Harnessing the Power of Your CRM

“Okay, so I have to recognize that the business I have now, the leads in the pipeline, the listings in the pipeline, the buyer leads I have, they should pretty much all be converted in a 90-day cycle. Convert them or throw them away.”

—Mike Ferry, The Power of a 90-Day Cycle

The core features of your real estate CRM are your contacts and calendar. By building on these core elements, you can create a unified database of merged contacts that syncs with your phone. You can use automation to send bulk emails and time-release drip campaigns, and to integrate with many third-party services for postcards, advertising, and lead generation. You can also scale your efforts by adding an assistant or partner, or by working with a coach. Your CRM enables you to achieve results that would be impossible to reach manually.

Database Hygiene

Most agents spend significant time collecting contact information and taking notes. However, they neglect another essential task: maintaining data accuracy and deleting outdated records.

Every contact record should include a full name and a contact method, such as a phone number, email address, or mailing address. Ideally, each record has more than one way to reach them. You should also add notes each time you communicate with someone in your database so you can review your last conversation when you talk with them next.

Additionally, you should assign at least three categories (sometimes also known as tags or labels) to each record in your database. Categories can be used to organize your database for practical use. Your categories let you manage multiple records at once, such as sending a bulk email. For example, use the “Christmas” category for your Christmas cards. For a newsletter, you could use the “Newsletter” category.

Categories also help you quickly find groups of people, such as all your past clients. For vendors, include a “Vendor” category and specify the vendor type, such as “Vendor, Electrician”. For past clients, friends, family, and other agents, categories help you easily identify who is who. If you’re interested in exploring categorization strategies, I recommend my first book, Real Estate CRM Secrets, which offers a more complete explanation.

The “Top100” Tango Secret: Your most valuable contacts are clients, friends who refer you, key influencers, and vendor partners who send you business. Add a “Top100” category to these people. You should stay in touch with everyone in your “Top100” and reach out at least once every 90 days.

A good way to keep your database organized and healthy is to regularly call everyone within your contacts and prospects. The easiest approach is to sort your records by last contact date, so the oldest contacts appear at the top and the newest ones at the bottom. Spend an hour each day making outbound calls. During these calls, reconnect with the person, take notes, and update the last contact date. This will move them to the bottom of your list. If you find someone isn’t worth calling, add them to the “Cold” category. If they are a vendor or another professional, you can also add a “NoLead” category to show they’re not a lead but still worth keeping in your database.

If you call someone and their line is disconnected, add a note to the phone number, such as “(BAD)”. This helps you easily identify which numbers are no longer valid. Also, include a dated note describing your unsuccessful call.

If you call and someone asks you to stop calling them, add the note “(DNC)” to that phone number. You are required by law to avoid contacting people who have requested not to be called, so documenting this is essential to reduce your legal liability. You should also add a category “Cold” to these records, as these people are clearly no longer going to work with you.

You should also use birthdays as an opportunity to call the people in your contacts database. One of the most significant benefits of a phone call is that it allows you to spend a few minutes finding out how your friend is doing. Who knows, they might mention thinking of moving, or know someone who is.

Send an eCard email once or twice a year to people you know, like for Halloween or Thanksgiving. This email reminds them you’re thinking of them and checks if their email address is still valid. An eCard is an animated email with a brief message from you, intended to wish someone a Happy Halloween or to celebrate another holiday or event, such as a birthday.

Your CRM automatically verifies email addresses and adds notes like OptOut, Complaint, or HardBounce when you send emails. These notes indicate whether someone has opted out of your emails or has reported spam to their email provider. A HardBounce indicates the email address is no longer active, likely because the recipient is using a different one.

You should expect about 20% of the email addresses in your database to become invalid each year as people switch email addresses. This process is known as list decay. The most effective way to prevent list decay is to regularly review and clean your database to remove outdated, inactive records.

The Big Bounce Secret: A change in someone’s contact information could be the first signal of a major life change. You can detect this when you receive a bounced email or a returned postal letter. Use this information as a signal to make a personal call and reconnect with a client when they may need you most.

For your contacts database, I recommend mailing a Christmas card to everyone with a physical address. Use a first-class stamp so the Postal Service will return the card if the person has moved. This card is an excellent way to stay connected and to determine whether someone has moved.

For people with an incorrect address, add a note in your database and assign the “Cold” category so you can identify them for removal from your list. They moved and did not use your services as a real estate agent, making them a poor candidate for your database.

If you learn that someone in your database has died, update the record the same day you find out. If a spouse survives, designate that person as the primary contact. Update the mailing salutation to reflect the surviving spouse’s name, so it reads “Sandy Smith” instead of “Jack & Sandy Smith”. Few things feel worse than receiving a Christmas card addressed to someone who has passed. Move the deceased person’s phone numbers and email addresses to notes, and remove them from active fields to avoid calling or emailing the wrong person. Remove any birthday reminders and automations tied to the deceased.

After a suitable period, reach out to the surviving spouse or the executor to offer assistance. If a property will be sold to settle the estate, provide a complimentary Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) and a seller’s net sheet. If asked, keep an eye on the property while it is vacant. If you maintain contact, there’s a good chance your services as a real estate agent will likely become valuable to the executor of the estate.

Keeping an accurate, up-to-date real estate CRM is crucial for generating referral business. By calling, emailing, and mailing postcards, you stay connected and verify the accuracy of their contact information. Expect phone numbers, email addresses, and mailing addresses to change over time. They might switch from an AOL email to Gmail, move to a new house, change phone carriers and numbers, or stop using landlines and switch to mobile phones.

