Which Is The Best Lead Management Tool For Real Estate Brokers?

A lead management tool is essential for Real Estate brokers to manage leads that they may gather from various sources, such as online research, inbound queries, and even personal connections. In line with that, it is critical, for you (as a real estate broker), that you not only store leads properly but also nurture them carefully. For example, if a landlord has asked to get in touch with them after four months (as the current contract expires after four months), you need to ensure that you get in touch only after the required time. The timing is critical as if you get in touch with the landlord earlier than that, they may feel bothered and annoyed, whereas, if you reach later (say after five months), there is a good chance that the landlord may have closed the deal with another broker. 

Having said that, let's check out the top options so that it is easy for you to compare and finally figure out the best lead management tool for real estate brokers-

BoomTown

BoomTown, a popular lead management tool, is all-in-one software ideal for busy real estate brokers like you. It aids you to generate, qualify, nurture and manage, and finally convert leads. According to its portal, it is trusted by more than 55,000 real estate professionals.

Boomtown also has helpful customer service for busy brokers like you, which boasts a response time of mere 90 seconds. And, they are available 24X7 to assist you. In a way, they give you the impression that they are also a part of your team and thus let you focus on your primary function without any worries about a possible glitch. 

Contactually

With an inbuilt AI, Contactually facilitates the optimization of your workflow. With the help of the inbuilt AI, you would be able to send your messages (via emails and other means) automatically at the best possible times. It is also renowned for its comprehensive features, including a smooth interface and performance insights.

Contactually facilitates the building of automated and personalized campaigns. It also comes with an impressive referrals feature, which aids you to keep connections with your existing and past clients naturally to encourage referrals. As a result, your pipeline would be forever strong. It is integrable with Google Workspace and Office 365; thus, you can seamlessly sync your communication and email history for future reference. 

Follow Up Boss

In sync with its name, Follow Up Boss is specially designed for bosses to keep up a tab on the activities and performances of their subordinates. It is your one-stop shop for all effective ways to follow up on your leads with ease. It comes with built-in calling, emailing, and texting features to channel your marketing via a single platform.

Follow Up Boss also hosts in-built integration of leading real estate lead providers, such as Homes.com, Realtor.com, and Zillow, to ensure that you never run out of leads.

HubSpot

Though HubSpot is not crafted exclusively for real estate professionals, it is still without a shadow of a doubt one of the best (if not the best) lead management tools that you can get your hands on. Plus, you are free to pick a plan, which fits your budget and simultaneously meets a requirement, including a free version.

Hubspot's top features include call tracking tools, email templates, pipeline management systems, and sales automation capabilities. Moreover, you may add a chat service to your portal, automate tasks, create a custom appointment scheduler, and integrate your company apps and tools with it.

LionDesk

LionDesk is a popular lead management tool among real estate brokers. It is designed to aid real estate brokers in organizing leads and communicating effectively with their clientele. It boasts innovative features, such as bulk texting and video emailing. Moreover, you may also automate campaigns and pipelines using this top lead management tool.

LionDesk is a top lead management tool, which makes client management a cakewalk. It allows you to track calls, emails, and messages smoothly over a single platform. It integrates seamlessly with Realtor.com, Ylopo, and Zillow.

Pipedrive

True to its name, Pipedrive primarily focuses on the building of a pipeline and sales. The best benefit of it is the power of visualization, as it enables you to see how your deals are placed in terms of sales. It is popular among real estate professionals like you due to its features that allow you to compile crucial information about properties and prospects. Furthermore, you may also qualify potential clients and add relevant notes for future dealings.

Additional features that make Pipedrive stand apart from the competition include synchronization with Google Calendar, reminders, and task automation. Its unique visual sales pipeline allows you to create new deals, update contact data, and show a sale, from start to finish, in its smooth drag-and-drop interface. It also hosts an in-built mobile app. And, it seamlessly integrates with other third-party systems, such as Slack, Asana, and Trello. 

Do you agree with your list of best lead management tools for Real Estate Brokers? Please feel free to express your opinion via the comment section. Good luck with your next deal!

