Build your database now so it’s worth GOLD in the future.
Don’t be a transactional salesperson.
We work way too damn hard to just “do deals”
Fast Value: Build a database worth gold. Your systems should help you convert more leads and earn higher fees. They should also help you build repeat and referral business. Do the things today that your future self (5 years from now) will thank you for.
Too many agents make HUGE mistakes when it comes to all the leads that aren’t “right now” deals.
Too many agents are transactional.
Let’s talk about how you can build a database that is your future goldmine.
I’m going to share a very simplified version of our workflow in our CRM. I’m going to break this into 4 Steps.
Pro-Tip: If you’re not using a CRM for 1000% of your business, you are out of your mind. You probably also have 10,000 unread emails and 100 unread text messages. I guarantee you’ve left tens (probably hundreds) of thousands of dollars on the table. Pick a CRM and use it.
Step One: The first thing we need to do is segment our leads…
Most people break their leads down into some version of “hot, warm, cold, or A, B, C”.
Think about your stages or segments as Top of Funnel, Middle of Funnel, Bottom of Funnel.
Top of Funnel = Not moving anytime soon
Middle of Funnel = Moving 90 days to a year
Bottom of Funnel = Moving in the next 90 days
Here is how we do it. I’ll write it out from top to bottom of the funnel.
Top of funnel:
Nurture
Middle of funnel:
Spoke to Customer > Appointment Set > Met with Customer
Bottom of funnel:
Showing Homes (multiple meetings), Listing Agreement, Active Listing, Submitting Offers, Under Contract
Step Two: Setting up our Follow-Up Cadence
Now that we have our leads segmented, we need to set up our cadence for follow-up.
This part is actually very simple. Don’t overthink it.
- Top of funnel = Follow up every 30-45 days
- Middle of funnel = Follow up every 7 days, aka weekly
- Bottom of funnel = Follow up every 3 days, aka twice a week
Again, simple. Don’t overthink it.
Step Three: Activity-Based Follow-Up
Actions speak louder than words. The next thing we need to do is set up for follow-up based on activity.
A lead might tell you that they’re not interested in moving anytime soon, but their actions might say otherwise. You want to make sure you can follow up with those leads too.
How you do this is going to be dependent on your CRM.
Put simply, you want to follow up when a lead does something meaningful on your website.
Step Four: Driving activity (traffic) to your website
Traffic to your website is so undervalued in our business.
Maybe it’s because agents are terrible at marketing. Maybe it’s because most agents don’t invest in a website. Who knows, but it leaves a massive opportunity for you to get good at it.
Here are my beginner and advanced ways to drive traffic to your site…
Beginner Traffic:
- a) Send listing alerts from your website as opposed to your MLS. Every single agent sends properties through the MLS, you will be sending it from YOUR website. Not only does this drive traffic, it differentiates you.
- b) Listing Alerts (homebot, fello, etc). Letting homeowners know what their home is worth. This drives consistent traffic to your website, and it’s the only thing homeowners care about.
Advanced Traffic:
- c) Weekly Newsletter into Blog. Emailing your database every week is so easy, yet so few people do it. Send a monthly market update in the first week of every month. Send a value-packed email every other week of the year.
I’ve been sending a weekly email newsletter for 3 years to 14,000 leads. We get 6,000 leads every single week, opening our emails and clicking to our blog.
- d) Turn that weekly newsletter into content. Film a weekly YouTube video to maximize the effort you’re putting into your newsletter. Post that on all platforms for long-form (Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn)
- e) Turn that long-form content into short-form educational content. Educate your audience. You can chop up the long-form video to make many short-form videos. You can also take the script, shorten it, and re-film a short-form video on the same topic.
- f) Create Case Studies based on your client wins. Share stories of how you have helped your clients overcome the problem they were facing. Massive bonus points if you can get client testimonials. SHOW what it looks like to work with you vs. telling them.
- g) Retargeting ads on Meta & Google. Putting ads in front of people who have already been on your website will help build the “I see you everywhere”. You can retarget homes for sale or even your monthly market updates.
I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. None of this is rocket science. You can do everything on this list with about 2-4 hours a week of your time invested.
Summary…
Segment your database. Follow up with them according to where they’re at. Market to them with value content.
aka…
Do the Basics.
At a High Level.
Consistently.
Over time, this will help you build a database that is worth GOLD. You will be turning leads into clients at scale.