Using your estate agent CRM to support new starters
More than half of UK employers expect to recruit in the first quarter of 2021 – and estate agents will be no exception. We’ve put together some tips for how your estate agent CRM can help your new starters get up-to-speed faster.
The extension of the stamp duty holiday provided further good news for estate agents in what remains a buoyant market. And while it won’t be the case for every organisation, some agents are now in a position to take on new staff again.
25% of estate agents expect to recruit this year
Research from CIPD and the Adecco Group shows the “strongest employment intentions since the onset of the pandemic”, with 56% of businesses expecting to recruit in the first quarter. A separate survey shows a quarter of all estate agents expect to recruit this year.
There is also a boom in new agency start-ups. Large numbers of entrepreneurial property professionals have used the pandemic as an opportunity to launch their own business. These start-ups will inevitably need good people on board as they grow too.
Tackling recruitment challenges
Of course, recruitment brings its own challenges. Not least the task of integrating new team members into your systems and processes.
Here are a few top tips from the Alto team, based on our own experiences of working with estate agents of all sizes across the UK.
Formalise your induction process
However small you are, if you haven’t documented it, now’s the time to do it.
The exact format can be tailored to the new starter’s role and experience. But, it could include visiting different offices, spending time working with different areas of the business such as lettings, or even shadowing members of staff.
With the transparency of a system like Alto, new starters get exposure to all aspects of the business quickly, in one place.
Get new recruits into good software habits
Property management software is the key to more efficient, accurate and seamless processes. So, it’s vital that they’re using it effectively from day one.
If you’re using Alto, we can offer refresher training for team members and new starters, or we offer a series of ‘how to’ guides and videos on the Alto Help Centre.
Start off basic training in-house and scale up when you need to
Alto’s intuitive estate agent CRM design means any new starter who’s previously been a negotiator will get up to speed with sales and lettings progression pretty quickly.
For the types of areas that can work differently in every business – like client accounting – our training team can help you instil best practice from the get-go.
Leverage free industry insight
Whether they’re new to estate agency or a seasoned pro, there’s no harm in encouraging your new starters to really get under the skin of the wider property market.
Free resources like Zoopla’s House Price Index Report and Rental Market Report help contextualise price, demand and supply changes. And that means even more to talk about with vendors and applicants.
Sync calendars
Don’t forget to make sure all calendars are synchronised across the organisation. It’s a quick way to prevent any errors when booking market appraisals or viewings.
It’s a common mistake to forget to add new starters to any group calendars when working manually – another way in which property management software benefits through seamless integration.
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