Some agents keep all the Realtors from their local MLS in their contacts database. I advise against this practice because turnover on this list can easily exceed 20% per year. Instead, I recommend keeping only the agents you know and have interacted with in your contacts database. This creates a more manageable list and makes it easier to keep your database accurate.

Your CRM can identify duplicate records, and I recommend running duplicate detection at least once a year. Duplicates can creep into your database when contact information is entered from different sources. Your CRM can merge two records into one, combining notes, phone numbers, contact details, birthdays, and other information into a single contact record.

It can also detect which people are in your Christmas category but don’t have a valid physical mailing address. You can then contact these individuals and request their mailing addresses. If you have a single contact method and that method fails and you cannot find an alternative, delete the record.

You can also use the filters in your database to view all records without a mailing address, phone number, or email address. You might be surprised to find that some records lack all three, which means that, besides telepathy, you have no way to reach them!

A good time to review your database is between Halloween and Christmas, when you’re preparing your Christmas card list. Review each contact record and decide whether to send a Christmas card by mail. Review inactive leads in your database and decide whether to continue pursuing them or delete them. If you haven’t maintained regular contact, they will forget you.

If you haven’t communicated with a prospect for two or more years, consider them a dead lead. Mark them with the “Cold” category so you can delete them eventually. At the start of each year, review all records in your database.

One additional point about prospect records: when people reach out to you, they are likely considering a move. This suggests their contact information might change soon. You could play a role in that process by helping them find a new home, or they might choose another agent instead. Either way, you should anticipate that their contact details will be more prone to change than they otherwise might be.

Your time is best spent on new leads and your sphere of influence, as they are more likely to generate commissions over the long term. If you decide to work with your old, unresponsive leads, the most effective approach is to make personal contact by phone. Sending emails to old, inactive leads is challenging because it can lead to excessive spam complaints, which may harm the delivery rate of your other emails.

There’s no substitute for regularly calling the people you know and care about. When you call, record what you discussed in your real estate CRM. Most likely, everyone in your database will eventually need your services. The key is being available when someone you know or care about needs you. Talking with someone helps you recognize subtle signs they might be considering a move, possibly due to life changes such as a job transfer, divorce, marriage, or the arrival of a baby.

Christmas Card Test Secret: When preparing your mailing list each year, apply the Christmas card test. The test is simple: ask yourself, “Do I genuinely want to send this person a card?” If the answer is “no” then this person is cluttering your database, and you should add the category “Cold,” indicating they are marked for eventual deletion. You keep your database healthy by ensuring it’s full of authentic relationships, not strangers.

Old, unresponsive leads are the weakest in your database. Therefore, I recommend removing them regularly. Using the “Cold” category is an excellent way to start. You should export all records in the “Cold” category and delete them annually, as they are not worth your attention. You need to prepare for the new selling season with fresh leads.

Your CRM provider might offer free assistance with cleaning and organizing your database through an annual “Fall Cleanup” training session or webinar. If this training is available, I suggest you take advantage of it.

Sync vs. Import

Your real estate CRM can sync your contacts and calendar with your smartphone, making it easy to access, add, and edit your information on the go. This is typically done by synchronizing your CRM’s contacts and calendar with Google’s, and then syncing that with your smartphone. If you don’t use a Google email account, don’t worry, synchronization of contacts and calendar does not require you to use Gmail. Usually, all contacts on your smartphone are synchronized with your CRM’s contacts database. A friend or family member might ask you to help buy or sell their home, so even personal contacts should be stored in your real estate CRM.

There might be rare cases where you want to keep some contacts on your phone that don’t sync with your real estate CRM, such as if you manage two separate businesses. The easiest way to do this is to have your smartphone sync with two email accounts: one for business and one for personal use. Your phone would display both lists, but your CRM would only sync the business contacts and calendar.

There will also be records in your CRM that you won’t want on your phone, such as unqualified leads and farm lists. Loading hundreds of strangers into your phone’s address book can be confusing, and you might accidentally call the wrong person when using voice commands. Some CRMs solve this problem by letting you maintain separate databases—the “contacts” database for people you know, which syncs with your smartphone, and a second “prospects” database for unqualified leads that does not sync. As you qualify these prospects, you can move them into your contacts database.

Separate the Strangers Secret: Put strangers into a prospects database and people you know into your contacts database. That way, you can more easily weed out your old, dead leads each year.

Besides synchronization, your real estate CRM can import data from multiple sources, including other CRMs, your MLS, and third-party lead providers. Your CRM vendor can provide import instructions and assist with the process. You may need to run a one-time import, such as when transferring data from a previous CRM. When you are migrating from your old CRM to a new one, your CRM vendor will provide instructions for import and can assist in ensuring that all your data is flawlessly copied from your old CRM to your new one.

If you need to import information regularly, you can use the valet import feature. A common example is importing a list of For Sale by Owner (FSBO) leads from a third-party source. The data is typically stored as a CSV file. CSV (Comma-Separated Values) is a standard format for exchanging data between software applications. Importing this data involves mapping the CSV columns to your CRM’s data fields. Your CRM vendor can help with this mapping by creating a dedicated menu item so you can select it each time you want to perform the import. This can reduce a process that might take 15 minutes to just a few minutes.

The prospects database is designed to manage leads. It includes two separate address fields: a property address and a mailing address. This setup is useful for property owners whose mailing address differs from their property address. For a buyer lead, this structure is also helpful. The property address field can store the home they initially inquired about, while the mailing address is for their current mailing address. This allows you to track a buyer’s specific interests while preserving their primary contact information.

