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BUILDING A DATABASE THAT WILL SUPPORT A CAREER
Seminars & Systems by Pat Zaby | InTouch 2
Contents Definition ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Organization .................................................................................................................................. 4
Maintenance ................................................................................................................................ 7
Whose Contact Record Is It? ...................................................................................................... 8
Contact Record Procedures ...................................................................................................... 9
Meetings ..................................................................................................................................... 9
Pictures ....................................................................................................................................... 9
Follow-up .................................................................................................................................... 9
Email addresses ......................................................................................................................... 9
Social Media Connector ......................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Growing your database ............................................................................................................ 10
Prospect Your Inbox ................................................................................................................... 11
Building a spreadsheet .............................................................................................................. 11
Customer Communications ...................................................................................................... 12
Scheduled Calls .......................................................................................................................... 14
Phone Campaign Scripts .......................................................................................................... 15
Suggested Topics for Articles .................................................................................................... 19
Permission Protocol ..................................................................................................................... 20
Backup ......................................................................................................................................... 20
Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 21
BUILDING A DATABASE THAT WILL SUPPORT A CAREER
Seminars & Systems by Pat Zaby | InTouch 3
Definition The database for a REALTOR® can be defined as including information on people most
likely to buy or sell real estate or make referrals with their assistance and service
professionals needed to assist during the process. It needs to be available to the user
from different devices and locations.
One of Steven Covey’s favorite sayings was “to begin with the end in mind.” While this
article is focused on building your database, the “end in mind” is what you’ll do with it
when it is organized. The principal function of a database is to communicate with your
customers.
There is a Chinese proverb that says if you
want one year of prosperity, grow grain; if
you want ten years of prosperity, grow
trees; if you want one hundred years of
prosperity, grow people. Since every business is a people business, a long term strategy
for building a business is to grow people.
The objective is to identify current and potential customers and market to them. The
product could be groceries, clothes, cars or services but the customers for those
products are people.
In order to understand the value of a real estate professional’s database, it helps to
know how consumers determine which agent they’re going to use. In the latest NAR
Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, participants who had purchased or sold a home in
the previous 12 months were asked specifically how they selected their agent.
53% of buyers chose their agent because
they were a friend, referred to the agent or
had used the agent before. Sellers’
combined total of the same groups was
64%. Clearly, buyer and sellers alike are
making their decision on real estate agents
based on a relationship that indicates a
level of trust and confidence.
The principal function of a
database is to communicate
with your customers.
BUILDING A DATABASE THAT WILL SUPPORT A CAREER
Seminars & Systems by Pat Zaby | InTouch 4
The value of a database can be estimated by projecting the income derived from it
annually. One way to do this would be determine the source of each of your closings
for the past 12 months to see if they were a repeat customer, a referral or a friend. The
total revenue that comes from these categories will illustrate your database’s worth and
why it makes financial sense to spend the time and effort to maintain it.
Another way to show the worth of a database is to look at the potential revenue
generated by one loyal customer over a lifetime. Assume a person buys a home from
you today for $175,000 and it appreciates at 2% a year. Ten years from now, because
you stayed in real estate and you stayed in touch with them, they called you to list their
home which is now worth $213, 324 and they buy a bigger home for $319,986. They
keep that for ten years and it appreciates at 2% a year. Ten years from then, they call
you again to sell their $390,061 home and they buy a larger one still for $585,092. They
keep that for ten years and thirty years from
now, because you stayed in real estate and
stay in touch with them, you sold their $713,224
home before they moved into a retirement
community.
The total value of the real estate is almost $2.4
million and with a reasonable commission and
split, you would have earned $50,330 from one
customer. If you understand that a single contact could earn you over $50,000 during
your career, it becomes clear why you need to maintain a database with all the
people you know and stay in touch with them on a consistent basis.
Organization Experience shows the typical REALTOR® knows their database isn’t up-to-date and that
they should spend some time on it. However, agents don’t generally consider it a high
priority and other activities tend to occupy their schedule.
