Skip to content

How a Real Estate Broker Uses Automation to Reduce Follow-Up Time by 90%

By Joey Blanco · July 10, 2018
real-estate-mailchimp-zendesk primary img

Our stories explore how Zapier's users solve common problems. From marketers to CEOs, educators to real estate agents, millions use Zapier to automate their most tedious tasks. If you haven't yet, try Zapier for free to see what we're all about.


Zapier, I learned, should've been my first route, because it makes the communication between the two apps work in a cinch.

Jonathon Kerester, managing broker, Realty Investment Advisors

In the real estate market, it's not just location, location, location that matters. Good leads and a quick response are as valuable to a real estate agent as a prime location. A smart response strategy could mean you're the first agent they hear from, even if they contact your competitors, too.

With app automation tool Zapier handling initial follow-ups and lead management, Jonathon Kerester, Realty Investment Advisor's managing broker, found a way to reduce cold calling by 75 percent and connects with leads 90 percent faster.

The initial challenge: Connect email marketing and customer support tools

Jonathon needed Zendesk tickets filled out whenever leads subscribed to specific newsletters in Mailchimp or updated their profiles with RIA.

In Zapier's dashboard, he built Zaps—our word for automated workflows—that sent lead information from Mailchimp into Zendesk.

Create new Zendesk tickets for new Mailchimp subscribers

  • Mailchimp logo
  • Zendesk logo
Mailchimp + Zendesk
More details
    If you like to keep track of new Mailchimp subscribers in your customer support system, this Zap is perfect: Every time someone subscribes to one of your newsletters, Zapier creates a Zendesk ticket—making it easy to keep track of subscribers in the system you use to monitor customers already.

    Create Zendesk tickets when a Mailchimp subscriber updates their profile

    • Mailchimp logo
    • Zendesk logo
    Mailchimp + Zendesk
    More details
      Keep an eye out when your Mailchimp subscribers update their preferences by creating a new Zendesk ticket with this Zap. Any time a subscriber makes an update, Zapier will instantly build a Zendesk ticket, letting you know what's changed.

      He kept exploring, and created more Zaps to share new campaigns on social media, create tickets from text messages, and manage new leads in Trello, the app they use for project management.

      By automating processes with Zapier, RIA cut the time it took the team to follow up on leads by 90 percent.

      Realty Investment Advisors is a group of real estate brokers and agents across northern Virginia, suburban Maryland, and the D.C. metro area. They collaborate with each other, sharing resources and infrastructure. Each agent or broker has their niche, whether in downtown DC for businesses or in suburbs for families.

      For the folks behind RIA, making a fast connection with their clients increases the odds of closing a deal. The connections Jonathon created within Zapier fuel their business and keep him and the team free to focus on their clientele.

      RIA's time-saving Zaps

      From Zendesk ticket to project management

      Once the tickets have been automatically created, other Zaps keep the leads moving through the RIA process.

      Zapier adds a new Trello card to a specific list for new leads. Within that Trello board, the RIA team can move leads around depending on their current status—Open, Pending, Closed—and they can add comments and details as needed after showing off properties.

      Create Trello cards from new Zendesk tickets

      • Trello logo
      Trello
      More details
        Not every customer support ticket can be resolved by a member of the support team. Perhaps you need to assign some to your product team, or want a way for your support manager to easily see a bird's-eye view on the progress of a certain ticket or all tickets. This Zapier automation helps turn your Zendesk tickets into team to-dos. Every time a new ticket is added in Zendesk, Zapier will create a new Trello card with the ticket information.

        Keep the team up to date

        RIA also uses Zapier to send Slack notifications for new Zendesk tickets, which keeps the entire team in-the-know about new leads, clients, and what type of property they're after. A quick glance at Slack and each agent and broker will know whose lead it is, based on location and property type.

        Post new Zendesk tickets to Slack messages

        • Zendesk logo
        • Slack logo
        Zendesk + Slack
        More details
          Zendesk makes it simple for your teams to track and respond to help desk tickets. If you want to respond ASAP, try this Zap, which automatically posts all new Zendesk tickets to Slack via a custom message.

          Link text messages with leads in Zendesk

          And with RingCentral, new text messages become Zendesk tickets, where they can be associated with existing leads. If the text is from a lead-generating service not connected to Zapier, the Zap still creates a new ticket, adding a link back to the lead source.

          Create Zendesk tickets from new RingCentral SMS messages

          • RingCentral logo
          • Zendesk logo
          RingCentral + Zendesk
          More details
            If your business receives SMS messages from clients—or potential leads—this Zap will help you manage those messages in Zendesk. Every time an SMS arrives, Zapier will automatically send it to Zendesk, populating a ticket. From there, you can link the ticket to other's from this customer, managing all your communication in one app.

            More time on the things that matter

            These Zaps, while simple, take the manual work off Jonathon's plate. That opens the floodgates for productivity: He spends more time showing off properties, meeting clients, writing contracts, and closing transactions—all the things he got into the real estate industry to do.

            Zapier cuts my cold calling time by 75% and cuts my follow-up on old leads by 90%

            Jonathon Kerester, managing broker, Realty Investment Advisors


            Want to reduce the time it takes to follow-up with leads? Give Zapier a try for free.

            What's your story? Tell us how you use Zapier to do more. You can also read even more customer stories and find new ways to improve your workflow and productivity.

            All images courtesy of Realty Investment Advisors.

            Get productivity tips delivered straight to your inbox

            We’ll email you 1-3 times per week—and never share your information.

            Related articles

            Improve your productivity automatically. Use Zapier to get your apps working together.

            A Zap with the trigger 'When I get a new lead from Facebook,' and the action 'Notify my team in Slack'