LionDesk is a powerful real estate CRM that’s the equivalent of a great screwdriver: it does its one job really well. Plus, it’s extremely affordable and offers a suite of high-end features, should you need them. It’s pretty much the perfect tool to help agents close more deals with less stress.
Did we mention that the LionDesk CRM starts at only $21 per month, or that we rated it our number one pick for CRMs for 2022? Check out our in-depth review of the LionDesk CRM or jump to their website for a free 30-day trial. No credit card required—you just sign up and get started.
Under the Hood: Chris Linsell’s Video Tour of LionDesk
You can read our complete analysis or see the product in action for yourself. Chris Linsell, Senior Writer and Real Estate Coach here at The Close, takes you on a personal tour and review of LionDesk in this video.
Organization, Outreach & Nurturing: What More Do You Need?
LionDesk’s goal is to give agents, teams, and brokerages one simple tool for organization, lead generation, and lead nurturing. On paper, this sounds pretty simple—obvious, even. However, many software companies offer a Swiss army knife—a bloated tool with a dozen blades and implements, none of which work very well.
We won’t name names, but many turnkey customer relationship management (CRM) systems include integrated blog publishing, IDX websites—everything but the proverbial kitchen sink. Some platforms manage to pull off being all things to all real estate agents, but they charge accordingly. Products like these cost anywhere from $250 to $1,500 per month. LionDesk’s CRM costs only $21 per month.
LionDesk Is Best For:
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LionDesk Might Not Be Best For:
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How Much Does LionDesk Cost?
Amazingly, LionDesk is affordable for any serious agent and has increased its offerings and features. For just $21 per month, you’ll get almost all of the features highlighted in this article. For additional features, LionDesk offers a Pro+ package for $42 per month, and their Elite package for $83 per month.
| Starter $21/month | Pro+ $42/month | Elite $21/month |
|---|---|---|
| Bulk Texting + Emails | Bulk Texting + Emails | Bulk Texting + Emails |
| Transaction Management | Transaction Management | Transaction Management |
| Drip Campaign Templates | Drip Campaign Templates | Drip Campaign Templates |
| Facebook Lead Gen | Facebook Lead Gen | Facebook Lead Gen |
| Webinar Training | Webinar Training | Webinar Training |
| 2,000 Email Credits | Custom Text Number + AI Assist | Custom Text Number + AI Assist |
| 500 Text Message Credits | Bulk Campaigns | Bulk Campaigns |
| 100 Video Text Credits | Text-2-Sell Short Codes | Text-2-Sell Short Codes |
| Sub-account for Admins | Sub-account for Admins | |
| Multiple Transaction Management | Multiple Transaction Management | |
| White Label Email Domain | White Label Email Domain | |
| 7,500 Email Credits | 15,000 Email Credits | |
| 2,000 Text Message Credits | 4,000 Text Credits | |
| 500 Video Text Credits | 1,500 Video Text Credits | |
| Valet Contact Import | ||
| 3rd-Party Integration Support | ||
| 1:1 Training, Priority Support | ||
| Buy LionDesk Starter | Buy LionDesk Pro+ | Buy LionDesk Starter Elite |
Conveniently, you can keep the low, flat monthly rate of $21 per month and opt for a few add-ons, which are individually priced. That way, you don’t pay for what you don’t use. LionDesk add-ons include Facebook ad design and implementation tools, cold-calling power dialers, and custom landing pages
Our 3 Favorite LionDesk CRM Features
1. Ease of Use
When you first launch LionDesk from your browser, you’ll land in the dashboard. If you’ve ever used a CRM before, this will feel right at home. LionDesk’s intuitive interface makes for a mild learning curve, so you can jump in and get started right away.
On the left, you have a simple, easy-to-read menu bar that gives you a quick shortcut to the main functions of LionDesk.
