Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, a leading real estate coach and author of “Sell with Soul,” prepared a great list of things all Agents should be doing to maximize their business success and build that coveted referrals and repeat business. Jennifer recommends IXACT Contact to all of her clients and would tell you that many of the items on the list below can be achieved just by using a good real estate CRM on a daily basis. Here is Jennifer’s list. Our commentary is in italics.
1. Do you have a photo on your business card? (“To Photo or Not to Photo?”)
2. Do you follow up on referrals sent or received? (“Ten Tips for Being a Good Refer-ee”)
Remember that your Agent CRM will track referrals for you. You can run a report and see who’s referring you and how often. You can then send out Thank You notes and follow-up right from within the system.
3. Does the Contact Me link on your website work?
Be sure any “Contact Me” forms on your website are linked to your CRM. That way, when new real estate leads come through, you’ll get an immediate email alert for fast follow-up, and they will be automatically added to your database. From there, you can put them into a specific group, add them to your e-Newsletter distribution list, and/ or send them a customized drip marketing campaign.
4. Does the link to your website in your email signature work?
It’s a good idea to add your social media icons to your email signature and header. You can set up your signature and header in your CRM so when people click on your social icons, they’ll automatically be directed to the right pages.
5. Is your phone voice off-putting? (“How’s Your Phone Voice?”)
6. Do your eNewsletters go out from your company name instead of yours (so your SOI might delete them unopened and maybe even block you)?
IXACT Contact’s CRM for Agents comes with a professionally written and designed monthly real estate newsletter that’s sent out under your name and email address, and with your brand look and feel.
7. Are your incoming emails aggressively blocked by your ISP? (“Why You May Not Be Hearing From Me”)
If you’re sending out mass emails using an email client like Outlook, you’re increasing the chances your emails will be blocked by ISPs or go into the recipients’ spam folder. Why? Outlook isn’t designed to be an email marketing system. On the other hand, a CRM like IXACT Contact is integrated with a dedicated email service provider (ESP) which is designed to maximize deliverability rates.
8. Is your business/cell phone ever answered by your child?
9. Is your outgoing voicemail message friendly and/or professional?
10. Do you return calls or emails on the weekend? “(Workin’ on the Holiday Weekend?”)
11. Is your business card boring? (“The Dorky Business Card”)
12. Is/are your About Me profile(s) boring? (“The Dorky Active Rain Profile”)
13. Do you risk offending contacts by misspelling names in your database (and therefore your communications)?
14. Do you risk offending open house visitors by asking them to sign in “for security purposes”? (“Open Houses – Turning Cheese into Soul”)
15. Do you post on Facebook about a difficult, PITA client (or real estate clients in general)? (“Five Dollar Charge for Whining”)
16. Do you blow off parties you RSVP’d for? (“Show Up When it’s the Right Thing to Do”)
Manage all of your events and invitations directly from the calendar built into your CRM. This way, it’s easy to track which events you’ve committed to, which ones you haven’t, and which ones are pending. And when it comes to planning events of your own, your CRM will remind you when key details for the event (such as booking the venue or creating invitations) need to be completed so nothing falls through the cracks.
17. Do you change your email address every time you change brokers?
18. Do you use an email address you “never check” in your marketing?
All mass emails, including the monthly e-Newsletter from IXACT Contact, can be sent from the email address you use most. This way, people will see your email address and if they reply, it will go directly into the inbox you check daily.
19. Do you go on vacation without good backup?
If you’re going on vacation but want to make sure that certain emails are sent while you’re away, you can set up a custom drip marketing program in your real estate contact management system so while you’re on the beach sipping that Pina Colada, that all-important email will get to the right person at the right time.
20. Is your email auto-responder obnoxious? (“Do You Use an Autoresponder? Please Be Careful with it!”)
Will attending to any one of these make or break your career? Nah. But at $5,000 a pop (or whatever your average commission is), they can add up to some real money pretty quickly!
Did you answer “Yes” or “No” to most of these questions? Please leave a comment below!