Balance Sheet Vs. Income Statement

For all companies, both the balance sheet and income statement are critical statements. An excellent balance sheet frequently follows a solid income statement. As a business owner or C-level executive (particularly people belonging to the finance vertical), you cannot afford to ignore them. Apart from decision-makers, creditors, investors, and market analysts use these statements to assess a company's financial soundness and development potential. So, with that at the back of the mind, let's accumulate a bit of additional knowledge about them.

Balance Sheet

A balance sheet is a financial statement that shows the assets, liabilities, and shareholder equity of a company at a certain point in time. It provides a framework for calculating rates of return and assessing the capital structure of a company. This financial statement also displays a snapshot of what a business owns and owes. Moreover, using it, you would also be able to figure out the investment of shareholders.
The balance sheet illustrates a company's resources or assets. Moreover, it also sheds light on the finance of those assets. It clarifies whether the financing was accomplished via debt (under liabilities) or stock (under shareholder ownership). The balance sheet shows investors and creditors how well a company's management manages its resources.
The bottom line is that the balance sheet, like other financial statements, is a tool to conduct financial analysis and calculate financial ratios. The items on a typical balance sheet are listed below.

Assets

Cash and cash equivalents
The line item on the balance sheet that represents the value of a company's assets in cash or maybe turned into cash promptly is called cash and cash equivalents. Bank accounts and marketable securities (debt instruments with maturities of fewer than 90 days) are examples of cash equivalents. However, as equity and stocks can fluctuate in value, cash equivalents typically do not include them.

Accounts receivable
The amount due by a company to its vendors/suppliers for products and services received is referred to as accounts payable. To clarify, an organization should record a liability in its books of accounts based on the invoice amount after it orders items without any upfront payment. Thus, accounts payable refers to the short-term liability owed to suppliers, vendors, and others.
The appropriate amount is deducted from the accounts payable balance once payment is made to the vendor for the unpaid purchases. The management of the accounts payable segment is a vital business procedure as it allows an organization to successfully handle its financial responsibilities.

Inventory
The term "inventory" refers to the goods for sale and raw materials utilized to make them. Inventory is one of a company's most valuable assets because inventory turnover is one of the company's key sources of income and, as a result, earnings for its shareholders.

Liabilities

Debt
Debt is defined as something borrowed from another party, usually money. Many organizations and individuals use debt to make major purchases that they would not be able to make under normal circumstances. A debt agreement allows a borrower to borrow money on the condition that it be repaid, at a later date, usually with interest.

Overhead
Overhead is the term for continuing business expenses that are not directly related to the creation of a product or service. It's vital not only for budgeting but also for deciding how much a company should charge for its products or services in order to break even. In a nutshell, overhead is any expense required to support a firm that is not directly tied to a certain product or service.

Accounts payable
The amount due by a company to its vendors/suppliers for products and services received is referred to as accounts payable. To clarify, an organization should record a liability in its books of accounts based on the invoice amount after it orders items and receives them before paying for them. Accounts payable refers to the short-term liability owed to suppliers, vendors, and others.
The appropriate amount is deducted from the accounts payable balance once payment is made to the vendor for the unpaid purchases. Accounts payable and management is a vital business procedure that allows an organization to successfully handle its financial responsibilities.

Shareholder Equity

One of the most prominent financial indicators used by analysts to determine the financial health of a company is shareholder equity. It is equal to a company's total assets minus its total liabilities. Shareholder equity is the amount that should be returned to shareholders if all company assets are liquidated and all of its obligations are repaid.

Retained Earnings

The percentage of net earnings not paid out as dividends but held by the company to be reinvested in its core business or to pay off debt is referred to as retained earnings and is recorded under shareholder equity.

Income Statement

The income statement, often known as the profit and loss statement, depicts a company's financial health over a period (typically, a fiscal year or quarter). It also delivers crucial revenue, sales, and expenditure data about a business. Generally, these are the financial figures that are utilized to make critical financial decisions.
You should keep a keen eye on the revenue and expenses since they are critical in keeping costs low while boosting revenue. For instance, a firm's sales may be increasing, but if expenses are increasing at a higher rate than revenue, the company may be losing money.
Investors and lenders typically pay special attention to the operating portion of the income statement to determine if a company made a profit or loss for the period. It not only provides useful statistics but also demonstrates the company's management efficiency and success in comparison to industry peers.
Let’s check out the important constituents of an income statement.