One additional consideration for imports is how to handle duplicate records. There are two common methods for managing duplicates. The most common approach is to allow duplicates during import and merge them afterward. For example, you might have your friend’s phone number on your phone and the same friend’s email address in your email program. You can import both contacts into your CRM, allow duplicates, and then merge them into a single record that includes both email addresses and phone numbers.

Another method is to replace duplicate records. This option is useful when you are importing a newer version of the same data and want to overwrite the old version with the latest.

Automations

One of the biggest advantages of using a real estate CRM is the wide range of automations you can use. In some cases, these automations will save you time, while in others, it would be nearly impossible to replicate what your CRM can do manually. This section explains some of these automations and the benefits you can gain from using them. But first, I need to describe a few pitfalls of over-automation.

Lead-nurturing automations can backfire if they are overly aggressive or never stop. You can easily leave a negative impression, especially when you are not interacting directly with someone. It can feel as if they are being hunted by a machine, like in the movie The Terminator. I recommend that, for all prospecting activities, you remain in control and be involved at each stage of the lead incubation process. That way, if someone says, “Get lost,” you can call off the hounds.

Your real estate CRM can help automate unsubscribe requests from mailings by including an unsubscribe link in all your emails. For text messages, texting “STOP” will automatically disable future messages from that sender. These safety mechanisms are required by law, and your CRM can help you comply.

Some agents use autoresponders to let clients know they are busy. Relying on a robot for initial contact is a major mistake. You should expect that anyone calling you is also calling other real estate agents. Agents pay good money for leads they can call. If you have a warm lead calling you, answer the phone! First impressions matter. When someone calls, answer the phone personally. When someone sends you an email, respond the same business day.

Your sales skills are what will persuade your prospects to work with you and are essential for closing deals. There are too many ways a deal can fall through to rely solely on automation.

The Person Power Secret: Automation is for following up, not for first contact. A robot cannot build rapport through email, let alone over the phone. During your first call, do what automation can’t: build a human connection. Only after that should you use automated emails to deliver relevant and valuable information to your contact.

A good example of helpful automation is a time-release email series, also known as a drip mail. When a drip sequence is applied to a prospect, mail-merged emails are automatically sent at designated intervals, typically one week apart. You can also apply a printed drip sequence, in which case your CRM would automate printing your letters, typically on a weekly basis, so only the letters that need to be sent that week are printed, along with a mailing label for printed envelopes.

When you first contact a prospect, it is important to understand their needs. Are they a buyer or a seller? Are they a first-time homebuyer? Or perhaps they are downsizing after the kids have left the house? With this information, you can send a carefully tailored series of automated emails that address their specific needs. Think of this series as a way to educate your prospect with your expertise. Since your prospect is trying to solve a specific problem, your emails will be warmly received if they focus on that topic. I recommend sending automated emails no more than once a week. Sending emails more frequently can be annoying. A good real estate CRM offers an extensive library of letters and dozens of pre-designed, time-release drip sequences you can use and customize to reflect your personal style and approach to doing business.

Another example of automation is call capture. The most common way to use that is by adding a sign rider to your yard signs, which looks like this:

24-HOUR RECORDED HOME INFO:

Text “999” to (970) 235-9114

or Call (970) 235-9114 Enter Code 999

Call capture replaces the traditional flyer box with an electronic flyer sent to the prospect via text message. At the same time, you capture the caller’s phone number and name using caller ID. The phone number and code above are active. Go ahead and call to see how call capture works.

Studies show that an automated hotline generates significantly more leads than a regular phone number¹. This is one example where automation delivers better results for you. The reason is twofold. First, people are more willing to call an automated hotline because they know they won’t have to deal with a pushy salesperson to get information on the house. Second, they can call at any time of day or night, unlike with a regular phone number, where they might feel self-conscious about calling outside normal business hours.

Another example of helpful automation is automatically feeding leads from a variety of sources into your CRM via email feed and valet import.

Consolidating leads into a single, unified database reduces the need to sign in to multiple platforms to review and follow up on new leads. Your CRM can generate a daily call list of people you need to contact, saving time. During the call, you can take notes and schedule your next follow-up. Your CRM can even dial your phone for you using a feature called click-to-dial. This feature works just like you would think. From your computer, you click on any phone number in your CRM, and your CRM automatically calls that person using your mobile phone. This is a tremendous time saver. By dedicating at least one hour daily to follow-up calls, you can make multiple calls efficiently, one after another.

Using the open house form included with your real estate CRM is another way to automate tasks and save time. Instead of manually typing contact information into your CRM, an attendee at your open house can enter it directly on an iPad. Likewise, your CRM may include an agent contact info form that sellers can use to enter contact details from business cards left by agents after showings.

The mail merge feature in your CRM lets you customize your letters by inserting contact details, mailing addresses, and property information. It starts with a template, which is then personalized using data from your contact record. The content library that comes with your CRM offers a wide range of mail forms you can use as-is or modify. This type of letter automation is especially useful for prospecting foreclosures, probates, FSBOs, and expired listings, as it lets you set up a process once and repeat it easily multiple times.

The content library will save you time by letting you use the flyers, letters, and eCard templates in just a few minutes, rather than wasting hours designing your content from scratch. By leveraging real estate-specific content and tailoring it to your needs, you can accelerate your customization of these items.

