5 New Apps To Help You Work More Efficiently

Explosion of Options: New apps and systems can help you with client interaction and more.

By Megan Kramer

REALTORS® juggle an ever-expanding number of work-related and personal responsibilities every day. Fortunately, there are a variety of mobile apps and other systems that can help REALTORS® stay on the cutting edge of business, as well as organized and productive in their daily lives. Here are some ideas:

Intercom

Easy Live Chat Platform for Your Website

Contrary to popular, work-minded belief, you can’t be tied to your phone and website 24/7. Intercom can help you engage with your website visitors automatically by triggering customized pop-up messages when they click certain pages. You craft the messages beforehand, so they can be as creative and informative as needed.

For example, if potential buyers are browsing properties on your neighborhood page, you can trigger a message that says, “Looking to buy a place in [location]? I am a REALTOR® with 10 years of experience, and I have helped dozens of homeowners find their dream home within their budget.”

If you’re not able to reply, visitors can leave their contact information so you can reach out later. Members of your sales team can also reply to certain messages, based on type of visitor, keywords and more.

Agent Legend

Automated Lead Follow-up

Since you can’t spend all your time prospecting, an automated follow-up system like Agent Legend can help you respond to leads from all over the internet, even when you’re busy.

The software intercepts new entries into your CRM or marketing suite, and automatically launches a three-pronged follow-up process: voicemail, text and email. What each message contains, and how often and when they’re sent are up to you, and the voicemail is recorded in your voice, so leads won’t mistake you for a bot.

Agent Legend has partnered with several sites, including Realtor.com, and its dashboard separates campaign creation and management from a prospect list, neatly detailing the lead’s name and contact information, what property they contacted you about and what device they used when they responded. The campaign immediately stops once the lead replies to one of the messages, allowing you to take over the conversation from there.

Riley

Lead Qualification with a Human Touch

If you prefer a human to initiate your lead follow-ups, fear not. Riley is a concierge service that sends text messages on behalf of agents, and it employs real people who will respond lightning-fast.

Since they are based all over the world, Riley concierges respond to leads within minutes of receiving inquiries, such as listing portals and Facebook ads, no matter the time of day. They then ask follow-up questions to gauge a potential buyer’s preferences and qualifications. You can see the text exchanges in Riley’s mobile app, so you can jump in at any time.

Riley provides recommended texts for concierges to send in specific scenarios, and the degree to which they can customize these texts is up to you. Agents have the option to prescribe questions, responses and engagement guidelines.

Ingage

Visual Presentation Tool

Are your listings lacking pizazz? Create visually appealing and engaging presentations with Ingage, an interactive app you can use to create and present a listing. Using ready-to-go templates, Ingage can incorporate your existing photos, videos, text, logos and other assets into presentations that clients can interact with.

Ingage boasts a variety of tools, such as:

Compare—Users can scroll between two images, which is ideal for before-and-after shots of staging or remodeling.

Points of Interest—Touchable buttons reveal information that needs emphasis, such as high-end appliances in a kitchen or unique furnishings.

ScrollMotions—Interactive videos that are manipulated by tapping the screen or dragging a finger to move forward or backward, pause or play.

While Ingage is an iPad-first mobile app, you can package and share web-ready versions for non-iPad users. Ingage is also integrated with MailChimp, Dropbox, Box and other applications for easy access to assets and sharing.

Realvision

3-D Tour Builder

To have an even greater impact on potential buyers, Realvision has made it possible to create 3-D tours with a regular DSLR camera—it doesn’t require a special type of camera. Realvision works with a network of professional photographers, whom you can hire to capture 360-degree views of the space you’d like to show off. They then build a 3-D tour based on these images, extract high-resolution 2-D images and create a floor plan, all of which are packaged into a single-property website.

“I’ve been using Realvision through local providers for just over two years now,” says Brandon Doyle, REALTOR® at RE/MAX Results in Maple Grove, Minnesota. “The technology helps buyers get a better idea of the layout of a home prior to showing, and allows them to go back and take a second look or share with friends and family without having to schedule another showing. Sellers have been very impressed as well: We’ve been able to set ourselves apart from the competition, win more listings and sell our homes more quickly.”

Viewers can also experience the listing in virtual reality (VR) by using the Realvision app in combination with certain VR headsets, like Google Cardboard.

“I would recommend Realvision for any real estate agents who focus on listings and want to be on the cutting edge of technology,” Doyle says.

Is a new tool right for you?

There are so many apps and systems out there, you might find yourself attracted to every available option. But before you make the leap and invest in a new tool, make sure it will benefit your business—and not bog you down. Here are some questions to ask yourself before committing to a new app or system: