For those who run their business email on Google Mail/Gmail, connecting their inbox to FiveStreet can be done with a single click of a button. Or they can opt to use the @fivestreet.me email address provided when creating their account.
Grow Your Business While On-the-Go
While consolidating the information in one place is a necessary first step toward achieving success with online leads, FiveStreet does much more than extract information from incoming emails. The system also keeps things simple by delivering leads to an agent’s cellphone, turning the device into a virtual command center—a necessity in an age where consumers won’t stand for anything less than information delivered instantaneously.
“When we first started designing FiveStreet, we knew that the tools most commonly used among agents were their phone and email,” says Klophaus. “If this was going to be something that agents were going to use, not only did they need to understand what was going on, they needed to be able to interact by clicking a single button.”
And the team at FiveStreet has certainly delivered, as thousands of agents all across the nation have come to depend on the program’s lead follow-up software to not only build relationships, but also close more deals.
“As soon as an online lead comes in, FiveStreet jumps into action and delivers a customized, automatic email and/or text reply to the prospect, letting them know that someone will follow up and asking if there’s a good time for the agent to call,” says Simoneau. “The lead is then broadcast to a team (teams can be created to span different markets or based on agent seniority), and much like a gameshow, whoever hits the button first, gets the lead,” adds Klophaus. “In practice, it’s immensely fair and has huge results.” The results certainly speak for themselves, as 70 percent of the leads in the system that are forwarded out to team members get claimed within six minutes.
As the dynamics of lead delivery continue to change, Mark Hughes, COO at First Team Real Estate in Orange County, Calif., credits FiveStreet with providing his firm a truly competitive edge. “The dynamics of lead delivery have changed with FiveStreet delivering a lead to a mobile device in seconds,” says Hughes. “Consumers expect an immediate response, and thanks to FiveStreet, we can deliver.”
Benefits Abound Across the Board
Holding true to their vision from the beginning, the FiveStreet team hasn’t wavered from the course they set out on just a few short years ago. And their dedication to keeping things simple is paying off day after day—both behind the scenes and among their growing user base.
In fact, the program’s usability was one of the motivating factors behind Reynolds’ decision to use FiveStreet, incorporating the lead response system into his business just two months ago (at press time). “The design appears simple, but the tools behind the design are powerful. It’s an intuitive product with a lot of potential,” says Reynolds, who can’t say enough about the program’s ease of use.
“Everything we do goes back to efficiency,” says Klophaus, who notes that before FiveStreet came along, the typical turnaround time for following up with an online lead stretched into hours. “However, with FiveStreet, 100 percent of leads are getting an automatic follow-up within five minutes.”
And the benefits don’t end there. According to Simoneau, what FiveStreet does best is provide a starting point for successfully working with online leads. “FiveStreet provides people with the infrastructure to distribute leads. Once the pipes are in place, it’s easy to tweak various aspects of the program to work toward any firm’s specific goals.”
But perhaps most important for those who have integrated FiveStreet into their day-to-day business operations is the level of increased conversion they’re seeing, a huge competitive advantage in today’s market. “On average, lead conversion is typically around 1 – 2 percent,” says Simoneau, “but our users are consistently reporting average rates of five percent or higher.”
For Clement, who integrated FiveStreet into his firm in January 2015, the program has exceeded his expectations from the get-go. “We’re seeing a lot of good things happening when it comes to our production level,” says Clement, “and our agents are able to handle more leads and get to more closings.”
“Real estate professionals need something they can buy off the shelf and simply plug in and play,” adds Simoneau, who explains that most of the individuals who work in the industry fall somewhere along the spectrum between purchasing an end-to-end system or one in which they need to manually plug in the components.
Maintaining Momentum
There’s no doubt that the future is looking bright for FiveStreet; however, divulging specifics is not part of the game plan. “We have a lot of ideas,” says Klophaus, who notes that Move’s backing has been an integral piece of the puzzle in terms of growing the platform to where it stands today.
“When you have the resources of a big company behind you, you’re able to continue functioning with a start-up group mentality,” adds Simoneau, “and being acquired by Move has allowed us to be innovative while building our own user success.”
For those real estate professionals who aren’t currently using FiveStreet? Hughes challenges them to take a step back and consider whether they have the tools to meet the needs of today’s consumer when it comes to offering immediate service.