In many instances, the agent doesn’t have one database but multiple databases.
Consider the different places that you might have contact information. There’s the
address book in your email like Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo or similar service. Some agents
have more than one email accounts with different people in each address book.
Every agent in America has a cell phone with the majority of them being Smartphones.
They have address books that will hold basic contact information and most will
synchronize with their email program. The unfortunate thing is that many agents have
never synchronized their phone or do it so infrequently that it leaves them very
vulnerable.
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If your database is in your phone but isn’t backed up, there is unnecessary risk that the
phone will be lost, stolen or damaged to point that the address book cannot be
retrieved. If you’re using a cable to sync the phone with your computer, it can be a
sporadic occurrence. An alternative involves syncing your phone over the air. There
may be different procedures based on your phone and email service.
Other places that a person might have valuable contact information could include an
Excel spreadsheet with names and addresses that they have used for mail merge
purposes. There could be a stack of business cards with a rubber band around them or
little slips of paper with people’s name on them that have not be entered into the
database yet. Maybe there’s an old rolodex or an old appointment book that still has
contacts in them.
With all of these possible sources of contact information, it is no wonder that a person
has difficulty finding the name that they need. The goal is to consolidate these into one
or two, at the most, databases.
The slowest way to do this is to manually input each record. You can probably export
the contacts from the email programs to a .CSV (Comma Separated Value) file.
Importing and exporting is a simple procedure that is available on almost all programs.
To get the business cards into your database, you could use a dedicated business card
scanner. Another option would be the Fujitsu ScanSnap desktop scanner that allows
double sided scanning and comes with a card scanning program. If you’re a good
typist, you might be able to enter them manually as fast as the scanner does it.
Before you can start consolidating though, you need to
make a decision on what you’re going to use as your
primary database and where it will reside. It could be
installed on a computer as a software application but that
limits the availability to the information. The alternative is
to use a web-based application that could be accessed
from any computer or mobile devices on the Internet. It
also provides a solution to an assistant or team to have
access to the database.
There are a number of real estate specific contact managers and CRM programs in
both computer-based and web-based applications. While the fields in the contact
records are customized to accommodate the real estate business, they also have
features that agents just are not using. The other challenge is that some of them don’t
synchronize satisfactorily with all phones.
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The majority of real estate agents use Outlook in one of its desktop or online versions for
their email and to maintain their address books using the Outlook contact record. It is a
rich and robust application that will do almost everything that an agent needs. The
one notable item missing are the campaigns or action plans that many agents don’t
even use when they are available in real estate specific programs.
For this reason, Outlook is an excellent choice for a contact database. All popular
phones will sync with Outlook effortlessly which is one more reason to support this
decision. Gmail and Yahoo will also sync nicely with all popular phones.
The following checklist will help you identify whether the program or service you’re
considering has the features that are important for the real estate business:
• Handle email
• Sync with your phone
• Web access from any computer
• Robust contact record
o Categories
o Follow-up procedure
o Notes
• Mail merge – letters, labels,
envelopes and email
• Import and Export functions
• Calendar that syncs with phone
• Social connector for popular social networks
Your database should include all the people to whom you have sold a home to or for;
the people you know who might do business with you in the future and the people who
will refer business to you.
However, you’ll need to be able to search and sort through the contacts so that you
can effectively market to their needs. Applying
categories to each contact record will make
that easy. Categories describe the relationship
you have with each contact.
A common use of categories would be to sort
through all of your contacts to get a list of past
customers to make a specific mailing. The
homogeneous characteristics that they share
make creating a marketing piece something
that will appeal to more of them to increase the effectiveness of the mailing.
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Maintenance Once your database is consolidated, the next exercise is to go through it one record at
a time. This may sound like something that could be delegated to an assistant but it
can’t. This is your database and you know the people. Only you can go through them
and make decisions like what categories should be applied while trying to update the
information on each record.
