your office, and the scanner that is needed to send it to the listing agent. CamScanner is the tool that can solve this problem.
CamScanner gives you the ability to scan documents with your mobile phone. Auto-cropping makes it easy to remove unwanted background messiness. It includes the ability to generate HD images or pdf files.
If you’re looking for a portable scanner you can use anywhere at any time, then CamScanner is for you.
5. Social media management platforms
Can we agree that consistent and thoughtful social media content will help your business grow? Of course, the answer is yes, but the busyness of our schedules makes it difficult to post fresh, daily content on the fly continuously. This is a problem a social media management platform can solve.
Platforms like Hootsuite or Buffer provide the ability to schedule social media posts in advance to enhance consistency and continuity. They also provide the ability to manage multiple social media channels from one place, including compiling all comments to make sure none are missed.
In addition, having the ability to track and compare engagement of social media posts is helpful for the agent looking to give their clients more content in line with their needs.
If you’re serious about growing your influence and business via social media, a social media management platform is a must.
6. Grammarly
An email, text or social media post that contains misspelled words or poor grammar distracts the reader from your message, no matter how good the message may be. The question is, does poor grammar affect your ability to grow your business?
The Harvard Business Review published a study Grammarly conducted where they selected 100 LinkedIn profiles for a specific industry. Each of the people included in the study had 10 years’ experience in their industry. The study found that the professionals with fewer grammar errors in their profiles consistently achieved higher positions. This may seem logical, but it shines a light on the value of grammar and how it can help or hinder the growth of your real estate business.
Grammarly is an app that provides suggestions for your grammar, allowing you to send emails, and texts, or create social media posts confident that they have proper grammar. From grammar and spelling to style and tone, Grammarly’s suggestions are comprehensive, helping your prospect receive clear, professional communication from you without the distraction of poor grammar.
If you’re serious about building a professional sales business, Grammarly is a tool that can help.
7. ShowingTime
Listing agents spend an inordinate amount of time setting up showings for their listings, requesting feedback from the showings, and then communicating the feedback to the seller in a concise report. All these tasks take the agent, or her assistant, away from the highest and best use of their time, which is spent with buyers or sellers. ShowingTime automizes this process.
ShowingTime offers fully integrated scheduling options that streamline the showing process for everyone involved. The follow-up emails after showings provide concise feedback for the listing agent and the homeowner. The market statistics the site provides create the ability to share accurate, branded reports on market activity as well.
If you’re looking to systemize your listing process and to have the capacity to manage more listings, ShowingTime is a listing agent’s best friend.
It is an amazing time to be in real estate with all the tools and apps available. Take advantage of the options that fit your business best, and your business can’t help but grow.
Jimmy Burgess is the Chief Growth Officer for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Beach Properties of Florida in Northwest Florida. Connect with him on Facebook or Instagram.