Another common automation is setting up birthday and anniversary reminders. Your CRM can help automate sending an eCard, a physical card, or even making a phone call. These touches are an excellent way to stay connected with friends and past clients. Maintaining contact increases the chances of a referral. Some agents add these activities to their calendars. While that works when you have only a few past clients, it doesn’t scale well. Your CRM lets you automate and manage these activities in one go each week. You can mark these tasks as completed in your real estate CRM. That way, you know who you still need to contact and who you have already wished a happy birthday to. That can be particularly useful if you have a few hundred people you wish a happy birthday to each year.

The transaction management features in your real estate CRM allow you to create checklists of activities you need to complete for your listings and closings. By tracking showings, offers, promotions, and parties, you can work efficiently using standard procedures for each listing. You can even combine similar tasks, saving you more time.

Integrations

Although your real estate CRM offers many features, it can’t meet every agent’s needs. That’s why integrating your CRM with specialized third-party services is beneficial. An integration strategy provides flexibility, allowing you to switch partners while keeping the same CRM. This helps you leverage vendor competition for better service and prices. Being able to switch vendors keeps them on their toes and lets you drop services you no longer need. It also enables you to adjust your lead strategy over time, providing the flexibility that a single all-in-one solution cannot.

A professional real estate CRM includes a built-in email feed, also known as email parsing². The email feed captures lead notification emails from a variety of lead sources and automatically converts them into new prospect records in your CRM. Setting it up is simple: log in to your lead service’s control panel and add your CRM’s unique email feed address so that notification emails are sent there. Afterward, your CRM automatically parses incoming lead information to create new prospect records. The system then promptly notifies you of the new lead via email and SMS. This process eliminates manual data entry, helping you respond to inquiries more quickly.

A real estate CRM is pre-programmed to automatically recognize the unique email formats from hundreds of industry lead sources. While you could try to replicate this with a tool like Zapier, there are several reasons it isn’t an ideal solution. First, Zapier requires an additional monthly fee. Second, you would need to manually build and maintain the logic for each lead source. This process includes mapping every data field and creating rules to handle formatting differences and edge cases. You might also need to handle situations where a lead is missing a last name or phone number.

Instead of spending time debugging a complex automation workflow, I recommend using your real estate CRM’s built-in email feed features. This lets you focus your valuable time on helping your clients. A generic CRM cannot effectively parse email feeds because it lacks a native understanding of the many email formats used in real estate. These are among the many reasons you should never rely on a generic CRM for your real estate business.

The Capitalist Connection Secret: Use your CRM as the central hub for your business tools. Integrate specialized third-party products for websites, paid lead services, postcards, and marketing, selecting the best vendor. This approach lets you choose the most competitive and prevents you from being locked into a single vendor.

The email feed can also be used to parse contact information from any ‘contact me’ form on any website. There are many types of websites you might want to connect with. At the most basic level, this could be a site built with tools such as Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress. For a more advanced presence, you might develop an Internet Data Exchange (IDX) to display listings from your MLS on your website³. You can also create single-page property websites with a simple contact form that feeds directly into your prospects’ database via email⁴.

Zap Trap Secret: A good real estate CRM should include an email feed. Be cautious of vendors claiming similar features through Zapier. Zapier is a paid third-party service that connects various internet tools. Zapier requires extensive setup for each lead source. In contrast, the email feed that comes with real estate-specific CRMs is pre-configured to parse hundreds of common lead sources like Zillow, IDX websites, Trulia, and Realtor.com, without extra charges.

Beyond capturing leads, your CRM can power your outbound communication. The built-in phone dialer lets you click a phone number in a contact record to dial it automatically. This simple feature can save hours of manual work during a prospecting session and keep you focused.

You can also embed videos in your email communications using tools such as YouTube, BombBomb, or VidYard.

For physical marketing, your CRM can export mailing lists to postcard and greeting card vendors such as ReaMark or SendOutCards. You can filter your database by category and export only those with an email or mailing address. This filtering helps you create highly targeted mailing lists.

The ability to seamlessly synchronize your CRM’s contacts and calendar with your smartphone is a key feature for many agents, as it gives you access to your CRM data while on the road.

If you use an electronic lockbox (such as Supra, Sentrilock, or BrokerBay), you can also send information to your CRM via its email feed. Your CRM can convert email notifications from your lockbox software into showing information in your listing record. This automation is useful because it provides information for follow-up and for soliciting showing feedback from agents who have shown your listing. It also provides your clients with valuable insights, as they can review these showings and the feedback generated by viewing their service report.

The open house form in your CRM can be used to collect contact information from anyone who has visited your open house. Be sure to load that form onto your iPad. This eliminates the need to transcribe handwritten registration forms, as visitors will enter their contact information directly, automating the process.

Call capture automatically generates prospect records when someone calls your call-capture hotline or texts a code to that number. This works perfectly for your listings. Include a sign rider with your call-capture number, and watch the leads come in, even while you sleep!

Contracts, photos, and other transaction-related information can be stored in Google Drive or another cloud storage service. This means you won’t need to visit the office to pick up a contract. It also lowers the risk of losing a document.

Finally, your CRM can monitor your commissions and expenses in one place and export that data in a format your accountant can use to complete your quarterly estimated taxes and year-end filings.

One advantage of integrations is that they let you add features to your CRM that people haven’t even thought of yet. The best way to explore what’s possible is to list the products and services you already use and share them with your CRM vendor. They can then provide instructions for integrating these services into your CRM. Your CRM vendor will also have a list of compatible integration partners, as well as a shorter list of recommended vendors. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. If you need a recommendation, your CRM vendor is a great place to start.

