This article covers:

• What is it for?
• What are the benefits?
• How to do it

What is it for?

After having shown your clients one or more properties, and most importantly, they have made their choice; you are nearing the end of the "Nurturing Cycle".  

It is then the time to formalise the deal by sending them a contract, which will initiate the next big cycle in the CRM, the "Transaction Cycle".

What are the benefits?

Opting for a CRM shows that your company has moved toward a "System of Record" to establish a single source of truth, where all the data will be managed and centralised in the same place.

To enforce this decision, some companies consider the creation of a lead or a transaction as mandatory for multiple reasons such as management, tracking, commissioning and therefore retribution. 

Using CRMs as an arbitration tool is common when there is an internal conflict over a deal or the assignation to a client.

• It is not rare to hear that "It did not happen if it's not logged in the CRM".
• How can you prove it's your client if you cannot show you have met him/her first?
• Similarly, how can you claim a commission on this client if you're not associated with him/her? 

Creating a transaction enables you to record valuable information such as the expected transfer date, who's the Buyer/Seller or Renter/Owner, the commission pool, the commission split and all the associated documents that you will need during this crucial cycle of your business.

If the property is in your inventory and it has an owner assigned, then all resources needed to record a transaction are already available. You will only need to add additional information about the price and the commission in the next steps.

However, if the property is coming from your MLS, then the owner may not be known at this stage, so it is not mandatory for a “Shared” transaction. You will be able to add it to the transaction at a later stage or replace it by an external contributor, probably the agent from the other Company.

Note: Remember that depending on your permissions, you will have to request access to one or all the resources you link to the transaction.

Automatic Statuses:
To ensure you always have accurate information in your system, PF Expert manages the statuses of the lead automatically.

For example, when a property is shortlisted, the status of the lead is changed to “Prospect”. When a transaction is created with a lead, their status is changed to “Contract Sent”, while closing the transaction (WON), their status is changed to “Contract Signed”.

Note that if you have to enter a transaction in the past, and you don’t want these statuses to be updated automatically, make sure you are checking the box “ Create as an old transaction” to bypass the automatic status update.

If the transaction is set to “LOST”, you will have the possibility to enter a reason, which for some will update the lead automatically.

Also, the Property tab in the lead section enables you to match your lead’s requirement with properties from your company’s inventory automatically and even now with properties live on Propertyfinder's network via our MLS.

Lead Push:
When a lead is pushed from Propertyfinder portal into PF Expert, the system sets automatically the lead requirements based on the specifics of the property inquired on.

This makes it quicker and more comfortable for you to find and propose comparable listings from your stock and also live on Propertyfinder’s network so that it matches your lead’s requirements tastes closely. For that, the system uses property attributes such as price, location, number of bedrooms as well as amenities of the property that your lead has selected on Propertyfinder.

PF Expert system will be storing the amenities into your lead requirement for later use to sort the comparable properties found in your stock or on our MLS and ordering the results with the most relevant listings at the top so that you are sure to have the most chances to pinpoint your future client’s requirements.

You can select them and share with your client by email, Whatsapp and other social networks at any stage and then each property can be shortlisted by clicking on the heart icon.

The shortlisted section is the only way to match a lead with a specific property, either from your inventory or from the MLS.

Plain new lead:
In the case of a plain new lead, the user has to set the lead requirement manually based on his assumption or discussion with his client.

Once the lead requirement is set, hit save and review the results that are split between your stock and the ones from the MLS.

You can send any of the properties by email, Whatsapp, etc.

From the property page, you can select many properties and assign it to an existing lead.

The first property will be defining the lead requirement automatically, so you get back to the above point no. 1.