Raphael Bochner realized the real estate industry faced a big problem.
Most of an agent's day-to-day tasks—like uploading new properties, managing legal documents, or following up on contacts—weren't easy to do on the road and often required repetitive data entry across various systems. So, on-the-go agents had to put off those to-dos until they could access a regular desktop computer.
“The real estate industry is generally not that tech savvy, and that was frustrating for me,” Raphael said.
That’s why, after 20 years in the industry, Raphael founded SweepBright. SweepBright is CRM software that solves this problem for real estate agents in Europe by leveraging the power of automation at scale.
Raphael's goal with SweepBright was to empower real estate professionals to work from their smartphones. And the team is doing just that—with a little help from Zapier.
Challenge: Supporting unique client needs
First, Raphael wanted to focus on a problem he knew they could solve: the lack of effective mobile functionality for managing real estate inventory. He stayed clear of areas where other companies already excelled, like marketing automation or legal documents.
But, as Raphael built SweepBright and began working with new clients, it quickly became clear just how unique each real estate agency is.
“No two customers have the same tech stack,” said Raphael. “This problem is even more pronounced for SweepBright’s enterprise customers who have thousands of agents working on their platform.”
As a result, he'd need SweepBright to have strong integrations with the diverse list of SaaS platforms his clients relied on.
Many clients also didn't have strong technical skills or developers on call to help them set up new tools. Clients needed help implementing SweepBright so they could make their processes as efficient and mobile as possible.
Solution: Rely on Zapier for deep integrations
Fortunately, Raphael discovered Zapier Enterprise and quickly embedded the platform into SweepBright.
Zapier made it simple for SweepBright to connect to all its customers’ tools and makes it simple to quickly test and integrate new tools—so, their team can create unique tool ecosystems for every customer.
Along the way, SweepBright even began using Zapier internally to help it operate like an enterprise-sized company but with only 25 employees.
“SweepBright is the tech backbone and Zapier is the plumbing that connects everything."
Raphael Bochner, Founder and CIO, SweepBright
To keep his team focused on SweepBright’s core functionality, Raphael decided to rely heavily on Zapier to extend their capabilities beyond what could be built natively in their tool.
Securely moving data between systems
Zapier already offers 7,000+ integrations, so SweepBright didn't need to reinvent the wheel when it came to building connections to other tools. Instead, they were able to offer dozens of triggers—the action that kickstarts an automated workflow—so their customers could start automating ASAP. This competitive edge allows for greater efficiency and a more seamless user experience, which positions them as a market leader.
“We use Zapier to facilitate the exchange of information between two and sometimes three different systems for each of our clients,” Raphael said.
This allows SweepBright customers to leverage their data anywhere, regardless of native integrations. Real estate data is massive and complex, so being able to send it easily from one point to the other—such as from SweepBright to an email marketing tool and back—is a key advantage for SweepBright.
Zapier also gives SweepBright and its customers more control over what data is shared and where. For example, Zapier allows SweepBright to select individual permission levels per integrated application, so they only share the info they want to share.
Getting clients set up with speed and ease
With Zapier, SweepBright can create complex automated workflows for their clients, extending the capabilities of their product—all without coding or help from their engineering team.
“When growing a business, most times, you need something more cost-effective than hiring more people, onboarding more tools, or bringing on an agency.”
Automation is the key to scaling without adding more to their employees' plates. In fact, SweepBright has automated more than 15 million tasks through Zapier for their clients.
SweepBright would've struggled to build these complex, large-scale automated workflows in a short timeframe with any platform. For example, the SweepBright team built a complete tech stack for a large organization with thousands of agents and deployed it in only a few months.
“The cost of doing that with dedicated engineers and dedicated machines and having to host it would not be worth it. Our costs would probably double or triple. We've been enabled to do things that would have been very costly or just impossible without Zapier,” Raphael said.
Keeping costs low isn't the only advantage SweepBright has enjoyed. Raphael explained that building enterprise-level, custom functionality for customers would take too long with any other tool.
“Without Zapier, the sales opportunity would be wasted because the potential client would have to wait too long. They want solutions quickly.”
Reducing a massive workload
SweepBright automates recurring, critical tasks so their business can grow with a lean team and help customers accomplish more on the go.
Some of the processes they've automated include:
Facilitating critical conversations. When a SweepBright customer creates a ticket through Intercom, a notification is sent to the relevant team in Slack. When the ticket is closed, the customer is notified immediately, ensuring that the crucial final step is never forgotten.
Creating a central database to link data. SweepBright customers use Zapier to automatically input data from multiple tools into one Google Sheet. The Google Sheet can then plug into Google Data Studio and create dashboards to compare info from across their systems. This central database serves as their one source of truth across platforms.
Sending repetitive emails. When a property changes status from “prospect property” to “property under contract” in SweepBright, the seller is sent a checklist of actions to complete, like providing certain documents. Instead of manually sending this same email for every property, the broker can automate it off their to-do list.
Staying top of mind with prospective clients. A prospective client visits a property and gives the broker their info, triggering a Zap with a 24-hour delay. After the delay, a thank-you note is sent to keep the broker top of mind for prospective clients.
Zapier is a trusted team member
One of the top reasons Raphael selected Zapier’s Enterprise plan was the ability to have a dedicated Account and Support team.
Raphael has leaned on the dedicated and personalized support of his Customer Success Manager (CSM), Samantha, and Technical Support Specialist, Tim. Whether it’s guidance on strategic approaches or helping navigate them through technical troubleshooting, SweepBright swiftly gets the support needed.
Results: 50% more deals won and up to 27M tasks automated per month
From the start, Zapier has been a core part of what SweepBright offers its customers.
“We believe that understanding automation creates new opportunities,” Raphael explained. “Once customers get started with automation, they get hooked,” he said.
After just a few years of automating processes for in-house use and for their customers, SweepBright now automates up to 27 million tasks per month. (No, that's not a typo.)
“I trust Zapier to handle the most critical processes for SweepBright and for our clients,” he said. “Some people think that automation is just for smaller-scale organizations, but you can go very big on automation with very large organizations as well.”
Since its inception, SweepBright has been able to focus on doing what it does best while Zapier helps it scale and grow while closing more deals.
“Zapier helps us close far above 50% more deals than we would without it. It is a key element of our overall strategy and, therefore, of our sales pitch.”
Learn more about what you can automate with SweepBright and Zapier!