This tedious process is absolutely necessary but
not without its rewards. As you go through your
contacts, you’ll come across one that reminds
you about an opportunity that you may have
forgotten. You need to pick up the phone
immediately, even though it is distracting you
from the job at hand, and talk to them;
investigate the possibility of it turning into a listing
or sale.
This procedure isn’t necessarily something that once you’ve done it, it will never have to
be done again. You need to plan on going through your database, one record at a
time, each and every year. The payoff will be big and it will definitely be worth the
time.
As you’re talking to people, you need to verify that you have their correct email
address. The public changes their email address much more often than business
people. Being able to send things by email to your contacts will not only save you a lot
of money in printing and postage, the delivery is almost instantaneous.
You need to try and acquire both spouses email addresses. Even though it is easy to
forward email to someone else, the nature of email is to treat it like a hot potato. Once
you’ve read it, a person has a tendency to delete it unless it is important or they have to
keep it for a while to do something with it.
Another procedure that will have long term benefits is to make a note about your
conversation so that you won’t forget important details. This can be a great sales aid
but it can also be a risk reduction technique. Make certain that not only do you write
the note but you must date the note otherwise, it is almost useless.
If you’re talking to a person on your cell phone and can’t immediately put the note in
their contact record, make a voice recording on your phone to transcribe when you do
get back to your computer. Another technique possible if your phone has voice
recognition would be to send yourself an email that would automatically transcribe it to
text that could be copied and pasted into the contact’s record.
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Each time you’re talking to a person and have the benefit of having your computer in
front of you, open their contact record so that you’ll have the benefit of your notes. It
can remind you of what you talked about last. As you’re talking, record any new
information you might learn about that contact.
Information on a contact is generally collected over time. For instance, let’s say a
contact called you. You pulled up their contact record and notice from the caller ID
on your phone that you don’t have that number in your list. You ask if they’re calling
from their cell phone and maybe they tell you that it is their office. You now have their
office phone number. It may not be a critical bit of information but there may be a
time when you really need it and then, it will be valuable.
The on-going collection of information pertains to anything that you might record in the
established fields of the contact record as well as other things. As you discover
birthdays, children’s names, rental property owned, when they purchased their home,
or anything like that, you’ll want to record it.
Whose Contact Record Is It? Some agents will put both the husband
and the wife’s names in the name field.
They generally do this because it makes it
easy to merge both spouses’ names onto
labels or mailings. However, it can cause
other issues. For instance, if you had Ken
& Karen Thomas in the name field but only
one email address, is it Ken’s or Karen’s? If
there is only one birthday field on the
record, whose birthday goes in there?
The solution is to select one name for the record; whoever is the primary contact.
Sometimes it will be the man and other times, it might be the woman. There are
generally fields for spouses and an extra birthday can easily be added. To merge both
names on a mailing, the mail merge codes “first name” + “spouse” are used.
It is good to record the date when you’re creating a new contact record. If the
contact record doesn’t have a field for that, you can put it as the first note. Other
valuable information that needs to be collected over time is the source of the lead to
help determine the value of certain types of prospecting and whether the contact has
ever referred a client to you. A person who refers enough people to you can be more
valuable than a repeat customer because the frequency can be more often than a
person who might only move once every ten years.
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Contact Record Procedures
Meetings - Most email programs give you an option of setting a plain
appointment on a calendar or making it a meeting. This not only blocks the time
and date but sends an email confirmation to the parties in a special file format
that will put it on the recipient’s calendar when they accept it.
Pictures - By having a picture of the contact on their record, it makes it easier to
visualize the person you’re communicating with. You won’t need to set up a
photo booth like they have at the driver’s license bureau. With a little Internet
sleuthing on Facebook, LinkedIn and other sites, you should be able to locate a
picture. You’ll see the picture when you have the contact record open, when
you receive email from them and when they call you on your Smartphone.
Follow-up – Occasionally, you’ll be talking to a contact and they’ll suggest a
date to get back with them about something. That really isn’t an appointment; it
is a reminder. Some of the contact managers and email programs have a
feature specifically for this type of situation. It will go to your task list and pop-up
a reminder on the day and time you set it for.
