Do all your efforts go into capturing new leads? This mistake is common among realtors. You might buy a few Facebook ads, gain several new prospects, and then call it a day.
But this approach can cause you to overlook a significant source of potential listings: your own database.
Learning how to harness your existing contacts could save you five times what you’d spend on marketing and give you 60-percent better odds of gaining new business. And, increasing your customer retention by just 5 percent could bring a 75-percent boost in profitability.
Are you sitting on a goldmine? 4 strategic ways to leverage your leads
Successful agents glean much of their business from referrals and repeat clients.
Follow these simple guidelines, and you can too:
1. Get your database organized.
How’s your client database looking – kind of messy?
Take the first step to maximize your database and organize it. If you find a collection of random quotes and names in your CRM, it could benefit from a good cleaning.
This may be a painstaking process at first, but it’s a critical step needed to support clear client communication. For instance, you’re not going to talk to a longtime friend like you’d talk to your child’s teacher — unless they happen to be the same person.
With that in mind, you can’t create too many categories in your database. Come up with a system that makes sense and use it.
These are a few strong options for making database categories by relationship:
- Closest: Inner circle friends/immediate family.
- Close: Fairly connected friends/extended family.
- Clients: Present/past.
- Professional: Acquaintances/dentist/doctor/lawyer/teacher.
- Open House guests.
- Leads: Referrals/search/ads/social media.
Feel free to leave off high-maintenance clients and other difficult people in your life. You’ll be thanking yourself later.
2. Get working for 10 minutes a day.
Once you organize your database, commit to keeping it that way.
Set aside a minimum of 10 minutes per day to clean, organize, and comb through your leads. Over the long-term, this will save you plenty of headaches, while helping you to cultivate a fully functioning system for your contacts. “Functioning” being the key word.
Many realtors don’t manage their database well, and this often has to do with a lack of organization. Spending a small chunk of time on your database daily will keep it from ever needing “spring cleaning.” You’ll be able to use your database to make an effective lead nurturing game plan at any time.
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3. Get a CRM if you don’t have one already.
A Customer Relationship Manager, or CRM, is likely to be a vital tool for leveraging your client database. Much, if not all, of your manual input will be automated, saving you serious time and cutting unneeded stress.
A good CRM can:
- Help increase your productivity.
- Simplify the organizing process.
- Manage a multitude of different business tasks, including tracking leads, booking appointments, and sending out email drips.
When your lead nurture is set on autopilot, you’ll have more time to focus on growing your business, supporting an even higher conversion rate among clients.
4. Get an engagement strategy in place.
After signing up for a CRM, you can begin building email drip campaigns. Email drips are easy to customize and can enable you to follow up with leads at different points in their homebuying journey.
Another perk: You can make these email campaigns as complex or straightforward as you want them to be. Start by sending a welcome email and then flesh out the rest of your drips.
It’s important to have a solid engagement strategy so that you can provide value and keep in contact with your leads. Make an approachable voice, easy-to-find contact information, and simple emails the foundation of your strategy. Using these five email lead nurturing tips can help you avoid common mistakes that might cost you clients.
Above all, aim to offer your leads insight and show them you’re working for their interests.
Mining for new listings in your own database is a better bet than scrambling for cold leads from online referrals and social media. Past clients are a prime driver of brand-new business that many agents neglect.
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For educational purposes only. Please contact your qualified professional for specific guidance.
Sources deemed reliable but not guaranteed.