Goals

A common challenge for real estate agents is balancing current client demands with the need to prospect for new clients. Busy periods with clients often take up nearly all your time, leaving little room for prospecting. During slower times, you may finally have time to prospect, but there’s usually a lag between the first conversation and when someone is ready to hire you. This creates a stressful feast-or-famine cycle in both income and workload. The result is a constant feeling of losing control that impacts both you and your family. Breaking this cycle is crucial for maintaining a successful full-time career in real estate.

The solution begins with your calendar. Dedicate a specific time each day to prospecting. This method is called time blocking, also known as office hours. Reserve at least an hour daily, preferably several, during times when you’re least likely to be interrupted by client needs. Mark these appointments on your calendar and treat them as equally important as any client appointment. This helps establish a consistent routine for maintaining your sales pipeline. Aim to spend at least half of your work hours on prospecting. If you are spending too little time, increase it.

As you gain experience, more of your business should come from referrals and repeat clients. Working with people who already know and trust you requires less effort and yields higher conversion rates than working with strangers⁵. These leads also help balance the feast-or-famine cycle by allowing you to nurture them year-round. Spending time with your sphere of influence is an investment in future referrals, and you can do it in any season.

Individual follow-up with your sphere is essential, including periodic phone calls, birthday wishes, and Christmas cards. As your past client list grows, you should also consider activities to show appreciation for past clients, especially those who have referred you to others. I discuss client appreciation later in the book. Your CRM allows you to measure the Return On Investment (ROI) of these activities by tracking referrals and repeat business.

Streak Reward Secret: Set a modest personal reward you will only unlock after five consecutive workdays of hitting your call and conversation targets. By rewarding yourself, you are using positive reinforcement to help build a habit.

You should invest time building your business network and prospecting for new clients. Your ability to do your job depends on being well-connected in the community. You need to be able to recommend house painters, electricians, plumbers, and other tradespeople. You also need connections with loan officers, attorneys, closing companies, and other industry professionals to recommend. Sometimes, you will need to refer other real estate agents for specialized situations, such as commercial transactions or out-of-town client needs. All of these relationships take time to develop.

Just as with prospecting, you should also review which of the professionals you have been recommending provide you with reciprocal referrals and which do not. In some cases, you may identify an imbalance, such as referring several clients to a loan officer but not receiving any referrals in return. Identifying these inequities allows you to address them by either recommending a different loan officer or having a candid conversation with the person you have been recommending about the lack of reciprocity.

Review your calendar from last year and assess how you spent your time. Are there activities that didn’t produce results? If so, consider making those activities more productive or eliminating them entirely. A common time drain is spending too much time on social media. While social media can provide great affirmation when a client checks you out, new leads often come from other sources⁶. This means that relying solely on social media for lead generation might not be as effective as other prospecting methods.

After a few years, your CRM will become a valuable source of historical data that shows how your business operates. Your real estate CRM automatically tracks commissions, expenses, lead sources, follow-ups, conversion rates, and more. Because real estate is cyclical, what happens with closings and income in January will differ from what you see in August. Use the timeline in your CRM to review your income over different periods. Look at monthly, quarterly, and yearly data. You can compare one year to another to see results for the same month, year-over-year, and measure progress toward your annual goals.

The Depression Diviner Secret: Your CRM’s year-over-year reports reveal shifts in the market before they become obvious. For example, your data might show fewer buyers are converting or more deals are collapsing due to financing issues. Treat these as warning signs and shift your focus toward investors or rentals. You’ll be able to stay ahead while other agents figure out why their buyers have disappeared.

You can also update your “Top100” contact category using insights from the referral tracking feature in your CRM. Referral tracking shows how you met each person in your database and the connections among these referral sources. Your “Top100” list includes the people you will contact regularly, as they are a reliable source of referrals and repeat business.

If you use integrated tools like the open house form, valet import, and email feed, referral details will be pre-entered for you. The only records you’ll add manually are those for people you meet in person, such as at the gas station or grocery store.

It usually takes a full sales season to identify which lead sources perform best. Be patient and always record how you met each prospect or contact in your CRM. When those people become deals, the information will already be entered.

Use your real estate CRM’s goals section to track which lead sources generate the most income and which fail to convert. Some sources may generate many prospects but are of low quality and do not convert. Low-quality leads can waste valuable time. Before dropping a weak source, review your strategy for managing it, as each source requires a different approach.

Zillow leads are a good example. They often convert at lower rates, but results improve when you act quickly and use the right process. When a prospect enters their contact information on Zillow, they have likely asked about multiple properties, and several agents now have the same lead. To stand out, respond within 5 minutes and reach out by text, phone, and email⁷. Many younger buyers ignore calls but reply quickly to texts, and online leads often require multiple attempts before you connect, so keep following up until you get a response⁸. Continually evaluate both the quality of the source and your management of it, then refine your process to improve efficiency. The best way to handle lower-quality leads is with a repeatable system for every prospect, and your CRM can help automate that follow-up.

Your CRM can also provide key insights into conversion rates across your sales funnel. This helps you understand how many prospects you typically need to reach before someone agrees to work with you as their agent. It also tracks the number of listings required to close and the number of buyers you need to engage before a purchase occurs. Not every buyer or seller will convert into a commission—some deals fall apart at the last minute. People lose jobs or are denied a home loan. Your CRM can help you identify these patterns.

During slower months, focus on activities that drive long-term growth, such as writing blog posts, improving your website, and working on marketing projects. Stay visible in your community and nurture your sphere of influence. Simple gestures like sending Christmas cards, remembering birthdays, or visiting clients on the anniversary of their home purchase help strengthen relationships and generate future referrals.

