Mobile Deployment of Salesforce.com Accelerates Prospecting Process

Tom Groom, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of the Realty Segment of PropertyInfo Corporation, a Stewart Corporation, was urgently in need of a solution to develop new pipeline and close deals. The Stewart Corporation is one of America’s leading providers of title insurance and related services to the real estate and mortgage industries. With the real estate industry in a major crisis and competition more fierce than ever, the title insurance sales force needed a much more efficient process to help them develop new pipeline and drive revenue. However, they were handicapped by an extremely inefficient record- keeping and reporting process.

“We had no CRM, no centralized sales reporting process or record keeping system of any kind,” said Groom. “Sales reps were tracking their own activities in the field using whatever system they had at hand. Some were using ACT; some just built their own spreadsheets. But the bottom line was that as an organization we had no centralized control over that data and no visibility into it that would help our sales reps build or track leads.”

The situation was complicated slightly by the type of market served by PropertyInfo. Though the actual process may vary slightly by state, title insurance is paid for by the end consumer but is often the real estate agents, builders and lenders as customer intermediaries that generally directed the business. Local customs generally dictate if the buyer’s side or the seller’s side of the transaction makes the decision on title and escrow but in either situation there was another agent involved that was not directing the business that was a future prospect. The structure creates a large pool of prospects.

“It is interesting,” explained Groom. “Even though the agent for the seller might have recommended us for a particular transaction, the agent for the buyer is also a prospect, because they might be able to recommend us in the future.”

For this reason, PropertyInfo wanted to be able to record and track not only every agent who was recommending them during a transaction, but they also wanted to be able to track the non-directing agent as well. That was the challenge; how to create a centralized information to collect and control this information so that the sales force could access and leverage it to strengthen relationships with existing intermediaries, while also driving business through new intermediaries.

Salesforce CRM enables a rapid, customized, mobile solution

PropertyInfo Corporation did have several CRM options at their disposal. They had a couple of installed legacy systems from major vendors that could be eventually configured to support their title insurance sales activities. Also, as a company, they were familiar with salesforce.com because it was being deployed in another division of the company. In the end, they chose to go with salesforce.com for one very important reason.

“Speed to market,” explained Groom. “We were facing a big challenge in that we not only needed to customize the system to align with our culture and needs, but we also wanted it to run in a mobile environment. Salesforce CRM was by far the fastest and most flexible option at our disposal. If we had chosen any other option, we might still be in the development stage, with no solution ready to deploy at all.”

But a solution is being deployed. A first-stage pilot program was launched last February with 20 sales team members from across the country. The group was expanded to 65 sales team members last June, and by the end of the quarter in 2011 PropertyInfo Corporation aims to have the service rolled out to 350 users.

Of course, the customization integration process was the key to success.

“We had several critical requirements,” said Groom. “First of all, the tool had to reflect our normal way of doing business with customers, including having the right terms and interaction functions built in. Also, we had to integrate key data from our legacy and back office systems so the sales team could have access to better information, which, in turn, might inspire them to input better information that could be available to everyone. Beyond that, we also had to have some custom pages created for the smart phones so that views were aligned and configured to mirror those custom reports and pages. It was a complex process, but we couldn’t be more pleased with the results.”

The ability to access and record data on the go via their mobile phones is a huge advantage for the sales reps, who spend little or no time working from an office. Instead, they are in and out of real estate offices all day long, meeting new agents and reconnecting with existing customers to keep the business growing.

“The 65 agents who have already been trained on the system are realizing a lot of value already,” Groom remarked. “Previously, they were walking into a realtor’s office blind and trying to figure out who to talk to. Now they are able to log into our system from their BlackBerry or iPhone as they walk into a broker’s office and immediately identify everyone who has recommended us in the past and follow up with them. They are then also able to identify agents who haven’t recommended us and develop a solid prospect list to help develop new business. All of this information is being constantly updated in real time from their phones throughout the day. It has made adoption of the tool very easy. Even if we had had a CRM before, it would never be practical for them to go back to an office somewhere to enter or retrieve data. With this mobile deployment, the reps are receiving immediate benefits as they use it, so they are definitely using it.”

The system also enables sales reps to interact much more easily with both existing and prospective agents, utilizing the system’s capability to easily send email marketing pieces, schedule follow up visits, and create customized contact outlines to help prep for phone and face to face visits.

Professional support for a customized roll out

Of course, the scope of such an intensive, customized solution requires the involvement of a highly capable, professional support team. Baker Communications, in cooperation with Post Oak CRM, a Baker CRM consulting partner, has been charged with customizing the simulation and facilitating the training and roll-out to end users as the project unfolds.

“It has been a real pleasure to work with PropertyInfo Corporation and support them through this process,” said Walter Rogers, President and CEO of Baker Communications. “We are all very excited about the benefits they are receiving and the results they are achieving from this project, and we are looking forward to seeing those multiplied over and over as the full deployment comes on line next year.”

“I am extremely pleased with the results so far,” said Dylan Gray of Post Oak CRM, who oversaw the customization of the simulation. “It really does capture the way that PropertyInfo Corporation does business and replicates it on both desktop and mobile environments.”

Groom says he was continually impressed by the speed, agility and flexibility of the salesforce.com platform.

“Salesforce CRM allows you to innovate and customize in real time just when and where you need it,” he observed. “During the sessions with the pilot group someone might say, ‘I would like to be able to track X,’ and even while he was speaking the simulation team would jump in, make a few tweaks and say to us, “you mean like this?” and the new feature as added in real time, right there during the meeting.”

A critical part of the roll out so far has centered around getting the users trained on the new system.

“We certainly don’t have the staff to touch every sales rep, but we needed to give them an effective level of instruction so they would understand the value of system, work through the User Interface and understand all the tactical aspects of software,” Groom said. “Baker Communications and Post Oak CRM helped us create a computer-based training module, which is the perfect solution, both from the standpoint of effectiveness for the agents and for falling within the scope of our budget. Now we have a hands on learning module – one that actually tests how they are doing, as well as tracking how they are using it.”

Groom also mentioned that the feedback on the training so far is very good.

“It has all been very well done - almost as good as face to face,” he observed. “We had good experts on our side who understood our business and developed great resources to build the modules.”

Facing the future

“Obviously, the market has been in turmoil for a few years now, but there is a going to be a big opportunity when the market turns, and we need to be ready,” Groom explained. “From a revenue perspective, our business is driven by the number of transactions taking place in the market. We are trying to prepare our team to be more proactive to get new business when that turn around comes, so we need to have better tools and strategies in place now.”

With the help of salesforce.com, Baker Communications, and Post Oak CRM, he is certain that when the time comes, he will have them.
 

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