A robust post-sales module in your CRM can uplift your business’ revenue recognition strategy!
22 Dec, 2022
2 min read
Real estate builders having a strong network of Channel Partners prove extremely rewarding to quickly
sell off inventory and expand to new projects in upcoming areas. To build a successful channel partner
network takes time, resources and effort to create a strategy that makes both you and your partners
successful in the business.
The real estate builders are facing a tough competitive market in building luxury spaces, giving value
for money and creating customer experiences that makes them buy faster. A robust CRM stores all your
customer information and connects the entire buyer journey. Typically this CRM is accessible only to
in-house teams allowing the agents to have access to business information right from anywhere, at any
time, on any device, thus leading in a faster sales cycle. However, your channel partners, which is your
extended arm, are often left on their own to sell off your inventory. Does it sound right?
In the real estate market, channel partners contribute significantly in generating a large part of
revenue for the builder. In this tremendously dynamic segment, the builder is activating multiple
channels to generate leads. One is their in house social media marketing, offline road banners, TV,
radio, print media and the other equally important source is their channel partners and broker network.
Channel partners put a lot of effort into establishing trust in their prospects to relay the vision and
experience that a builder wants to eventually give to their end buyers. They follow up with the
prospects diligently, share their expertise and help buyers make the right decision.
How can real estate builders make Channel Partners feel truly a part of their team?
Indirect sales in real estate have been evolving in recent times. The builders need to be at the
forefront of helping Channel Partners develop and promote new strategies to engage with them and network
better. Here are some basic things that you must have in place to support your channel partners:
-
Speedy On-boarding: Get a signup page for your channel partners on your website. This will save a
lot of
time, provide an equal opportunity to all incumbents and reach a maximum number of channel partners.
-
Inventory and Discounts: Automate the process of sharing real time inventory. Get a CRM that has an
inbuilt channel partner interface. Use the online login as a forum to nurture the relationship with
your
partner. Your CRM system must allow the channel partner to check availability, know pricing and
generate
quotations on the fly. These quotations will be co-branded with the partner and create an impression
in
the buyer’s mind. Share little if you need to, but make sure you share often. It can be frustrating
for
your channel partner to run from pillar to post for updates. When your channel partner receives
proactive updates, it builds a foundation of trust and avoids dissatisfaction. You also gain peace
of
mind knowing that pricing flexibility or availability of the product is not abused by anyone.
-
Pricing, Brochures and Updates: Send your availability updates, new brochures, pricing changes,
commission structures, and project descriptions through the robust CRM you would have invested in.
The
platform should provide automatic alerts if certain events have happened in the deal. Also, the
status
of any deal should be available at the click of a button. If your partner has access to the latest
information on their personalized login, then it will improve regular communication significantly.
-
Transparency in commission calculation: You should be able to automatically manage the level of
discount
or incentive on each deal and show it clearly to your Channel Partner. The same holds true for the
commission that is due, approved or pending approval. Conflicts usually arise when partners claim
revenue for the same booking. Credit is claimed for a deal which was closed by an internal
representative or at the onset of registration. In all these examples, nothing works better than a
robust CRM with inbuilt interface for channel partners that provides data to the sales management
teams
to easily identify conflicts, investigate causes, make decisions and automatically communicate the
process to the channel partner
-
Channel Partners Leads: A fundamental functionality is the ability for the partners to register
their
leads/deals on a unified platform. Every deal registered by your Channel Partner should also be
automatically tracked. Lead allocation should include your channel partners to ensure there is no
lead
duplicacy, avoids lead favouritism, and saves time and multiple hands on one lead. Conflicts
stemming
from the issue, like ‘my lead/your lead/will pay/won’t pay’, will cease to arise once it is properly
recorded in the system. Remember, the channel partner only makes money when the deal closes. Hence,
make
it easy for each of your channel partners to register deals and track progress over the entire sales
process.
Let’s look at a few fundamental features that you should look while choosing your CRM to strengthen your
channel partner relationship:
-
Channel Partner interface within the CRM: When you are able to add trusted channel partner firms and
users in the platform with proper validation of each channel partner with their registration details
and
other information, you ensure there is zero lead duplication along with source authenticity.. An
additional advantage would be if the software allows you to lock the option to change lead source to
avoid lead leakages.
-
End to end tracking for channel partners: A truly unified CRM will extend all process capabilities
to
channel partners as well. For example, a seamless dialer integration to track and monitor all the
outbound calls, recordings and call management metrics on the tip of your fingers. You should also
be
able to create custom or exclusive channel partner offers and discounts options and encourage them
to
sell more. Additionally, the software should help channel partners to reduce their human effort and
build automations that help them send emails and sms directly from the platform. It should be able
to
keep a trail of all the activities performed on the leads by your channel partners – including
tasks,
notes, follow ups, reminders, email confirmations and many more.
-
Assign leads to Sales: Each builder has their own set of processes for Channel partners. If you need
your CPs to only generate leads and then pass them to the sales team, the software should have a
provision to enable that. A technically advanced CRM will be flexible to accommodate the various
channel
partner workflows.
-
Real time inventory and customer booking: Real time inventory is the most underrated and hence the
most
difficult phase in a builder’s selling journey. The right feature to evaluate is to find a CRM that
allows trusted channel partners to book units through real time inventory visibility and book
directly
from the platform. This avoids double booking and directly impacts your revenue.
-
Commission calculations: The job of a CRM is to remove the redundant tasks that give room for manual
calculation and human errors. Invest in a CRM that enables you to calculate commissions for your
channel
partners along with your sales team.
A comprehensive and integrated real estate CRM with an inbuilt channel partner interface will give
visibility and transparency of all ongoing projects they are on board with. The aim of builders must be
to help the channel partners improve their overall productivity, build reliability and confidence to
lead an accelerated sales cycle.
