In this article we’ll discuss three signs that indicate you really “know what you’re doing” when it comes to effective real estate contact management. So if you’re wondering if you can improve in this area, or are just curious to see how we’ll you’re currently doing, read on.
1. You manage all of your client and prospect information in one centralized location and slowly gather more information about your contacts over time.
Agents that excel in contact management don’t have data scattered in different places. Instead, they manage their information from one centralized area and understand that their real estate database is their most valuable business asset. In fact, it’s the only “tangible” asset agents have.
But that’s not all. They’re also sure to gather key details about their clients and prospects such as birthdates, anniversary dates, interests, and what they spoke with them about last. This way, they can “connect” with their contacts on a deeper level, have good conversation starters next time they initiate contact, and build deeper, more meaningful relationships.
For example, one of our customers, Karen, is great about ensuring she wishes her all of her clients a happy birthday when the time comes and sending them a video on their home purchase anniversary date. She’s also in-tune with her clients’ lives, so she can develop that meaningful connection we discussed.
2. You have a multi-channel keep in touch plan.
To excel in effective real estate contact management you need to have a keep in touch plan, and ideally that plan should take a multi-channel approach. This means you should keep in touch in a variety of ways such as face-to-face meetings, phone calls, email, and direct mail. Keeping in touch in a variety of ways is something that top real estate trainers and coaches agree upon. While it may seem like a lot of work, the reality is that with the right tools, such as a real estate contact management software, it can be done fairly quickly and easily (more about that at the end of the article).
3. You regularly run reports to glean important information about your contacts and business.
Of course, when we refer to “run reports” we’re talking about automatically generating reports from your contact management software for Agents. Here are some reports it would be a good idea to run regularly: a business directory list, original source of contact summary, referral history, outstanding tasks, and appointment summary.
At a glance, you’ll get an overview of all the business professionals you can recommend to clients (such as Interior Designers or Mortgage Brokers), how leads are hearing about you and which places are the best and worst to invest in lead generation, who’s giving you the most referrals, and outstanding tasks and appointments that need to be attended to. These reports will help big time when it comes to staying organized, managing your real estate database properly, and having a firm understanding of the way in which your business works.
The key to great contact management is using a top-notch real estate CRM, or customer relationship management system, such as IXACT Contact. A CRM isn’t just a place to store a list of names and addresses. Instead, it’s software that’ll help you keep in touch with past clients and leads in the right way, and stay organized and in-control.
The result: more referrals and repeat business and more free time for you. Some of the features a real estate CRM comes with that you’ll want to use in your business are drip marketing campaigns, real estate email templates, listing and closing Activity Plans, a professionally designed and written e-Newsletter, robust reporting, transaction management, and more.
Do you need to improve at contact management or have you already mastered it? Please leave a comment below!
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