5 Surprising Tools To Help You Automate Your Real Estate Investing

Firsts things First, I sell a Podio Real Estate Wholesale CRM called Appflowsoft. The purpose of this article is not to get you to buy this system but to open up your eyes to possibilities of AUTOMATION & SYSTEMS. Also, I am not going to directly come out and say it, I am sure one of my savvy entrepreneur readers will be able to read in between the lines when it comes to the hidden opportunity of these automation & systems that I will be covering in this article. Screw it, I will tell you, YOU CAN USE THESE SYSTEMS IN ANY TYPE OF BUSINESS. Do you know how many businesses are out there that are struggling to set up systems, maybe you can help, hint hint.

Ok, quick blurb about me, I am a real estate wholesaler who has struggled for a longtime in this business but has seen the light finally. Seriously, I was about to give up, but I knew that key to freedom was to get my systems in place. Or at least that is what I heard at every Real Estate Meet Up group or YouTube video training that I saw. I really had no systems other then my Excel spreadsheet and my Google Voice Number. I could not properly track marketing cost. I could not follow up sellers if they said no originally. I could not properly market my deals & properties. And any money that I made had to be luck. I tried costly CRM’s but they did not really have a platform where I could easily automate my life. I was clearly the bottleneck to my business. Does anything of this sound familiar to your business? Ok, can we say Debbie Downer, don’t worry, the rest of article is going to be much more positive. Also, I want to give you guys as much content that you can use today in your business.

Tool 1. Podio (Trumpets Play From The Heavens)

I am sure you have heard about Podio, if you have not, I will enlighten you. Podio was originally designed to be a project management platform that allowed team members to easily work together over the Cloud. If we fast-forward to present day, Podio has morphed into lots of application uses, especially used as a CRM (Client Response Management) for lots of different businesses. I will concentrate solely on Real Estate Investing. You ask why, people are realizing that Podio can be used to integrate hundreds of different systems, so now you can run your business from one platform. That’s right, I said one platform. Also, the system is extremely customizable and it can be tailored to your specific business needs. Podio will manage items like seller leads, cash buyers list, offers, contracts, training material, marketing campaigns, and expenses.

Podio is organized by workspaces and Apps. For example, below is a workspace I use for Craigslist. There are 21 apps in this workspace and I have labeled them by the time I want my ads to be posted. If anybody has ever used craigslist, you know they frown on people using more then one account. Podio has a feature called “Email to App”. So each app below has an assigned email address. If you have ever tried to open up multiple email accounts with Google or Yahoo (10 plus), you know that it is pain in the butt, but is necessary if you want to take advantage of the 50 million unique visitors a month craigslist gets. I know most investors use craigslist, so I will get as specific as possible with this work below. The apps below are used for the email address and tracking responses with the specific ad that is placed on Craigslist. Now you say, who wants to constantly jump in and out of all of these apps, I don’t, so I created a workflow that automatically assigns task to my VA once a response is captured. If that response captures an email or phone number then with the push of a button (another workflow) my VA can create a Cash Buyer Lead or a Seller lead and complete the required steps.

Example Workspace

Below is my Classified App where my VA will post all of the written ads. We drive lots of traffic to our websites.

The most powerful aspect of Podio is the ability to easily integrate workflows that complete your trivial task for you. I am going to say it again, the most powerful aspect of Podio is the ability to easily integrate workflows that complete your trivial task for you (In my James Earl Jones Voice, it just got weird, sorry). The internet has seen lot of changes of the over the years, whether it has been the invention of email or cloud based computing, but the next item seems to be the creation of workflows that anybody can create to reduce those man-crushing-working-hours. As an example, this can be writing up a purchase agreement. This task alone would take me at least 20 minutes to an hour (if I had to mail-it) to complete. This is how that task went for me, finding the template, entering the correct information, pulling public records to verify correct information, create new file to place the unsigned document in, printing the document (2 or 3 copies), making sure there are no spelling errors, finding an envelope or folder, if being mailed finding an envelope and then walking to mailbox or driving to post office. Now if anything went wrong, like document formatting or life’s distractions, I was over an hour (kill me, I don’t care to live anymore was reaction to document formatting, lol). Now fast forward, I can create a signed purchase agreement that is automatically mailed (yes, not emailed, mailed, yeahh!!! Living the Dream!!!) with a click of a button or my within my Podio mobile app. Every lead gets a signed purchase agreement in the mail and email. We have recently started to heavily integrate electronic signatures within Podio (remember guys, one platform). I now work in pajamas, I love life.