Top and Bottom Line

The income statement shows a company's top and bottom lines. It starts with a revenue entry, known as the top line. Afterward, comes the subtraction part- the cost of running the business that includes the cost of goods sold, operational expenses, tax expenses, interest charges, and any other "exceptional" or "one-time" expenses. Finally, it culminates into the net income, also known as profit or earnings. It is their difference, i.e., revenue minus the cost of running the business, which is usually known as the bottom line.

Realized Profits and Loss

By comparing total revenues to total costs and expenses, the income statement shows the company's realized profits or losses over a specific period. It can demonstrate a company's potential to increase profit over time, whether by cutting costs and expenses or boosting sales.
Companies may produce income statements on a quarterly basis or at the conclusion of a fiscal year. Accountants, investors, and analysts scrutinize the cash flow and debt financing capacities of an income statement.

Revenues and Expenses

Revenues and expenses are recorded on the income statement when they are incurred, not when the money is received or disbursed. The income statement, in particular, has the advantage of combining both operating and non-operating revenues and expenses.

Differences Between a Balance Sheet and an Income Statement

It's critical to keep track of all the differences between income and balance sheets so that a company knows what to look for in each.

Purpose

Each document has a distinct purpose. Balance sheets are more comprehensive, indicating the company's assets and liabilities, as well as any long-term investments. Unlike an income statement, the balance sheet shows the entire worth of long-term investments and loans. The term "balance sheet" comes from the way the three principal accounts eventually balance and equalize. All assets are listed in one area, and the total of all assets must equal the total of all liabilities and shareholder equity.
An income statement responds to a single question: Is the business profitable? While accountants use the income statement to assess the correctness of financial transactions, and investors use it to assess the health of a firm, the company can evaluate its statement for productive purposes. Close examination of financial statements reveals where revenue is strong and expenses are incurred efficiently, as well as vice versa. For example, a business can detect rising sales but declining profitability and look for innovative ways to cut operating costs.

Timing

The balance sheet reveals the status of an organization's financial situation at a specific point in time, whereas an income statement reveals the results of the firm for a specific period. For example, financial statements issued for the month of December will contain a balance sheet as of March 31 and an income statement for the month of March.

Reporting

The income statement shows revenue and expenses, whereas the balance sheet reports assets, equity, and liabilities.

Performance

The income statement, not the balance sheet, is used to indicate performance.

Metrics

The balance sheet's various line items are compared to one another to define a company's liquidity, while the income statement's subtotals are compared to sales to determine operating income percentage, net income percentage, and gross margin percentage.

Profit vs. valuation

The income statement reveals net income, which indicates whether a company is profitable or not. The balance sheet depicts the true value of a corporation, i.e. its overall value. Though both of these are oversimplified, investors and lenders frequently view the income statement and balance sheet in this manner.

Calculation process

Accountants must add up the company's revenue on one side and all of its expenses on the other side of an income statement. The total cost of goods sold is deducted from the total revenue, yielding a profit or loss. The balance sheet calculations can be performed in a variety of ways; however, all of them are representations of the same underlying formula, which states that assets equal the sum of liabilities plus the portion of equity.
The principle is simple: a business must pay for whatever it possesses (assets) either with a loan (liability), from an investor (issuing shareholders' equity), or through retained earnings.
If a business takes out a 10-year, one crore loan from a bank, its liabilities and assets will both increase by one crore. And similarly, if the company raises 80 lacs from investors, its assets and shareholders' equity will both increase by the same amount, i.e, 80 lacs.
To be termed "balanced," the company's entire assets must equal its total liabilities plus equity.
The balance sheet demonstrates how a corporation utilizes its assets and how those assets are financed using the liabilities column. Because banks and investors inspect a company's balance sheet to evaluate how it uses its resources, you must keep updating them every month religiously.