Email addresses – Collect as many email addresses as you can for a contact.
If they give you their email address, they are giving you permission to send them
messages. Find a reason to confirm you have their valid email address each
time you talk to a person.
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Growing your database Add new contacts regularly. Nurture relationships you have and actively pursue new
ones. Build a 100% Sphere of Influence business without ever having to make cold calls,
calling strangers or having to pay exorbitant referral fees. The more people you know
who are card-carrying members of your fan club, the more business you’ll have.
The following list will give you some ideas about adding names to your database.
1. Compile a list of every past buyer and seller
2. Address books from each email program you have
3. Add holiday greeting lists of friends and relatives
4. Export the people registered from your MLS new
listings announcements.
5. Add people you know from your church or place of
worship.
6. Add friends from your high school and college.
7. If you have adult children, add the names of their close friends.
8. Add the names of the parents of your minor children’s close friends.
9. Add names of acquaintances of your spouse from work, friends, classmates, etc.
10. Add names of people you know in civic organizations you participate.
11. Add names of people you know from your social activities.
12. Add friends from Facebook to your list.
13. Look at friends of your Facebook friends for people you know in common.
14. If you still have a Rolodex, go through it and reconcile it to your contact list.
15. Add any names you might have in spreadsheets that you used for mailings.
16. Add the names of the cards you have with a rubber band around them.
17. Look at directories of any organizations you belong.
18. Professionals that you do business with like doctors, dentists, accountant, etc.
19. Real estate affiliates you do business with like title, mortgage, insurance, etc.
20. Merchants that you do business with personally like cleaners, grocer, restaurants, etc.
21. Contractors that you do business with like painters, HVAC, and plumbers.
22. Former bosses and co-workers.
23. News media who could identify you as an authority on local real estate issues.
24. Out-of-town agents who could refer business to you.
25. Identify “Movers & Shakers” who know what’s happening around them
26. Add people each day as you meet them.
27. Add people that you receive email from.
28. Registrations at open houses (ask for email address).
29. Offering free reports from website or blog.
30. Subscribe to newsletter button from website or blog.
31. Have a subscribe button on your email signature
32. Have a subscribe button on your Facebook page
33. Have a subscribe button on your Twitter page
34. Friends of friends
35. Consciously aware to add 5 names per day
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Prospect Your Inbox An overlooked source of contacts could easily
be in the Inbox of your email. Some people
have hundreds, if not thousands of names in
their Inbox because they don’t delete them
very often. If this is the case, trying going
through the messages to see if there is someone
who should be in your database. If so, right
click on their name and you generally see a
pop-up menu that allows you to add the
contact to your contacts. It’s a quick way to find people that should be in your
database but are not.
Another way to add the name to your contacts would be to drag the email to your
contacts button. It will open a new contact record, automatically input the name and
email address and put a copy of the message into their notes file. You can apply the
appropriate categories and add any additional information such as their address and
phone number which might be on their email signature.
Building a spreadsheet Sometimes, it might be faster to type the names
and contact information directly on a
spreadsheet rather than have to open a new
contact record each time. You may have a list
such as from a church directory where you have
to manually input the information.
Open a new spreadsheet and put some titles for the columns such as name, address,
city, state, zip, etc. such as the one in the
example. You can adjust the widths of the
columns to accommodate longer fields. Each
contact’s information is put on a single row of the
sheet. If there’s something you don’t have on a
particular contact, leave it blank.
When you’re ready, save the file as a .CSV or
comma separated value format. This will allow
you to import it into most databases. Most
programs will allow you to apply a category to
the group at the time they are imported.
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Customer Communications Database management is an ongoing process that is never completed. The goal is to
compile the contacts so that you can begin working with them and realize that you’ll
continually add, modify and update the contacts. It is better to get it into a useable
condition than to try and get it perfect. If you wait until it is perfect to start
communicating, you’ll never get there.
