4 Reasons Real Estate Agents are Turning to Gifting Software

This year’s Inman Connect conference in New York City brought out thousands of real estate professionals from all over the country to forge new business relationships, discuss current real estate trends, and explore the future of the industry.

I used Sendoso’s booth presence at Inman Connect as the perfect opportunity to speak with attendees about how real estate agents are utilizing direct mail and gifting as engagement strategies to build relationships and connect with their clients. Most importantly, I wanted to understand more about how technology like gifting software is pushing the industry forward in new ways.

More and more agents are sending gifts for client occasions, including birthdays, home anniversaries, move-in dates, home buyer’s meetings, and open houses. Gifting is a successful method for maintaining the realtor-client bond over time. And since some realtors estimate that 80% of buyers look to re-use their previous broker but forget who that broker was, gifting throughout critical times of the pre-sales and post-sales cycle can be necessary to stay top of mind.

Sending strategy also matters. Well-timed, thoughtful gifts that create memorable experiences (such as branded cookies to be shared amongst colleagues or friends) are far more meaningful than gifting for the sake of gifting.

But deciding on what to gift, who to gift, and when to gift takes time—something most agents are very thin on. It’s no wonder agents are looking for more efficient, less time-consuming methods for gifting on a mass scale. The demand for innovative gifting software to expedite sending processes has never been greater.

Here are some key takeaways from the conference on how agents would like to see gifting software evolve in the real estate landscape.

Why Real Estate Agents Need Gifting Software

1. There are many real estate company owners that manage teams of around 300-600 agents within specific districts/regions. Most of these teams are already in the direct mail/gifting mindset and owners want to provide these agents with tools to be self-sufficient in their gifting efforts. Self-sufficiency would allow them to make gifting decisions individually without needing to go to corporate for approval.
2. Many directors of technology manage CRMs for big real estate firms like RE/MAX and Keller Williams. These directors are finding OAuth integration partners to become part of their app exchange. Part of their CRM stack would include closing gifts they’d make available to agents.
3. Agents want a “set it and forget it” model where they can send strategically throughout the year for client milestones. They want to be able to log in and see prescriptive sends based on key times throughout the sales cycle.
4. Several real estate companies are currently using EvaBot and Loop & Tie for sending. However, the National Association of Realtors believes that the holy grail would be CRM integrations that track the ROI, which other vendors can’t do.

These needs have led realtors and real estate teams to utilize Sending Platforms like Sendoso. At Sendoso, we enable teams to autonomously send pre-approved items so that approvals aren’t needed each time; integrate into their CRM, marketing automation tools, and more so that gifting is embedded into the tech stack; automate triggers based on specific criteria so they can set it and forget it, and measure the ROI of gifts. And we’re just getting started. Stay tuned as we continue to build the future of sending and make it easier for everyone to create more human connections in a digital world.

Looking for ways to utilize a Sending Platform to facilitate deeper connections with your clients? Request a demo below today!