Use

Creditors and Lenders
The main use of the balance sheet for creditors and lenders is to check the creditworthiness of a company. They look at the balance sheet to determine if they should provide additional credit, but they inspect the income statement to see if the company is profitable enough to cover its debts.

Management
The top management of a company uses the balance sheet to establish whether the company has enough cash to pay its obligations, whereas the income statement is used to examine outcomes and identify any operational or financial issues that need to be addressed.

Relative importance

The value of the two reports differs depending on the reader, but the general consensus is that the balance sheet is less important than the income statement because the latter reports the company's results.

Similarities Between a Balance Sheet and an Income Statement

Although the income statement and balance sheet have significant variances, they share a few crucial features. They are one of three primary financial statements, along with the cash flow statement. Even though they are employed in distinct ways, creditors and investors consider them both while evaluating whether to invest in a firm.

When used in cohesion with other financial documents, the balance sheet and income statement can be used to assess the operational efficiency, consistency, and organizational direction of a company. In fact, they provide a strong indicator of a company's current and future financial health. For this reason, the numbers reported in each document are scrutinized by the company's executives, banks, and investors. While the presentation of these statements varies slightly in sync with changing industries, substantial discrepancies between the annual treatment of either document are often considered a red flag.

How To Call In The US From Other Countries

 The US is not only the most powerful country on the planet but also the richest in terms of cumulative wealth. Also, the business environment here is conducive to new players and investments. Hence, if you run a business and wish to expand internationally, then America should be the first country on your map. 

There are a few possible hiccups that, as a smart businessman, you should take care of in advance. And, one of them would be to connect with your target businesses. To connect with your American prospects, you have to get on the call with them. However, these conversations can take many rounds and would usually be lengthy. As a result, the communication charges may take a swing at your start-up’s finances. So, it would be wise to take a glance at other options.

Use Inexpensive Phone Plans

The biggest benefit of a direct phone line to the US is the clarity of the call. Even in our personal calls, we detest any sort of disturbance, and in business, the call clarity is uncompromisable. You may incur significant losses due to not-so-clear communication. Imagine you are running a call center, your client would not be impressed if while discussing your business proposition, there is a disturbance on the line. You may even lose that business opportunity altogether. While phone calls ensure clarity, on the downside, even a relatively inexpensive phone plan may cost you more in comparison to other options.

Use Online Apps

The use of online apps, such as Skype, is trendy nowadays for business communications. Skype is essentially a voice-over-IP (VoIP) service that allows a host of other services apart from calls. Video calls, document sharing, and presentation are some other services offered by skype, which are regarded as useful by most business users. The best part is that once you are connected with your client on Skype, you may use most of these services for absolutely free! Google Hangouts, RingCentral, and Viber are other VoIPs that you may check out. 

Use Mobile Apps

You may use mobile apps to communicate with your clientele too. Many mobile apps would let you communicate for free if both parties use the same app. Instead of using minutes, the calling services of mobile apps usually use data. To avoid overages, when calling using these apps, it's better to be on a Wi-Fi network or have an appropriate data plan. Facebook Messenger, FaceTime, and WhatsApp are some prime examples.

Though you may use any of the above methods to reach out to your US-based prospects, most probably the best solution would be to opt for a local business number. Communication is a two-way process; hence, it is natural for your clients in the US to try to reach out to you, sometimes even at unexpected times. Imagine their distress if they have to dial an international number or notice that you are offline while trying to send you a message. A local business number makes your business feel close to them. Also, it is a must, if you ever expand from B2B to B2C vertical. So, get a local business number now to add the necessary local plus professional vibe to your business.

B2B Data: Types And Tools

Are you curious about how B2B data can aid you with prospecting?

Read on, this article contains insights that you need to know about

B2B data types and tools.

Prospecting for new clients is a difficult task for any salesperson, especially in the B2B sector. It's critical to have a well-targeted list of pre-qualified leads. Time is money, and this is especially true in sales and marketing. The significance of high-quality B2B data cannot be overstated. 