As was stated in the beginning of this article, the
objective of database management is to
identify current and potential customers and
market to them. Selling a home is only one part
of the marketing process. It is a tangible event
but successful marketing wins the hearts and
minds of our contacts so they’ll consider us as
their REALTOR® for life. Successful marketing
results in repeat and referral sales.
Customer Communications is the principal reason to have a database but before a
person begins, they need to have a plan. It is certainly easy to communicate about
the purchase or sale of a home which might interest a person every ten to twelve years
when they are moving.
The challenge is to develop an ongoing dialog that will interest our contacts when they
are not in the process of buying or selling. The theme of the message needs to have a
common interest to all of our contacts. The message should be anticipated as
interesting and important. It should be relevant to our relationship with our contacts. It
should reinforce our brand as a real estate professional committed to our contacts.
REALTORS® are doing a great job in helping their customers and clients buy and sell
homes. Another reference to the Home Buying and Selling Survey is the question
where both buyers and sellers were asked if they were satisfied with the service they
received from their agent in their recent transaction. 89% of buyers and 84% of sellers
said they were satisfied and that they’d use their
agent again.
You’d expect that with 9 out of 10 saying they
use the agent again, that repeat business would
be a sure thing but the staggering fact is that
only 11-15% of the people actually do use the
agent again. The reason for the 80% fallout is a
result of not maintaining communications with
them.
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What agents are not doing is costing them sales and money now and in the future.
There is currently one REALTOR® for every 300 people living in the United States. The
liklihood is that a person qualified to buy or sell a home probably knows more than one
REALTOR®. When they need the services of a REALTOR®, will they remember the agent
they know or possibly, have to decide from the different agents they know. They might
make their determination by the agent’s knowledge, willingness to help, their
professionalism and the trust that has been established between them.
Clearly, to expect repeat and referral business from past customers, it isn’t enough to
do a good job initially, an agent must continue to earn their trust and confidence year
after year.
An appropriate strategy to maintain top of mind awareness with your contacts is to
help them become better homeowners. This has benefits to them not only when
they’re buying or selling but all the years that they own the home. By helping them be
better homeowners, we demonstrate our commitment to be their REALTOR® for life
while sharing our expertise, suggestions and resources.
If the theme of the message is to help them be better homeowners, we need to offer a
variety of topics that will accomplish that. They can include things such as financing
ideas, tax information, DIY projects, insurance tips, suggestions to protect the value of
their homes, decorating ideas, money saving tips and recommendations of service
providers. This mix can provide a wealth of
information to help them be better homeowners.
The responsibility of staying in touch is with the real
estate professional. It isn’t something that can be
left to chance but needs to be a system that
guarantees regular, consistent communication.
The challenge is making each contact something
that is interesting, relevant and anticipated. It
must be centered on the needs of the consumer,
not the agent.
A multi-channel communication strategy can be developed to reach your contacts
throughout the year. Meetings, events and phone are more effective than others but
at the same time, are more costly in time and money to administer. Since 80% of your
income will be earned from approximately 20% of your database, the most expensive
communications will be reserved for the high-value contacts.
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The less expensive forms of communications will be used to reach all of your contacts.
Direct mail, both print and email, blogs and social networking are easy to produce and
send.
Scheduled Calls Establishing scheduled calls to your past customers on a regular basis is one of the best
methods to maintain top of mind awareness. The calls give you an opportunity to get
immediate, unrestricted feedback. To implement a successful call campaign, commit
to the process by blocking the time on your
calendar for one hour a day, Monday
through Friday. Don’t allow anything,
including an appointment, to interfere with
your commitment.
Consider lunch dates with your best contacts during the week. It is always better to go
to lunch with someone who might do business with you or refer business to you than to
go to lunch with your co-workers. Eating a meal with a person can be an opportunity
to bond. It is a relatively inexpensive investment that can pay big dividends. The
relaxed atomosphere can give you more time and a better environment to really listen
to each other.
