Vancouver Wa Real Estate - Elite Realty NW

Tip #36 - What Do I Do With All Of These Leads?

If lead generation is the heart and soul of any successful real estate business, then a good lead follow up system is certainly the brains of the operation. Your system will be comprised of two parts: 1) a database to store and track all of your contacts and leads, and 2) a turnkey series of touches (contacts) that is scheduled and implemented for each of your contacts.

The Database - Your database can be as simple as a shoebox filled with recipe cards that contain the contact information for your contacts. That would be cheap and simple but I don't recommend it. Your database could also be sophisticated and elaborate. The upper end systems are usually referred to as Contact Management Systems. There are dozens of them that are available online and are specifically designed for Realtors. Top Producer®, Wise Agent®, and My Red Tools® are three contact management systems that will get the job done. The key here is to build good habits early. There is nothing like taking the cheap route for the first two years while you grow your business and then having to transfer all of your contacts out of that shoebox and into a contact management system!

Series of touches - These are a series of predetermined messages and calls that will go out to each of your contacts. I use a system called an "8 x 8" which is based on the system in Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller. (For those of you who prefer the Cliffnote version, it is the chart at the bottom of page 146) It is 8 touches in eight weeks. The idea is to stay in the front of a client's mind by sending a reminder each week. A touch can be a phone call, a letter or postcard, and email, or any other source of communicating with the potential client. Whether you use Gary's 8x8 or design something of your own, it is crucial to your business that you have a system in place.