In this day and age of digital domination, you don’t need to be a computer genius to know that data is important. Even more important, is having access to accurate and organised data – this is essential for real estate businesses.
It’s an unfortunate reality, that many agents still rely on their memory for databasing. Such an approach will only ever lead to frustrating moments where you just wished that you’d written something down – it’ll also lead to considerable damage to your bottom-line.
Priorities
It should be the number 1 priority of your agency, to build a reliable and clean database – the foundation on which you will dominate the market. Do this in combination with a well thought out CRM solution such as iDashboard, and you’ll soon be looking at consecutive quarterly growth.
Here are the 6 steps to dominating the database:
Step 1
Make sure you consolidate all your systems into on database. This central point needs to be accessible to your entire staff team. It’s time to implement an online solution that can be accessed quickly, and by mobile if possible.
Put in place a scheduled training plan to empower agents and administrators to get the most from your CRM.
Step 2
Clean up the newly built database. This will clear off any useless contacts who you no longer need – especially those with missing or incomplete addresses. Only keep the clients who matter.
This step can often feel quite liberating for your team – it’s a metaphorical clearing of the cobwebs from the office. Plan for everyone to come together in this task, as a kind’ve team-building exercise.
Make sure that the new database has relevant categories in place – this is so that clients can be accurately sorted into divisions such as ‘buyer’, ‘vendor’ etc.
Step 3
Capture the active buyers accurately, by entering their details from open home events and web enquiries. Buyer data needs to be carefully managed, so make sure you triage them continually and clinically.
Step 4
Become the agent that everyone comes to in your area. This means appearing in all places that your prospective sellers might be looking. Invest in a mix of advertising media such as local magazines, online content, letterbox drops etc.
Step 5
Get into social media such as Facebook and Instagram. It’s also worth investing in Google AdWords to keep track of online analytics. Sourcing an expert in real estate digital marketing is a solid idea for managing this task.
Did you know you can import lists of contacts into Facebook for targeting of adverts via Custom Audiences? Click here to find out more
Make sure you use search engine optimization (SEO) for your website, so that you maximise traffic to it. You can use Google AdWords to come up with keywords for your local area for this task.
Step 6
Be the real estate business that your customers will want to refer to their friends and family. If you take care of your referrals by rewarding past and present vendors/buyers, you’ll reap the rewards down the line.
Successful data domination is all about working as a team – everyone is required to pull their weight. If they do, you’ll have a robust and effective data system in place to protect yourself from the bad habits of the human memory.