Use the categories in your database to make your calls. Open the contact record and
review the notes and social connector if available. Plan on a five to eight minute
conversation with some personal interest and end with telling them something good or
exciting about the market. Record what you talk about in their notes and add any new
information to the data fields . Follow up with a
personal note or email. Record a follow-up
reminder when to contact them again.
Some agents don’t like to make phone calls
because they’re concerned about what to say
in what could be an awkward moment. Having
a formula for the six to eight minute conversation
should relieve any anxieties while putting
structure to the call.
1. Each conversation should begin by
identifying yourself and saying something personal about them or their family. A
familiar statement heard in Dale Carnegie’s Win Friends and Influence People
classes is “to make people like you, talk about them.” This could be easily
accomplished by looking at your notes from the last conversation or something
they posted on one of the social networks you monitor.
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2. The next thing you bring up is the purpose of why you’re calling. It could be
something that reinforces your brand to help them be better homeowners. It
can be a suggestion, news or a reference to something you read. There are
some examples listed below.
3. As you wrap up the call, make a request. It could be as simple as “please keep
me in mind if you hear of anyone wanting to buy or sell a home.”
Phone Campaign Scripts Area Activity – “…I noticed there has been some sales activity in the area and
wondered if you might be interested in knowing what those homes sold for?
(Look them up while you’re talking and mention a few) Would you like me to
email this list to you? Let me confirm that I have your current email address.”
Service Provider – “Almost every time we sell a home, there are things that need
to be done to either improve the marketability or required by inspections. Over
the years, we developed an impressive list of service providers that do great
work at reasonable prices. Anytime you need a recommendation for a service
provider, please give me a call. I’ll be your personal ‘Angie’s list.’ In fact, let me
confirm I have your current email address and I’ll send you a brief list of some of
my recommendations.”
Household Inventory – “Recently, I heard about a person who filed an insurance
claim who wasn’t as prepared as they could have been. The house was
covered but where the issue came up was with the personal belongings. The
adjustor originally asked for receipts which the homeowner didn’t have. Then,
he wanted an inventory of the personal belongings which unfortunately, the
homeowner didn’t have either. If you don’t have an inventory or it has been a
while since you updated it, I can send you one that you can complete and
document with pictures. Let me confirm that I have you current email address.”
Refinance – “When was the last time you refinanced your home? Interest rates
are low and it might make sense for you to consider it now. I have a refinance
analysis calculator that will tell you how much you’ll save and how long it will
take you to recapture the cost of refinancing. I can either help you over the
phone or I can send you a link so you can do it yourself. Let me confirm that I
have you current email address.”
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Mortgage Accelerator – “Have you ever thought about pre-paying your
mortgage? If you pay as little as $100 to $200 extra each month, it will save
interest, build equity in your home and shorten the term of the mortgage. I have
an online app that will let you make some projections and if you’re interested, I’ll
send you a link so you can check it out. Let me confirm that I have you current
email address.”
Newsletters can be a great way to convey information and maintain top of mind
awareness at the same time. They do take effort, time and skill to research, write and
produce the finished product but you’ll find that it’s entirely worth it. The newsletter
gives you a platform to tell “your story” which is what makes you different from other
agents.
If you were a CPA specializing in homeowner tax law, you couldn’t write about
taxes every week without boring your contacts to death. You would want to
occasionally show your expertise but offer a blend of topics that would appeal to
all homeowners. The acronym INTOUCH can serve as a formula for the content of
the messages that can be sent over time.
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Get Regular Check-ups
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One of Zig Ziglar’s most famous sayings is “Help enough other people get what they
want and you’ll get what you want.” Instead of talking directly about what makes you
different, your articles will focus on helping your readers be better homeowners.
Consistently delivering this message over time will demonstrate what makes you
different from other agents in a way that would be difficult to describe in words.
Don’t think of the articles being the length of a term paper or magazine article. In
today’s society, most people want clear, concise bits of news and information. Your
articles should be short sentences with no more than four or five short paragraphs. Try
to include an eye-catching graphic and possibly hyperlinks to get more information.
