- A solid CRM solution is critical for effective contact management. If you don’t like the one you’re using now, don’t be afraid to experiment with a different platform.
Want to succeed as a new real estate agent? Start by building a solid database of potential business sources. Without it, you’ll miss out on countless clients and have serious difficulty creating a business capable of sustainable growth.
Luke Acree
Luke Acree, a marketing expert, recently appeared on a podcast with Pat Hiban to share what it takes for new agents to get a strong start in real estate.
Unlike many marketers, Luke clearly knows what he’s talking about — he helped his brother Steven finish his first year as an agent with over 30 transactions under his belt!
Read on to find out how Luke helped Steven build a database capable of generating that much business, especially for someone so new to real estate.
To learn what else you can do to start your real estate career off with a bang, listen to the podcast interview below.
Business sources for new real estate agents
Friends and family
Sphere of influence (SOI) is the cornerstone of a quality database. As a new agent, leveraging your SOI is the key to generating sales early on.
Because friends and family members are more likely to support your business endeavors than anyone else, make sure you add them to your database and keep them in the loop.
Past coworkers
Past coworkers are also worth adding to your database early on. Although past coworkers may not be as supportive of your new career as friends and family, there’s still a good chance that some of them are willing to send business your way.
A few words of caution: if you send an email or text blast to a large group of people at once, you can lose contacts fast.
Steven had email addresses for over 400 of the people who worked with his previous employer, and a quick email blast resulted in many of them asking to be removed from his contact list.
FSBOs and expireds
After you’ve built up a database with people you know, it’s time to start reaching out to people you don’t know. Obviously, reaching out to random people isn’t an effective strategy.
Instead, you should focus your efforts on property owners who may be in need of real estate services.
Tracking down FSBOs and expireds is typically the easiest way to do this. You can get information on these listings the old-fashioned way via the MLS, but that’s a slow, painful process.
Utilizing a service makes it easy to track these listing leads down, which gives you more time to focus on prospecting.
Build your business database with a solid CRM
Once you start generating a steady supply of real estate leads, efficient lead management becomes crucial. If you haven’t already found a CRM solution that works for you, now is the time to get on it.
Steven’s first CRM worked well, but it was a little too complicated and messy. He decided to try some other options in an attempt to find something more in line with what he wanted.
Migrating from one CRM solution to another can get messy, but switching out is much easier if it’s done early. If you don’t like the first CRM you try, experiment with other options as soon as you can.
The bigger your database grows, the larger the hassle will be to migrate.
Ultimately, Steven found one that met all of his needs and was much easier to use. He recreated his database in Contactually with relative ease and had a contact-management solution that was effective and easy to use, which is a combination that will serve most new agents well.
Want to learn more about what Steven did to succeed as a new real estate agent? Listen to the complete podcast with Luke Acree. You’ll also hear what marketing methods work for agents, the key to getting real estate referrals and more!
Pat Hiban is the author of the NYT bestselling book “6 steps to 7 figures: A Real Estate Professional’s Guide to Building Wealth and Creating Your Destiny,” the founder of online real estate sales training site Rebus University, and the host of Pat Hiban Interviews Real Estate Rockstars, an agent-to-agent real estate podcast with Hiban Digital in Baltimore, Maryland. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter.
