Metroplots launches CRM app for brokers AgentDesks

Chennai-headquartered Metroplots Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates residential property portal Metroplots.com, has launched a mobile enabled customer relationship management (CRM) app for brokers called 'AgentDesks' that aggregates leads from various search portals.

Commenting on the shift in focus, the company's co-founder Biju Ashokan said, "Since Metroplots is manpower driven, we thought it could hit a roadblock. Besides, offering freebies to acquire customers in this space requires deep pockets. On hindsight, we had built a CRM solution for our own company and were pretty amazed with the way it eased our task. So we decided to launch it for other agents as well."

Basically, the app helps in recording property information, adds customer details, tracks customer status, monitors the sales team, responds to customers and sends property details from the users' mobile phones. It addition, it also provides task alerts and handle customer relationships.

The features vary between individual agents and the ones with a team. While individual agents pay about Rs 500 per month for the solution, team players pay Rs 3,000. The app was launched last month and has already completed 5,000 downloads. About 20 per cent of its users are already paying customers, while the rest are freemium users.

With AgentDesks, the company competes with Bangalore-based Homebuy360 which also handles the entire sales and marketing operations for real estate brokers.

Where is Metroplots headed?

Started in June 2009, Metroplots helps customers identify and purchase new residential properties across Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore and Gurgaon. It has a transaction-based service model in place where the company partners with developers and banks to help buyers with home loan applications, loan against property and even personal loans from banks. In turn, it charges a fee (read commission) per transaction from developers, based on the property pricing.

As of now, 800-plus projects from more than 500 builders across 27 cities (7 tier I and 20 tier II cities) are listed on the site. It has recently launched the classifieds model wherein it sells leads to brokers. The company also has a referral programme that enables users to refer their friends and family and get one per cent commission of the total value of the property being bought.

According to Ashokan, the site is getting 50,000 visitors on a monthly basis, out of which 60 per cent are unique visitors. The company claims of having crossed 750 transactions clocking Rs 1.5 crore in revenues in the last fiscal year. He further adds that the company is profitable and will continue to hit higher profits in its existing cities before expanding in other cities. Besides Chennai, the company has offices in Bangalore, Mumbai and Gurgaon with a team size of 30 employees.

Metroplots had raised under $1 million in its second round of angel funding from existing investors (who are members of Chennai Angels), as well as from Vardhman Jain, MD- insurance & business process solutions, India and Manila at Perot Systems in April 2012. Ashokan mentioned that the company is currently in talks to raise a seed round of about $2 million, which should be closed in the next two months.