# Real Estate CRM Secrets

The New Agent’s Guide to Building Systems That Close Deals

# Copyright

Copyright © 2026 by Scott Schmitz

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods,
without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case
of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other
non‑commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

An AI-friendly version of this book in markdown format is available at
<https://RealEstateCRMSecrets.com>

This book is a work of non‑fiction. Every reasonable effort has been
made to provide accurate, up‑to‑date information, but it is sold with
the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in
rendering legal, financial, accounting, or other professional services;
readers should consult appropriate professionals before acting on any
information herein.

First Edition – February 1, 2026

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 979-8-9940824-0-9

For permission requests, contact the author at:
<https://RealEstateCRMSecrets.com>

# Dedication

To the more than 150,000 customers of RealtyJuggler. Without your
feedback, this book would not be possible.

# Table of Contents

[Introduction [8](#introduction)](#introduction)

[Building a Real Estate Business
[10](#building-a-real-estate-business)](#building-a-real-estate-business)

[Your Job as a Real Estate Agent
[11](#your-job-as-a-real-estate-agent)](#your-job-as-a-real-estate-agent)

[Surviving Your First Year
[15](#surviving-your-first-year)](#surviving-your-first-year)

[Working With a Mentor
[26](#working-with-a-mentor)](#working-with-a-mentor)

[Training for New Agents
[26](#training-for-new-agents)](#training-for-new-agents)

[Becoming a Trusted Agent
[28](#becoming-a-trusted-agent)](#becoming-a-trusted-agent)

[Building Sustainable Systems
[31](#building-sustainable-systems)](#building-sustainable-systems)

[Building Trust as a Real Estate Agent
[37](#building-trust-as-a-real-estate-agent)](#building-trust-as-a-real-estate-agent)

[Top of Mind in Your Market
[37](#top-of-mind-in-your-market)](#top-of-mind-in-your-market)

[Crafting a Real Estate Brand
[39](#crafting-a-real-estate-brand)](#crafting-a-real-estate-brand)

[Small Talk with Business Cards
[49](#small-talk-with-business-cards)](#small-talk-with-business-cards)

[Blogs to Build Authority
[52](#blogs-to-build-authority)](#blogs-to-build-authority)

[Marketing That Creates Trust
[54](#marketing-that-creates-trust)](#marketing-that-creates-trust)

[Real Estate CRM Features
[58](#real-estate-crm-features)](#real-estate-crm-features)

[Choose Your CRM [58](#choose-your-crm)](#choose-your-crm)

[Core CRM Features [61](#core-crm-features)](#core-crm-features)

[Using Real Estate Specific CRMs
[66](#using-real-estate-specific-crms)](#using-real-estate-specific-crms)

[Repeatable CRM Systems
[73](#repeatable-crm-systems)](#repeatable-crm-systems)

[International CRM Use
[76](#international-crm-use)](#international-crm-use)

[What to Look for in a CRM
[79](#what-to-look-for-in-a-crm)](#what-to-look-for-in-a-crm)

[Things to avoid in a CRM
[82](#things-to-avoid-in-a-crm)](#things-to-avoid-in-a-crm)

[CRM Quick Pick List [87](#crm-quick-pick-list)](#crm-quick-pick-list)

[Engineering Your Habits Using Systems
[89](#engineering-your-habits-using-systems)](#engineering-your-habits-using-systems)

[Habits for Results [90](#habits-for-results)](#habits-for-results)

[Protecting Your Time
[95](#protecting-your-time)](#protecting-your-time)

[Tasks vs Appointments
[100](#tasks-vs-appointments)](#tasks-vs-appointments)

[Task Plans [102](#task-plans)](#task-plans)

[Touch Cycle [106](#touch-cycle)](#touch-cycle)

[Systems to Simplify Work
[107](#systems-to-simplify-work)](#systems-to-simplify-work)

[Real Estate Calculators
[108](#real-estate-calculators)](#real-estate-calculators)

[Budgeting Tips [111](#budgeting-tips)](#budgeting-tips)

[Storing Files [119](#storing-files)](#storing-files)

[Working your Database
[121](#working-your-database)](#working-your-database)

[Contacts vs Prospects
[121](#contacts-vs-prospects)](#contacts-vs-prospects)

[Categorize Your Database for Marketing
[124](#categorize-your-database-for-marketing)](#categorize-your-database-for-marketing)

[Expanding your Contacts Database
[126](#expanding-your-contacts-database)](#expanding-your-contacts-database)

[Maintaining your Contacts Database
[127](#maintaining-your-contacts-database)](#maintaining-your-contacts-database)

[Building your Prospects Database
[132](#building-your-prospects-database)](#building-your-prospects-database)

[Cleaning your Prospects Database
[134](#cleaning-your-prospects-database)](#cleaning-your-prospects-database)

[Filling Your Sales Pipeline with Leads
[136](#filling-your-sales-pipeline-with-leads)](#filling-your-sales-pipeline-with-leads)

[Real Estate Sales Funnel
[136](#real-estate-sales-funnel)](#real-estate-sales-funnel)

[Daily Prospecting Habits
[143](#daily-prospecting-habits)](#daily-prospecting-habits)

[Using Floor Time [147](#using-floor-time)](#using-floor-time)

[Open House Strategies
[148](#open-house-strategies)](#open-house-strategies)

[Paid Lead Sources [156](#paid-lead-sources)](#paid-lead-sources)

[Rentals [160](#rentals)](#rentals)

[Commercial Real Estate
[164](#commercial-real-estate)](#commercial-real-estate)

[Proven Prospecting Methods
[167](#proven-prospecting-methods)](#proven-prospecting-methods)

[Comparative Market Analysis (CMA)
[167](#comparative-market-analysis-cma)](#comparative-market-analysis-cma)

[Geographic Farming [169](#geographic-farming)](#geographic-farming)

[Door Knocking [176](#door-knocking)](#door-knocking)

[Prospecting Absentee Owners
[182](#prospecting-absentee-owners)](#prospecting-absentee-owners)

[Turning Expired Listings into New Clients
[183](#turning-expired-listings-into-new-clients)](#turning-expired-listings-into-new-clients)

[Approaching For Sale By Owners (FSBOs)
[187](#approaching-for-sale-by-owners-fsbos)](#approaching-for-sale-by-owners-fsbos)

[Reverse Prospecting [190](#reverse-prospecting)](#reverse-prospecting)

[Working with New Home Builders
[191](#working-with-new-home-builders)](#working-with-new-home-builders)

[Stand Out When Reaching Out
[194](#stand-out-when-reaching-out)](#stand-out-when-reaching-out)

[Phone Call Skills [194](#phone-call-skills)](#phone-call-skills)

[Text Messaging [198](#text-messaging)](#text-messaging)

[Sending Emails [202](#sending-emails)](#sending-emails)

[Proven Printed Letters
[210](#proven-printed-letters)](#proven-printed-letters)

[Flyers [213](#flyers)](#flyers)

[Sending eCards [214](#sending-ecards)](#sending-ecards)

[Call Capture [216](#call-capture)](#call-capture)

[Conclusion [218](#conclusion)](#conclusion)

# Acknowledgements

Writing this book proved more challenging than I expected, and I am
deeply thankful to those who made it possible.

To my wife Michelle, thank you for your constant support.

To William Schmitz, I could never have finished this book without you.
You served as researcher, editor, copywriter, publisher, and portrait
artist, creating every drawing in it. You also designed the cover and
contributed in countless other ways. I am forever thankful for
everything you did to bring this project to life.

To Quin Leach, thank you for conducting the original interviews that
shaped the case studies and for providing valuable early feedback and
research when the book was still in its initial stages.

To Nathan Grimm, your feedback and contributions on technical topics
like email deliverability, SMS permissions, and other complex areas
enhanced the work at every stage.

To Frank Larnerd, I appreciate your diagrams and for sharing your
expertise in social media, content publishing, and the operation of a
real estate CRM. Your perspective added valuable depth to the book.

I am grateful to the entire RealtyJuggler team and your decades of
experience in real estate CRMs. I draw upon the knowledge from fielding
countless sales and support calls over the past 20 years.

#  Introduction

In 1992, anthropologist Robin Dunbar famously suggested that humans
could only manage about 150 meaningful relationships. But there are real
estate agents who can easily handle several thousand relationships
without forgetting a name or even which sports their clients’ kids play.
So how can agents maintain that many connections? It’s not the agents,
but the tools they use. When an agent uses a real estate CRM, they can
nurture thousands of genuine connections.

I wrote this book to help new real estate agents succeed in their first
year. The main secret is understanding how consistent use of a CRM can
lead to more closings. If you're just starting out as an agent, you
might not know what a CRM is or why you should use one. This book
explains the features of a real estate CRM and their benefits. These
benefits include helping you stay organized, and in touch with your
prospects and past clients.

For over two decades (since 2004), my team and I have been creating and
selling **RealtyJuggler Real Estate CRM**, a software organizer designed
just for real estate. During that time, we have helped over 150,000
agents stay organized. I have identified patterns and systems that
winning agents leverage to gain an edge. This book is the collective
wisdom from those many years of helping agents get the most out of their
real estate CRM.

Some agents think using a CRM is hard. What’s hard is the hundreds of
steps necessary to take a prospect from that first meeting through to
closing. If anything goes wrong along the way, you may not get paid. Yet
many agents try to manage everything in their head, or with just a few
notes scribbled on a pad of paper. Using a real estate CRM helps you
systematize the lead incubation and closing process. By tracking your
deal pipeline, you can better predict your income stream. This also
means you can improve your processes over time, delegate tasks, and
become more efficient. So, instead of feeling like you won the lottery
at closing, it will feel like just one more day at the office. Your goal
is to make attending a closing as routine as brushing your teeth, and
using a CRM can help you to achieve this.

This book is the first in a two-part series. The first book, *Real
Estate Secrets* (the one you're reading now), is aimed at new agents or
those who haven't yet started using a CRM. The second book, *Real Estate
Mastery,* is designed for experienced agents who want to improve their
real estate CRM skills and covers more advanced topics. The second book
builds on the progress made in the first, showing you how to scale your
operations through automation and networking. This enables you to bring
on an assistant to build your practice. Together, these books offer a
clear, sustainable framework for growing your business in a predictable
way. While many agents rely on hard work and luck for success, these two
books guide you to achieve success through organization, automation, and
strategic planning.

In this first book, I will start by helping you choose a CRM that fits
your needs and by showing you how to avoid common pitfalls. We next
cover core features such as contact management, lead follow-up, tasks,
and appointments. I will teach you practical methods and systems for
using your CRM to acquire and follow up with prospects, and how your CRM
will help you close your deals. You will also learn how to use a CRM to
build referrals and repeat business by staying in contact with past
clients. By the end of this book, you will be well-equipped to have a
successful first year in real estate.

# Building a Real Estate Business

> “Forging new relationships makes the world go round. When you meet new
> people, you make connections that can lead to all kinds of future
> breakthroughs. Stop trying to “sell” people on using your services,
> rather, focus on forging a relationship and providing value to that
> relationship. Even when it’s uncomfortable, reach out and introduce
> yourself to new people… try knocking on 100 doors a day and simply say
> “Hi, I’m Dave. I’m a broker with XYZ. I wanted to meet you face to
> face and wondered if you’d mind if I emailed you recent real estate
> activity on occasion?” The worst they can say is “no.” Fortunately,
> many won’t.”

— Dave Crumby, Lani Rosales, Martin Streicher: *REAL*

Being a real estate agent can be a highly rewarding career. You help
someone find their dream home. Seeing that look on their face when you
hand them the keys at closing is priceless. If you do your job right,
your client won’t even realize how tough the process was or how many
times the deal nearly fell apart. Making the process of buying and
selling a home smooth is why you get paid.

But before you can close that first deal, you must first master the many
intricacies of real estate sales. As a new agent, you have a lot of
energy and some book knowledge, but lack practical experience. To reach
the point of handing over those keys and earning a commission, you need
to master the art of relationship building and careful organization.
This starts with developing daily habits, systems, and conversational
skills necessary to create a pipeline of future clients. While
understanding contracts and negotiations is essential, your initial
success depends on embracing the fundamental business tasks that happen
before you ever write a single offer. This chapter guides you through
building that vital foundation.

## Your Job as a Real Estate Agent

Most people think a real estate agent’s job is helping someone buy or
sell a home, but that’s only a small part of the entire sales process.
Before you can assist anyone, you must first be hired. The most
important part of your job is meeting new people and building
relationships. Set a daily goal for the number of new people you meet,
and give yourself credit when you learn their names and collect their
contact information. Once you do, make sure to enter that information
into your CRM.

Your ability to build trust is the first step in the deal lifecycle.
Think of the deal lifecycle as the sequence of stages a transaction goes
through. It starts with initial contact and qualification, moves through
agreement and active home search or listing preparation, and concludes
with negotiation, escrow, and closing. The lifecycle provides structure
to your daily work because each stage naturally flows to the next,
establishing the right rhythm and messaging. 

To stay organized, your CRM allows you to split people into two groups.
The first group, your prospects, consists of individuals who are
directly interested in buying or selling. These leads should be entered
into your **prospects database** for active follow-up via phone calls,
SMS, and scheduled email sequences. Although it would be ideal if these
people responded immediately, that’s not always the case. Some may take
weeks or even months before deciding to hire you.

Your CRM is crucial for managing this process, offering follow-up
reminders for your direct calls, and support for automatically sending
educational drip emails for long-term nurturing. **Drip emails** are
prewritten emails or printed letters sent to a single contact over time
to educate, nurture, and encourage action. They are sent at scheduled
intervals rather than all at once. The term comes from drip irrigation,
where plants receive slow, steady watering instead of a flood, so the
recipient gets a consistent stream of value that keeps you top of mind
without overwhelming their inbox.


The second group is your **contacts database**, which includes people
who don't actively need your services. These contacts are part of your
warm market, also known as your **sphere of influence**. A good way to
describe these people is that they would recognize your name or face.
These would be friends, neighbors, relatives, and past clients. These
are people who already know you, trust you, and recognize your name.

Your contacts database also includes other real estate agents, as well
as vendors such as home inspectors, loan officers, and tradespeople like
plumbers and electricians. These are the people you rely on to help
close a deal, and for this reason, they often have an interest in
assisting you with closing any deal. However, they are usually not
buyers or sellers themselves.

For people in your sphere of influence, your best approach is to
maintain and strengthen your existing relationships. As their friend and
a real estate professional, it’s natural for them to turn to you first
when they’re ready to buy or sell. Don’t focus on real estate topics
unless they bring them up. Your friends are your most valuable asset,
offering both direct business and referral opportunities.


To build meaningful connections, listen carefully and remember details.
When you talk to someone, keep your CRM open so you can jot down
**notes** about their interests, spouse’s name, children’s names,
birthdays, and favorite sports team. If someone mentions they love
mid-century modern homes, note it. When you call them in 90 days, you
can ask how their favorite team is doing in the playoffs or mention that
a special home in their preferred style just became available. These
details help you have smarter conversations and show you genuinely care.

Success requires spending time on all aspects of your business. You will
work with current clients, but you also need to set aside time to
attract new prospects and nurture your sphere of influence. If you
neglect prospects, another agent will snatch them. If you forget to call
your friends on their birthday, they might take their business elsewhere
when they need a real estate agent. I recommend scheduling time each day
in your calendar for making outgoing calls. Use tasks in your CRM to
organize your follow-up. Take notes during your calls, and schedule your
next contact before hanging up.

Don’t take your friends for granted—review each contact record at least
once a year by calling, emailing, or sending a physical Christmas card.
Your main goal is to build mindshare. This mindshare isn’t created by
“selling” to them but by being a consistent, genuine presence in their
lives. When someone asks a friend of yours for the name of a real estate
agent, you want that friend to immediately recommend you because you are
a friend they trust, who also happens to be a real estate expert.

The trust you establish within your sphere of influence is a key
building block of your real estate career. As you gain experience, you
should expect roughly half of your income to come from referrals and
past clients. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that
66% of home sellers either hired their previous agent or found one
through a referral[1]. Of course, for new agents, this percentage will
be much lower. You can’t rely on repeat business from someone until
after you've first done that first deal with them.

By establishing these foundational habits of consistent outreach and
meticulous record-keeping, you elevate your CRM from a basic address
book to a powerful business tool. This system enables you to manage both
active prospects and your long-term network with professionalism and
care, ensuring no opportunity is missed. Your disciplined approach
builds the trust necessary for a referral-based business and provides
the structure to turn your initial efforts into a predictable,
sustainable income.

