Read through any real estate group on Facebook and you’ll see the top question is often about which CRM is best. To which most will reply, “whichever one you’ll actually use.”
A CRM is a powerful tool for any real estate professional. And actively using it is, in fact, a critical part of being successful with it. Because the CRM is a framework that goes over your most important asset: your database. You’re actively generating leads that get added to your database, and your CRM is how you manage them.
But brokers often get laser-focused on that first step: lead generation. When in fact, the hard work you’re doing is wasted if you don’t work with the contacts in the database you already have.
Nurture your network with valuable content
So, you have a database full of contacts and a CRM to help you reach them. What do you do to stay top of mind?
One method is creating valuable content, positioning yourself as a thought leader. But becoming a thought-leader isn’t accomplished overnight. The most successful thought-leaders in any industry can sometimes spend years trying to develop a following.
The first thing you need is an idea. Think about your target audience and what they need or want to know.
For agents, good topics to cover are:
- Local community news and events
- General commentary on the property market
- Trends in interior design and renovation
These are just some basic ideas to get you started. Use these to inspire your own creativity. In this day and age, it’s easier than ever to start your own blog.
Again, developing a following takes time. Don’t let yourself get discouraged if you don’t immediately see the results you dream of.
Use behavior to identify opportunities
Once you start serving valuable content to your database, the real function of the content shines through.
Because the ways in which your network interacts with your content — what they read, what they ignore, what they click on, how many times they open an email — are all signals that contain the precious code you need to unlock your next opportunity.
This behavior analysis is what transforms your database from a bulky list of contacts to an effective tool to fill your pipeline of deals.
For example, a large percentage of your sellers are going to appear like buyers when you first come across them. Most portal inquiries, for example, are sellers that are researching the market and potential agents before they dip their toe in the water and decide to list their property. And the reason they are listing could be manifold, but two of the most common reasons are to upsize or downsize their home.
Therefore, it’s vital to be diligent and intelligent in identifying these prospective upsizers and downsizers early in their research. You want to be the first one to reach out and connect with well structured and relevant communications.
This is where the CRM rubber hits the road. You need software that uncovers a contact’s intentions and lays it out so that all you have to do is login and review. Next, it should take over to create a specially curated nurture campaign that works autonomously for you in the background.
Propensity data is one way to identify your next opportunity. That means looking at variables such as time in the home, credit status, and the number of children. Those factors can help you identify where your contact is in the process.
But when you marry that with behavioral marketing data to understand how are they interacting with the content you provide, you will get a deeper understanding of your database, surface the right contacts at the right time, and keep your business flourishing.