VA QUICK TIPS:
(full story)
Staying In Touch Doesn't Have To Be The Hardest
Thing To Do ...
How important is it to contact new real estate
leads quickly? According to a recent survey
conducted by the National Association of
REALTORS®, “Many prospects expect a response
within one hour of trying to contact an agent
but many (agents) don’t even respond within 24
hours.” NAR data also shows that 71% of
all prospects interview just one real estate
agent. Having the right Contact Management
Software (CMS) is the best way to stay on top of
your leads and keep them organized...
Your Clients are Your Livelihood, Make
Sure You Keep Them
As you already know, one of
the most important assets a real estate
professional possesses is their database of
current, past and potential clients. Your CMS
can streamline the process of keeping in touch
with them. “When choosing a CMS, find out what
others in your office are using and ask them if
you can see it. If you are interested in a
system that no one you know uses, ask if you can
see it in action. "Many companies have online
demonstrations that allow you to view the
program in action,” advises
Charlotte Hoover a Virtual Assistant in
Phoenix. Christine Wade of
ChrisTech Industries suggests buying “the
simplest system that will work for you. Many
realtors buy systems that are too complicated
and then feel overwhelmed and intimidated;
therefore, they just don’t use it at all.”
Finding the Right System for You
Once you decide which
program you want to use – be it popular programs
like Top Producer, AgentOffice, Agent2000,
Outlook, Act! or whatever – start using it
daily. Kelly Gelle of
RealtorsInTouch says, “If you get used to
having your program open and it’s the place you
go to find a phone number, you will begin to get
more comfortable with it and will learn new
things. It will require some habit changing to
stick with it but don’t give up.”
Tips From the Pros
A Virtual Assistant can manage your CMS for
you so you get the maximum benefit with minimal
effort on your part. Several Virtual Assistants
who specialize in Contact Management Services
were asked to provide useful tips for getting
the most out of their clients’ CMS systems.
Charlotte advised adding “ALL contacts as soon
as possible.” Because we get so busy during the
course of the day, if we don’t do this as soon
as we can, it may not get done at all or worse,
the leads could get lost.
Since real estate is about
building relationships, the next piece of advice
is very helpful. Anne H. Grove of
Brokers Aid recommends, “When entering
someone into your system, add a few notes too.
These notes make you look brilliant six months
later when you ask if Spot (the new puppy) ever
made friends with Muffin (the cat). People feel
complimented when you remember details about
their lives. After this, it’s much easier to ask
them who they know that may be considering a
move in the next year.” Anne goes on to say, “If
you pick up any information from a voice mail or
in a conversation, make a note of it. Prospects
will turn into clients if they think you care
about them. Remembering details is an easy way
to show that you listen and care about what they
tell you.”
“The single biggest problem I have seen
realtors experience with their CMS is either not
using it or not using it effectively. The CMS
should be a tool to assist a realtor and make
their business run more efficiently,” says Anne.
Be Honest With Yourself
Anne also advises realtors to “avoid
cluttering your task list with a bunch of tasks
you honestly know you won’t do. Having a clean,
simple task list will allow your CMS to become a
powerful tool instead of you becoming
overwhelmed or discouraged and not using it at
all.”
Categorize To Save Time
“When using the Outlook 2003
Contact database, make it a practice to assign a
category to each contact,” advises Donna
Gilliland of
MOSTraining.com. “For example, you may have
several contractors you do business with. You
may want to assign a Contractor category to
these contacts so that in the future you can
view your contacts by category and all the
contractors will be grouped under the Contractor
category.”
On the same note, Linda
Wasson of
VirtualizedOffice advises, “Choose something
that allows multiple contact or group types for
individual contact entries. For example, a
single contact might be tagged as a buyer, a
buyer in a specific price range, a member of
your sphere of influence, a first-time homeowner
and part of your e-mail or newsletter
distribution list. Creating targeted
subcategories for your contact entries creates
subsequent communication opportunities using
more focused topics of greater relevance. Your
communications have more importance and value to
the contact and you look more professional and
interested in your clients’ individual
interests.”
Want To See How Many Prospects Came From
Your Newspaper Ad?
“You can set up categories for all lead
sources and then search for all prospects you’ve
gotten from a particular advertising venue. For
instance, with a few clicks of the mouse you can
separate all the newspaper ad prospects in an
easy-to-analyze list,” says Charlotte Hoover.
This is a great tool for analyzing which
marketing venues are working best.
Anne Grove suggests, “Start assigning most
contacts to an A, B or C priority category. A’s
are the highest priority and C’s are the lowest.
Once completed, most contacts should be assigned
several categories. The Advanced Search feature
allows searching of multiple categories and will
make your CMS a much more valuable tool for
you.”
Use Your System for Free Marketing
Charlotte Hoover suggests using “the drip
campaigns that come with your CMS. Once clients
are assigned to a campaign, they will
automatically receive e-mails from you” with
little effort and expense. “Many
systems can be set up to remind you to perform
specific activities such as making calls,
checking on paperwork, setting appointments,
etc.”
Which System Do You Use?
There are several CMS systems on the market
specifically for real estate professionals. The
most common are Top Producer, AgentOffice,
Agent2000 and Outlook. A few VAs sent in tips
specifically for two of these products and
another you may not have heard of before.
If You Use Top Producer …
Renae Bolton with
Marketing4Realtors provides this tip for Top
Producer users, “If you use Top Producer to
manage your leads, make full use of it.
Incorporate your e-mail so that all your messages
will go through Top Producer. The system is
designed to save, on the server, copies of all
e-mails that are sent or received through your
e-mail addresses, categorized by lead. This gives
you two timesaving benefits: 1.
Just click on the lead to view the history of
all e-mails sent or anything else done for that
lead and 2. You never have to
worry about saving dozens of e-mails to ensure
you have a paper trail for each lead – or hunt
through them all to find something. It will all
be right there, freeing you up to spend more
time showing properties.”
And Kelly Gelle advises, “If you’re using Top
Producer, be sure you record the details of
their dream home in the future homes area.
Recording the present and future homes details
will allow for easy reverse prospecting and
targeting the right people for a particular new
listing you have.”
AgentOffice Tip
Tammy Lorette of
Virtually Yours says, “With AgentOffice you
can keep your contacts together in one place,
set up your leads and follow up management. The
software tells you when you need to call your
clients or when you need to send them more
information. You can also keep track of all your
sales complete with pictures and commission
amounts. With AgentOffice you can import images
to set up your letterhead, create templates,
design postcards and produce powerful material
to keep you in touch with your contacts. Staying
organized is the best thing you can do as a busy
agent.”
Have You Heard of Shared O?
Carolyn Nelson of
Online REPA uses Shared O to help her
clients manage their contacts. “I use Shared O
to manage all incoming e-mails, tasks, calendars
and contacts when a new lead is sent to the
designated folder in Outlook. The information is
automatically synchronized with the designated
folder on my desktop. Since I have an assigned
e-mail address associated with my client’s
domain, I can immediately respond to the
inquiries on behalf of the agent.”
An Important Asset: Your Database
One of the most important assets a real
estate professional possesses is their database
of current, past and potential clients. Your CMS
can streamline the process of keeping in touch
with them. A good CMS program can offer all
sorts of features but unless you resolve to use
it (or better yet, have it used for you), it
won’t do you any good.
The importance of establishing and
maintaining contact with clients is evident. To
make it work for you, be sure to choose a CMS
program you’re comfortable with and then use it.
If you don’t want to be bothered, hire someone
to manage it for you but whatever you choose to
do, make it work for you.
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