##  Surviving Your First Year

Your first year as a new agent involves building the foundation of your
business. This begins with obtaining a real estate license and choosing
a brokerage to join. After selecting a firm, discuss your anticipated
expenses with your broker. A broker is the professional who holds the
advanced license necessary to own the firm and supervise its agents.
They are legally responsible for every transaction the brokerage
manages.

Unlike traditional jobs, real estate agents work entirely on commission.
You won’t receive a salary, hourly wage, or regular paycheck. Your
income depends solely on closed transactions. This means you could work
many hours and earn nothing if a deal falls through. You are only paid
when a property successfully transfers ownership and closes. Create a
spreadsheet of your projected costs for that first year. Running out of
cash is the biggest reason many real estate agents end their careers
early[2]. Some expenses will vary depending on how much business you do.
Still, you should be able to estimate a rough figure based on
information from your broker and other real estate agents in the office.

After calculating your expenses, determine how many homes you need to
sell to reach the break-even point. Use the real estate commission
calculator in your CRM to find your net commission after the split (the
percentage shared with your brokerage), franchise fee (if your broker is
part of a national brand), and other deductions for a typical sale.
Expect a delay between your expenses and income, so ensure you have
enough cash on hand to cover several months before commissions start
arriving. Keep a close watch on your costs.

If there is a more affordable way to do things, start with that approach
first. You can always spend more money later, but right now, you don't
know what you need. Many expenses should be avoided in your first year.

A custom website won’t generate immediate income and shouldn't be your
top priority. For your first year, focus on using the website your
broker provides.

Also, wait before paying for leads from lead services. Instead, focus
on leads from your own prospecting efforts and your sphere of influence.
As you gain experience and become better at converting leads into
clients, you can consider paid lead services like Zillow.


> **Slow Start Secret**: For real estate agents there is a delay between work and payment. New agents will typically see their first commission check arrive 3-6 months after starting. Because of this time lag new agents should keep their expenses lean until closing a few deals.


Your next step is to sign up for a free trial of a real estate CRM,
which serves as the command center for your business. It’s easy to feel
overwhelmed by the options, so focus on a vendor that offers a
no-obligation free trial, an affordable price, and either month-to-month
billing or a prorated refund policy. A prorated refund removes the risk
of a long-term commitment while still allowing you to get a lower annual
price. This way, you can switch vendors whenever you want. Steer clear
of vendors that require a credit card to sign up for the free trial or
that mandate a one-year commitment.

Since you're on a budget, avoid choosing an expensive vendor. For your
needs, an affordable real estate-specific CRM is exactly what you need.
Buying an expensive one won’t benefit you and will only drain your
budget. You also don't need a system with complex features you won't
use. That will only slow you down.

This chapter describes the “core” features that all CRMs share, and also
explains the “real estate-specific” features you'll need to get your job
done. A generic CRM simply won’t work for real estate, as the real
estate business is highly unique.

Finally, you should select a CRM that’s easy to use and offers live
phone support. Since you're just starting out, you'll have many
questions, and the last thing you want is to wait for email responses.
The biggest mistake you can make is waiting until you have a client to
get a CRM. Your CRM will help you with prospecting, and you need it to
start building a prospecting pipeline from day one.

—«◊»—


### Samantha Clement

When you’re starting in real estate, every tool you pay for needs to
deliver real value. The goal is to find the system that saves you time
and helps you grow without costing you too much. Samantha Clement, a
Real Estate Agent in Okotoks, Alberta, first started her business by
using the free contacts program that came with her computer. That worked
fine at first, but as her client base grew, she quickly hit limits.
While the benefit of her system was its low cost, the downsides were the
inability to handle reminders, scheduling, or tracking listings and
commissions.

Like many new agents, Samantha hesitated to invest in a new system
because of cost and complexity. “A free trial is important,” she says.
“You need enough time to see if a system really fits your business
before committing the capital.” By testing different options, she
discovered that the price of a CRM does not necessarily represent how
useful it can be. What was most important was finding tools that she
could quickly understand and use. “Simplicity was key for me. If a
system took too long to figure out, that was time I wasn’t spending with
clients,” she says. Her advice to other new agents: Start with free or
low-cost tools, take advantage of extended trials, and find systems that
maximize your time with clients.

Samantha also came to appreciate the importance of responsive technical
support. At the same time, she found that importing her client records
was easy. She has some questions about configuring her CRM for the
Canadian market. That’s where phone support became essential: “I only
called support a couple of times, and they always talked me through
whatever issue I had,” she shares.

—«◊»—

Once you have your CRM, your first task is to develop your most
important asset: your contacts database.

If you have a smartphone, you can set up synchronization so your phone’s
address book and calendar sync with your CRM. Also, review the address
books in all your email accounts and export the data from each. Be sure
to include relatives, neighbors, friends, and anyone else you can think
of. Your first client is likely in this database.

Since your CRM’s database is essential for your livelihood, ask your CRM
vendor a few practical questions early on. How often do you back up my
data, and how long do you keep those backups? Can I export my data at
any time in a standard format, such as CSV? If I accidentally delete a
record, can I restore it myself, or can the technical support team
restore it for me? Is there a way to review a change log to see who made
what changes and when?


> **The Database Ditch Secret:** Export your entire database at least once a year. Accidents happen, and a backup is a good safety step. Also, someday you may want to switch CRM vendors and will undoubtedly want to take your database with you. Keeping a backup of your database gives you peace of mind.


With your CRM in place, success now depends on your daily habits. A
common challenge for agents is the unstructured nature of real estate
sales. You are no longer accountable to a boss who watches when you
arrive in the morning or leave in the evening. But you do have a boss:
you. You are just shortchanging your chances of success if you put in
less than a full effort. Block out time in your calendar each day for
activities like prospecting, doing CMAs, and door-knocking.
Door-knocking is a face-to-face prospecting activity in which you walk a
defined area, knock on doors, and start brief, courteous conversations
at the doorstep to introduce yourself, listen, and learn.

Your real estate CRM, MLS, and other brokerage software are tools that
will help you work more efficiently, and each of these organizations
offers free training. Take advantage of that training to harness the key
features these systems provide. Hold yourself accountable and stick to
your scheduled activities. It's tempting to skip activities you dislike.
Instead, I recommend scheduling the tasks you dread for early morning
and completing them right away.

Once your contacts database is populated and you've blocked out your
time, start reaching out to people in your network to inform them about
your new real estate career. Pace yourself and aim to make a certain
number of calls each day. A phone call is more effective than an email
because talking to someone may prompt them to mention someone they know
who is interested in buying or selling, or reveal that they are looking
to do so themselves. You can also ask friends and family to act as your
scouts and notify you if they hear of anyone who might need an agent.

The easiest way to do this is to **sort your database** by last contact
date. This arranges your contacts so that those you spoke with the
longest ago are listed first, and the most recent contacts are last. Use
the click-to-dial feature of your CRM to call the people at the top of
the list. **Click-to-dial** allows you to click a link on your computer
to call someone from your mobile phone. Take notes and update the last
contact date. If you feel the contact is high value, you can schedule a
follow-up. This way, when you hang up, that contact record drops to the
bottom of your list. If you do this daily, you'll eventually reach
everyone. Don’t forget to record any disconnected phone numbers.

You should also take the opportunity to add a few categories to each
contact record to help you keep everyone organized. **Categories** serve
as tags for each contact record. Common categories include “Friend”,
“Family”, “Plumber”, “Agent”, “Buyer”, “Seller”, “Church”, and so on.
Categories allow you to operate on a group of people at once, such as
sending a bulk email. They also help you quickly find someone in a
specific category, like a “Plumber.”

If you feel someone isn’t worth a phone call, consider adding them to
the “NoLead” category to indicate they are not a potential client. For
example, if you don’t plan to call your dentist to inform them of your
career change, you could add the “Dentist” and “NoLead” categories to
that contact record.

As a salesperson, words are essential tools for your role. The words you
choose shape how prospects and clients respond and can impact your
success in winning clients and closing deals. Over time, choosing the
right words will become second nature. But when you're just starting
out, the best way to learn these subtle word choices is to spend time
with an experienced agent. Watch their word choices, pauses, eye
contact, and gestures. While you can develop these skills on your own,
observing others will help you learn much faster.

For example, while most people consider “house” and “home” as synonyms,
an experienced real estate agent understands that “home” conveys a warm
feeling to buyers. For a seller, use the less emotional word “house,”
since the last thing you want is for them to get emotional about selling
the place where they raised their family. Similarly, you should refer to
the listing agreement as “paperwork.” Although it is technically a
“contract,” that word can cause concern, whereas “paperwork” sounds less
intimidating.

One of the most challenging and exciting parts of a real estate agent’s
job is handling objections from a difficult or hesitant prospect. It’s
hard to predict how a conversation will unfold, and you may encounter
objections or questions you’ve never considered before.

I recommend gradually building your experience. Find a busy agent in
your office who is willing to hire you for listing tasks, such as
hosting open houses, creating flyers, and performing CMAs. This way,
even if you don’t have any listings yet, you can steadily gain hands-on
experience. Spending time with buyers at an open house sharpens your
conversational sales skills. Door-knock the neighborhood before an open
house to get more face time with residents and learn more about that
neighborhood. You build your experience step by step through small,
manageable activities. Every hour you invest this way makes you better
at your job.

Another tool that you should use are real estate scripts. You may have
heard of Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000-Hour Rule” from his book *Outliers*,
which suggests it takes about 10,000 hours of dedicated practice to
become an expert at something. As a new agent, you do not have those
hours yet. Scripts provide a way to leverage the experience and
knowledge of agents who have already put in their 10,000 hours. They
serve as a crucial bridge, allowing you to use language that has been
tested and proven effective while you are still building your own
expertise through practice. You can find scripts from experienced agents
in your office, your broker, or online.

Memorize these scripts, especially for face-to-face prospecting
interactions like door knocking and open houses. Your goal is to not
sound robotic and to master the script so you come across as natural and
persuasive. This preparation helps you avoid struggling for words and
instead focus on actively listening to your prospect[3].

You will need to work harder than an experienced agent because you'll
make mistakes and learn from them, which takes time. A more seasoned
agent also has a client base, a reputation, and brand recognition to
depend on. Working with new leads requires more effort than with past
clients, as you first need to sell yourself and then the home. A good
rule of thumb is that you'll work twice as hard with strangers as you
would with a past client or friend. Your CRM can accelerate your growth
by helping you with follow-up. As you build your reputation, your
contacts database will also grow, and your CRM can help you maintain
relationships with people likely to refer your services. Before you know
it, you'll be the experienced agent!

A common strategy for new agents is to observe and imitate the most
successful agent in the office. You will gain a lot by adopting their
proven strategies, but keep in mind that some actions of a successful
agent may not be a perfect fit for a new agent. Most new agents focus on
buyers rather than sellers because it is typically easier to convince a
buyer to hire a new agent than to convince someone selling their home to
take a chance on an agent with an unproven track record. More seasoned
agents usually prefer listings, as they are considerably less work and
tend to have a higher rate of success than buyers.


> **Borrowed Buyer Secret:** Ask a more experienced agent in your office if they have any buyer clients they could send your way. You would pay the other agent a referral fee, so both of you make money when the deal closes. That way, the more experienced agent can focus on more profitable clients, like listings.


You can leverage these differing preferences. You could offer to host
open houses for more experienced agents in your office. Use the
electronic open house sign-in form built into your real estate CRM to
avoid manual data entry. Visitors would fill out the **open house form**
on your iPad, allowing you to collect their name, phone number, email
address, and whether they are already working with another agent. There
are numerous ways to structure this so it is financially beneficial for
both you and the other agent. You could represent the buy side of the
transaction, with the listing agent representing the sell side. Or, you
could work out a fixed fee for your services.

You can offer additional services for a small fee. Spending time on
these tasks helps you gain experience and receive feedback on your work.
You might create flyers, take photos of homes, install lockboxes and
yard signs, make copies of keys, and more. As you complete these tasks,
you'll become more efficient with your time, especially in managing
travel time outside the office. Planning your trips to maximize
productivity will boost your earning potential.

One of the most important skills you can learn right away is how to
quickly prepare an accurate **Comparative Market Analysis (CMA)** using
your Multiple Listing Service (MLS). A CMA is an essential report that
helps you determine a property’s market value by reviewing past sales,
current comparable properties, and even homes that did not sell. To
create one, you will analyze these similar properties to establish a
credible price range for your client. Offer to build CMAs for other
agents in your office for practice and invite them to critique your
work. You should be able to assemble a CMA efficiently and accurately,
as it is a fundamental tool you will use for all your listings and for
your prospecting. This is another activity that a more experienced agent
might hire you to assist with.

The challenge new agents face in securing listings can be linked to a
few factors. First, since the seller wants to sell their property
quickly at the highest possible price, they are more likely to
scrutinize your track record. Prospects can also pick up on your
confidence, or lack thereof, and they need to believe you can sell their
home successfully. To help build trust, find a friend or relative who
will list their home with you; they already know and trust you.


> **Friend & Family First Secret**: To jump-start your first sales, offer a “friends and family” commission discount to your relatives and close friends. You can also extend this insider treatment as a “special deal” to your first client in a new geographic farm. This approach generates immediate goodwill and makes new clients feel like they are being treated just like family.


As a new agent, gaining experience and closing deals are essential to
your success. The closing is the final step in a real estate
transaction, when all parties sign the necessary documents, funds are
exchanged, and ownership of the property is officially transferred from
the seller to the buyer. Importantly, this is when the brokerage gets
paid, and you earn your commission. It represents the completion of all
your efforts. Don't underestimate how a successful closing can boost
your confidence and motivate you to secure more listings. Also, a
listing tends to create a multiplier effect. A good rule of thumb is to
anticipate at least one buyer closing for every listing you have,
especially if you stay diligent in following up on open house leads and
yard sign calls.

To populate your Prospects database, you can rely on several
opportunities. For Sale By Owner (FSBO) refers to people who try to sell
their house without a real estate agent. There are also expired
listings: people who listed with a previous real estate agent, but that
agent failed to sell the house, so the listing has expired. You should
also volunteer for as much floor time as possible, which is the time
when an agent volunteers to help anyone who walks into the office
looking for a real estate agent.

Finally, begin scouting the neighborhoods you intend to specialize in.
Attend brokers’ open houses and preview homes listed for sale on the
MLS. You need to start identifying a geographic farm area for yourself,
which is a neighborhood you intend to focus on to generate clients.

Your real estate CRM can automatically load contact information from
various data sources. This process includes web forms, imports, or email
parsing—sometimes called **email feed**—which converts an email lead
notification into a prospect record.

## Working With a Mentor

While your broker is legally responsible for your supervision and
training, their time is often limited by their own business and
management duties. For this reason, I recommend that you seek an
additional mentor in the form of a successful, senior agent in your
office who can provide the practical guidance you'll need to get
started.


> **Back Scratcher Secret:** Look for opportunities where your success directly benefits your mentor. This can be assisting them with open houses, following up with leads they can’t get to, or taking overflow clients. When your growth adds to their production, you create a partnership where both of you are invested in each other’s success.


Find an agent you admire. Take them out to lunch and ask for advice. Not
all agents share the same goals as you do. For example, a semi-retired
agent might have more modest financial goals than a younger agent with a
family to support. Consider finding a mentor with similar objectives.
The lessons from your mentor will include work ethic, attitude, and
personal philosophy. Therefore, finding someone with a similar worldview
will be helpful.

## Training for New Agents

When you are just starting out, take advantage of every free training
opportunity. Taking classes offered by your broker and MLS, and learning
to use the advanced features of your MLS, are essential ways to build
your skills. Along with mentorship, your next key training focus should
be mastering your real estate CRM. When choosing your CRM, I recommend
prioritizing ease of use, video tutorials, and live phone support.
Initially, focus on tracking contacts and following up consistently. As
you become more comfortable with the core features, you can gradually
explore more advanced functions.

A good CRM provider offers different ways to learn the system, catering
to various learning styles. While video tutorials have become a common
way to learn how to use your CRM, written manuals can also be helpful,
especially for step-by-step instructions. Make sure the vendor you
choose has plenty of **video tutorials** that walk you through specific
features you might need. Avoid hour-long overviews. Instead, look for
tutorials that show you how to complete specific tasks. For example, if
you need to send a bulk email, find a 3-minute video demonstrating the
process, watch it, and finish your project in about 15 minutes.
Otherwise, you'll waste a lot of time trying to figure out simple tasks.

**Phone support** is essential for your real estate CRM. If you
encounter issues, call someone quickly, talk to them, and get help.
While it might seem acceptable to rely only on chat or email support,
you should avoid any real estate CRM that doesn't offer phone technical
support. Being able to speak with someone directly can mean the
difference between finishing a task in a day and being stuck for a week.

