In the world of real estate syndication, locating potential investors might not be the biggest challenge. The real challenge is convincing them to invest with you. Winning investors is beyond pitch decks and meetings. It’s showing legitimacy as they recognize who they invest in matters most. Real estate syndicators are responsible for ensuring the business runs smoothly and remains profitable, from underwriting deals to completing thorough inspection of properties all the way to building a business plan and working with the property management team.
Nonetheless, you still must impress your investors in order to secure the investment. Investors know they aren’t just investing in the property but in the syndicator who is running the business. Syndicators are the real investment, because without an organized, efficient syndicator, the money is put at risk of being lost. The syndicators challenge, therefore, is establishing trust with investors.
That’s why it’s important to go the extra mile for your investors. Most investors want to earn a passive income and do so hassle-free. Showcasing your ability as a syndicator to run operations and turn the investment into a profit is the sure way to close the deal. An investor management software is one of the simplest, yet profound ways to grab their attention.
A lot of real estate syndicators start out in Excel with their investors and until there is a need to grow the investor base, most of it can live within Excel, or within manual processes, for a long time. But as the doors open for more opportunities with investors, it’s smart to be prepared with software that will support you and your investors as the business grows.
However, choosing the right investor management software isn’t cut and dry. As technology has boomed throughout the 21st century, many software and solutions have popped up claiming to solve problems without causing any. Though some syndicators might still be using manual processes, there’s also a good chance syndicators could already be using a software that isn’t quite cutting it for investor relations. Investors don’t need software that has extra fluff or is trying to do too many things. This causes more friction and more headaches than it solves. Instead, here’s what you’ll absolutely need in order to impress your investors without overwhelming them:
An all-in-one-place Investor Portal
The software you use to manage your investor relationships won’t just be for you as the syndicator. This will also be where investors should be able to turn to, as well. Investors need a place to keep all of their information updated and accurate without friction. They should be able to see existing investments, distributions, documents, updates and FAQs under one roof. Ask yourself these questions as you check out various investor portals:
- Would my investors find this easy to use?
- Would this keep my communications and necessary documents organized?
- Will this make me more efficient as a syndicator?
- Is there anything missing that I absolutely need from this software?
- When considering the price, am I paying for more capabilities than I really need?
It’s important to remember that as technology has evolved and changed, so have people, including your investors. Messy Excel sheets and hours of manual analysis are a thing of the past. Investors are going to be paying attention to how organized and efficient you are as that will be a good indicator of whether they want to invest in you as a syndicator or not.
Capital Raise Automation
One of the main reasons syndicators lose out on investors is due to a lack of clarity in the investment process. If an investor feels confused, thinks the syndicator is unorganized, or simply feels like there are too many hidden barriers, they will drop out.
Capital raise automation is another important feature you will need out of software. Again, an investor management software should make everyone’s lives easier and that means starting with the current pain points. If you’re losing out on investors simply because of manually raising capital, then it’s time to start automating it.
Automating capital raise will lift a burden off you as the syndicator, but it will also eliminate potential friction with investors. With this feature in your software, you can easily send emails with secure wiring instructions, obtain signatures to subscription documents, and verify accreditation.
“We’ve been able to automate a huge chunk of our investor management, from getting subscription documents signed, getting payout details, generating welcome letters, and it’s been huge. During our raises our time spent managing investors has gone from probably 45 minutes per investor to about 5 minutes.”
– Andrew Campbell, Wildhorn Capital
This feature will give you a lift in your relationships with investors, but also will save you time and eliminate errors. Your future investors will be appreciative and impressed with you for making the process so simple and accessible for everyone involved.
Secure Document Management
When it comes to large sums of money and banking information, security is one of the top priorities for investors and syndicators. In fact, don’t be surprised if your investors ask about it. Ultimately, your investor portal should be a safe and secure place for all documentation and bank information.
With investor management software, you should be able to store documents to the correct investor profile. Some software allows you to bulk upload K1s simultaneously with smart name-matching features. This helps keep documents organized under individual investor portfolios to access when needed.
Investors should also be able to see their own documentation at any point which means it should be easily accessible for them, too. Investors should be notified when new documents are uploaded, especially where their signatures or wiring instructions are included or needed. All data and documents should be automatically backed up and archived in a secure storage system automatically, as well, for safekeeping. Investors and syndicators should be able rest easy knowing their private information is protected.
Investor Relations CRM
While this feature might be more for the syndicator, an investor relations CRM (Customer Relationship Management system) helps keep relationships with investors alive and thriving. Part of the friction investors experience with syndicators revolves around communication. When doing it all manually, syndicators waste hours sending emails back and forth, digging for documents and old conversation notes, all while trying to get accurate project updates and reporting to your investors. A CRM solves for all of this, taking note of all prior conversations and information. It can help syndicators communicate en masse with the necessary investors and improves investor relations since syndicators can communicate and pull information quickly with little to no friction.
Friction should be avoided as much as possible. It all ties back to making the lives of both the investor and syndicator easier. If the syndicator can better maintain and manage relationships with investors by having an included CRM within their software, then ultimately investors will reap the rewards in the long run, too.
It’s not a necessary feature to have within an investor portal, but it can be incredibly useful to have a CRM that lives within your investor management platform. Imagine being able to easily upload information about prospective investors and track conversations via phone, text and email all in the same place you do business with investors. Whether it can integrate with your investor management software or lives within the system already, it’s important to have a CRM no matter what.
Want to see our Ultimate Software Guide for Syndicators? Check out the full suggestions list here.