The relationship aspect of the mortgage industry too often gets forgotten. When you help someone get a loan, you’re helping them make one of the most important purchases of their life. Curating that relationship with them is so important. The mortgage industry is a people industry. That’s why mortgage CRMs matter so much.

A CRM is a customer relationship system, and it’s a tool to help you effectively manage and nurture relationships with leads and existing customers. It’s also a tool to improve your lead generation and organization. In today’s digital age, you need more than a spreadsheet to really organize and nurture any leads. A modern CRM empowers you to build relationships with your customers. There’s a reason so many loan originators are turning to modern CRMs with key features (like automation). In fact, 51% of companies are using automated marketing now.

Read on to learn more about CRMs, especially the key CRM features and functionalities that can help you grow your business and transform your relationship-building model. We’ll look at nine key features (and the benefits of utilizing these features) and how Sonar can help you get started reaping all of these benefits.

Ready to explore how you can manage relationships effortlessly with Sonar?

Centralized Lead Management

To start off, let’s talk about centralized lead management. Historically it might have been okay to keep your leads in a spreadsheet and try to manage all of your leads manually. But that type of organization leads to too many lost leads and missed opportunities. If you’re looking to grow your business and really nurture leads into customers, centralized lead management matters.

With high quality centralized lead management, you’re able to import leads from various sources, automatically add leads, and receive notifications as they come in through additional sources (like your web page form). Plus you get enhanced lead segmentation and an easy way to improve your marketing campaigns. Essentially, you’ll have all your leads come into the same place and be able to move forward to tracking a lead’s progress all the way through the sales pipeline.

Automated Marketing

Automated marketing is the next big thing with CRMs. It’s how you can really reach your potential customers and past customers without having to dedicate too much time. A CRM with automated marketing capabilities simplifies the marketing workflows and increases conversion rates. You’re able to easily reach out to leads, and they’re able to move further through the pipeline to conversion.

What can be automated? So much! With a powerful CRM, you can automate milestone emails to reach out to past customers easily—adding that necessary personal touch. Speaking of personal touch, CRMs can automate personalized emails for you and give you reminders to call or text customers at certain times. Sonar’s CRM can even provide you with customizable scripts for prospect calling, so you don’t have to spend hours planning the right thing to say. Automation helps you convert leads and build real relationships with your customers.

Integration and Scalability

Scalability is such an important capability for any business hoping to grow. Maybe a spreadsheet works for only a couple of loans a month, but when you’ve grown your business and have over ten a month, you need a tool that will scale and grow with you. As your needs change, a CRM with scalability capabilities will be able to shift with your business. That’s why Sonar is designed to be scalable and handle growth.

Integration also matters. When your CRM is able to integrate into tools like communication platforms, you are empowered to build relationships with your customers. You’re able to communicate with them and see all the vital information in one place, so you can improve their experience.

Referral Source Tracking

With a great CRM, you have powerful referral source tracking capabilities. You will be able to see where your referrals are coming from, especially for realtor and partner referrals. You’ll know who referred somebody to you and be able to prioritize great leads and really nurture them to conversions.

Lead tracking is even more powerful when you find a tool that can automatically distribute leads to the team. That way when leads come in, each team member will be automatically assigned leads that they can track and nurture, without waiting for your team to divide the load.

Document Management

The mortgage process involves quite a few documents and signatures, and a great CRM is a way to improve your document management. When you handle your documents manually, you run the risk of disorganization and not having all the documents in a centralized location. Plus there are security complications to consider. With a great CRM like Sonar, you can integrate document storage and retrieval, so you’re never left without a needed document. You can also use e-signatures.

Document management with a CRM is both more secure and an easier way to facilitate relationships with your customers. Your team will be better able to collaborate and have the needed documents for helping your customers. Keeping your documents in order is a great way to boost your customers’ experiences.

Customizable Workflows

Workflows are an important part of a business, and they’re important to ensure your customers are getting the best experience. CRMs that provide you with customizable workflows let you tailor your workflows to match your business processes—and empower you to change them as your business needs shift. Once you’ve set workflows, your team won’t need to worry about it anymore.

Workflows also allow you to be more efficient. You’re not losing valuable time when your CRM can ensure you have what you need to help your customers and build relationships. Plus workflows can help you make sure you’re compliant through the entire process and keeping private information secure.

Analytics & Reporting

CRMs allow you to make data-driven decisions. When you have analytics and reporting, you’re able to see what works, identify bottlenecks, and uncover opportunities or trends. You can see where leads are falling off to begin improving, and you can see where you might be able to boost your numbers and performance. CRMs like Sonar with analytics and reporting are a powerful tool to growing your business and converting leads to customers.

Mobile Accessibility

A CRM that’s accessible on a mobile phone only gives you more options. Old, clunky systems that are only available on a certain computer limit your team to provide your customers and leads with a great experience. Mobile accessibility opens doors to enhance responsiveness and productivity for mortgage professionals,

Only the Best CRMs Are Integrated with LOS & POS

Most of the CRMs on the market will have some or all of the functions above, but only the best options, like Sonar, will be integrated with an LOS and POS system. CRMs that integrate with other necessary capabilities for your mortgage business enable you to improve the bottom line and build customer relationships and satisfaction. So choosing a CRM like Sonar that will streamline your CRM, LOS, and POS capabilities is a way to improve your efficiency, build your business, and build real relationships with your customers.

Manage Customer Relationships Effortlessly with Sonar’s Integrated CRM

Sonar provides you and your team with all the CRM capabilities you need for mortgage origination success. Sonar is also the all-in-one integrated system that streamlines your company’s needs and integrates with LOS and POS. Those are powerful CRM characteristics.

Sonar is built by originators for originators, unlike other CRM tools out there. We can help you set up in a day and get you ready to build your loan originator business. Request a demo today!