Purchase Agreement Work Flow

Podio App Layout For Purchase Agreement Setup

Tool 2 Globiflow

Workflows are sometimes described as a series of tasks that produce an outcome. Workflows are defined more narrowly as the automated movement of documents or items through a sequence of actions or tasks that are related to a business process.

I have hundreds of workflows that help me with multiple businesses and they are growing everyday. Through the course a of a business day if I see something that I can place a workflow in and take me out of the equation, I will do it. And that is really only possible because of Globiflow. I am not an advanced coder by any means. I went to school for life science and I have not used that knowledge since graduating (sorry parents…awkward silence). Really what makes workflows so powerful now is that anybody can do them with a platform like Globiflow. Globiflow is very user friendly and integrates extremely well with Podio. These are just some of the actions you can automate with Globiflow.

Workflows can be used to do one year follow-up text campaigns, endless task loops (used for following up), automated campaign tracking, posting to websites, electronic signatures, automatic text responses, text alerts, automated training of staff, auto-responders, and so MUCH MORE (James Earl Jones voice again). I have a free course on how to integrate all of these items here.

Lets take a look at the training of your employees or virtual assistants more in depth. You really don’t have a (good) business until you have documented procedures. How can you really take yourself out of your business if every action and reaction is different? The challenge is actually writing that procedure manual. I can honestly say I have not written one procedure but what I have done iscreate a series of 2-3 minutes instruction videos and audio clips that are attached to every task that must be done. For example, a seller calls one of my phone numbers from a We-Buy-Houses post cards and leaves a message, my VA will get a task to call the new lead. Within the task details my assistant can watch a video with a YouTube link of a pre-recorded seller calls that I have previously made, so they really can understand how I want to run MY business. They also can see videos instructions on how I want them to enter the seller’s information into the system and what follow-up techniques I want them to use. There should be no excuse on why the process is not the same every single time. If I have to let somebody go, my downtime is 24 hours at the most. You can listen to my audio instructions for performing final-attempt-call message with this link. My management style is going to pump you up, get excited about making those phone calls.

I highly recommend that you sign up for a Globiflow account; it will change your business forever. I offer free training and tools on how to automate your seller lead follow up, the training of your staff and much more here.

Tool 3

I can’t stress enough the importance that workflows play in automating your business. This brings me to my next tool that helps automate my life, Zapier.  Zapier is a tool for primarily non-technical users to connect together web apps. Integration between two apps is called a Zap. A Zap is made up of a trigger and an action. Whenever the trigger happens in one app, Zapier will automatically perform the action in another app. Zapier is going to help you bring all of your real estate tools and software packages into one stop Podio platform.

Example Zap

This app is actually very important to my organization. Whenever I save a file into a specific folder within Google Drive (Cloud Based Storage Service offered by Google), this Zap will actually upload and create a new app item. We use this app for tracking all of our receipts and properly categorizing them. Let’s say I get emailed a PDF copy of receipt from a vendor, I will rename the file [Receipt_Vendor Name_ Amount_Date_Business category] and upload it to my Receipt File in Google Drive. The Zap will take the file (usually PDF or a photo if I take a picture of receipt) and upload it to my expense app within Podio and place a name of the file in notes section of the app item (important step). Globiflow will then extract items from the file name within the notes section, like the vendor name, amount, date, and also properly categorize the expense. I have never been so financially organized in my life. I can export all of the data to my CPA with a click of a button. If I am at the gas station and I want file away my receipt, I will take a picture, rename and upload it into my receipts folder within my Google drive app. I think it’s very important to have multiple back up sources, just in case one source goes down. If Podio database was wiped I will still have all receipts within Google Drive and vice versa.