Once you have an article written, you can leverage
the effort by emailing it directly to your contacts,
posting it on different social networks like Facebook
and Twitter and if you have a blog, post it there too.
Don’t be concerned that you might be diluting the
value of the article by posting it in different places. A
common practice in the news industry today is for a
network to premier a piece on their national news
magazine, repeat it on their national news show,
syndicate it to their local network affiliates and finally, post it on their website. They are
actually hoping that people will see it in more than one place.
BUILDING A DATABASE THAT WILL SUPPORT A CAREER
Seminars & Systems by Pat Zaby | InTouch 19
Suggested Topics for Articles Local Market Data
Top 10 Lists
Video featured listing
Tax law changes
Featured neighborhood
Local Businesses
Credit repair
Rent vs. Buy
Community meeting summary
Home improvements
Home maintenance
Historic Buildings
Housing styles in your area
Kids events
Best advice for FSBO
Interview someone
Featured parks
Featured schools
Crime rates
Mortgage rates
Property Taxes
Senior housing
Improving drive-up appeal
National market trends
Decorating ideas
Churches
Showcase a lender
Things that can go wrong in a sale
Second homes
Breaking mortgage news
Transportation systems
Home safety
Building trends
Steps to sell a home
Steps to buy a home
What to avoid when selling a home
City council
Lawn and garden improvements
Consumer scams
Staging a home
Credit scores
Zoos
Foreclosures
Rental Property Investing
Legal real estate terms
Proper amount of earnest money
Best restaurants in the area
Shopping
Moving tips
Amusing transactions
Conserving energy
Final walk-through
Vacations
Short sales
Dealing with tenants
Homeownership
Property taxes
Condos
Different types of mortgages
Waterfront properties in your area
Your marketing strategy to sell a home
Your market strategy to buy a home
Real Estate investing
Zoning
Charities
Market predictions
Highlight a community
Is now the right Time to buy?
Luxury properties
Flood zones
Natural disasters
Best and worst of working with an Agent
Typical closing costs
Home equity
Family living
Appraised vs. Assessed value
When to consider refinancing
Walk-through checklist for buyers
Best home improvements for ROI
Buying lots or land
Top Things to Look for in a Home
First-time Home Buyers
Community resource links
Moving with pets
Where to play golf
Homeowner’s associations
BUILDING A DATABASE THAT WILL SUPPORT A CAREER
Seminars & Systems by Pat Zaby | InTouch 20
Permission Protocol If your contacts gave you their email address, they essentially gave you permission to
send them email. Don’t abuse the privilege by sending things that won’t interest them
or are not consistent with your stated goals of
making them a better homeowner.
Email solicitation is protected by the Federal Cam
Spam Act and requires that you allow people to
unsubscribe. Include an unsubscribe button on
each mailing as well as a subscribe button for
people who may have had the article forwarded
to them and they want to receive similar articles on a regular basis.
Email messages that are returned to you as undeliverable due to incorrect email
addresses need attention. After each mailing, call the person whose email bounced to
find out their new email address.
Backup The amount of time, effort, energy and money it takes to
assembly a database is considerable. When you realize the
rewards of increased productivity, efficiency and
effectiveness, your database moves from a low priority to a
major asset worth protecting.
Online backup services offer the advantage of securely
storing your files at off-site server locations. These services will
automatically backup your specified data on a determined
frequency to be certain that it is done faithfully and not left
to chance. If your computers fail or are stolen or if your office
is destroyed, your data will be safe.
Standard IT procedures with most of backup services are in
secured buildings stored on secure servers that are constantly backed up with triple
redundancy that are available 24/7/365. They offer far more security in a consistent,
systematic method than an individual is capable of providing. Some of the more
popular online backup services are Backblaze, Carbonite, CrashPlan, Mozy and Norton
Online Backup.
BUILDING A DATABASE THAT WILL SUPPORT A CAREER
Seminars & Systems by Pat Zaby | InTouch 21
Summary
• The principal function of a database is to communicate with your customers.
