There are several types of real estate agents in this business, and if you’re in a populated market like I am, you know that your competition is fierce.
The question you should ask is: what defines successful agents and determines who has millions of dollars in listings a year versus those who struggle to get by?
Some real estate agents treat this job as a hobby. They make a few calls a week, pass out their business cards at parties and generally only keep up with their continuing education enough to stay active.
They hope that they’ll get a referral here and there and that all of their friends and family members will use them for their real estate transactions. Most of them have other jobs or live on an entire different income.
To be a full-time real estate agent, you need to be 100 percent committed to this business. Having a customer relationship management (CRM) to work for you is the first step to show that you’re serious about being a producer, and it will allow your past clients and potential clients to see that as well.
Most importantly, it will help you to keep organized and not let potential connections fall through the cracks.
Here are five things I can do with my CRM that give me an edge:
Put your CRM on autopilot
My business got to a point where it was getting difficult to remember to give someone a call or reach out to them. I would get anxiety knowing that there was someone I was supposed to reach out to but couldn’t remember when and why.
Having a bunch of connections is great, but it does me no good if I’m not connecting with them. It became imperative to make my CRM work for me.
One of the tools that I really appreciate is being able to put my contacting on autopilot. I place all leads, clients, past clients, referral partners and even vendors on an email and text drip campaign.
This makes sure no one is left untapped. My drip campaigns last can anywhere from a week to seven years depending on the contact type.
Take really good notes
Most CRMs will allow you to type in notes about each person and log your last conversation. Some will even record your last conversation if you’re using an auto-dialer.
This can eliminate mistakes such as asking how a deceased spouse is or mentioning children that do not exist. It will allow you to provide that personal touch that really gets you business and lets your contact know that you actually listen.
Become a paperless agent
How many of you have a binder filled with leads? Or maybe you have a filing cabinet with some pages that are yellow, some that are pink, some that are white? Do you often have filing nightmares?
I have eliminated the need for paper by keeping everything electronic.
As a bonus, I can access my contacts from your computer or phone, at the touch of a button.
Everyone I meet goes in my database. Your network equals your net worth, so it’s important to me that I actually consistently build my network.
Don’t spend time filling out forms
Some CRMs are extremely comprehensive, like Top Producer, and allow you to do your lead generation, customer information logging, email follow-up and even manage your website all in the same space.
This eliminates the need to retype information from database to database, which can easily cause a loss of time and a potential for errors.
While most agents are going from place to place for resources, I have them all in one place.
During a real estate transaction, there are so many details that pertain to a contract. Why spend even two minutes shuffling through paperwork to find the answer?
I have every transaction from contract to close in my CRM, and I would estimate my time saved each week is between four and 20 hours.
Market your business like no other agent
The biggest thing we look for as real estate agents is tools to help market our businesses. Well, I have it all.
Every day, I do some type of marketing, and I do it all from my CRM. If I need to do a postcard mail-out, labels are easily accessible.
If it’s time to send CMAs to past clients, I can do it with the click of a button.
When it’s time to send a mass email to say Happy Holidays, I can do it effortlessly with two clicks. If I’m running social media ads, I can send leads straight to a squeeze page that I created in my CRM.
Marketing is very important, and I make myself stand out. These tools alone give me the biggest edge against my competition.
Finally, every little bit counts, so anything you can do in our industry to get a leg up is worth some research and potentially a little investment.
Chastin J. Miles is a Realtor with Rogers Healy and Associates in Dallas, Texas. Follow him on Instagram or YouTube.