Use your CRM to identify which lead sources are effective and which are not. When a source consistently performs well, look for ways to increase the number of leads it generates. There are many potential sources: friends, geographic farming, expired listings, Zillow, and more. You don’t need to pursue every option. Often, specialization yields better results. If a source is working, focus on it and aim to bring in more of those leads next season.

The Call-to-Closing Ratio Secret: Leverage your CRM’s historical data to discover your actual conversion rate. Knowing this figure helps you determine how many prospecting calls you must make each day to reach your financial goals.

At the same time, try at least one new lead source each season to uncover new opportunities. Remember, the market is always shifting, and your strategies should adapt accordingly. If interest rates rise, you might consider helping homeowners rent out their properties until rates drop. When sales slow, consider working with investors or flippers. Stay alert for opportunities that align with current market conditions.

When setting goals, hold yourself accountable for following the plan you created in your CRM. Track how many people you contact each day and set a personal target. A contact is a meaningful interaction with someone. Use multiple communication channels, such as phone calls, text messages, mail, drive-bys, and postcards. By allowing yourself flexibility in how you reach out, you can switch methods if one isn’t working with a specific prospect. Many contact methods can be done at any time, including time-release drip email sequences or printing letters for the next day. Some agents rely too heavily on email, which can be a critical mistake. Spam filters are aggressive, so emailing strangers is rarely effective.

Long-term success depends on forming a habit so the change becomes part of your daily routine. Reward yourself for achieving your goals. If you meet your daily goal, reward yourself with a small, symbolic gesture. Avoid using food as a reward, as it can lead to weight issues. Choose something enjoyable you might not usually do, such as going to a ball game.

When you reach your annual goal, set a reward that matches the achievement. For example, if your goal is to increase revenue by 20%, reward yourself with a portion of the extra income once you reach it. Big goals call for big rewards. A weekend trip to Vegas is reasonable if the additional income from the goal more than covers the expenses. Set your phone or computer’s screensaver to a photo of Las Vegas at night to stay inspired each day as you work toward your annual goal. Avoid setting unattainable goals. If you follow your plan, every goal should have a high likelihood of success. Working with a coach can help ensure your goals and rewards are achievable.

Coaches

While advice for new agents is plentiful, every successful agent eventually hits an earnings plateau. Your income stalls not because of a lack of effort but because the strategies that got you there are no longer enough to take you to the next level. This is when you should consider investing in a coach. A coach provides the strategy, mentorship, and accountability needed to break through that plateau and truly grow your business.

The first thing you should ask yourself is whether you can still learn from another agent in your office. You should ask yourself, “Is there anyone in my office that I admire who is just plain better at selling real estate than me?” If the answer is yes, you might want to ask that person to serve as your mentor. Try to learn as much as possible from the other agents in your office.

If you consistently rank among the highest-income agents in your office month after month, it is time to expand your circle and find a coach outside your office.

A great coach fulfills three key roles. First, they ensure accountability, much like a personal trainer who makes sure you complete your workouts. A coach helps you follow through on your commitments to yourself and your business. Second, a coach offers objectivity. They provide an unbiased, expert perspective on your habits, systems, and blind spots you might overlook. Finally, a coach provides mentorship and strategic vision, helping you set not only ambitious financial goals as well as realistic “next-level” business objectives.

For an experienced agent, reaching the “next level” means expanding your business. A coach helps you map the path, whether you’re growing from a solo agent to a team by hiring your first assistant or from a top-producing agent to a broker-owner.

It could also involve mastering a new market segment, such as pursuing probate leads, entering the luxury real estate market, building relationships with real estate developers, or securing corporate clients. A coach might also help you understand how to use more leveraged forms of marketing, such as radio and video, to expand your reach beyond what you are currently doing.

The Sister City Secret: Hire a real estate coach from a similar market but in a different city. Picking an agent in a different city means they will not be your direct competitor. That way they have no reason to hold back their most profitable lead-generation systems, marketing materials, or scripts. This ensures you learn from their unedited playbook for building a top-producing business.

Your goal should be to increase your revenue without working more hours. A coach can help you leverage your skills by introducing new techniques and technologies you might not have considered. The benefit of a coach is not incremental. They can help you reach a higher income level by scaling your business in new ways.

The ideal coach is someone who has already achieved the level of success you are striving for. The real estate industry follows the well-known 80/20 rule where a small group of top agents handles most transactions⁹. To join their ranks, you need to learn from them. A coach is an advisor and a role model who has already reached the level you aim for. They demonstrate that your goal is not only possible but also achievable. A well-connected coach can also provide invaluable networking opportunities.

A coach provides the strategic “what,” not the technical “how.” They serve as your guide, not your helper, and they’re likely not experts in the specific software you are using. This creates a gap between their advice and your day-to-day implementation. That’s why your CRM vendor is another crucial partner in achieving your growth objective.

Your CRM vendor can show you how to use your CRM’s features to achieve the goals you and your coach have set together. For example, they can help you set up your CRM’s multi-user features to add a partner or assistant, increasing your productivity. They can also show you how to use task plans and drip sequences to automate your workflows. A Task Plan is a preset checklist or series of steps in your CRM that you can assign to a transaction to ensure all tasks are completed consistently. Finally, your CRM vendor can assist you in integrating new lead sources using an email feed or valet import.

This partnership with your CRM provider makes your coach’s strategic advice concrete. It connects your high-level plan to the daily tasks required to execute it. By helping you develop and implement systems in the software, the CRM provider ensures your coach’s goals translate into measurable results. Your CRM goal tracking also serves as a dashboard to monitor your progress, providing data that clearly demonstrates a return on your coaching investment.