When choosing your real estate CRM vendor, test all their support
options during the trial period. How quickly can you reach a support
representative by phone during business hours? If you send an email with
a question, how long does it take to receive a reply? Real estate is a
fast-moving industry where quick task completion is crucial. If you can
learn to use your CRM efficiently, you'll be more productive and
successful.

While you will handle everything yourself at first, it is wise to plan
ahead and consider the possibility of hiring an assistant or bringing on
a partner as you become more experienced. Because turnover for real
estate assistants is quite high, you should choose CRM software that
requires minimal training and is easy for even a novice assistant to
operate.

Another responsibility you will have is meeting the **continuing
education** credit requirements to renew your license every few years.
You can monitor your progress and goals using the education section in
your real estate CRM. By keeping track of these formally, you can avoid
surprises from license renewal requirements that may take time and
planning to fulfill. Additionally, you might eventually want to pursue
more advanced licenses, such as a broker’s license. Your real estate CRM
can help you track your continuing education journey by noting the
credit hours required and those already completed.

## Becoming a Trusted Agent

Imagine how your prospects feel when they decide to buy or sell. They
are engaging in what is likely one of the most important financial
transactions of their lives. Buying or selling a home is not like buying
a loaf of bread; there are pitfalls and risks. It is your job to educate
your clients and give them sensible, accurate advice. Instead of a
salesperson, you are a trusted adviser and family friend. Wear
professional clothing. If you look professional, you'll face less
pushback when you ask for a professional commission. If you dress
casually, it may seem like you're cutting corners, and clients are then
more likely to expect a discount on your commission.

Use a business mailing address. While working from home is fine, avoid
using your home address as your mailing address. A professional office
helps you appear more established. Additionally, keeping your personal
and business lives separate is important, and sharing your home address
poses a security risk. If you don't have a professional business
address, consider options like Mailboxes Etc. This can make the absence
of an office less obvious.

I also recommend using a dedicated business email address. That way, you
are less likely to lose an email thread. Try to keep your email address
and phone number stable. This is how people will reach you. Five years
after a sale, if someone calls you to list their home, they need to be
able to reach you. If your phone number or email has changed, they may
be unable to find you!

Did you know that the average real estate agent stays with their broker
for less than 5 years[4]? Switching brokerages can be highly disruptive
to your prospecting pipeline. You will need to inform your friends and
past clients about any broker change. Some can be reached by phone,
others by email or printed letter, and still others via SMS text
message. Your real estate CRM can track who has been notified and who
still needs to be contacted. It may take an entire selling season for
everyone to become aware of your move to your new brokerage. This means
a decrease in income is likely with any change. Some of your past
clients may choose to stay with your old brokerage. Deals you are
working on before the move will probably stay with the old brokerage due
to legal requirements. Your real estate CRM can help you maintain
stability over time. For this reason, it can be seen as your insurance
policy against the income disruptions caused by changing brokerages.

Arrive on time or a little early for all your appointments. Use your
smartphone’s calendar and sync it with your CRM to keep everything up to
date. Being late or not showing up disrespects your clients’ time.
Modern smartphones remind you of your appointments and can even send
early notifications based on your location and driving times, giving you
enough time to get there.

Pay your bills on time. Your CRM can **track your expenses** and due
dates and help you create a budget. Set up automatic bank transfers to
handle your regular expenses, like your phone bill, so you never miss a
payment. Without your phone, you can’t do business.

If you commit to doing something, document it in your real estate CRM
and follow through on it, just as you promised. The real estate business
is fast-paced, and many things happen at once. For this reason, it is a
mistake to work purely from memory. Use your CRM to track your
obligations. You can use the task management features within your CRM to
create tasks that need to be completed and your calendar to track your
appointments.

Your office and desk should be kept tidy. If there's clutter, it'll be
harder to find things like keys, checks, paperwork, and other
essentials. Losing or having trouble locating items gives a bad
impression. For documents, I recommend keeping an electronic paper trail
in your CRM and Google Drive. You can’t lose files stored in the cloud,
and you can access them anytime, reducing the need to drive to your
office to pick up documents.


> **Elevator Answer Secret:** Always be able to answer the question: “How is the market?”. When you answer, it should be with an in-depth explanation that includes local inventory levels, average days on the market, and recent sales. Taking a step beyond “yes”, “no” or “it’s complicated” is important in selling yourself by showing that you are an authority on the market.


When you get a listing, one of the first things you’ll do is collect the
house keys from your seller. Don’t lose those keys! Use your CRM to
track their location and the tasks you need to complete with them. Have
you made copies? Did you return the originals yet? What about the
lockbox? And the yard sign? Again, your CRM can help you remember these
steps. When your listing sells, don’t forget to pick up your yard sign
and take the time to introduce yourself to the new buyer. I recommend
“adopting” the buyer by adding their contact information to your
database. That way, you can stay in touch by sending annual Christmas
cards and periodic just-listed/just-sold postcards, and by otherwise
demonstrating your expertise in the local real estate market. Your real
estate CRM includes standardized checklists, called task plans, for new
listings and closings. Take advantage of these plans and adjust them as
needed to fit your workflow.

The combination of all these factors will increase your income. After a
few years, you should expect a growing share of your clients to come
from repeat business and referrals[5]. These are the people who know
you. They are your friends. They do business with you because they like
and trust you. These deals also take considerably less time, since you
don’t have to spend as much time gaining their trust, which makes them
more likely to succeed.

## Building Sustainable Systems

Real estate is an uncertain business. Because you are paid only when a
deal closes, it can take months to determine which marketing strategies
work and which do not. While you may find strategies that produce
immediate results, you should expect that it will take time to reap the
full benefits of any plan you put into place. For this reason, you
should try a new marketing strategy each season and stick with it for
the full selling season before deciding whether it is effective. Your
real estate CRM is essential for this, as it lets you track each
prospect’s and contact’s lead source in your database. If you met
someone through a referral, enter the name of the person who referred
you as the lead source. At the end of the season, you can review your
closings to determine which lead sources produced income for you. You
can also review which lead sources turned into clients but produced no
income.

Some strategies will take longer than a single selling season to produce
results. Working a geographic farm, for example, will take longer than a
single selling season. Similarly, working your sphere of influence with
friends, family, and past clients takes time, as people do not move
every year, and you must play the long game.

While foundational strategies take time, one marketing approach that can
produce immediate results is purchasing leads from Zillow or another
third-party lead source. Unfortunately, these leads can be expensive,
and their quality is typically lower than that of other types of leads.
The key to working third-party leads is building a follow-up system
using your real estate CRM. That allows you to touch these leads several
times over the course of weeks or even months. You should use your CRM
to schedule a series of time-released drip emails or printed letters.

When working with online leads, your initial response time is arguably
the most critical controllable factor for success. This concept, known
as “**speed-to-lead**,” recognizes that a lead's interest is immediate
but fades within minutes. This golden window of opportunity is
shockingly brief. The urgency is best explained by intent. In the five
minutes after a prospect clicks “submit,” they are at their moment of
peak intent—actively focused on their problem and open to a solution.
After that, they've moved on to another website or task. A call at the
30-minute mark is no longer a helpful answer; it's an annoying
interruption. That lead could have easily contacted another agent in
those 3 minutes, and when you call, all you get is a busy signal! The
first agent to have a helpful, professional conversation often wins the
business.

The landmark 2007 research that defined this benchmark—a study by MIT
and InsideSales.com—found that responding within 5 minutes rather than
30 minutes makes you 21 times more likely to qualify the lead. This
finding was later confirmed and amplified in a 2011 Harvard Business
Review article, which further cemented the five-minute rule as a
critical business benchmark[6]. Given this rapid decay, your real estate
CRM is a vital tool, serving as the engine that automates, routes, and
triggers the immediate follow-up needed for your success.

You can feed internet leads directly into your CRM’s prospects database
using a technology called email feed. You will then be notified by email
and SMS text message of the new lead. That way, you can make an outgoing
call within minutes. When a lead asks about a specific property, you
must balance speed with preparation. Your first step is to review the
lead in your CRM and have that information on your screen before making
your call. Deep research can wait; the priority is to make a quick,
smart connection. Since you're competing with other real estate agents
for these leads, treat your first contact like a job interview. Be
professional and responsive to the inquiry. The ultimate goal of your
call is to schedule a face-to-face meeting.

Because of their high cost, new agents should avoid paid leads and first
hone their craft using sources that cost time rather than money, such as
open houses and floor time. You should also ask your broker about
obtaining leads from the company website or from shared paid lead
sources your broker already pays for, which are made available to all
agents in your office.

Another important strategy is to answer the phone when someone calls.
You should expect that when a prospect calls you, they are also looking
at other properties and talking with other agents. The first agent to
have a meaningful phone conversation is likely to get the business.
Professional attire is a given, but proper phone etiquette is also
critically important. For example, pay attention to the background noise
when you are talking on the phone. If there is a loud game show in the
background, your prospect might think you are not a hard worker. You
should also make sure you have a professional voicemail prompt and
return calls the same business day. Ensure your voicemail box is not
full by deleting messages after you have listened to them. Answer your
phone with your name and company, not just by saying “hello.” If you
will be unavailable due to illness or time off, make sure your voicemail
reflects this information.


> **The Lead Source Secret:** Whenever you add someone into your CRM, always label how they found you. This practice helps you identify which lead sources generate the most volume of leads. However, the number of leads is not as important as their profitability. At the end of each quarter, analyze your lead sources to see which ones generated closings. That way, you can focus on your most profitable lead sources.


To ensure no leads are missed, your real estate CRM may include a **call
capture** feature. This is a dedicated phone number that you can place
on sign riders (the smaller sign you attach to your main 'For Sale'
sign) and other marketing materials, allowing prospects to call or text
24/7 for property information. When someone calls and leaves a message,
the system automatically creates a new prospect record in your CRM. It
adds their name and phone number from the caller ID, along with a
complete **transcription of any voice message** added as a note. Your
CRM then notifies you of the new lead so you can respond immediately,
turning a missed call into a captured lead.

Your personality will play a large part in how you do business. I
recommend you become familiar with your personality by taking an online
personality test, such as the Myers-Briggs, to understand your
underlying strengths and what makes you happy. There are many ways to
achieve the same goals. An extrovert might pick up the phone and make
cold calls. An introvert might spend more time on social media,
advertising, and creating promotional videos. Both will generate fresh
leads, but in different ways. A large part of real estate involves
social situations, which tend to attract extroverts who rely on verbal
communication. However, an extrovert may be less interested in computer
work, which has increasingly become useful for agents in the age of the
internet and social media.

If you eventually hire an assistant or partner, consider someone with a
complementary personality. It is not unusual for an extrovert to hire an
introverted assistant. A real estate CRM is a great way to coordinate
your activities with a partner or assistant. That way, when you are in
the field, someone can handle office tasks, and both of you can access
the full deal record and make updates.

The job of a real estate salesperson is not a traditional 9-to-5 job.
Don’t be surprised if a client calls you in a panic on a Sunday evening.
This flexibility has its advantages. You do not have to punch a clock
and can take a Friday afternoon off to take your kids to a ball game.
But there are also challenges. This blending of personal and work life
means you must make a special effort to appear professional at all
times.

One excellent way to maintain a complete record of your transactions is
to use your real estate CRM to track offers and counteroffers. Having a
documentary trail of where you started allows you to review progress
dispassionately. Document everything, including contact information for
inspectors, loan officers, and closing companies. If a deal runs into a
snag, your detailed preparation gives you the tools needed to salvage
it.

Your real estate CRM helps you systematize your real estate agent
workflow. It allows you to organize and track your day so you never miss
an appointment and convert leads in a way that maximizes the likelihood
they become clients. Consistent follow-up is a key ingredient in this
process, and using checklists and plans helps you stay on track.

# Building Trust as a Real Estate Agent

> “Many factors go into how a person makes an integrity assessment. One
> of the more subtle, but nevertheless very real, factors is consistent
> congruence. It takes only one disconnect, whether it is a messy
> bathroom, a bad cup of coffee, or an employee with a bad attitude.
> Anything that might be perceived as inconsistent with the first-class
> quality you are trying to project will plant a seed of distrust. Once
> planted, this seed is difficult to weed out.”

—Matt Oechsli, *Influence: The ART of SELLING to the AFFLUENT*

Standing out from the crowd is not easy. You probably won’t be competing
by offering a lower commission or access to exclusive listings. Instead,
to differentiate yourself from other agents, you must rely upon
branding, marketing, and your charm. In this chapter, I describe how to
craft a memorable, authentic brand using your CRM.

## Top of Mind in Your Market

If someone asks a friend of yours, “Do you know of a good real estate
agent?” you want them to reply with your name. The more likely that is,
the more mindshare you have with that person. Your goal is to maximize
this mindshare within your sphere of influence and the geographic farm
you choose.

You’re never going to achieve 100% market share. For example, imagine
your mother has two children who are real estate agents; you'll probably
never capture more than 50% of her attention when she’s considering
which one is the best.

An average homeowner lives in their home for about 10 years before
moving[7]. When they do decide to move, you want to be the first agent
they call. That’s why it’s so important to stay top of mind within your
sphere of influence. Mindshare means something slightly different for
your geographic farm. While people might have your name on the tip of
their tongue, like your friends, if they are ever in need of an agent,
it is tremendously convenient to select an agent who already dominates
that neighborhood. If you have listings in a neighborhood, your yard
signs are the perfect way to build mindshare.

In both cases, you must build brand awareness *before* someone needs
your services. Then, when they decide they need a real estate agent, you
are the agent they think of. When someone is already convinced you are
the right agent for them, it makes converting them into a client so much
easier.

You might also consider targeting **market segments** such as first-time
homebuyers, probate sales, new-home sales, hobby farms, and more.
Focusing on these areas reduces your competition. When you become the
top real estate agent in that niche, word-of-mouth spreads—not just
among the people you're marketing to, but also among other agents. This
boosts your chances of receiving referrals.

By focusing on a specific market segment, you can better understand its
needs, find the right words to sell your services to these clients, and
learn how to handle their objections. You will also gain experience with
the typical problems that arise in this type of deal. This approach
helps you build relationships with lenders and vendors who understand
that particular market segment. These factors lead to greater efficiency
and increase the likelihood that a deal will close and result in a
commission for you. Building a consistent lead pipeline is essential for
your long-term success. If you take the time to thoroughly understand
your market niche, you'll be better equipped to identify which
lead-generation strategies are effective and which are not.

You can utilize the categories feature in your CRM to identify the
market segment each lead belongs to. For example, you might add the two
categories “Buyer, FirstTime” to leads who are first-time homebuyers.
This helps you target those leads for specific automated drip campaigns.
It also enables you to reach out to leads in a particular market segment
with targeted offerings, such as hosting seminars for new homebuyers.
Attending bridal shows to inform engaged couples about the benefits of
buying a home is another option. You could also offer advice on credit
repair. An excellent source of leads is upscale apartment complexes—you
can post flyers near entrances and slip your promotional flyers under
tenants’ doors. All these marketing methods aim to meet the specific
needs of people who haven't yet purchased a home.

Once you master one niche, you can then pursue a related niche. Use the
experience you've gained and the connections you've built. For example,
you might approach a homebuilder to explain your marketing efforts for
new home buyers and express your interest in taking on a few new home
listings, especially entry-level homes. Show how your current marketing
strategies can benefit the new home builder by generating qualified
leads who might not normally consider buying a new home.

## Crafting a Real Estate Brand

One way to differentiate yourself from other agents is to specialize in
a specific town or city. By building a deep understanding of what is
unique about living in the communities you have selected for your
geographic specialty, you are providing exceptional value that other
competing agents can’t. You should include your geographic niche in all
your marketing materials. This is particularly important for internet
marketing, as it allows search engines to better understand the region
you serve. Be realistic about your market area. If you don’t want to
drive more than 20 minutes to show a home, draw a circle around your
house representing a 20-minute drive, and pick a market area within that
circle. Your prospects will appreciate that you know and understand
local market conditions. The deeper your knowledge, the more valuable
your services are. Each neighborhood has its own charm and personality,
and your understanding of what makes it special makes you the
best-qualified agent to buy and sell within that neighborhood.


> **Fit the Family Secret:** When you show your buyer a listing, take the time to understand what they are looking for, not only in features, but from the community. Take time to ask about resources they might appreciate such as churches, schools, hospitals, shops, and even consider ages of the children and their needs. By taking a wholistic approach to the home selection process, you are connecting your buyer with the neighborhood in ways that build enthusiasm for not just the home, but the community as well.