You'll need a lot of B2B business data, but gathering it efficiently and without wasting a lot of time is difficult. Hence, it is imperative that we inspect this topic in detail.

What is B2B Data?

B2B data, or business-to-business data, in layman’s words, refers to any type of information about businesses. B2B data is often a list or database of individual contacts containing an array of data points that may be utilized for sales and marketing purposes and to create your ideal customer profile, such as analytics, demand generation, lead generation, outbound sales, 

Types of B2B Data

For your sales and marketing teams to leverage, you can check out several distinct types of B2B data. These B2B business data types can be utilized to efficiently engage and target your prospects, depending on your product or service and selling procedure.

Account Data

The information on the companies or accounts you want to target is known as account data. It gives you more information about each organization, allowing you to figure out who to target and how to better target them by personalizing your message or improving your proposition. Examples- company name, recent funding, internet traffic, C-level recruitment, or even a newly published literature.

Contact Data

Contact data provides you with information about the executives at a company or account with whom you wish to interact. Data points such as contact name, job title, and email address will be included.

These executives should be your ideal customers, and they will be the focus of your sales and marketing efforts. 

Different communication channels can be employed to send your message to contacts, depending on the data you have on them. As an example, an email address would allow your salespeople to reach customers exclusively via email. However, if you can obtain contact numbers or even social media accounts, that would allow for multi-channel outreach, increasing the likelihood of interaction with the targeted executives.

Engagement Data

The interactions between your prospects and your company are represented via engagement data. This data can reveal whether they have previously downloaded something from your portal, liked a post on your social media company handles, or even their time spent on your website.

Engagement data can also be used to retarget prospects who may have opened an email or clicked on your ad but did not take any action afterward. This data is useful when combined with the intent data, as it first displays how the prospect interacts with your brand before determining their likelihood of becoming a buyer.

Intent Data

Intent data is a type of behavioral data derived from online usage insights. It determines the user's purchasing intent to discover if and when they intend to buy something. This data will reveal information about the products or services they are exploring. 

Intent data can be acquired from users who visit your website or related websites, such as a competitor' or comparison websites, using internet trackers. Email openings, material downloads, and website visits reveal what they're interested in and reveal purchase patterns and signals. This allows your sales personnel to prioritize accounts that are actively looking for a solution above accounts that aren't.

Firmographic Data

Firmographic data refers to the various features that are used to classify enterprises into categories. Information such as industry, company size, and revenue can be included can be considered among this data. For example, you may create a segment to target manufacturing enterprises with 50-200 employees and monthly sales of ₹10,00,00,000 or more.

Firmographic data allows your sales and marketing teams to focus on specific organizations, allowing them to personalize their offering to meet the needs of those companies.

B2B List Building Tools

If attempted manually, developing a B2B list is a time-consuming operation that requires a lot of prospecting. Fortunately, there are several B2B list-building tools available nowadays that would make your job easier. And, here we've included a few for your perusal, with the motive to lighten your workload.

AeroLeads

This software is a complete prospecting and list-building solution for B2B companies. It not only finds your prospect's contact details, email address, and phone number but also other important information like their business name, location, social accounts, and even their WhoIs information. It also seamlessly integrates with top CRM platforms, such as HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zoho.

ContactOut

ContactOut is a simple but effective Chrome plugin that searches LinkedIn for your prospects' email addresses and phone numbers. Apart from that, it has a dashboard that allows you to manage your saved contacts with ease. Moreover, it also possesses a powerful search engine that enables you to locate contact information that isn't even available on LinkedIn.

Crunchbase

Crunchbase is an online database of businesses and startups; it is best suited to locate companies and their founders (for collaboration). It features several parameters that allow you to search businesses based on their start-up date, niche, and funding rounds. You can also save and export your searches as a CSV file.

Hunter.io

Hunter, a popular email search engine, is one of your best bets for finding your prospects' business emails. Its Chrome and Firefox extensions can be used to find email addresses on virtually any website. Furthermore, this search engine makes it quite simple to find the email addresses of a company's executives using only their website's domain. It also has an email verification option that allows you to verify your list rapidly.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is essentially a professional social network, and it should be your first stop if you want to build a B2B list. You can locate decision-makers in your target companies using LinkedIn with ease. With innumerable searches and filters, a premium membership effectively transforms the site into a comprehensive people search engine, which allows you to narrow down your search to your desired specifics.