Just as a coach helps you break through an income plateau, your CRM vendor helps you break through a technology plateau. Most agents use only a small portion of their CRM’s features. As your business expands and your needs grow more complex, you also need to strengthen your technical skills. Take full advantage of the one-on-one training many CRM vendors offer, such as an annual “tune-up” or “spring-cleaning” session. Aim to master one new feature each month so your skills with your most critical tool grow alongside your business ambitions.

Hiring an Assistant

A high-earning real estate team typically includes one or more agents and an assistant. Agents focus on prospecting, listing presentations, and negotiations, while the assistant handles back-office tasks. The team shares a single CRM database and can assign tasks and appointments to specific members. This setup enables efficient collaboration and coordination. Team members can access the same data simultaneously, and all modifications are logged, showing who made which updates to which records.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), about 17% of agents have an assistant, with newer agents less likely to have one and more experienced agents more likely to have one.

Hiring an assistant offers many advantages. You can focus on higher-value activities and delegate simpler, repetitive tasks to your assistant. You are best suited to handle listing presentations and cold calls. Your assistant can make follow-up calls to confirm appointments, put up yard signs, or deliver papers to clients. An assistant can also ensure all phone calls are answered promptly.

Before hiring an assistant, consider a few key points. Do you have enough work to keep both you and your assistant busy? Can you find the time to train and supervise an assistant? These two considerations often conflict. If you’re busy and need an assistant, finding the time to hire and train one will take time you might not have!

So, what qualities should you look for in an assistant? Find someone who is honest and conscientious. Ideally, choose someone with strong skills in productivity software, since many of the tasks you’ll assign will involve computers and software productivity tools.

Review the tasks that take up most of your time and that you feel can be delegated. Some of these tasks might involve driving a vehicle. For example, you could delegate to an assistant the tasks of making a copy of the key, installing the lockbox and yard sign, creating a flyer, and having it printed. With that in mind, consider whether driving is part of your assistant’s responsibilities.

After hiring an assistant, contact your real estate CRM vendor to set up an account for them. It’s essential that your assistant have their own login to access your CRM, as sharing your password is unsafe.

Your CRM helps you organize your workflow by creating a checklist of tasks for each listing and closing. It also lets you track which tasks are completed and which are still pending. You can assign tasks to yourself and your assistant using categories. For example, I assign tasks to the “Scott” category for tasks I need to do, and I assign tasks to my assistant’s first name for tasks I want my assistant to complete. Task plans can have these assignments pre-set, automating who does what.

Your CRM serves as the central hub for all activities. You can interact with it in the field, and your assistant can do the same from the office. Your assistant logs in with their own email and password, ensuring that any changes they make are recorded under their name. Additionally, you can restrict access to your database, such as hiding income information or preventing your assistant from accidentally deleting records. You should prioritize ease of use and foolproof operation in your CRM, especially given the likelihood of high assistant turnover and the possibility of hiring an inexperienced assistant.

Many agents consider hiring a virtual assistant to support transaction management and prospecting follow-up. A virtual assistant works remotely. You may never meet them. They would interact with you by phone and online, including by accessing your real estate CRM to complete tasks. One of the largest benefits of using a real estate CRM is the ability for your team to access information from anywhere. So, for strictly office tasks, your assistant could be anywhere around the world.

One appealing option is to hire a virtual assistant in another country, such as the Philippines. The main reason is that it can be more affordable. However, this approach has a few drawbacks. First, time zone differences can make live communication more challenging. Additionally, there may be language and cultural barriers to overcome. Finally, working with someone outside the country makes it challenging to maintain security. If you give someone in another country access to your database, what would you do if they stole your data and used it for criminal activities? Holding a virtual assistant accountable in another country is nearly impossible.

Would you consider hiring someone just for the season and then replacing them each year? Given the seasonal nature of the real estate business, this could make sense. It would be especially appealing because you could tap into a labor pool of people with summers off, such as students or teachers.

National Association of Realtors (NAR) studies indicate that the average tenure of a real estate assistant is 1–4 years. Many factors contribute to this high turnover. While high turnover may be unavoidable, retaining staff who stay for a few years can reduce your workload. Hiring and training a new assistant each year takes time.

There are several ways to reduce staff turnover. The most obvious option is to hire an assistant seeking a long-term role. Pay is often a key driver of turnover. The seasonal nature of the work may also be a factor, as you might not need an assistant during the winter months. Lastly, job satisfaction is especially important. If your assistant feels appreciated and recognized as a vital part of your team, that will significantly boost job satisfaction.

The first step after hiring an assistant is to have them clearly document their role in writing, including their responsibilities and processes. This creates a ready-made training plan for a new assistant if you lose your current one. Keeping this plan updated helps minimize disruptions. Your real estate CRM’s task plans will assist in delegating responsibilities to your assistant. Also, check with your CRM vendor to see if they offer training programs your assistant can join. Additionally, make sure your assistant can contact your CRM vendor’s technical support line and get help whenever necessary.

The Role Control Secret: For an assistant email address use a role-based email address with a general term like “info” instead of a specific person’s name. For example, your assistant’s email could be info@SallySellsSarasota.com. This way, the email address stays the same if you hire a new assistant.

