It’s 2012. Can you believe it’s here already? What steps do you want to take to improve your business in the New Year? In our last blog post, “I’ve Lost So Many,” we shared the story of Keller Williams agent, Brenda Mullen, who for years went without a consolidated database and proper real estate contact management system and lost tons of potential business. Perhaps your resolution for 2012 is to begin using a real estate CRM (customer relationship management) solution. If it’s not, maybe it should be. Here’s why:
1. You’ll be more organized and efficient. Is your contact data all over the place? Maybe it’s scattered in various locations such as your phone, sticky notes, and an online address book. This is a clear sign of poor contact management and if you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, you desperately need a real estate contact management software. With a real estate CRM, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to find the information you need, when you need it. You’ll never feel out of control again.
2. You don’t have to have a memory like an elephant. If you’ve missed, or have come close to missing, important commitments and/ or appointments, a real estate contact management system needs to be one of your new year’s resolutions. Moreover, if you’ve forgotten important personal information that a client has shared with you in the past, it can be both embarrassing for you and damaging to your relationships. A real estate CRM should be a top priority for you.
3. Calling past clients will be easy. You’ll have your communication history with your contacts recorded and have personal information about each one of them stored in your database. As a result, you’ll have something to talk about next time you pick up the phone and make a call.
4. You’ll build loyalty among your clients. Keeping in touch consistently with your past clients and your sphere of influence (SOI), builds loyalty. And with a real estate contact management software, it’s so easy to make sure you’re keeping in touch.
You can plan and schedule a yearly “keep in touch” plan so you can sleep well knowing you’re communicating with your sphere in just the right ways and never missing an important opportunity to win their business.
A recent survey of 5,708 home buyers and sellers released in November 2011 by the National Association of Agents found that 85% of home sellers would use the same agent again or recommend that agent to others. The underlying message here is that you must stay in touch with your past clients and continue to nurture those relationships. If a past client selects another Agent for their next transaction or refers a competitor, there’s no one to blame but yourself.
It’s also important to note that a monthly e-newsletter or writing a blog is not enough to ensure you’re “top of mind” with clients. It’s simply not a sufficient “keep in touch” strategy.
5. You’ll convert more real estate leads into clients. With a real estate contact management system like IXACT Contact, you can add leads into your database and then immediately assign them to a lead nurture program already designed for you (or you can create your own). These programs (or Activity Plans) have been specifically designed to convert leads into clients through a series of drip emails (drip marketing can be highly effective), phone calls, and other communication activities.
Get started now. We’ve made it exceptionally easy. Simply go to our website at www.ixactcontact.com and sign up for your FREE 5 week trial today! Rookie real estate agent? Get 6 months free now by signing up at www.ixactcontact.com/rrp!