Inside Sales Agents vs Real Estate Virtual Assistants
In real estate, inside sales agents are well known and sought after for their ability to expedite and promote lead acquisition.
Inside sales agents tend to be highly knowledgeable and experienced salespeople who are looking to close deals quickly and efficiently.
Although ISAs are highly skilled at driving growth for realtors or real estate agents, it is also true that there are some not-so-good factors.
What do Inside Sales Agents do?
ISAs are people responsible for qualifying incoming leads. They are also responsible for prospecting for new leads and following up with them to prepare them for sales by the agent or realtor.
Inside sales agents may perform tasks such as cold calling, lead nurturing, or appointment scheduling.
In any case, the main role of inside sales agents is to transfer as many sales-ready leads as possible.
How do Inside Sales Agents work?
As mentioned above, ISAs usually perform specific tasks that promote the closing of sales by the real estate agent or realtor.
Let’s review them in more detail:
#1 Lead Qualification
They contact leads acquired through social media, websites, ads, among others. Then they divide the leads to add the qualified ones to the CRM and make the optimal follow-up.
#2 Prospecting
They make cold calls to qualified prospects or leads that are ready to sell. Similarly, they conduct local market research to identify the best ways to target prospects.
#3 Follow-up, Conversion, and Closing
They attend to the particular needs of customers to convert them into qualified customers. They also address prospects’ questions when following up. And they make sure to ask for referrals or reviews from past customers.
What are The Optimal Skills of an ISA?
Inside sales agents must have very specific qualities to be able to meet the demands of the role.
Among these qualities, we can mainly point out:
#1 Must be a very good communicator.
#2 Be a problem solver, energetic and proactive.
#3 Organized above all else.
#4 Motivated and goal-oriented.
Can a Virtual Real Estate Assistant Perform the Same Functions as Inside Sales Agents?
This is the question many real estate agents or realtors ask themselves when they are evaluating the best options to hire.
Inside sales agents are specialized individuals and virtual real estate assistants tend to cover broader ranges.
With this in mind, what might be the best option?
The answer is simple: it depends on what the realtor or real estate agent requires.
Virtual real estate assistants are qualified not only to perform the same functions as an inside sales agent, but they can also perform many other functions.
Administrative, accounting, marketing, and sales tasks are the main requirements to be fulfilled by general virtual assistants.
A real estate virtual assistant also has the specific knowledge to support lead qualification, prospecting, follow-up, and closing.
What Skills Does a Real Estate Virtual Assistant Possess?
There are many qualities and skills that real estate virtual assistants possess, among them are hard and soft skills such as the following:
#1 Handling of tools and platforms such as CRM, RPR (Realtor Property Resource), MLS (Multiple Listing Service), Trello, Gmail, among others.
#2 Handling of tools to book and create status reports.
#3 Excellent communicators both verbal and written
#4 Customer-oriented and customer satisfaction oriented.
#5 Self-sufficient, resourceful, and organized.
#6 High attention to detail
#7 Open to learning every day.
What are the Differences Between Inside Sales Agents and Real Estate Virtual Assistants?
There are many details that differentiate them, but we can mention the main and most important ones:
#1 Inside sales agents focus on sales. Virtual real estate assistants are people with a broader focus on their functions.
#2 Real estate virtual assistants can create content for social networks, as well as blogs, websites, newsletters, among others. Inside sales agents do not work with content creation.
#3 Inside sales agents are often so focused on preparing prospective clients for the sale that they may forget to create a connection with them. Virtual assistants focus on creating experiences that delight the prospect.
#4 Virtual assistants represent significant cost savings and in particular Latino virtual assistants support the expansion of the business into the Latino market.
How do I know that a Real Estate Virtual Assistant can Help Me More than an Inside Sales Agent?
The short answer is: by trying.
At There is Talent we have an incredible team of virtual assistants that are available to start working with you.
What’s really important is that you can identify what the core aspects of your real estate business are.
If you need to focus on your marketing campaigns, content creation, lead tracking, a real estate virtual assistant is most likely the right choice for you.
If you have additionally realized that your personal book is a bit disorganized or that you are spending time on the same tasks, you can be sure that your best option is a real estate virtual assistant.
After all, virtual assistants in general, are people with a certain amount of skills that can support any entrepreneur.
In the case of a real estate agent or realtor, they always need to have the skills required to fulfill the specialized functions of the position.
In virtual assistants, you find an incredible benefit that ISAs do not have.
Virtual assistants can handle many more functions and support you comprehensively.
So, are you still evaluating which option is best for you?
We invite you to book a strategic call with our director, Claudia, where you can discuss all the details and doubts you may still have!