There are some tasks an assistant cannot help with. These may be tasks you lack experience in and cannot explain clearly to your assistant. For example, building a website may be beyond an assistant’s capabilities and is better handled by hiring an external company. Similarly, creating a 3D walkthrough of a property or capturing aerial drone footage may be beyond a new assistant’s capabilities. However, an experienced assistant might be able to take on these tasks with some additional training. To start, I recommend giving your assistant clear, simple tasks. For tasks that require a high level of skill, hiring a contractor who specializes in those activities is likely to be more cost-effective.

I suggest you also consider what your ideal assistant’s personality would be. That will help guide you during the interview process. Someone who would thrive in an administrative role might not be extroverted, but instead be highly organized. National Association of Realtors surveys show that about half of assistants are licensed agents, and the other half are not. There is no single right kind of assistant for everyone¹⁰.

There are two main approaches you can take when bringing on an assistant. The first is to hire someone who can strictly help you with what needs to be done. You will take the time to train them and provide feedback on their performance and role. I think of this like a surgeon bringing in a nurse to assist with the operation. The personality of someone in this role would thrive on detail-oriented tasks.

The second approach is to hire someone who can help with the tasks you need and will eventually grow into the role of being their own agent. This is more like an understudy than an assistant. This approach has distinct advantages and disadvantages. Among the advantages, you might even find a new agent in your office willing to work for you part-time to “learn the ropes.” They are motivated to understand the full sales process and are most likely to grasp both the “why” and the “what” when asked to complete a task. One disadvantage is that they might not want to remain in an administrative role and will eventually shift into sales.

The Balanced Buddy Secret: When hiring an assistant or choosing a partner, look for someone whose personality complements yours rather than mirrors it. Pairing different strengths creates a balanced and effective team.

You should evaluate each candidate’s personality and fit. You might initially think you’d prefer to hire an assistant rather than an understudy, but if someone new comes into the office and you get along well with them, you might reconsider. You might even consider bringing an understudy assistant on as a partner eventually.

Some offices have an administrative assistant who works with multiple agents, assisting each. The advantage of this approach is that multiple agents can keep a single assistant busy full-time, whereas a single agent might not. The CRM would be organized so that each agent has their own database visible only to them and their shared assistant. This setup prevents agents from viewing each other’s data, and the information is not comingled. Instead, it is siloed so that the assistant can switch between each agent’s account to perform work for that agent. This way, each agent has their own contacts, calendar, and transactions.

Working with a Partner

There are several advantages for real estate agents to work with a partner. You can take a vacation more easily, as your partner can cover for you. The same applies to spending time with family and to sharing the workload more effectively during busy periods.

According to NAR surveys, 22% of agents are on a team. The primary benefit they report is increased productivity: an average of 20 closed sides per team member, compared with a median of 7.5 for solo agents. While joining a team does not guarantee success, it certainly seems to help.

Before entering a partnership, you must evaluate several key factors. Are you truly equals, or is one partner more dominant than the other? It’s helpful to understand how your partner’s personality compares to yours. For instance, one might spend most of their time in the office, while the other prefers to work remotely. Is one of you more “bossy” than the other? If you part ways, how would you divide your shared database? Have an honest conversation beforehand. There’s no single correct answer. However, many partnerships fail because of unclear roles and expectations.

Your real estate CRM enables you and your partner to collaborate and share responsibilities. How you organize your CRM should reflect the nature of your relationship with your partner. There are two levels of partnership to consider. A good approach is to start with the least invasive option and, if it works well, move to the next.

The most common partnership involves each person maintaining their own contact databases, calendars, and lists. You do not share commissions and share only a few expenses. Your CRM lets your partner see your information, and you can see theirs, but the data isn’t combined. However, you can access your partner’s database, and they can access yours. This way, when one of you is on vacation, the other can cover. You can also exchange appointments and leads between your databases. This approach is surprisingly common and durable. The main benefit is that it requires little adjustment on either of your parts. It allows both agents to operate independently while relying on each other when needed. This is also a great option for two agents with similar personalities. Because the databases are separate, it works regardless of each agent’s time commitment or skill level. If the partnership ends, each agent stops sharing their database with the other. No changes to the databases themselves are necessary.

The Happy Handoff Secret: A real estate career can provide income after you stop working if you follow a succession plan. Succession plans involve bringing on a junior agent and spending 1-2 years transitioning your clients and database to them. You kick-start a younger agent’s career while at the same time your CRM database generates referral income for you.

A second option is to use the same combined database and assign categories to indicate who is working on which lead and attending which appointment. For example, if Sam and Cindy are partners, Sam would add the “Sam” category to all the contacts he manages for the partnership, and Cindy would add the “Cindy” category to her records. Similarly, income could be allocated across these categories.

While categories are a good starting point, a mastery-level approach uses your CRM’s commission-tracking features to record the exact financial split for each transaction. This creates a definitive ledger that helps prevent future disagreements. If the partnership ends, the categories can be used to split the data into two separate databases. The advantage of this method is that it makes it easy to begin working with a partner.

Leads can be assigned by specialization, allowing each agent in the partnership to focus on a specific deal type. For instance, one partner might focus on buyer leads, while the other concentrates on listings. Another common division of roles with a shared database is for one partner to handle external work and the other to handle office work. These arrangements are typical of a husband-and-wife team or a dominant agent bringing in a junior agent.

Teams where each agent is independent-minded are more likely to prefer the first option, in which each agent maintains their own calendar, contacts, and leads, independent of the others.

No matter what type of partnership you choose, it requires time and effort. The most common challenge is personality conflicts with your partner. One of the simplest ways to address this is to use your real estate CRM to clearly organize roles, commission distribution, and tasks. Being a solo real estate agent can be very stressful; working with a partner can significantly reduce that stress.

Endnotes

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