To the right, you have the “Vitals” view, which offers a quick snapshot of how you’re doing in your outreach efforts. It keeps a running tally of outgoing and incoming calls, texts, and emails. The Vitals section is customizable so you can pick and choose what’s most important to you.
The Vitals dashboard is a visual way to encourage agents to push past their comfort zones and take their businesses to the next level. Only called three leads this week? You’ll see that number every time you log in to your LionDesk CRM.
You also can view recent contact activity, tasks due, a visualization of expected total sales, and your activity for the year.
Your dashboard is highly customizable, which is ideal since no two real estate businesses are the same. The interface is clean and simple, not packed with distracting colors and graphs, which allows you to focus on the essential information and tasks.
2. Tools for Getting & Staying Organized
If you click over to the Contacts tab, you can quickly add or edit a current contact, bulk upload contacts from another platform with a CSV file, or directly import your contacts from platforms like Gmail.
When you click on a contact, you get a wealth of information: emails they’ve last opened, previous calls or texts, and as much biographical or deal data as you have on your leads. The information is tucked behind accordions, so while it’s all there, looking at a contact is not overwhelming.
You can add custom fields for your contacts, such as how many children they have, their dog’s name, their favorite baseball team, or their credit score. All of this granular data comes in handy when it’s time for client outreach.
From this contact card, you can directly email or text your lead, and even call them directly. Hit that little phone icon and your cell phone rings, connecting you. You can also add activities and tasks, and include the contact in a campaign.
3. Outreach: Bulk Emails, Texts, Calls & Video
Outreach in the LionDesk CRM is straightforward. You can either click to call, text, or email individual contacts, or send bulk emails, texts, and video, based on your campaign strategy.
You can even set rules for leads from various sources. For example, you can set LionDesk to trigger a specific text message or video text message and send it to leads from Facebook ads.
LionDesk has 12 campaigns already built and ready for action, including drip campaigns for closed clients, home valuation, and general campaigns, both long and short for perspective sellers.
Bulk Emails
LionDesk makes it easy to send bulk emails to your contacts. For example, you can blast out a new listing to buyers, a quick intro to new contacts, or even a holiday video to your entire list.
Bulk Texts
If you want the higher open and response rates you get from texting, LionDesk lets you set up mass text campaigns just as easily as email campaigns. Send out that new pocket listing to your hottest buyer leads through a quick text. Oh, and you can send video texts right from LionDesk as well.
Video Emails & Texts
One of the coolest features is the ability to record and send video directly from the platform and send it out to your leads via email or text messages.
Since texts get high open and response rates and videos are more personal, why not combine the two and text out a walk-through of that pocket listing before it even hits the market?
Visit LionDesk for a Free Trial
Additional LionDesk Features
LionDesk’s AI Lead Assist
We don’t have flying cars quite yet, but we do technically live in the future now. I guess it was only a matter of time before a CRM like LionDesk harnessed the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to help you qualify leads. Her name is Gabby.
AI lead nurturing isn’t exactly new, but it has taken a few years for both the technology to mature and for people to be OK with it. While people prefer to speak with an actual person on the phone, we have grown accustomed to dealing with AI chatbots like LionDesk’s Gabby—both online and in text messages.
The technology is pretty complicated, but the way it works for you is simple. The AI is smart enough to recognize key trigger words like “buying” or “relocating,” and will respond with more questions to help gain information from your lead. In the example above, Gabby even uses peppy emojis in a natural way.
Gabby isn’t free, though. You’ll need a Pro+ account to get her to qualify leads for you. Even so, $42 a month is a small price to pay for AI and all the other features available in the Pro+ package.
Is the Real Estate World Ready for an AI Assistant? LionDesk Thinks So
Document & Transaction Management
If you’re the type of agent who tends to accumulate PDFs (and who isn’t?), you can store documents right in LionDesk and access them from everywhere.
The LionDesk CRM offers basic transaction management features to track deals, organize documents, and communicate with clients and other parties. While this is not a fully featured accounting package, it gets the job done. If you’re already using Dotloop or another software, LionDesk has an integration that lets you plug them right into your workflow.
