5 things you must look in a construction CRM

Without steady cash flow, survival in the construction industry could be a little difficult. 

Enough revenue needs to be generated for paying salaries, keeping the machines working, and making profits for reaching the construction business goals. 

Without getting projects, you can’t expect revenue growth in a construction business. Failure in getting projects can kill your chances of survival. 

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.
– Robert Collier

Most of the businesses implement a CRM to save themselves from sinking. 

Even if you are thinking to do the same, then that is a great move. However, you need to be cautious while selecting a CRM for the construction business. 

Five things to look in a construction CRM 

Purchasing a CRM for the construction business is a big decision. To gain the best returns, choose the best CRM.

Here are the five things you need to look into a construction CRM. 

1. Pipeline management

You are aware that getting projects in a construction business is quite challenging. So you cannot afford to miss out on any potential prospect who might be interested in giving you the project. 

As a busy contractor or builder, you’ll need a CRM that will give you a unified view of all your opportunities and help in tracking them. The best construction CRM offers a pipeline view from the initial contact to the final closure. You can see where your deals are in the pipeline.

The pipeline view makes it easy to act in real-time. You can see which prospects you need to meet and whom you need to send a quotation. Through drag and drop functionality you can easily change the stages once you complete the activity. 

Besides, it will even allow you to create multiple pipelines for more clarity.

For instance, you can create separate pipelines to manage your suppliers and projects. You can easily check the status of any deal for which you have placed a bid or you can also check the status of a particular deal where you have made a proposal to tie up with a supplier. 

Advanced construction CRM software even offers customization flexibility. So, you can customize the pipeline as per your unique requirements. 

2. Centralized data 

There is a lot you need to do for winning work in this challenging construction industry. 

You cannot afford to waste a single minute in the construction business. So, you need a system that keeps all the information related to various opportunities streamlined in one place. 

You shouldn’t be wasting time searching your prospects’ contact numbers or email addresses that are spread out over different places.

The best construction CRM stores all the information in a centralized repository and even allows you to apply filters to quickly find the data you need. It becomes easy to get in touch with your potential prospects when everything is organized in one place.

3. Automation

construction is an industry where you need to act fast, or the project might go to some other contractor. Instead of investing hours on repetitive tasks, why not automate it to get the work done quickly?

Make your work easier by choosing a CRM that offers automation. By automating time-consuming tasks, you will get more hours for finding new projects. 

For instance, 

Think about the time you spend on follow-up. Without understanding the clients’ requirements, you cannot send a proposal. But sadly prospects don’t reply easily, and so you need to follow-up consistently. There are chances you might forget to follow-up, and some other contractors might make the most of the opportunity. 

Most of the construction CRM allows you to automate such tasks. You can easily create a sequence of emails and texts in the CRM and put your follow-up on autopilot. 

So, don’t miss out on this useful feature while selecting construction CRM software. 

4. Mobile app

As a contractor or builder, you are always on the go, meeting prospects and traveling to different sites. 

So, choose a construction CRM software that gives you access to your data from anywhere. 

Using the mobile app of a CRM, you can make the most of the dead time when a prospect is late for a meeting. You can track the progress of your deals, update your records, and respond to prospect instantly irrespective of where you are.

Besides, most of the best construction CRM software reminds you about the upcoming tasks or due tasks. This will reduce the chances of missing any critical tasks.

5. Bult-in calling 

In the construction business, you need to communicate a lot, convincing the prospect that you are the right contractor to take up their project. So, look for a CRM that has a built-in virtual phone system. You can easily buy a number or port your number and directly make calls from the CRM. 

By using a CRM with a built-in phone system you can-

• Easily add notes when something important is discussed on the call.
• Log your incoming and outgoing calls. 
• Record your calls to ensure you don’t miss out on any details mentioned by the prospect.
• Create call reports to know how many calls you made, total talk time, and the outcome of those calls.
• Send text messages to get a faster response. Use the text templates to save time.

Wrapping up 

CRM can be a beneficial tool in the construction business. However, the market is flooded with multiple CRM software. You need to ensure you pick the right one with essential features needed for your construction business.

Besides the features mentioned above, even ensure that the construction CRM you are opting for integrates with apps you are already using. So you don’t have to toggle between applications. 

Choose a CRM that makes your work as easy as possible. Salesmate is one such CRM that is easy to use and has some excellent features that can help you in maintaining customer relationships and closing deals quickly. 

You can easily create and manage sales pipeline, monitor the progress of your deals,  streamline your process, and automate most of the time-consuming tasks. You can use its built-in virtual phone system for making and receiving calls from within the CRM. Besides, it even has a mobile app and it integrates with most of the popular apps.