Teams, Telecom & Listing Data: 5 Things Every Team Needs to Know about New Phone Technology

Mark Z, team leader of MARK Z. Home Selling Team Inc. with Keller Williams Realty in the Detroit metro area, heads one of America’s top-producing teams. His team expects to close more than 500 transactions this year.

Key to their success is implementing the right technology. Yet in real estate, one of the most expensive, but rarely upgraded business technologies, is the phone system. The actual phone on your desk hasn’t changed much in 30 years. Fortunately, there is a better way for teams to tackle telecom. And, it starts with five things you need to select the right system to power your sales.

1. It must be Cloud-based. This delivers all the modern features your phone system should offer. A virtual attendant featuring custom greetings, a dial-by-name team directory, and transfer to a live operator during business hours. A Cloud-based system means no hardware repair bills, since a cloud-based system has no hardware.
2. It must help potential clients avoid voice mail. 42 percent of potential buyer calls go to voice-mail. This is the scariest number in real estate, but it can be significantly reduced with the right phone solutions. Two vital features are: Simultaneous ring (rings multiple agents at once) and the ability to make certain that calls on specific properties are routed to the desired team member. “Money Calls” from the curb should be treated differently. An intelligent, cloud-based phone system can help you answer important calls and postpone responses to less important ones.
3. It must save you money. You can hire an admin to answer phones for about $3,000 a month (loaded cost), but they only answer your phones for about 8 hours of a day. Many “money calls” arrive during the other 16 hours a day. The right telecom system can eliminate the admin expense, yet, capture and notify you of your money calls 24-7.
4. It must make you money. Real estate is still a very call-centric business, and calls from the yard sign are considered some of the best leads in the business. If your team’s phone system can’t differentiate how a customer prefers communication (voice, text or online) your phone system is probably losing you money.
5. It must integrate with your listing data. This is where your team can trump the competition. When your phone system is integrated with your MLS feed, you can provide an IDX text-based property search solution and a full inventory call capture system (IVR) to generate leads. The right listing data-enabled phone system can give every caller the option to do a full inventory property search by text, by phone or by mobile web.

Remember: Your agents use cell phones as their primary communication tool. So, consider eliminating the cost of phone desk sets when they are already permanently forwarded to agent cell phones.

In the end, you can buy the same off-the-shelf phone system used by hair salons and auto dealerships. But when it comes to real estate, there are better and less expensive options. Why? It’s because you have listing data at your disposal.

And that’s the magic of TeamPhone from VoicePad, as Mark Z will tell you, knowing what calls are important improves the quality of your life, by letting the intelligence of your listing data do the talking for you!