What's the Secret to Making Your Database Work for You?

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Do you track your sphere of influence (SOI) in a database? If you're not building, monitoring and tracking your database, you're missing out on a significant opportunity to grow your business. 

When talking about a database, we're referring to your contact list, a list of every single person you know, and even those you don't know. The database is broken up into two parts: mets and have-not-mets. People I've met are people I could call up, send an email or text to, and they are going to know who I am when I give them my name. The have-not-mets are those who do not know who I am yet and who I am trying to build a relationship with in the hopes that they will be a source of future business. 

If you have your contacts spread out across your phone, social media, and other sources, you really want to pull them all together into one database. I like to export the contacts from my Facebook, LinkedIn, Gmail, and any CRM systems into one Excel file. Once I have all my contacts in one place, I can sort them into one master list of everyone I know. 

For every 12 people I know, if I'm touching and contacting those people on a regular basis, I should be getting two deals a year from them. One of those deals would be from someone who is buying or selling, while another deal would be from a referral. If I market to them and keep in touch with them, it's going to result in the most cost-effective lead generation possible.

A touch is any point of contact with a potential client, whether it's via email, phone calls, or face to face conversations. The goal is to have between 30-36 touches a year with each contact. This means you have to reach out about three times per month; this might consist of a monthly newsletter, a phone call, holiday greetings, and other small gestures. The idea is to get your database together, work on a campaign to reach them, and execute that plan. 

Just remember, for every 12 people you know there should be two sources of business. If you have any questions about marketing to your database, please don't hesitate to get in touch. We would love to hear from you!

Why Tracking Your Leads Is so Important

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Today we'll be discussing the importance of tracking leads in your real estate business. Many agents don't keep track of all the leads that they get as well as they should, and that makes it hard to know what the return on investment is from your different lead sources.

To correct this problem, you've got to do two things. The first involves taking a look at all the closings you've had in the last 12 months and assign a lead category to each one of them. Whether the lead was from a past client, referral, or another agent, track the source and place them into different categories. You might be surprised where your leads originated from in the last year.

The second step you need to take is look at all of your expenses in the last 12 months, and group them around those lead sources. For example, did the expense come from a postcard campaign for expired listings, or internet leads that you paid for? If you haven't done this exercise before, I recommend it. It's quite telling to see where your leads come from and what the costs associated with them are. 

Agents tend to want to spend more money on more leads that have a lower return, whereas referrals from our sphere of influence tend to be the most cost-effective source of business. 

If you have any questions for us about lead management, or anything else regarding your real estate business, give us a call or send us an email. We can't wait to hear from you!