In this post, I’m going to introduce you to a process that will make it easy for you to develop a loyal database which will lead to a continuous flow of referrals and repeat business.
The very first thing you need to do is to put in place an easy to use contact management system.
You’re probably wondering: what’s the difference between contact management, and a contact management system. Essentially, contact management is a process and an approach to doing business that develops stronger client relationships. A contact management system, on the other hand, is a software tool that enables and automates the process of contact management. You can do contact management without a contact management system, or piece of real estate software, but you’ll be FAR FAR less efficient or effective at it.
In future posts, I’ll talk about how to select the right real estate software for you. For now, it’s just important to understand that implementing an effective contact management approach is virtually impossible without an effective and easy to use real estate CRM system as a platform to build upon.
Once you’ve selected your real estate CRM, the next thing you need to do is develop rich contact profiles. What do we mean by “rich contact profiles”? Quite simply, a name, phone number and home address just isn’t enough anymore. You need to get to know your contacts on a personal level so that you feel confident speaking with them and can have meaningful interactions with them on an ongoing basis.
Think about how special your client will feel when you remember the details of your last chat, or you ask them how their son’s hockey tournament went two weeks ago?
What are the things you want to learn and record about your contacts over time? Here are some ideas:
- When you last spoke with them and what you discussed
- Their birthday, and that of their spouse
- Where they work and what they do for a living
- Their interests and hobbies outside of work
- Their wedding anniversary date, if married
- The names and interests of their children, and any other family members living in their home (i.e. parents, grandparents?)
- Their religion and approximate income level
- The date they moved into their current home
- Details about their mortgage such as the amount, term and interest rate
- Details about their current home and their vision of their “dream home”
- And the names of any referrals they have passed your way.
Of course, when you start on your journey to contact management mastery, and before you become a real estate marketing expert (which is very easy using IXACT, by the way) you won’t have most of this information on most of your contacts. So what do you do? I’ll answer this question in my next post.
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