These tips are based on the best setup of CallRail for real estate users and feedback we've gotten from our real estate customers.
Use tracking numbers for inbound calls, not outbound cold calling
This is the biggest concern we hear from our real estate users. Using your tracking numbers for extensive cold calling runs the risk of going over your plan’s allotted minutes while side-stepping the core value of your tracking number (which is to see which ads cause leads to call you).
Luckily, there’s a workaround for this:
For extensive outbound calling, use a free online phone number or an auto-dialer service. Most auto-dialers (like Mojo) allow you to spoof caller ID, so you can set up your outbound calls through their system to show one of your CallRail call tracking numbers for customers to see.
Label this tracking number “outbound calling” or something else that identifies it as your push marketing and when those customers call back you can know the ROI of that effort without burning up your minutes in CallRail.
Our system has the capability to support outbound calling through Lead Center and softphone capabilities, so if your outbound usage is low, it’s fine to keep using CallRail for that functionality.
A good rule of thumb for plans with 250 minutes: more than four calls a day at about three minutes each will put you over your monthly billing for minutes. You can track your usage on a month-to-month basis and decide what’s best for you.
Otherwise, stick to using your tracking numbers for inbound marketing efforts like mailers and PPC campaigns.
Create business hours and direct to voicemail call flows
If you don’t have sales managers or you’re organizing your incoming business calls on one phone, you can use the Call Flow Builder to create business hours for your line and also direct business calls directly to your voicemail for follow-up with leads.
Here’s an example of a call flow built to ring 9-3pm during the week and direct to voicemail after hours. You can also choose to send all your calls straight to voicemail.
Read about how to create call flows for your business.
Connect to a CRM
CallRail is built to help you capture new leads and respond to them quickly, then report on your best marketing sources.
For sales management, CallRail is best linked to a true CRM system that can help you manage leads during the full sales process. This is especially important for longer sales cycles like real estate that have many complicated steps before a sale is made.
A popular CRM for our real estate clients is Podio, which uses our Zapier integration as a way to send your leads from CallRail into a full sales management system.