Integrations & Lead Importing = Extra Customization
Speaking of integrations, LionDesk is an open API, making it easy for other companies to plug in their software and stay compatible. For example, you can auto-import leads from Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, and Zip Realty—or set up blended campaigns for tips from each source. You can also pull in leads directly from Facebook, as LionDesk is an approved Facebook CRM partner.
You can fully customize your LionDesk experience by integrating the software you use for accounting, transaction management, and marketing. Linked to companies from Zurple to Agent Shield, the list of LionDesk integrations is massive and constantly growing. Click here for the latest.d
Leveling Up: LionDesk Pro+, Elite & Additional Packages
Text-2-Sell
Text-2-Sell is one of the more unique features LionDesk offers in the Pro+ package. Using the provided personal LionDesk phone number, you can encourage leads to text you to ask for more information about a listing, a special buyer’s guide, a foreclosure list, or pretty much anything else.
Once a lead sends a text, LionDesk automatically responds and captures the lead’s phone number and contact information, adding it to your database.
This is perfect for sign riders, flyers, or postcards when you want to track the effectiveness of your ads and get phone numbers instead of emails.
Landing Pages
LionDesk recently added the ability to create landing pages that will capture and integrate lead information. You can use one of their many templates and customize it with the easy-to-use, drag-and-drop design tool for an additional cost.
The pages are quick loading, search engine optimized (SEO), and mobile responsive. The landing page bundle is either $29 per month or $289 annually.
The Power Dialer
LionDesk’s power dialer will let you upload and cruise through a list of FSBO or expired listings in one power session. While cold calling isn’t for everyone, you can also use this feature to follow up with your sphere of influence monthly to shake up some referrals.
That said, the power dialer is not included in LionDesk’s already very tempting base price, as not every agent will need or want it. Instead, they offer the Power Dialer for serious cold callers for $99 to $149 per month, depending on whether you want single or multiple lines.
7 Real Estate Cold Calling Scripts + Tips to Conquer Your Fears
Facebook Ad Partnership
One of the dirty secrets of online advertising is that Facebook’s Ads Manager is horrible. It’s needlessly complicated, difficult to navigate, and an all-around pain to use—even for professional pay-per-click (PPC) marketers.
LionDesk used to provide Facebook ad design in-house. However, they have now partnered with Boost, where you can create custom ads by uploading images and videos, curate your audience, and even pull MLS data to create instant listing ads.
Once the ads are built and distributed, everything is totally integrated with your LionDesk account. The automation works its magic, and you reap the rewards.
Boost is a separate subscription: running agent promotion ads cost $99 per month, and listing promotions built from MLS listings are $59 per ad.
How to Create Real Estate Facebook Ads That Actually Generate Leads
Broker Functions
Brokers can view advanced reports on leads, build drip campaigns assignable to individual agents, and have a global view of all deals in the office.
LionDesk offers round-robin or time-based rollout lead distribution for teams and brokerages—perfect for setting everyone up with leads but not breaking the bank.
Bottom Line: How Does LionDesk CRM Stack Up Against Other CRMs?
If you’ve been putting off trying LionDesk, you’re missing out on a fully featured and powerful real estate CRM that offers high-end features like AI lead nurturing, transaction management, video emails, and blended campaigns.
So how does LionDesk stack up compared to other real estate CRMs? Well, in our opinion, it’s a very attractive option, especially for newer agents who don’t want to spend a ton of money.
Given the value it provides, we recently ranked LionDesk as our best overall CRM in our in-depth CRM buyer’s guide.
Over to You
We encourage you to see for yourself with LionDesk’s free 30-trial. It doesn’t even require a credit card. Play around with the functions and interface, and let us know how it goes in the comments. Have a CRM question or opinion to share? Comment below or join our Facebook Mastermind Group to chat with fellow agents.
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