Sumo

Sumo will come in handy if you're planning to take the lead capture path. It has opt-in features, like pop-ups and welcome mats, as well as heat maps that show you where your visitors click on your site and a floating social share bar as an alternative. Last but not least, it is absolutely free!

VoilaNorbert

VoilaNorbert is an email search engine that allows you to find the email address of your prospects. All you need to do is enter their name and company website, and it will automatically retrieve their email address.

As you have nearly read the entire article, do you agree with our perspective on B2B data and its tools and types? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

Why the Ad Agency Model Will Become Extinct In 5 Years From Now?

via: Golden Mean Advertising Agency

Are you in a dilemma to choose between an ad agency and a new-age digital agency? Read why the ad agency model will extinct soon. 

History reveals that human societies and businesses have always woven around technology. Once a lucrative business model may go out of fashion as technology steers the human civilization akin to an over flooded river making its way through plains, pouring down from a steep mountainous region. Remember telephone booths? Similar to the booth business, the traditional ad agency model faces existential challenges now, and here are the main disruptors. 

Internet Proliferation

The internet has connected the entire planet like no technology before. Prior to the proliferation of the internet to the masses, the options for a decision-maker in terms of advertising were limited, such as radio, TV, print, and billboards. And, the agencies were strategically positioned to seize the opportunity. The democratization of the internet has opened digital advertising avenues; thus, there are a plethora of choices for the hirers. 

Critical Time Lag

Alexander was able to conquer Asia courtesy of the sluggish nature of Persian forces. Akin to that, though agencies have plenty of resources at their disposal, they function in old-school bureaucratic ways. Every idea has to undergo scrutiny, and every plan has to be passed by the superiors. Their speed is no match for a quick-footed digital marketing agency (most probably headed by a Millennial) or worse with a seasoned social media wizard, with a tiny and nimble team.

Outdated Billing Models

Usually, agencies charge by the hour. This billing method creates a conflict of interest. As a client, you would obviously wish for a more effective outcome in a quick time span; however, the agency you employed would ideally want more hours to secure a sizeable invoice.

Creativity Instead of KPIs

Old-school ad agency professionals are proud of themselves as creative artists, whereas new-age digital marketers perceive themselves as analysts with a taste-bud for art. For the former, output was a priority, but the latter likes an optimum outcome. As a client, you have to opt for figures rather than fantasy.

Reluctance in Embracing Technology

According to Darwin's theory of evolution, beings that adapt swiftly and optimally to the ever-changing environment survive the test of time. And, his principle is applicable in a business biosphere too. The new-age digital agencies keep a track of the latest technologies, like SaaS platforms, to optimize their processes. Moreover, they also dip into digital advertising platforms to increase the bandwidth of their campaigns and to fine-tune targetting.

Negligible Consumer Participation

According to Forrester, the future of agencies would rely on how they could switch from “orchestrating campaigns to facilitating conversations.” Traditional agencies tend to sketch campaigns mainly featuring influencers or models who try to promote products or services of the agency clientele. However, digital agencies ensure connectivity between brands they promote and their consumers. It is mostly achieved using user-generated content. It is extremely potent due to its authenticity. For example - A great review by a consumer would be genuine and would narrate the user compatibility and importantly the feeling of the user. The feedback would not feel so mushy as it usually appears when models (acting as promoters) pretend to praise the contracted product.

Implosive Business Model

Ironically, perhaps the paramount threat to the latency ad agency model is the model itself. The prevailing practice of new account acquisition that includes unpaid pitches, wherein the agencies present their precious ideas about a campaign to a prospective client, is no longer sustainable. They tend to allocate their top talent to deliver pitches; however, that means that ongoing projects lack these great resources. As a result, the end-product is not up to the mark, and ultimately, either they have to invest more time to revise the output, or end up losing the business.