• Consolidate your various databases.
• Sync your database with your Smartphone.
• Once a year, scroll through each record one-by-one.
• Each time you make or receive a call, open the contact’s record to update and
make notes.
• Talk to each of your best customers/clients twice a year.
• Consistently stay in touch with your database multiple times per month.
• If your database isn’t growing, it’s shrinking.
• Add new names to your database daily.
• Backup you database along with other important files using an automatic online
service.
• What agents are not doing is costing them sales and money now and in the
future.
• The most expensive communications will be reserved for your high-value
contacts.
• Once you have an article, leverage the effort by emailing it to your contacts,
posting it on different social networks and, post it to your blog.
• The objective of database management is to identify current and potential
customers and market to them.
• An appropriate strategy to maintain top of mind awareness with your contacts is
to help them become better homeowners.
Final Thought – I have people tell me all the time that they don’t have a database. I
ask them if they have an address book in their email or on their phone; I ask if they have
Facebook friends. The point is that any collection of names or information is the
database and it can be the beginning of what will fuel your business for decades. A
business database is a work in progress. You’re never finished with it. It can always be
better. Most importantly, the primary purpose of the database is to facilitate
communication.
1 - Contact List Builder | www.PatZaby.com | [email protected] | 972-407-1337
Contact List Builder – complete the list with names only before adding other contact info
Closet friends _ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Neighbors (current home) _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Neighbors (previous home) _ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Church members _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Clergy _____________________________________
Social activities (golf, tennis, etc.) _ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
High school friends _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Teachers from school _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
College friends _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Work Associates ______________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
2 - Contact List Builder | www.PatZaby.com | [email protected] | 972-407-1337
Work Associates (previous job) _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Relatives _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Doctors (physician, specialists, dentists, etc.) _ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Veterinarian _____________________________________
Accountant _____________________________________
Attorney _____________________________________
Property Insurance _ _____________________________________
Life Insurance _____________________________________
Bank employees _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Stock broker _____________________________________
Car salespeople _ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Barber/Hairdresser _ _____________________________________
Dry cleaners/Laundry _____________________________________
Mailman, FedEx, UPS _ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Fraternal Organizations _ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Civic Organizations _ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
3 - Contact List Builder | www.PatZaby.com | [email protected] | 972-407-1337
Facebook friends not recorded yet _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Parents of children’s friends (school) _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Parents of children’s friends (sports) _ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Children’s teachers _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Children’s doctors _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Children’s coaches ____________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
If your children are grown, their friends _ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
If you are married, have your spouse complete pages 1-2-3 without seeing the names that you’ve
put on your pages. Compare them and eliminate the duplicates.
4 - Contact List Builder | www.PatZaby.com | [email protected] | 972-407-1337
Mortgage officers _ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Title officers _ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Inspectors _ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Home warranty reps _ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Painters _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Real estate agents outside your market area _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Builders _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Investors _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
Other _ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
___________________________________________ _____________________________________
BUILDING A DATABASE THAT WILL SUPPORT A CAREER
Seminars & Systems by Pat Zaby | InTouch 22
Thank you for taking time to read this article. We hope you found it interesting and
that it helps you increase service to your customers while you are growing your
business. If you find that you don’t have the time and resources to build the
communication campaign described, we suggest you consider InTouch.
This system will do it for you for far less than you can hire it done.
InTouch is automated content marketing creating top of mind awareness through
personalized email and social networking.
InTouch emails your contacts an article, links it along with four other timely
messages to your Facebook and Twitter accounts and post the same article to your
blog each and every week – all AUTOMATICALLY! InTouch also emails birthday and
holiday greetings and reminders throughout the year.
This is the most cost effective, efficient way to maintain top of mind awareness
resulting in more listings, sales and referrals. Other features include drip campaigns
like the Buyer Information Series and a variety of financial calculators that can be
posted to a subscriber’s website.
*blog can be posted by email or copied and pasted
For more information, contact [email protected] or 972-743-9887
www.PatZaby.com