There are literally hundreds of platforms that you can integrate with Zapier. Here is just a few examples of applications you can integrate together. I would recommend that you check it out to see if you can start integrating your own systems with some of these work flows.

Tool 4 Callrail

CallRail’s tracking helps you identify the marketing channels that make the phone ring. I have tried lots of different phone systems and they all had something that made them special but they also had something that they were missing. CallRail has it all and is missing very little when it comes to integrating with Podio. Picking the right phone is very important for automating your business. Below are must-have-features when picking your Phone System

Features Reason Email Notifications Most phone systems now send you notifications, but not all of them send you notifications for every type of call action like abandoned calls, missed calls, text messages and voicemails. You want all call actions to be added to your Podio platform so you can easily track and follow up with EVERY lead, even if that person happened to not leave message. Never assume you know what the seller or cash buyer is thinking, CALL BACK EVERYONE. Voicemail Link This is a link that is emailed to you and allows you to listen to your voice messages on the phone company’s server/cloud. A lot of companies will email you the voicemail as an attachment. This is ok if it is just you, but when you have a global staff with different operating systems and different internet speeds, downloads can really slow down your business. I had one VA that would have to go to another family members house to download bigger files. Her employment did not last very long to say the least. Callback Link This allows for you or staff to call back your leads with the specific lead capture phone number that your lead called from. With this link your staff can easily call back from anywhere. I have had leads that will not pickup the phone unless they recognize the phone #, so if you or your staff always use the lead capture phone #’s then you will never run into problem. Outbound/Inbound Calling Recording This is very important for really staying on top of the lead and also training your staff. Guys, if you want a scalable automated business, you have to take yourself out of the equation. You do that by having documented procedures (or documented video & audio) for your staff. I use this feature to give my staff instructions on how to handle inbound and outbound phone calls. Also, if you listen to your last conversation then you will know the exact tone of conversation and easily transition back in to your report building. Every state is different when it comes to recording conversations. So please check with your local laws. I can tell you this, my recordings are not for the public and are only for training.

If you think Callrail is for you I have made some YouTube Videos on how you can integrate this system into your Podio Platform. You can find them here.

Tool 5 Investor Carrot

Once you guy learn how to setup your Texting and Text Message follow-up campaigns within Podio then I highly recommend that you checkout Investor Carrot. Investor Carrot is a company that provides investors with seller websites, cash buyer websites, rent-to-own websites, raising private money sites and more. Guys, technology is changing and more and more people are strictly using their cell phones to learn, communicate, and make buying and selling decisions. Investor Carrot has very impressive mobile version of their website that helps convert more leads.

For example when a prospect receives a text message from me, it is going to appear like this [Message from WebuyHomes.com: I'm tied up for a bit, but I will call back shortly. What is the address of the home ur looking to sell so I can research before we speak? ]. (not my business page used in this example) Anytime they receive a message from my organization, we have setup a workflow that integrates “Message from WebuyHomes.com:” followed by the message. I am an affiliate of investor carrot and if you click on my link above, I am paid a small commission. I only promote organizations that will help you really grow your business.

When you are using Globiflow to setup texting and text follow up campaigns you will see that the number used in texting comes from an area code that is usually pretty obscure. So to properly identify yourself, I suggest you insert a web address like what you see above. Also, what you will see when you do it this way, it allows for the lead to really see what you are offering and allows them to submit their contact information via the website like an email address. Investor Carrot really converts the most traffic into leads.

Their websites are very SEO friendly, that helps me get leads from general web traffic. If you want to get the most traffic to your sites, it is crucial to setup a lead capture page for each city that you are marketing in. You’ll see that usually you will be on the first Google search page if the city is not a major city like Philadelphia. Investor carrot really makes it easy for you to setup a bunch of lead capture pages.

I tried to cover some example of how these tools will help automate your business, but if you really want in depth training please visit me here.