Today, Client Relationship Management (CRM) tools are robust and cutting-edge. They’ve moved past the point of simply being a “Rolodex” of sorts — nowadays, they’re more like a Swiss army knife. To compete, CRMs need to offer users an array of tools, all within one platform, like marketing email applications, IDX websites, lead generation tools, success plan managers, and much more. As we see more and more added to the CRM, it seems there is no sign of the push to add new features slowing down any time soon — and that’s good and bad. I believe the biggest challenge with most of the technologies out there is that, with the adoption of all these new capabilities, CRM systems always seem to lag the coolest, newest feature. Real estate agents are busy people, and they’re hoping for a “set it and forget it” system that can read their minds and do what they need the system to do with a snap of their finger. And I get it — I want that system too! But until that time comes, we have the duty as technologists to find better and easier ways to use available technology, and ensure it’s meeting the needs of our agents.
If we think of the CRM system as a fully-loaded Swiss army knife with different tools added over time to provide a robust range of functionalities, sometimes we run into the question of whether all the tools are actually valuable.