Building a Database

The coronavirus pandemic has certainly put a dampener on the real estate market, but while things may have slowed down that doesn’t mean you should. This is a prime opportunity to tackle a range of tasks that you may have been putting off and that will set you up for success when life returns to normal.

To help you I’ve created the COVID Recovery Series: Five Activities to Focus On. This is the first is the series and deals with using your sphere of influence to build your database.

Everyone should have 1000 contacts on their database. If you don’t, use this time to build your database and the place to start is with your sphere of influence.

A CONTACT is someone who knows who you are.  They have given you permission to stay in touch and have their full name, address and contact number.

This is how.

1. Go through the contacts on your mobile phone. Make a master list that includes your family, friends and family of friends, put their phone numbers to the list and research if they own any properties. Then add these people to your database (community).
2. Look at your online presence. Go through your Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn – each and every single friend/contact you have. Cull that down to the ones that are living in your city/area and then find out which ones own any property. Add them to your database.
3. Look up all past school friends, acquaintances, past work colleagues from school year books, work phone lists and things like that. Create a master list of those people you know who are not on your phone or socials. Add those to your database once you have done necessary research.
4. The next step is to pick up the phone and ring each and everyone one of the new additions to your database. If you’re wondering what to say, try something simple like this:

“I just thought I’d give you a call. I remember you from wherever and just wanted to touch base and see if I could be of any service to you regarding anything real estate, but also if you just need an opinion or somebody as a sounding board for an idea, I would love to help.”

This call isn’t meant to be a hard sell, but once you have reached out to them, ask what properties they have and whether they need any appraisals or assistance with any of them, need their property managed, or when they might be thinking of moving their properties on.

Lastly, ask them about their immediate family, extended family and friends – anyone who they believe you could make a call to. It’s amazing how many contacts you can build. Facebook is obviously a perfect example of how at least one person knows up to 1000 people and if we can capture them for our database it can be very powerful.

Some of these people you may not have spoken to for a while, but it isn’t hard to make conversation. Use the FORD and LACR processes I’ve spoken about in my blog How to Make Easy Conversation, they’ll get you started.

5. Send these people a thank you card. Thank you cards are a powerful way to get someone to remember you in a positive light. Let them know that you’re thanking them in advance of being of service or thank them for allowing you to stay in contact with them and hopefully one day being able to serve their real estate needs.

And finally, add them to some type of trail so that you never stop nurturing and maintaining contact with them.

A good database is essential as an agent – you’ll use it for prospecting and, if nurtured, it will become a source of repeat and referral business. Your sphere of influence is just some of the people you should have on it. For more information on building and using a database come along to my upcoming FREE half-day Real Estate Brilliance webinar.