An understanding of local market conditions is essential in getting
clients. We can see this in the National Association of Realtors’
Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, which consistently finds that
“knowledge of the neighborhood” is a top reason clients choose an agent.
This neighborhood knowledge outranks factors like personal
recommendations or commission rates. Becoming an expert in local
listings, sales, and market trends makes your services more valuable.

Another way to stand out is to associate yourself with a specific
charity or cause. Doing so enhances your credibility and
trustworthiness. This is what social psychologists call the “Halo
Effect.” In his foundational book on persuasion, *Influence*, Dr. Robert
Cialdini explains that a single positive characteristic, such as being
charitable, creates a “halo” that makes people view you as trustworthy,
likable, and competent overall. For instance, you might volunteer at the
local animal shelter. People will associate you with that worthy cause,
helping you stand out.

The best causes are those you have a personal connection to. For
example, if you are interested in the arts, you could become a patron of
the local artist community. You could contact artists looking to
showcase their work and arrange to display it in your empty listings.
You could place cards describing each artist, where they are located,
and how the local artist community helps make the city you love so
vibrant. For your open houses, you could even spotlight a specific
artist and invite them to mingle with visitors or work on their art at
the open house. Throw in some champagne, and you have turned a plain
vanilla open house into a memorable experience.

Another way to stand out is to identify what makes you unique and
leverage that to set yourself apart from the other agents. For example,
if you specialize in selling hobby farms, your marketing materials could
have that cowboy vibe, showing photos of you in your Stetson and boots.

—«◊»—


### Kathi Vaughn 

To build a strong brand, an agent needs to find their identity. Your
identity communicates to clients what matters to you and what kind of
expertise they can expect from you. For Kathi Vaughn, an agent with
RE/MAX Gold in Lodi, California, her identity is represented by her
Stetson cowboy hat. That signature look became the foundation of her
brand, which you can even spot in her tagline, “Home Is Where You Hang
Your Hat.” Kathi quickly realized that clients easily recognized her as
“the cowgirl agent”. While her brand is memorable, it also highlights
her knowledge of her market niche: rural real estate. Because of that
authentic Western image, Kathi Vaughn became the go-to choice for buyers
and sellers of farms and country properties. Like many of the clients
she serves, Kathi values independence and self-reliance. Those values
define her image as an agent, but they also shape how she runs her
business. “I may eventually want to expand out on my own, maybe start my
own agency,” she said. “I always avoided using the brokerage’s CRM
because I wanted to build something that belongs to me, not to the
brokerage.” When crafting your brand, make sure you craft it around an
authentic part of yourself. Let that identity guide your business: from
your headshot and tagline to the tools and systems you use.

—«◊»—

Perhaps you cater to the needs of current and former military service
members. If you are retired military, that can be an additional
connection that increases your value to clients. Military and former
military clients have unique needs. For example, VA loans are different
from conventional loans. Active military service members are often
transferred frequently, which means that they really should select a
home that can be quickly resold without a loss. Finally, for retired
military veterans, the proximity to VA hospitals and veterans’ services
is also essential. Civilians might not understand or appreciate these
requirements. This means a military veteran real estate agent might be
the better option for a veteran buyer.

Your branding is the professional identity you create to stand out in
the market. It should identify who you are and what you do in a way that
is instantly recognizable. Your branding should be included in the
emails you send, in each letter you print and mail, and on your
website’s masthead. You should also use the same branding across
marketing materials such as flyers, yard signs, business cards, and
magnetic car signs. You can also use your branding for promotional items
like pens, refrigerator magnets, and anything else you can think of.
When someone thinks of a local real estate agent, you want them to think
of you, and your branding is one of the simplest ways to accomplish that
goal.

A truism in advertising is that repetition breeds familiarity. This is
why it is important to adopt a consistent branding across all your
marketing materials. We trust what is familiar—a concept Daniel Kahneman
calls “cognitive ease”—in his book *Thinking, Fast and Slow*. He
explains that things that are familiar and easy for our brains to
process feel more likable, more accurate, and safer.

Branding typically includes your franchise or company logo, your name
and title, and a portrait photo of you. The key is consistency. You want
people in your neighborhood to recognize your yard sign and your face,
and to associate you with successfully selling real estate in that
neighborhood. If you were to play an association game, people in your
farm area should reflexively have your name on the tip of their tongue
when asked for the first thing that pops into their head when I say the
word “real estate agent”. If you are at the grocery store, you want
people to recognize you and feel free to approach you with any real
estate related question.

You might also want to include a catchphrase to identify the market area
you serve or any niche market you specialize in. What makes you special,
unique, and different from all the other agents out there? Perhaps you
specialize in a specific city or town? Maybe you specialize in new home
buyers, finding veterans’ homes, and so on. Avoid being too narrow, as
it will limit your market and mindshare. So, think about what is unique
about you - it might even be something about your personality or
history. For example, if you are an agent in Charleston and have a
charming southern accent, you might use the phrase “Selling Charleston’s
Charm”.

Your real estate CRM vendor will help you build a **signature** and
**letterhead** and install them in your CRM. The signature goes at the
end of your emails and printed letters, right after the words Sincerely.
The letterhead is placed at the top of the email or printed letter.


> **The Scan the Scribble Secret:** Emails often feel automated and cold. To stand out you can add a handwritten signature. This small detail makes your communication feel more personal and professional. Sign your name on white paper and take a picture. Upload that picture to your CRM’s signature editor, and now you can include it to all your email and print communications.


You provide your company logo, a portrait photo of yourself, and your
contact information to your CRM vendor. They will then take it from
there and create a letterhead for you. If you have a website, they will
review it to understand the fonts, colors, and other design elements you
are using. Once installed, your emails, printed letters, service
reports, and real estate calculator results will automatically include
your branding. Look for a CRM vendor that offers a complete,
complimentary onboarding service (sometimes called a concierge setup),
including installation of your professional letterhead and signature.

You might be hesitant to include a portrait photo of yourself, but I do
recommend including it with all your branding materials. Not only are
you selling real estate, but you are also selling yourself. A large part
of your job is to meet new people. Your photo makes it easier for people
to recognize you when they meet you for the first time. It also helps
people feel comfortable approaching you in public places, like the
grocery store. You are a local real estate expert, and it is only
natural that strangers will ask you for advice. By using your photo in
your branding, you are giving people permission to approach you and ask
real estate questions, even if they do not know you personally.

Not everyone has movie-star looks, which is why I recommend hiring a
professional photographer for the photos you include in your branding.
You may want to bring a few outfits to your photo shoot so you can try
out a few looks. Have some photos taken with a blank background and
others with something in the background. Each photo style works best for
different types of advertising, and having both available lets you
choose the one that works best based on the situation.

Do you have a distinctive look? For example, do you always wear a white
shirt with your initials monogrammed on the front pocket? Perhaps you
always wear a cowboy hat. Your photos should reflect your genuine
personality so people recognize you. It is not helpful to have a
promotional photo that has been so heavily touched up that you are no
longer recognizable. You should use recent photos for this exact reason.
Older photos might look more flattering, but they will not help people
recognize you.

Branding gives you a consistent look and a professional appearance.
People receive a lot of emails on any given day, and seeing your photo
and company logo increases the credibility of your emails and makes them
more easily recognizable to people who already know and trust you.

I recommend keeping your branding recognizable and straightforward.
People will see your branding in emails on their phones, on yard signs,
and even on refrigerator magnets. Sometimes your branding will be tiny,
like on a pen, and at other times it will be large, like when painted on
the side of a truck. Simple, clear branding will produce better results
than cluttered branding.

Your signature, which is at the bottom of your letters, is the perfect
location for your name, company name, title, license number, phone
number, and email address. I recommend including a single phone number
and email address. Multiple phone numbers can be confusing and often
lead people to call numbers you do not answer. Your signature is also
the best place to add any required legal disclaimers.

Consider creating two versions of your signature. Your email signature
can include clickable social media icons, leveraging the digital format.
For printed letters, a simpler signature is more effective. It saves
space, helping keep your letters to a single page, and avoids the
clutter of non-functional icons.


> **Lead with the Letterhead Secret**: Many CRM’s offer a letterhead feature which allows you place your company logo and portrait photo at the top of your correspondence. That way, this information is immediately visible when someone starts reading your email. Putting your branding at the bottom in your signature is not ideal. Most people decide if they want to delete or read an email within just a second or two and won’t bother scrolling down to see your email signature. So, to maximize the chances someone will read your email, make sure your branding is at the top of all your emails by using the letterhead feature of your CRM.


Your voicemail prompt is part of your branding as well. You should
clearly identify yourself and your organization in your voicemail
prompt. One challenge is using multiple phone numbers, each one with its
own voicemail box. I recommend that you include your mobile phone number
and minimize giving out other phone numbers. That way, you can quickly
answer your calls, retrieve your voicemails, and respond promptly. If
you have a phone number you do not check often, make sure to state that
clearly in your voicemail prompt for that number. When a new prospect
calls you, your ability to respond quickly is a mark of professionalism.
While there are many reasons why you are the best real estate agent in
the world, you should never forget that every real estate agent in your
local market can do precisely what you do, which is buy and sell homes.
Never forget that your replacement is just a phone call away.

One common question agents ask about branding is whether it's worth
having their own domain name. If you own your domain, you can use it for
your website and email—for example, info@SallySellsTexas.com. For agents
just starting out, I recommend getting a free Gmail address and using
the website your broker provides. As you grow, you might decide it's
time for your own domain name. For email, I suggest using Google
Workspace to host your custom domain email. The cost is around $100 a
year, and it offers numerous benefits, including top-tier spam detection
and the ability to sync contacts and calendars with Google.

You have various options for your website, from simple to a full
Internet Data Exchange (IDX) site. An IDX website enables you to display
MLS listings on your site. While a powerful feature, it is quite
technical and involves setup and maintenance fees. Regardless of which
option you choose, always own your domain name personally. This way, you
keep your domain name if you decide to switch hosting companies.

If you are working within a team, you may want to use a team photo in
your branding. In that situation, I recommend using a role-based email
address, such as info@SallySellsTexas.com. A role-based email address is
one associated with a job function, department, or group within an
organization, rather than an individual. The advantage of a role-based
email address is that it allows any team member to use it. So, there is
no expectation that a specific person will be reading that email box.
This allows the team to delegate activities to different staff members.
It also has the added advantage of being fixed, even if your staff might
change over time. For example, if you lose one assistant and hire
another, the email address remains the same.

## Small Talk with Business Cards

When practical, you should match the branding and contact information of
your business cards with your other branding. Unified branding provides
you with multiple opportunities to build recognition, which in turn
builds trust. When a potential client sees your face repeatedly on
websites, park benches, emails, and your business card, you are more
universally recognizable. Not only did you greet them at an open house,
but your image appears on listing after listing as they search online.
You are everywhere. You live and breathe this market, and you are the
person they want in their corner when they need an agent.

How much contact info should you provide on your business cards? You
will want to have your name, title, license number, professional
designations, and your business mailing address. If practical, include
just one website, one email address, and one phone number. The simpler
you make it for someone to reach you, the more likely you are to connect
with them quickly. Providing too many options causes indecision
paralysis and second-guessing.


> **Noted Calling Card Secret**: Leave the back of your business card blank so you can jot a personal note during conversations. This transforms a generic card into a memorable, customized reminder of your interaction. (Make sure your selected card stock will take pen and pencil, so no shiny backs).


In the real estate business, speed is everything. If someone calls you
and you fail to answer, you are allowing that lead to shop around and
find another agent who is not too busy to respond. Aim to return missed
calls within five minutes when possible. Your broker may require an
office phone number in addition to your mobile number on your business
cards. If that is the case, make sure you have an easy way to access
your voicemails remotely, preferably by having them forwarded to you via
email. That way, you can respond to any voicemail within just a few
minutes.

The same applies to text messages. It can be tempting to use an
autoresponder, but be careful with this type of technology. If a lead is
at the point of sending you a text, they are looking to have a
conversation with you personally. We are all used to the inherent delays
in text communication, so don’t feel like you need a robotic response to
explain that you are busy. The last thing you want to do is give them
the impression that you are too busy for them. The impression of
productivity can be a good thing, but you don’t want a new lead thinking
about all the other clients you might be prioritizing over them when
they are shopping for a realtor.

Although business cards are typically exchanged one at a time,
situations such as trade shows or networking events may involve
collecting multiple cards at once. In these cases, the easiest way to
enter them into your database is to take a photo of the card using a
business card-scanning smartphone app. These apps use Optical Character
Recognition (OCR) to convert the information on the business card into a
contact record on your phone.

Business cards are a great way to verify that you’ve accurately captured
a prospect’s contact information. However, some situations make this
difficult. For example, when you provide your business card, but you
don’t receive one in return. In this case, you should not rely on your
prospect to reach out first. Instead, you need to take proactive steps
to confirm their details. One capture method is using the “handshake” or
“bump” feature on your smartphone. This allows two phones to exchange
contact information wirelessly. For a more old-fashioned digital
handshake, you can email or text your prospect and ask them to reply.
Having a phone number is typically more helpful than an email. This is
because a phone number gives you three ways of reaching someone: call,
text, or leave a voicemail.

It is important that your prospect replies to your communication to
verify you’ve captured the correct information. This simple
back-and-forth will also improve the chances that your future messages
will get past any spam filters.

Despite the availability of these modern digital options, exchanging a
physical business card still carries symbolic value and appeals to
clients who appreciate traditional professionalism. For this reason, you
should always provide your business card to everyone you meet, even at
open houses and showings.

Consider leaving your cards at local businesses that experience high
traffic. Apartment complexes, local hardware stores, banks, and moving
companies are all prime candidates, but you could also try your
dentist’s office, the local library, and restaurants. You’ll want to get
permission from the establishment, of course, but even asking the
question could lead to a fruitful conversation with a potential lead or
referral source. The practice of leaving business cards in public places
is long established. While a passive approach like that doesn’t give
your natural charisma and salesmanship a chance to shine the way it
would at an open house, it’s just one more place for members of the
community to learn your name.

##  Blogs to Build Authority

One way to build your local reputation is to create and run a blog on
social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and X. This also
helps increase traffic to your website from people searching for local
information. A regularly updated blog written in an informational or
conversational style will give you the best results. When updating your
blog, avoid creating or reposting generic content. Instead, focus on
topics important to the local area. Some examples would be writing about
local real estate market conditions, such as just-listed and just-sold
properties, new housing developments, or changes in mass transit. Your
blog is an ideal place to feature a review of a neighborhood donut shop
or to announce the opening of a new restaurant or brewery. Your blog can
also promote important organizations or events. For example, if you
volunteer at the local animal shelter, you could write about a pet who
is looking for their forever home.


> **The Blog the Block Secret**: Write blog posts highlighting local businesses and attractions instead of only focusing on real estate. This positions you as a community ambassador who is willing to build relationships with business owners and locals.


You should also consider video blogging on YouTube and TikTok. The
advantage of video blogging is that it can reach a larger audience. You
should convert the transcript of your video into a text portion of your
blog entry so that Google can index your words. That way, you get the
benefits of both video and text blogging. Another option is a podcast,
which is an audio-only blog.

Blogging takes time. However, almost all real estate has a seasonal
aspect. I recommend that you look to blogging during the slow months of
your year. For example, in many areas, summer is the strongest season,
while winter is the slowest. So, consider blogging during the winter
months. You can store up your blog entries and space them out throughout
the year.

As a real estate professional, your personal and business lives are
intertwined. You should assume that anything you do online in your
personal life can be traced back to your business. Be careful when you
post comments on social media. If you would not be comfortable with a
client seeing a comment, do not post it.

Be especially careful with comments that could be seen as
discriminatory, since real estate professionals must follow strict fair
housing laws. Any written comment could become evidence in a lawsuit
against you. Keep in mind that online posts can be discovered years
later and linked to you, even if you thought they were anonymous. A good
rule of thumb is to never post anything online you wouldn't want to see
on the front page of your local newspaper.


> **Fire & Brimstone Briar Secret**: Avoid posting on social media about divisive topics which can harm your personal brand, such as politics or religion.


When you create content, ensure it’s something people want to read.
Would you read it yourself? How about your own mother? Would she read
it? If the answer is yes, then you’ve got something valuable to share on
your blog.

## Marketing That Creates Trust

Many people believe that marketing is mainly about promoting the process
of buying or selling a home. However, most of your efforts should be
directed toward raising awareness of you as a results-driven real estate
agent. This requires a multi-layered approach that builds familiarity
and trust. To achieve this, adopt a marketing strategy that emphasizes
building your personal brand.

A simple way to advertise is to turn your car into a mobile billboard by
attaching a magnetic sign. This method builds awareness as you drive
through town, turning your daily routines into passive marketing. People
will recognize you and might even stop to ask a real estate question,
creating opportunities for spontaneous encounters. When you're working a
geographic farm, hosting an open house, or putting up directional signs,
your car becomes a noticeable advertisement. Your clearly marked vehicle
also helps clients identify you when you’re waiting for them at a
showing. When they arrive and see your sign, they feel more at ease.
Make sure the logo and your photo are large enough to be seen from afar,
and ensure every word is clear so no one is tempted to tailgate you just
to jot down your phone number.


As your business grows and you have more capital, you might consider a
full vinyl wrap or purchasing a branded moving truck. A truck with a
full vinyl wrap serves as a large, mobile advertisement. You can offer
the truck to all your clients, including past clients. This benefit is
especially attractive to first-time homebuyers or clients with limited
financial resources. While the truck is in use, it provides free
advertising in that neighborhood. To promote fairness, you might ask
anyone using the truck to fill it with gas when they are finished.
Although the truck will be used for moves only part of the year, its
main benefit comes from parking it in a busy area within your geographic
farm. The truck functions as a mobile billboard and is especially useful
in areas where yard signs or billboards are restricted by local
regulations. You can also use the truck to deliver staging items, clear
clutter from listings, and support promotional activities, such as
handing out pumpkins in the fall. When comparing the yearly costs of a
used moving truck to a billboard of similar size, the truck is often
less expensive and holds its resale value.

You can also build name recognition by providing marketing materials
that prospects or former clients would keep. Consider ordering
refrigerator magnets with your contact information and branding. You
could put a magnet on the refrigerator of each listing and in every
house you help sell. For a more ambitious campaign, you could send out
an annual refrigerator magnet with timely local information, such as the
high school football schedule. While the refrigerator is a fantastic
location, a good secondary spot is the furnace and circuit breaker
panel, where it can be discovered over time. Custom pens with your
contact information are another common and effective promotional item.
They are practical, durable, and help promote your name to prospects and
their friends in ways business cards do not. If you give a pen to a
seller at closing and they later leave it at their bank, your brand is
now in the hands of someone new. Small pads of paper with your branding
also serve a dual purpose. You can hand out the pads to your clients so
they can jot down their impressions of the homes you show them. You can
also use them yourself, and any sheet you hand to someone automatically
contains your contact information.

Another powerful way to build trust is by investing directly in your
community. Billboard advertising, including park bench or bus bench
signs, are an effective way to build brand awareness in a specific
geographic area. While this form of mass advertising takes time to
produce results, it makes sense once your business reaches a particular
scale. Sponsoring a local kids’ sports team or advertising on the back
walls of a school baseball field generates goodwill with parents, who
may be more inclined to use your services.

You can extend this strategy by sponsoring local arts companies and
school activities, especially those with newsletters that reach your
target neighborhood. You can also pursue alternative forms of
advertising that demonstrate civic-mindedness. Adopting a stretch of
highway to keep it free of litter is a free form of advertising that
associates you with a worthy cause. Similarly, many parks seek
benefactors for improvements like benches, trails, and playground
equipment, recognizing donors with a small plaque. These activities
establish your reputation as someone who cares about the local
community, thereby strengthening your brand and building genuine trust.


> **Forever Home Flyer Secret:** Partner with your local animal shelter to feature a “Pet of the Week” on the back of your property flyers. Include a photo of an adoptable animal and a short bio from the shelter. This simple act changes your marketing material into a community service piece. Instead of just another agent with just another listing, you become a friend of dogs everywhere.


While these marketing efforts generate awareness and build goodwill,
your real estate CRM lets you measure the effectiveness of each
strategy. Make sure to fill in the **Referral Source** field within each
new prospect record, referencing how someone heard about you, whether it
was from seeing your moving truck, meeting you at a sponsored community
event, or noticing your sign on a park bench. Over time, this data
reveals which trust-building activities provided the highest returns.

Your CRM can help you manage the logistics of your promotional
activities with task lists. You can use the calendar in your CRM to
track the moving truck schedule. In many cases, you can also piggyback
on the activities you do when promoting your listings to promote
yourself at the same time. Most importantly, your CRM helps you track
and follow up with the network of relationships you establish with local
business owners, coaches, and community leaders. These marketing
strategies build your reputation, and your CRM provides the structure to
turn that reputation into a predictable and profitable pipeline of leads
and deals.

# Real Estate CRM Features

> “Seeing a For-Sale-By-Owner yard sign should evoke the same feelings
> you would get from seeing a blank check with your name on it. The
> potential with FSBOs is endless.”

—John Maloof, *The Real Estate Agent’s Guide to FSBOs: Make Big Money
Prospecting For-Sale-By-Owner Properties*

This chapter will help you identify key features in your real estate CRM
that can help you work more effectively. I will also describe other
features you might find helpful in the future. Finally, I will identify
features that are not useful or even dangerous to use. We would all like
to press a button and have a robot do our job for us. But there are
pitfalls to automating the personal aspect of your job, particularly in
early sales incubation, where you are competing with other agents for
the job.

## Choose Your CRM

There are many real estate CRMs to choose from, and finding the perfect
one can feel overwhelming. I recommend prioritizing your selection based
on two factors: ease of use and technical support. Why?

Most real estate agents use only a fraction of the features available in
their CRM[8]. The reason is that you can’t use features you don’t know
about or don’t know how to operate. The most significant factors in your
successful use of a real estate CRM are the quality of training your CRM
vendor provides and how straightforward your CRM is to use. While each
real estate CRM vendor will have a slightly different set of features,
most will share a common core set. For this reason, I recommend focusing
on technical support and training. After all, you can only use the
features you know how to use!


> **Trust But Verify Secret**: CRM vendors sometimes advertise features that sound amazing. But sometimes things sound better than they are. The only way to trust a CRM feature is to use the free trial and personally test that feature. If you get stuck, call technical support. That’s when you’ll find out if those features were too good to be true and how good the technical support really is. The last thing you want to do is purchase a CRM and then later realize that the product is buggy, works imperfectly, or the salesperson exaggerated its capabilities.


Real estate CRM pricing can vary widely. While you might think a more
expensive CRM is better, that isn’t necessarily true. In fact, the more
costly real estate CRMs tend to be more narrowly focused, whereas the
more affordable ones tend to appeal to a broader audience. I recommend
starting with a more affordable real estate CRM. When you first start,
you probably aren’t sure exactly what it can do for you, so it’s hard to
justify selecting a CRM that costs 10x more than another one right away.

You can switch to a more expensive CRM later if your needs change and
you can justify the cost. However, a higher price does not guarantee
more features or better technical support. Keep an eye out for add-on
costs or technical support charges. Also, review the refund policies.
You should find a vendor who will give you a no-questions, pro-rated
refund at any time. Some of the less reputable vendors require a
one-year lock-in. I recommend sticking with vendors that allow
cancellation at any time.

The real estate CRM business is highly competitive. Vendors constantly
add features and make improvements. It’s easy to get distracted by
trendy new features. Given the competition, you can expect new features
to be continually added to any CRM you select. While new features might
be valuable, it’s not unusual for features that were touted one year to
turn out to be duds or dead ends the next. Chasing new features, while
exciting, can have disadvantages. A few years ago, automated SMS texting
was trendy. After several lawsuits, it became clear that certain
restrictions on SMS texting were necessary to comply with federal
regulations. For this reason, I recommend focusing on key features
instead. Most agents are busy and really can’t afford to waste time on
trendy or unproven features that don’t quite work right or create legal
liability.

Don’t buy based on features you might need or features you have not
personally used. Sometimes features seem better on paper, but when you
try them, you find they make no sense.

Some automation can be useful, such as scheduling time-release emails.
Those features help you stay consistent with your follow-up. However, if
your initial strategy is poor, a CRM will amplify it and deliver poor
results. More automation is not necessarily a good thing. Keep in mind,
people are savvy to automated robotic emails. The best features of your
CRM will be those that operate under your supervision. This ensures that
everything is working correctly and enables you to provide
individualized attention to your clients. Carefully test anything that
your CRM is doing behind your back. Proofread the content that is sent
with your name on it. Make sure that any time-release letters are
carefully structured so that you don’t accidentally send them
automatically at the wrong time.

You should take advantage of the complimentary training offered by your
real estate CRM vendor. Start by learning basic features, such as
syncing with your smartphone, sending bulk email, and using text message
chat. Then build on that with more advanced features, such as deal
tracking. It is better to know a few features well than many features
poorly. This is because the real benefit of your CRM is in regular use.
Just like reading your email, you should use your real estate CRM every
day. Ultimately, the best CRM is the one you will use consistently. By
prioritizing ease of use, quality training, and responsive technical
support, you can get the most from any tool you select.

## Core CRM Features

While each CRM looks and works differently, they all share core
organizational features. These include creating **contact records** with
detailed notes and setting up **appointments** and tasks to track your
follow-up. Tasks can be organized into checklists, called **task
plans**, which help you create a standard operating procedure for your
prospects, listings, and buyers. All modern real estate CRMs are
cloud-based, allowing you to access your information from anywhere on
any device.

Task plans are ideal for managing checklists of tasks to be completed.
For follow-up, a single repeating task is a straightforward way to
maintain regular contact. This type of repeating task is so important
that it has a special name, the **touch cycle**. Your CRM can create a
list of everyone you need to contact today, often called a **daily call
list**. While the most common form of contact is a phone call, any
contact—such as a text message, an email, a printed letter, a postcard,
or even a drive-by visit—counts as a touch.

Beyond these core functions, there is significant variability in the
available features. This often depends on how long the vendor has been
in business and their specific focus. A few CRMs offer a comprehensive
set of features. However, less established real estate CRMs tend to
offer fewer options. You should not choose a real estate CRM solely
because it has more features. Instead, I recommend identifying which
features are most important to you and prioritizing those features. Each
agent will use different features based on their prospecting methods and
personal workflow. No agent will use all, or even most, of the available
features. You won’t miss features you don’t plan to use!


> **The Text to Top Secret**: Consider adding new notes to the top of the notes field, rather than the end. That way, you don’t have to scroll to the end of the notes to see the latest note. Your CRM may have a preference setting which makes this automatic.


Your CRMs will support **mail merge**, which personalizes content such
as letters, emails, or labels. This is done by replacing mail merge
variables in a template with information from your contact or deal
record. This allows you to generate personalized documents from
templates in your content library. Instead of “Dear Sir,” you can write
“Dear Jack & Sandy.”

Your existing email program is great for sending hand-crafted individual
emails immediately. However, it is not suitable for sending a sequence
of time-release emails spaced out over time. This feature, called **drip
email**, is useful for nurturing new leads. Your CRM can help you assign
a drip sequence to someone and automatically send those emails in the
order and frequency you specify, such as once a week.

A similar feature is the ability to send a **bulk email**—the same
message to several people at once—with each email personalized using
mail merge variables. When bulk emails are sent, they are not BCC or CC
emails; instead, they are individual mail-merged emails sent to one
person at a time, which is not the same as what you can do with your
existing email program.

Both bulk and drip emails from your CRM include all the features
required to comply with federal regulations, such as an opt-out link and
a physical return mailing address.

Another tremendously powerful feature is the use of **SMS text message
chat** in your CRM. This is just like the SMS texting feature on your
smartphone, but since it is part of your CRM, the message thread is
linked to your deal and contact records for easy review.

Again, there are legal requirements for honoring STOP requests and
providing the legally required disclaimers. Your CRM makes sure you
fully comply with these legal requirements.

**Click-to-dial** functionality is very popular because it lets you
click a link on your computer to call someone from your mobile phone. It
is a real time-saver for agents who spend significant time making phone
calls.

The ability to **print letters**, **labels**, and **envelopes** is also
essential. This is particularly true for agents looking to prospect
FSBOs, expired listings, or probate leads, as you are unlikely to have
an email address for those kinds of leads, and, in the case of probate
leads, email might be considered tacky. You might find that some newer
CRMs do not offer print functionality. I recommend avoiding selecting a
CRM that lacks printing support. Your ability to print mailing labels is
particularly valuable for mailing your annual Christmas cards. This is
critical for ensuring your mailing addresses are accurate in your
database and for maintaining contact with your sphere of influence.

Your ability to use multiple forms of communication is essential. In
some cases, a friend or prospect may not respond to a single method
because their phone number or email address is no longer in use. By
maintaining multiple independent communication channels, you can stay in
touch even when one method becomes invalid. Also, some people prefer
specific forms of communication over others. For example, younger people
may not answer their phone when you call, and are more likely to reply
to a text message. Similarly, many people hate unsolicited email because
they consider it spam and will never respond to it.

A common need is the ability to import data from a variety of sources,
such as other CRMs, FSBOs, expired listings, probate leads, leads from
other agents, or from your broker.

Agents spend a great deal of time out of the office and need a CRM they
can use in the field. The most basic mobile functionality is
**synchronization** with the native contacts and calendar applications
on your smartphone, whether it is an Android or an iPhone.
Synchronization fidelity varies by vendor. Some vendors provide only a
basic “push” of data to the agent’s smartphone, so changes made on the
agent's phone are not reflected in the CRM. Most others offer full,
two-way synchronization, where changes made in one location are updated
in the other. However, there are nuances to what is synchronized and how
it is done. Contact records can include notes, categories, mailing
addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdays, anniversaries, and
closing anniversaries. They can also track the names of family members
and pets, along with their birthdays. Additionally, advanced
functionality can include custom fields, which are handy for specialized
prospecting. Each CRM is different, so I recommend inquiring about what
is synchronized, what is not, and any limitations.

A **mobile CRM** becomes much more accessible when it can also be used
from the web browser on your phone. You should check whether the CRM is
optimized for low-resolution devices, including iPads. It is also
essential to test if it is fast enough to use when in the field with
cellular data. There used to be CRMs that offered downloadable apps from
the Google or Apple App stores. This is no longer common due to App
Store policies and technical challenges. Nearly all vendors have
standardized on a web interface, though a few do not. Your CRM might
also include an open house form, which you can use on an iPad to collect
contact information during open houses.

New agents are likely to work alone, so **multi-user capability**
probably isn't a top priority at first. However, as you gain experience,
you might want to share your database with a partner or assistant. If
you're interested in exploring the benefits of using your real estate
CRM with others, I recommend reading the second companion volume, *Real
Estate CRM Mastery*. This second book explains how to bring on new team
members and manage that process using the systems built into your real
estate CRM. These systems include delegating tasks, restricting access
to certain features for specific team members, and establishing
accountability and safety measures in case a team member makes a
mistake. The end result of multi-user functionality is that you can
scale your business while maintaining control.

Features like the ability to **undelete** a record, **revert to a
previous version**, and **review change logs** are useful for a single
agent. Everyone makes mistakes, after all. However, these features are
absolutely essential as your team grows and you bring on an
inexperienced assistant who might accidentally delete a record without
realizing it. By maintaining a change log and being able to undelete a
record, you can monitor the situation and recover from any accidents.

## Using Real Estate Specific CRMs

While all CRMs include core features such as contacts, tasks, and a
calendar, a real estate-specific CRM offers additional features tailored
to the unique needs of a real estate agent. For this reason, I do not
recommend using a generic CRM if you are a real estate agent. Instead, I
advise choosing a CRM built for real estate. Below is a summary of key
specialized features that set a real estate CRM apart from a generic
one. You may not use all of these features immediately, but they can
make your life as a real estate agent considerably more efficient.

Most real estate transactions are personal, between two individuals,
often two families. Special attention needs to be paid to each family
member’s needs. Emails and letters are usually addressed to the family
unit and might start with “Dear Jack & Sally.” Real estate agents need
to track birthdays, home closing anniversary dates, and other personal
details for each family member.

Generic CRM’s will instead focus on companies and individuals, and have
no provision for families. A real estate specific CRM is going to allow
you to **track birthdays**, as well as **closing anniversaries,** which
is the date your client purchased their home. This is a valuable
touchpoint for maintaining long-term relationships with your past
clients.


> **The Divorce Divide Secret**: Use one contact record per family to keep communications unified but split them into two records during a divorce to manage the relationship professionally.


A generic CRM typically includes a postal mailing address in each
contact record. A real estate CRM will track both a mailing address and
a property address. This is a key feature when marketing to absentee
owners, or when working with a buyer who is inquiring about a specific
property.

A real estate CRM includes a **library of real estate-specific content**
you can use and customize. This consists of a library of time-release
drip letters for both print and email. These letters can be customized
and used with mail merge to create professional-looking letters. While
time-release drip letters are common, individual one-off letters are
also helpful. Additionally, the ability to send eCards for closing
anniversaries and holidays is quite valuable. eCards provide an easy way
to send a few emails to people in your sphere of influence each year.
This lets you stay in touch and is a great way to detect when an email
address goes bad. A flyer template library allows you to quickly create
a property flyer by filling in the blanks with text and photos. By using
these templates, you can create a consistently professional flyer in
just a few minutes.

Another key feature is called **email feed**, also known as email
parsing. This feature parses the contact information embedded in
new-lead notification emails from hundreds of real estate-specific
websites, such as Trulia and Zillow, and converts them into prospect
records. This saves hours of manual data entry and allows for immediate
outreach. As soon as the record is created, you receive both an email
and an SMS text notification so you can respond within minutes. A
generic CRM cannot parse real estate-specific lead sources, such as
Zillow. This is a crucial feature and a major shortcoming of a generic
CRM. Using a generic CRM will slow you down when speed matters most,
making it unsuitable for real estate-specific use.

Real estate lead sources that deliver leads via email feed typically
offer the ability to send a copy of their notification email to a
dedicated email feed address assigned by your real estate CRM vendor to
your CRM account. Emails sent to that email address are automatically
parsed and converted into prospect records. The advantage of this
approach is that it is fast and automatic. You are also immediately
notified of the new lead via both email and text message. This allows
you to centralize all of your leads within your CRM. So, leads from
Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, your own website, advertising like Google
and Facebook ads, and much more can be fed into your CRM using this
automated mechanism.


> **The Speed-to-Lead Secret:** Respond to all online inquiries as quickly as possible, ideally within 5 minutes. Open the lead in your CRM, then make your call. Use your CRM’s features, such as email feed, call capture, click-to-dial, and smartphone synchronization, to be the first agent your prospect talks with over the phone. Statistically, most buyers hire the first agent they speak with, so be that agent1. There is no prize for second place.


Consumer behavior data from the National Association of
Realtors support this statement. According to the 2024 Profile of Home
Buyers and Sellers, 75% of all buyers interviewed only one real estate
agent. This was true for 67% of first-time buyers and 77% of repeat
buyers. This data underscores the “winner-take-all” nature of lead
response: the first agent to make a professional connection and
establish rapport is most likely to be hired for the job.↩︎


FSBO and expired leads also lend themselves well to the automation that
a real estate CRM offers. For example, if you regularly load FSBO leads
from a service, your CRM can keep track of which letters and postcards
have been sent and print letters and labels for the next batch to go
out. Each prospect would be in a different place in the sequence, and
your CRM manages who gets what for you.

While internet leads are typically fed live via email, leads generated
through data mining, such as FSBOs, expireds, and probate leads, are
typically loaded using the import feature, which allows you to map data
from lead sources to the fields in your CRM. The best real estate CRMs
offer a **valet import** feature. This is a service in which the CRM
vendor creates a custom importer tailored to the specific lead service
you use. A dedicated menu item is created for your import. All you need
to do is select that menu item and click import. This significantly
automates the import, making the process nearly foolproof. Generic CRMs
might allow custom field mapping, but require you to assign it yourself
each time you import. This can turn a process that might take 10 seconds
into one that could easily take 10 minutes and be more error-prone.
Using the valet import makes the process seamless and straightforward.

It is helpful to distinguish between these two ways to add leads to your
CRM. You will find use for both methods. The first method, email feed,
is designed for live, individual web leads. This feature automatically
reads the notification email for a single lead from sources such as
Realtor.com and Zillow, and instantly creates a new individual prospect
record. The second method, valet import, is for batch uploading of
multiple prospects. This process uploads an entire file of leads at
once, such as a list of FSBOs or expired listings that you have
identified through a lead service, information provided by a loan
officer, tax records, or even MLS records.

Another core function of real estate CRMs is **integration with
third-party services and products**. This might include integration with
your lockbox software, paid lead sources, your website, and MLS. A
generic CRM lacks these industry-specific integrations. In particular, a
real estate-specific CRM provides a wide range of options for
integrating real estate-specific lead sources.

Real estate CRMs will include built-in **real estate calculators**. You
can use the maximum loan and mortgage payment calculators to help a new
buyer estimate the home price they can afford before they have had a
chance to get pre-qualified by a loan officer. Similarly, the buyer’s
net calculator gives everyone a good idea of how much cash the buyer
will need to close a deal, including the down payment. You can use the
seller’s net calculator to give your client a good idea of how much
money they will be able to walk away with from the sale of their current
home. The rent-vs-own calculator can determine whether it makes
financial sense to own or rent. Market conditions change, and it is well
worth doing proper due diligence so your client is confident they are
making a sound financial move.

The **commissions tracking** features in a real estate CRM can give you
a clear understanding of your quarterly and annual net income. You can
also calculate potential commissions for deals in your pipeline to help
predict your cash flow. Your real estate CRM should also include an
**expense-tracking** feature that lets you monitor expenses, including
projected recurring costs such as MLS and licensing fees. You can export
both income and expenses when it is time to file your quarterly
estimated and annual taxes. These features help you stay compliant with
the IRS and track projected cash flow. Real estate is typically
seasonal, so you will want to compare last year’s results with this
year’s to understand trends and make sure you are on track.


> **The Monthly Mastery Secret**: Focus on learning one CRM skill each month to avoid being overwhelmed by the features. For example, you might try experimenting with eCards the first month, printing labels the next month, real estate calculators the third month, commission tracking after that, and so on.


For your buyers, you can track each buyer’s needs using a **buyers
database**. This database helps you record the **house features** and
property locations that interest your homebuyers. You can also **track
showings** and record your buyer's feedback for each property you see
with them. This is particularly helpful because after a few houses, they
all start blurring together for your client (and you!). You might have
shown them the perfect home first, but after ten more homes, they have
forgotten about that first one. When it comes time to make an offer, you
can track **offers**, deadlines, counteroffers, and even create a
closing record once the sales contract is ratified (the date all parties
have signed and the contract becomes official).

A real estate CRM also includes **transaction management** features that
help you track your listings, closings, promotions, and the parties
involved in each deal. You can also monitor contingencies (such as
inspection and financing conditions), conveyances, and escrow (the
buyer's deposit), or earnest money. Using transaction management along
with task plans helps you close deals more quickly and reduces legal
risks. Because the failure rate in real estate closings can be as high
as 20%, focusing on this part of the deal is just as vital as the other
stages.

While most real estate agents in the USA and Canada have access to an
MLS, some agents, particularly in other countries, do not. For those
agents, a database of homes or **properties** can be valuable. This
database contains properties in the market area. They might be for sale
or rent, and having a database of these properties allows an agent to
collect statistical information and match them against a buyer’s wants
and needs. While this feature is less useful for agents with MLS access,
it is a must-have for those without an MLS. The properties database is
also useful for commercial properties, which are often not on the MLS,
and for situations where the agent is working with off-market
properties.

An additional, underrated capability of your real estate CRM is the
ability to track your conversion statistics and which referral sources
are working and which are not. This helps you better understand how to
improve your marketing and prospecting. It can also help you make
long-term goals for how you intend to increase income year-over-year.

The technology that enables this comprehensive tracking is a
**relational database**. This means the database can associate or create
relationships between multiple records without duplication. That way,
you can efficiently work with a client on the sale of their existing
property as well as the purchase of a new property. As you start doing
deals involving the same person across multiple transactions, the
importance of a relational database becomes clearer. For example, if you
work with an investor who owns a portfolio of properties, they might
want you to handle multiple transactions, even simultaneously. The
relational nature of a real estate CRM allows you to handle this without
confusion. It also makes it possible to maintain archive records of past
deals with clients and to connect various parties with whom you might
work on more than one deal. You might work with a loan officer or a
closing company on multiple unrelated transactions, and the relational
database allows you to view the list of these transactions. A generic
CRM lacks these essential transaction management features, which is
another reason it is unsuitable for real estate agents.

You can also use the **lockbox database** in your real estate CRM to
track which lockboxes are installed for which properties, the shackle
code for each, and the unlock code. You can add special instructions,
such as the lockbox location, whether anyone is in the house during the
daytime, and any pets to be aware of.

## Repeatable CRM Systems

The most obvious benefit of using a real estate CRM is the ability to
organize consistent follow-up for your prospects and past clients. For
new prospects, most agents are great at the initial phone call but give
up too soon and do not follow up enough. Your real estate CRM lets you
build a consistent follow-up plan that could include a series of
time-release emails, multiple follow-up calls, follow-up text messages,
printed letters and postcards, and even a scheduled drive-by.

Your ability to contact a prospect across multiple communication
channels increases your chances of reaching them. This is particularly
critical when you have not yet received a response. For example, let’s
say you rely only on email, but your emails are being dumped into the
recipient’s spam folder and are never seen. Or perhaps the phone number
you have is an old landline, and this prospect is no longer at that
location and hasn’t heard your voicemails. This is why it is so useful
to use multiple communication modes, particularly when you have not yet
received a response. Your real estate CRM can be used to schedule these
communications and to add notes about what happened. For some forms of
communication, like time-release emails, your CRM can even automatically
send them.

For past clients and friends, you need to maintain your friendship, take
an interest in their lives, and ask about how things are going. The best
way to do that is by scheduling regular communications using tasks in
your real estate CRM. For physical Christmas cards, your real estate CRM
can print mailing labels. It can also remind you to contact your friend
on their Birthday and for the anniversary of the closing of their home.
You might even drop by in the spring with a packet of seeds to check on
the fantastic progress they have made in fixing up their backyard.


> **The Friends First Secret**: Avoid directly promoting your real estate business to friends, family, or past clients. Instead, focus on building authentic connections by showing an interest in their lives. This could mean celebrating milestones, chatting about sports, or discussing local news. They already know what you do; your best approach is to be the real estate professional they know will be on their side as their friend and trusted advisor.


Another benefit of using your real estate CRM is the ability to reuse
content. Agents need to send letters, create flyers, and communicate
with clients and prospects. In many cases, these communications are
nearly identical from one prospect or deal to the next. Using the
library of content built into your real estate CRM saves you time,
starting with high-quality material available for immediate use. You
can—and should—tweak these letters to meet your individual needs, and
the tweaked letters can then be reused. You can also use flyer templates
and reuse some of your ad copy from prior listings. The longer you use
your real estate CRM, the more you will be able to reuse your past work.
This saves you time over the long run.

One more key advantage of your CRM is the ability to create standard
operating procedures and checklists, also known as task lists. This
boosts productivity while maintaining a consistent level of quality.
Less-experienced agents will learn best practices by following the
standard checklists built into their real estate CRM. Experienced agents
can refine and personalize these checklists and letters to reflect their
unique approach to the real estate sales process.

The most obvious checklist is for a new listing. You will have a
standard list of promotional activities to complete, along with a
checklist of other tasks such as taking pictures, installing the lockbox
and yard sign, getting the listing agreement signed, updating Zillow,
and adding the listing to the MLS. This is the same approach even the
most experienced pilots use before flying to make sure they don’t forget
anything and don’t run into trouble mid-flight[9]. Use your checklist to
ensure you complete each task without missing anything.

These same checklists can also be used after closing to ensure you don’t
leave anything behind and to provide follow-up a few days after closing
and regularly thereafter to maintain a relationship with your past
clients. This last step is where most agents fail, and it is why many do
not maximize their referral income potential. Consistent follow-up turns
satisfied clients into repeat business and a valuable referral source.
All you need to do is maintain your friendship with past clients after
closing, and you have an excellent chance of getting repeat business and
perhaps even referrals.

When you handle one or two closings a year, you may not appreciate the
benefits of a checklist. However, as your business grows, a checklist
lets you focus on generating new business because the mechanical steps
of selling a home are systematized. Tracking everything in your real
estate CRM eliminates guesswork from the listing process.

Over time, you may find your income has increased enough to justify
delegation. This is usually when you realize there simply aren’t enough
hours in the day to complete all the tasks you need to do. Your best
approach is to focus on high-value tasks, such as prospecting and making
listing presentations, and delegate the checklist work to someone else,
such as an assistant or partner.

Your real estate CRM is the ideal tool for clarifying who does what and
tracking which tasks have been completed and by whom. That way, you can
oversee those tasks and focus on the higher-value activities needed to
grow your business. When it is time to hire an assistant, your CRM
provides a structured way to delegate tasks and hold your assistant
accountable. Your CRM allows you to control and coordinate far more than
would be possible with pen and paper. You should select a CRM that works
for a solo agent but can grow with you as you bring in a partner or
assistant.

Your real estate CRM can also provide continuity if you lose an
assistant and need to train a replacement. This is one area many agents
overlook when selecting their real estate CRM. Don’t underestimate the
time it takes to train a replacement assistant. Find a CRM vendor that
offers an easy-to-learn interface and complimentary training, not just
for you but also for your assistant and other team members.

## International CRM Use

There used to be two real estate CRMs headquartered in Canada: Top
Producer and iXact Contact. However, both companies faced financial
difficulties and were acquired by USA-based holding companies. At
present, there are no Canadian real estate CRMs. For the most part, the
real estate CRMs currently available are based in the United States.
However, these products can be adapted for Canada, Australia, and other
international markets with minor adjustments.

While your CRM content and letter library are likely geared toward use
in the United States, accommodations may have been made for other
languages and localities. The letters might also be available in
Spanish, which is useful since one in seven U.S. residents speaks
Spanish at home[10].

The Canadian market is 1/5 the size of the US market. For this reason,
the built-in content library may also serve that market. For example,
the eCard library could include content for holidays such as Canada Day
and Labour Day. Some library letters will be specific to the United
States, and that is by design. If a letter mentions special tax
considerations that apply only in the United States, it would be
excluded from drip sequences sent by a Canadian real estate agent. While
Canadians, Americans, and Australians all speak English, there are
variations in terminology and spelling that need to be accommodated. For
example, attorney is a common term in the United States, while lawyer is
a more general term used in both Canada and the United States. Your CRM
should make it easy to clone, edit, and tag these materials so you can
keep the correct version for the right audience and maintain brand
consistency.

All modern CRMs use UTF-8 to store text content, allowing text in
different languages to be mixed. Spanish can use accented characters,
and you can include Korean, Japanese, or Hebrew text alongside English
text. 

There are numerous preference settings you can adjust to personalize
your real estate CRM and align it with your locale. In the United
States, dates are listed month, day, then year, while in many other
locations the day and month are reversed. Your real estate CRM will
include a preference setting that lets you adjust this to your local
preference. The time display will be AM and PM by default, but you might
prefer twenty-four-hour time; that is a preference setting as well. The
unit of currency is also a consideration; you can select your preferred
unit, including the euro, pound, United States dollar, Canadian dollar,
or Australian dollar, among others. The unit of measurement for land in
the United States is often acres, but you can switch to metric units if
you prefer. The unit of area in the United States is square feet, but
you can also use metric units. Make these changes first, before you
import contacts or print anything, so every letter, flyer, and report
reflects the choices you made.

Another consideration for international real estate professionals is the
technical support hours offered by their CRM vendor. If the vendor is in
the United States and you are in Australia, the time zone difference
will make phone support difficult. International phone support is also
unlikely, as most United States-based real estate CRM vendors offer
phone support only to United States and Canadian customers. For this
reason, outside the USA and Canada, email support will likely be your
best option. Canadian customers can always ask technical support to call
them, eliminating toll charges for cross-border calls. Make sure to test
the vendor’s support to ensure it will work for you, given your time
zone.

The real estate calculators also include preference settings that can be
adjusted to match how your local market works. Commissions are
calculated slightly differently in Canada, using a graduated sales
commission. There are also nuances in how taxes are handled for
commissions and in how value-added tax is applied to expenses. In
Canada, mortgage interest is compounded semiannually rather than
monthly, as in the United States, so there is a preference setting for
that as well. The same goes for how you treat the tax deductibility of
both property taxes and mortgage interest. These items are
tax-deductible in the United States but are treated differently in
Canada. Your commissions will also need to account for the slightly
different tax reporting and withholding requirements in Canada.

There are slight differences in the regulatory requirements for sending
email and SMS. In Canada and the United States, these rules are similar.
Ask your CRM’s technical support team for specifics, as your market will
likely have unique needs. Your real estate CRM vendor will be aware of
the differences, so you can comply fully without running afoul of
regulations.

While the United States and Canada both use an MLS, there are markets
outside the United States where an MLS is not available. In these
situations, it helps to have a real estate CRM with a properties
database. A properties database is a collection of properties for sale
that provides functionality similar to your MLS, but at the local level.
With the properties database, you can record statistics about each
property for sale, such as square footage, room dimensions, and the
home’s unique features. This database is particularly helpful in small
markets, such as Caribbean islands, where the limited number of
properties makes creating an MLS impractical. Some agents also find the
properties database useful in unique markets, such as commercial real
estate or the New York downtown market, where local knowledge and
private inventory tracking matter as much as syndicated data feeds.

The real estate markets in the US and Canada are similar enough that the
same real estate-specific CRMs will work in both countries. Some areas,
like Australia and the Caribbean, are also quite similar. You will need
to conduct your own due diligence for areas outside these regions. Ask
your CRM vendor about support availability and whether their CRM is
suitable for your location.

## What to Look for in a CRM

The goal of using a CRM is to make your life easier and help you get
things done faster. For these reasons, I recommend you select a CRM that
is **easy to use**.

While recommendations from other agents in the office are one source of
information, keep in mind that each agent has their own work style and
needs. What works for one agent with a full-time assistant may not be
the right fit for a new agent. Look for a real estate CRM that offers a
**free trial**. Hands-on experience is the best way to decide which CRM
is right for you.

**Phone support** remains the gold standard for support. You will
inevitably encounter a problem you can’t resolve with the video
tutorials, and you don’t have time to wait for an email response. I
recommend selecting a CRM with phone support.

As a new Realtor, I recommend focusing on selecting an **affordable**
real estate CRM. The monthly cost should be closer to a restaurant meal
than a car payment. The functional differences between the two ends of
that spectrum are often not as vast as you might think, especially for
an agent just starting out.

Choose a vendor that provides **onboarding,** also known as a
**concierge setup.** Onboarding helps you import your data, synchronize
your contacts and calendar with your smartphone, create and install your
letterhead and signature, and receive initial training on how to use the
CRM. The sooner you start using your CRM effectively, the more likely
you are to keep using it. Therefore, selecting a CRM without the support
you need to get started is not helpful. If you're expected to do all
these tasks on your own, you might spend weeks or get stuck before
gaining any value from your CRM.

—«◊»—


### MaiKai Makena 

Starting as a new real estate agent takes some capital investment up
front, but if you watch your budget, you can keep yourself afloat until
you’re profitable. MaiKai Makena, an agent in the Corona Del Mar
neighborhood of Newport Beach, CA, had this to say about starting out:
“As a new agent, there are so many costs to getting started in this
business, and when I looked at the pricing models of most CRMs, they
just seemed too expensive. It’s important that new agents know there are
affordable options out there, and starting with one of those can really
help.” He explains that finding cost-effective tools is only beneficial
if you learn to use them properly. As a new agent, you’ll have more time
than money, so it’s reasonable to save by buying an affordably priced
tool. But MaiKai Makena says that just because you want something
affordable doesn’t mean you should compromise on technical support.
“When I ran into questions, I reached out to my CRM support team and
always got the help I needed. Taking advantage of free support can save
you a lot of time and frustration as a new agent.” For Makena, success
in his first year came down to using tools he could afford to create
order in his chaotic new career. “What made the biggest difference for
me was having structure, keeping everything in one place so I wasn’t
losing track of clients, notes, or tasks.” One of the first things he
learned to do was import farming data and organize it as he wanted. He
also appreciated the ability to access information in his CRM while
outside the office.

—«◊»—

You are likely to receive leads from various sources, including your
website, your broker’s website, Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, and others.
Your real estate-specific CRM can automatically parse notification
emails from these sources and convert them into prospect records. This
feature, known as **email feed,** **lead forwarding**, **lead capture**,
or **email parsing**, saves you time by eliminating the need to manually
enter contact information for incoming leads.


> **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 adds costs and 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.


A key feature for any real estate CRM is **mobile access**. Ensure that
your CRM's contacts and calendar **sync** with your smartphone's native
contacts and calendar. Also, verify that you can sign in and use your
CRM through a web browser on your smartphone and on a tablet, such as an
iPad.

## Things to avoid in a CRM

There is no perfect CRM. While price and features are easy to compare,
usability and customer support are not. When shopping for a real estate
CRM, the best thing you can do is take advantage of the free trial. **A
CRM that doesn’t offer a free trial is a red flag**. If a company isn’t
confident enough in its product to let you try it before paying, that
should tell you something. If the vendor requires a credit card to sign
up for the free trial, be aware that they will convert your free trial
to a paid membership unless you proactively cancel before it ends. The
best vendors will not resort to such underhanded practices.

Your brokerage or MLS might provide you with a “free” CRM. **Free CRMs
typically offer limited functionality.** Missing features might include
smartphone synchronization, phone support, printing, click-to-call, call
capture, real estate calculators, commission and income tracking, and a
content library. Using a CRM you control means that if you leave that
office and go to another brokerage, your disruption is minimized. Your
contacts database is preserved, and you do not have to learn a new
system.

Also, review the **privacy policy** of any free or broker-supplied CRM.
These vendors need to make a profit. Often, their privacy policies allow
them to harvest your CRM data for marketing. For example, the CRM vendor
might partner with a preferred mortgage broker, title company, and home
warranty provider, and use your database of listings and closings to
steer your clients toward these preferred services. It is best to work
with a CRM vendor that has strong privacy policies.


While you might initially think a free CRM is worth sacrificing your
privacy, consider this from your clients' perspective. If your clients
are steered toward a higher-interest-rate mortgage, you risk undermining
the trust you have built with them. You are a trusted advisor, and your
ability to provide impartial advice that benefits your clients is the
entire premise upon which you have been hired. By violating the privacy
of your data, you have shattered this trust.


> **Freedom has a Price Secret:** Beware of the “free” CRMs which your broker or MLS provides. These products often follow a “freemium” model, where the free version offers basic functionality with an expectation that users will eventually pay to upgrade. Since you did not select this product of your own free will, it may not be competitive. Many such systems are rarely updated and offer minimal technical support.


Not all CRMs are created equal. **Some CRMs are buggy, offer poor
support, or have predatory contract terms.** The best way to separate
the good from the bad (and the ugly) is to look at Google and Better
Business Bureau (BBB) reviews. These review sites are reasonably neutral
and can provide a good, unbiased view. Be wary of sites like Top5, G2,
and Capterra, which routinely pay for reviews and allow vendors to
suppress negative reviews.

You should **avoid using a generic CRM.** Real estate is a unique
business, and a generic CRM lacks many key features you will need. A
generic CRM is typically designed for corporate sales. In contrast, your
relationship with your clients is much more personal. That is reflected
in the information stored in the CRM, how letters and envelopes are
addressed, and even the reminders you receive, such as birthdays and
closing anniversaries.

**Avoid onboarding charges** by choosing a vendor that doesn't charge
for that essential service. These fees can add up quickly and are
charged before you get any value from your real estate CRM.

Some features seem like a good idea on paper but make no sense in
practice. Among these features are advanced multi-dialers, power
dialers, and SMS text message blast features. Lawsuits have made these
advanced features a legal minefield. Instead, I recommend sticking to
the legal and straightforward features of click-to-dial and SMS text
message chat.

An **integrated website** is another feature that might seem like a good
idea but is almost always a bad one. What happens if the website that is
included with your CRM is ineffective? What happens if the CRM that
comes with your website is not a good fit for you? In either case, you
must discard both to switch either, which can be tremendously
disruptive. Building a website takes years of effort and a lot of money
to gain a ranking in Google. Switching sites is not to be taken lightly.
Similarly, after investing a lot of time learning how to use your CRM,
you are not going to want to discard it just because the website is
inadequate. Instead, I recommend you select one vendor for your website
and a second vendor for your CRM. You can connect these two products
together using an email feed, allowing the flexibility necessary to make
changes over time.


Another area I advise you to avoid is a **generic monthly newsletter**.
Sending a pre-written, one-size-fits-all newsletter to everyone in your
database might seem like a great idea—until you read the content and
realize even your own mother is likely to opt out after the first
issue! The problem with a pre-made newsletter is that the content often
feels dull. Why? Because it’s designed not to offend anyone. It can’t
suggest that now is the best time to sell, since that could scare off
potential buyers. Plus, relying on ready-made content means it’s, by
definition, generic and doesn’t account for local market conditions.
Just like the weather, real estate is local. It’s not useful to hear
about the weather in New York City if you live in Kansas. The same goes
for real estate. I have seen some agent databases with opt-out rates
over 50% thanks to the generic monthly newsletter their CRM provides. By
enabling this one feature, they just cut their potential referral income
in half!

There is one type of newsletter that benefits everyone: a local real
estate market update sent once or twice a year. You are the expert on
real estate conditions in the neighborhoods you focus on. Why not share
that expertise with residents and those who might want to move in? They
can’t get that information anywhere else, at any price. The key to
making this work is writing the content yourself. Talk about properties
sold and for sale, along with local projects like a new school or mall.
Send this newsletter once or twice a year to residents and potential
buyers in the neighborhoods you serve. Just like hot sauce, a newsletter
is best in moderation.

**Over-automating** your processes is another common pitfall. Clients
pay a significant commission for your personal service. Features that
automatically respond to or nurture leads without your direct oversight
often fail. They send irrelevant information, sound robotic, or continue
communicating after a prospect has asked to stop. All of these will
ultimately damage your reputation with your clients and prospects. The
best automation supports your workflow while keeping you in control.

## CRM Quick Pick List

**RealtyJuggler**: The most affordable real estate CRM with a
comprehensive feature set, including transaction management, an
extensive content library, calculators, and expense and income tracking.
They offer a lengthy free trial, phone support, and a cancel at any time
pro-rated refund.

**iXact Contact**: A relatively affordable real estate CRM with a solid
feature set. They offer agent websites and a monthly newsletter. They
were acquired by Elm Street Technologies in 2021.

**Referral Maker**: Emphasizes referrals as the primary lead source,
built on the Buffini “Work by Referral” system. It offers excellent
activity and goal tracking. Slightly more expensive than the other
recommendations, but it offers multiple pricing tiers, some of which
include coaching. The feature set focuses on the early stages of the
sales funnel.

**WiseAgent**: A relatively affordable real estate CRM with a solid set
of features, including lead generation, landing pages, transaction
management, and a web app. Offers a free trial and phone support.

# Engineering Your Habits Using Systems

> “Successful prospecting requires repeated and frequent time on task.
> Time on task makes you much more efficient and gets you much better
> results. You cannot increase your skill level if you don’t spend a
> substantial amount of time practicing and performing prospecting
> activities. Real estate is a numbers game. You must develop consistent
> habits and you must begin prospecting with high frequency to develop
> your skills and see steady and recurring results.”

— Brian Icenhower, *PROSPECT: The Real Estate Lead Generation Manual*

What is the most precious resource in the world? Is it oil? Gold? Real
estate? I would argue that **time** is the most precious resource in the
world. No matter how rich you are, you can’t buy another hour in a
24-hour day. Instead of trying to find more time, focus on making the
most effective use of the limited time you do have. Your real estate CRM
can help you systematize and organize your day. It can also help you
understand which activities produce results and which do not. Take
advantage of the planning and time management tools in your CRM to
master time and maximize your results. Without a CRM, it is all too easy
for your real estate career to consume your personal time and create
unnecessary stress.

## Habits for Results

A habit is something you do regularly, like brushing your teeth every
morning. We all need repetition to make a habit stick. If you do the
same thing at the same time every day, it becomes part of your routine
and is easier to repeat day after day. By scheduling blocks of time on
your calendar for follow-up calls, you remove the ability to
procrastinate. You can’t build habits for long-term goals, like closing
a deal, but you can create habits that help you complete the individual
tasks you need to close that deal.

One way to build habits you will stick with is to connect them to your
existing routine. This strategy, known as “habit stacking,” involves
pairing a new action with an established one[11].

For example, you likely already have a morning habit of checking your
email. Stack onto that habit another habit of signing in and reviewing
the tasks and appointments in your CRM. By pairing an incremental habit
(checking your CRM) with an existing habit (checking your email), you
make it easier to adopt the new habit as part of your daily routine.


Your calendar will be the fixed points for your day. These are the
appointments you must attend on a specific date and time. Your tasks are
things you need to get done in any order, which means you have more
flexibility with them than with your calendar.

I recommend using **time-blocking** to set aside specific times of your
day for specific activities – like door-knocking, making follow-up phone
calls, printing, and mailing letters. The best way to do that is to
schedule appointments with yourself in your calendar, preferably
repeating appointments. You are building a structured environment where
you spend less time planning and more time doing the activities that
need to be done.

Creating structure in your day will increase your productivity. Have you
ever noticed that when you procrastinate, you spend more time thinking
about procrastinating than it would take to complete the task you are
putting off? Blocking your time for activities eliminates the ability to
procrastinate. This is particularly important for tasks you might not
enjoy doing.

Think of time-blocking as commitments you make to yourself to achieve
something during that block of time. A common myth is that real estate
agents have no boss and can show up and work whenever it suits them. A
successful agent is their own boss and schedules their time to increase
their chances of making money. They build habits of doing the same thing
at the same time every day, such as making outgoing phone calls for 2
hours every morning between 9 and 11 am. The agent who keeps a schedule
will be less stressed and earn a higher income than an agent who does
not block their time. The repetition and regularity of these time blocks
create muscle memory that helps you perform better at your job.

Your time-blocking should include personal time as well. If you have a
family, block out time for them. Work-life balance is challenging for
real estate agents because demands on their time often make it difficult
to spend quality time with their families. So, you will need to
compensate. The best times to reach clients are typically around dinner
hour, so you may miss a few family dinners. You will likely be working
weekends as well. However, you do have available time that a 9-5 job
does not. Get up early and make breakfast for everyone. If you have
grade school-age kids, volunteer at the school. Meet your kids for
lunch. Volunteer to coach sports and do other activities
opportunistically. Take your spouse out to lunch instead of dinner.

You need time to prepare for your listing presentations, so make sure
you allocate a block of time before each one to put together your
Comparative Market Analysis (CMA), review your presentation and
potential objections, and plan how you will handle them.


> **Morning Map, Evening Wrap Secret**: Sign into your CRM each morning before you start work and each evening before you go to bed. Check your calendar for your hard commitments, as well as your tasks list which are activities which you can handle between appointments. This is your way of holding yourself accountable for making the most of every day. Without a plan, it is too easy to get distracted.


Your time will be in heavy demand at certain times of day and during
certain seasons of the year. For example, you are likely to be busier
during the summer, but you will not be nearly as busy between Christmas
and New Year’s.

One specific block of time you must always prioritize is the time you
spend making outgoing phone calls, which I like to call **office
hours**. It is not enough to just answer the phone when people call you.
You should use your office hours to reach out to people who might not
otherwise contact you. I recommend reserving your office hours for
interactive activities where you expect to reach someone and interact
with them live. Sending an email, updating your website, or posting on
Facebook can be done at other times of the day, such as late evening or
early morning, in between your other activities.

Ideally, you should be in your office during your office hours. Sign in
to your real estate CRM, open your daily call list, and start making
your follow-up calls. Being in the same place at the same time puts you
in the same frame of mind. When you make outgoing calls, you are in
control. You are prepared for the conversation and know what you are
going to say. You are being proactive. It is not the same when someone
calls you with a question about one of your listings while you are
driving. At other times of the day, you can be reactive. You must set
aside time in your day for these proactive calls.

Each agent will determine the best time of day for these outgoing calls.
Typically, these times are in the morning, early afternoon, right after
the kids are back from school, and during the dinner hour. Since your
main goal is to interact with someone in person, you need to find the
best time of day to maximize your chances.

You also need to consider the best way to reach the person you are
trying to contact. Each person is different, and you should take that
into account when deciding how to reach them. Many younger prospects
don’t answer their phones. However, if you send a text message, you
might get a response from the same people within 5 minutes. Retirees are
more likely to be available during the day and to answer their phones.
They are also more likely to still have a landline.

Before making an outgoing call, spend a minute reviewing your notes.
When was the last time you spoke with this person, and what did you
discuss? If you left a voicemail last time, try a text message this
time. If you called in the afternoon and they weren’t available, try
calling in the evening or morning next time. Each prospect is different,
so adapt your approach to each person’s lifestyle.

Many agents rely too heavily on email for prospecting. Email has many
limitations, especially when prospecting people you do not know well.
You can use your real estate CRM to **track who is reading your
emails**. However, getting someone to read your emails is not enough.
They also need to respond by calling you or replying by email. While
email is easy to send, it is not nearly as impactful as other forms of
communication when it comes to getting a response. For this reason, I
recommend using email as a complement to other forms of communication.
Don’t rely on email as your primary form of communication with a new
prospect.

For example, suppose you spoke with someone on the phone who expressed
interest in learning about the tax benefits of owning a home. In that
case, this is an ideal opportunity to send your prospect a time-release
drip sequence of emails about the tax benefits of homeownership. Emails
work exceptionally well when the recipient is expecting them and the
content is something they are interested in.

You should also prioritize interactive forms of communication, such as
phone calls, text messages, and door-knocking, over less interactive
forms like postcards and email. While email has its place, it is less
interactive than these other forms and, therefore, is less likely to
generate the results you are looking for. Your ideal prospecting call
lets you respond to the conversation and pivot quickly based on what is
said. The likelihood of convincing someone to use you as their agent is
far higher when you can use your powers of persuasion.

Gary Keller of Keller Williams recommends a practice he calls the 3-hour
habit. This means spending 3 hours a day on lead generation. Your 3
hours of lead generation might be organized differently from Monday to
Friday, depending on the specific tasks you intend to accomplish and the
time you have available each day.

You should reward yourself after completing challenging tasks. Ideally,
the reward should be immediate, so you associate it with the activity.
For example, a reward for calling 10 people might be a 10-minute walk
around the block. I recommend avoiding food rewards, such as an ice
cream cone, because they can conflict with any weight-loss goals you
might have.

You should set long-term goals and long-term rewards. For example, you
could set a specific annual income goal with a Hawaiian vacation at the
end of the year as the reward. The value of these goals rests on your
absolute belief that you can achieve them. For a goal like this to work,
you need to visualize that Hawaiian sand between your toes. When it is
late, and you are tired, you will think of your goal and know in your
heart that all the hard work is worth it. If you lack confidence that
you can achieve your goal, it won’t work. So, start with smaller goals.
Meet your small goal and earn your small reward. Then, as you gain
confidence, you can extend your goals and increase the size of your
rewards.

## Protecting Your Time

As a real estate professional, you will be required to perform many
tasks, but since your time is limited, every hour spent on one activity
means less time for another. I recommend taking an inventory of your
core skills and the primary way you generate income. If you are
extroverted, your core skills are meeting people and building
relationships. If you are introverted, your skills might lean toward
direct mail, website design, social media, and Search Engine
Optimization (SEO), which is the process of writing content for your
website to attract visitors from search engines like Google. It is rare
for an individual to be equally skilled at everything. Be honest with
yourself about your strengths and weaknesses. Delegate any activity that
someone else can do better and more cheaply. That way, you can focus
your attention on the activities you are uniquely qualified to do, like
converting prospects into clients.


> **The Time Machine Tune-Up Secret**: Log your work in 15-minute intervals for a full week to see how you are spending your time. This is an easy way to reveal inefficiencies which you might be able to eliminate.


A real estate CRM lets you store your forms, paperwork, and contracts in
the cloud so you can access them from anywhere, eliminating unnecessary
trips to the office. I recommend setting up a home office and being
mindful of what you can accomplish in each location, as well as how to
minimize driving time. Combine office activities and do those tasks
together. Most agents spend a lot of time in the car, so one way to be
more efficient is to combine out-of-office activities—like dropping off
a yard sign, key, lockbox, and flyer, and taking pictures—into a single
trip. Use categories in your real estate CRM to group tasks that can be
done together, such as office and field tasks. The most significant time
savings will come from scheduling a regular time on your calendar for
back-office activities, such as making follow-up calls, and using your
CRM’s automation features to work on those tasks quickly, one after the
other.

I also recommend that you set aside a few hours on Fridays to send
birthday cards and thank-you notes.

By front-loading the tasks you dread as the first thing in the morning,
you can get them done sooner. This concept, popularized by author Brian
Tracy in his book "Eat That Frog!", holds that completing the most
challenging task first lets you go through the rest of the day feeling
accomplished and knowing the worst is behind you. With your chores out
of the way, you will feel lighter and happier for the rest of the day.
When you procrastinate on tasks you dislike, you sabotage your
efficiency. Schedule activities you enjoy for later in the day. That
way, when your energy is lower, you can do the things you enjoy.
Ideally, each task on your task list is small enough to accomplish in
under an hour.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, focus on completing several small, quick
tasks one after another. This strategy leverages the psychological boost
of immediate progress, creating a positive feedback loop that makes it
easier to start larger projects[12].

Be careful about distractions. If you are working on your task list and
get distracted by something that comes along, do not switch to that new
activity. Instead, add a new item to your task list and prioritize it.
If you are easily distracted, you might have difficulty completing
tasks. Too many uncompleted tasks create inefficiency. It is to your
advantage to complete one task before switching to the next.

Avoid the trap of perfectionism in everything you do. There will
undoubtedly be important areas of your life where you should be as
perfect as possible. However, there are other aspects of your life where
the extra time spent making something perfect will not generate
additional income and is not worth the added aggravation. Some agents
think they need the perfect letterhead, the perfect website, and so on
before they can even start selling real estate. Don’t overthink it. You
can start with imperfect business cards. Then, in 6 months, when it is
time to reorder cards, you can improve them. The same goes for your
letterhead and your website. Don’t let the pursuit of perfection prevent
you from getting things done.

Not everyone you speak with will want to buy or sell immediately.
Instead, assume your actions may take several months, or even a year or
more, to fully take effect. That is why it is so important to use your
CRM to record your progress. The long-term, durable notes and
information you collect, especially notes from conversations, provide
valuable material for follow-up conversations. For each new person you
meet, make sure you enter how you met them in the referral source field.
That way, when you close a deal with them, you can account for which of
your marketing and sales strategies is responsible for that win.


> **Gratitude Gift Secret**: Track referrals in your CRM and send your top referral sources a holiday gift each year. Proactive gratitude keeps you top-of-mind.


When you start using your CRM, you might be overwhelmed by all the new
capabilities and tempted to spend weeks learning how everything works.
Resist that temptation. I recommend finding a single key feature in your
CRM you can use immediately. You need to deliver tangible results on the
first day. For example, how about calling someone with a birthday this
week to wish them a happy birthday? It seems like a small goal, but you
must start somewhere.

The ideal real estate CRM for a new agent is easy to use yet fully
featured, so you can get started quickly without being overwhelmed. Use
your CRM's task management features to track what you need to do and
mark tasks complete. You should also take notes during conversations so
you have a long-term record of your conversations. When you talk with a
prospect, be sure to schedule your follow-up call before hanging up.

If you feel overwhelmed trying to accomplish a goal, try breaking it
into several smaller goals. Then, give yourself a fixed amount of time
to complete each smaller goal. Ideally, each small goal should be
something you can accomplish in one hour or less. That will give you a
sense of accomplishment and prevent unfinished tasks from hanging over
you.

For example, if you need to create an open house flyer, budget a fixed
amount of time to complete it. Choose a flyer design from your real
estate CRM’s template library. Copy the text from your MLS listing and
add pictures. You can improve the flyer over time, but there’s a lot of
value in creating something quickly using the pre-built templates that
come with your CRM. While you might have been able to create a
marginally better flyer by spending another five hours, that one-hour
flyer is probably good enough.

The more experience you gain, the faster you will complete tasks and the
higher the quality of your results will be. This means the best thing
you can do right now is to gain as much experience as possible. Work
with as many listings and buyers as you can. The more hours you spend
doing your job, the better you will be at it.


> **Flyer in a Flash Secret**: You do not need to be a graphic designer to create professional materials. Use your CRM’s built-in flyer templates to save time and money. A good system includes dozens of designs for common situations. Plug in your photos, property details, and your brand elements. The system generates a polished, print-ready PDF in seconds. This keeps your brand consistent across all listings without opening a design program.


Don’t spend time planning future work you can start immediately. A good
example is making follow-up calls. A common pitfall is scheduling future
calls but never making them. That is a form of procrastination because
you use the time spent planning to delay the actual work of making those
calls.

New agents are often overwhelmed by all the things they need to do to
start as a real estate agent. I recommend taking a step-by-step approach
and building incrementally. For example, one of the first things you
will need is business cards. You talk with a few successful agents at
your office, and they tell you that you should really get a professional
photo taken first. They also suggest updating your wardrobe to look more
professional. So this simple task of ordering business cards has turned
into a much more complicated chore. Instead of focusing on creating the
perfect business card, I recommend ordering a small batch of cards
without a photo. You can reorder cards once you have had a chance to get
that professional photo taken. Perhaps you could delay that wardrobe
upgrade as a reward for your first closing? Don’t let the perfect get in
the way of making progress now.

## Tasks vs Appointments

Your real estate CRM includes a calendar to track your appointments and
important deadlines, such as listing expiration dates. It is tempting to
add tasks to your calendar, like picking up dry cleaning or dropping off
a yard sign. But I do not recommend using your calendar for such
activities. I recommend using your task list instead. What is the
difference between the two? Appointments have a date and time, usually a
location, and someone you are meeting with. You never want to miss an
appointment, so there is no way to mark it done like you can with a
task. Tasks are different; they do not have a time associated with them.
They can be marked done. If you forget to complete a task, it stays
around until you mark it done.

You should color-code your appointments to indicate the types of
activities you will be doing, such as client appointments, office hours,
showings, and more. When you are working in a team, you will want to
share a single calendar and use color-coding to assign appointments to
team members.


> **Task vs Appointment Secret**: Keep your task list separated from your calendar, tasks go in your task list and appointments go in your calendar. Task: A to-do item without a fixed time, for example: install yard sign, follow up with Jane. Appointment: A hard commitment at a specific time and place, for example: a closing or a showing.


You should sync your real estate CRM calendar with your smartphone. That
way, you will always have your calendar at hand. You should also set up
alarms so you receive timely notifications on your smartphone. That way,
you are never late or miss a meeting. Some smartphones will even notify
you based on the meeting location and your GPS location at the time of
the appointment. So, if the appointment is 20 minutes away, your phone
can notify you 25 minutes beforehand, giving you enough time to get
there. One additional advantage of syncing your real estate CRM’s
calendar with your smartphone is that you can use its GPS navigation to
get live turn-by-turn directions as you drive to the appointment.

Your real estate CRM can automatically add contact information, such as
names and phone numbers to the notes field of your appointments. That
way, details about who you are meeting, when, and where are always
available on your smartphone.

## Task Plans

Ideally, you will have just a handful of appointments each day, but you
might have several dozen tasks. You can create a task plan, sometimes
called an activity plan, to assign a series of tasks to a prospect or
deal. These tasks can be spaced out over time. For example, you might
schedule sending a series of postcards over time, with postcard 1 on day
1, postcard 2 on day 7, and so on. You could easily assign that task
plan, and the task timing would be automatically calculated.


> **The Tasks Together Secret**: Add the same category to tasks that done together, so you can batch errands and site visits efficiently, cutting wasted travel time.


One important thing about tasks is that they remain until you complete
them. Appointments are visible only on the date they are assigned. For
this reason, tasks are usually preferred for scheduling follow-up phone
calls. That way, if you are running late and can’t make the follow-up
call today, you will be reminded to make it tomorrow.

You should think of tasks as promises you make to yourself to do
something. A common pitfall is assigning a series of tasks one day, then
procrastinating when it comes time to do them. These unfinished tasks
accumulate, creating an impossible situation for you later. This can
happen with follow-up phone calls, which is why I always recommend
making your first phone call with a lead or client before scheduling any
follow-up tasks.

Most agents use a checklist to prepare a listing, including picking up
the key, taking photos, listing the property in the MLS, and more. A
task plan can be applied to a listing record to ensure a consistent
workflow. Your real estate CRM has these items pre-created and ready for
your use, allowing you to instantly apply a sequence of tasks to any new
listing or closing. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. By
leveraging the pre-built task plans in your CRM, you can ensure no
critical step is missed and deliver a consistent, professional level of
service to every client.


> **One-and-Done Task Secret:** Whenever possible, handle each task only once. Avoid re-reading the same emails, notes, or to-dos multiple times without action.


You can also tweak these automated task plans to match your operating
style. If you hang door knockers on neighbors’ doors before a home comes
up for sale, you can add that to the standardized list of promotions for
all your listings. That way, each of your listings has a consistent set
of tasks to complete.

Most people will have one task plan for their listings, another for the
buy-side closings, and another for their sell-side closings. Each
agent’s responsibilities differ depending on which side they are on. So,
the checklist will be different depending on which side of the deal you
represent. The last thing you want to do is show up at closing and
realize the Homeowners Association (HOA) documents weren’t sent 7 days
earlier, which would delay the closing!

—«◊»—


### Wayne Birkey

What’s better than being good? Being consistent - because people trust
consistency. This is the idea Wayne Birkey, an agent with Cressy &
Everett Real Estate in Granger, Indiana, has built his career on. With
more than 40 years of experience as a builder, agent, and broker, Wayne
uses his extensive knowledge of construction and real estate
transactions to find the perfect home for each client. One of Wayne’s
customers, Ashley Fulbright of South Bend, said, “Wayne was amazing to
work with. As a first-time home buyer, the process of finding and
purchasing a home can be very daunting and stressful, but Wayne made it
manageable and even easy for me. He handled everything and did a lot
behind the scenes to keep the purchase process moving that I didn’t even
have to worry about, leading us to close in only three weeks!”

Here are the steps Wayne takes when he follows up with a client. First,
he reviews the date and time-stamped notes in his CRM. He also looks at
the tasks he has completed. His notes include lists of items his client
needs to be informed about, as well as what he needs from his client to
ensure the transaction goes smoothly from one stage to the next. His
public client reviews are unanimous in their praise of his proactive
approach to making sure that deals close with a minimum of delay. All
details are known, all contingencies accounted for, which lowers stress
for the client and reduces the risk of a deal being delayed or failing.
He meticulously tracks every client detail from legal documents to
birthdays. “I use a lot of different real estate tools, but they all
feed back into my CRM.” He says.

Many agents are great at talking with and converting new leads, but
struggle to maintain the relationships they have already made. Wayne
spends a small portion of each day working through his task list,
calling current leads and existing clients. He is also careful to update
his notes in his CRM so that everything is in one place. That way, he
can easily find any information he might need quickly and keep all his
notes at hand while he is talking on the phone. Wayne uses the touch
tasks and task plan features in his CRM to schedule follow-up, along
with detailed task checklists to ensure nothing is missed.

Wayne has gained a reputation as an honest broker who listens to his
clients’ needs and helps them find the perfect home in the right
neighborhood. He must be doing something right, as his online reviews
are stellar, and many of his clients are repeat business and referrals.
One customer, Melissa Guthrie, said: “I first met Wayne a couple of
years ago when he helped my son purchase his first home. He went above
and beyond to help him at every step of the process. I didn’t hesitate
to call Wayne when I found a home I wanted to see. He was helpful every
step of the way!” she went on, “Wayne was always prepared for every
step. He communicated everything I needed to know right away. The entire
purchasing of my new home could not have gone any better. Wayne was
always right on time with everything I needed. Great communication in
every way.” His ability to provide trustworthy, reliable service to his
clients keeps him top of mind and attracts referral business from
friends and family.

—«◊»—

You can also schedule tasks to be due relative to specific dates, such
as a contract’s closing or ratification date. That way, you can schedule
a series of activities that sequence based on these special dates, such
as putting up the yard sign 1 day after the listing agreement is signed
or providing closing documents 7 days before closing. If the closing is
delayed, these tasks will automatically have their due dates adjusted.

## Touch Cycle

The single most helpful feature of a real estate CRM is the ability to
schedule follow-ups. These tasks are so important that your CRM lets you
easily schedule one-time or recurring follow-ups. This is called the
**touch cycle**, and it is the best way to maintain regular contact with
the people in your database.


A typical situation is to schedule a touch cycle task to contact someone
every 2 weeks. When you mark that task complete, it automatically
updates the last contact date to today and sets the next due date to two
weeks from today. Because tasks can be completed on the due date, a
little early, or even a little late, using a repeating task ensures that
the next due date is always two weeks from the last contact date, which
is when you made your previous call. If you had instead used a series of
non-repeating tasks, you would not have the same level of automatic
adjustment.

While many people think of touch as making a phone call, I recommend you
broaden your thinking to include any form of contact. You might call,
send an email, send a postcard, a Christmas or birthday card, drop by,
or even send a text message. By giving yourself the flexibility to
decide how you will contact that person, you make it easier to reach
them. Most people can only answer the phone at certain times of day. For
example, it would not be appropriate to call someone at 6 am, but you
could easily schedule an email or mail a postcard if you were working at
6 a.m. and wanted to touch base.


> **The Click, Call, Close Secret**: Each day you should schedule time in your calendar to making follow-up calls. To speed up this process build a daily call list and use the click-to-dial feature in your CRM to quickly call one person after the other. Add notes as you talk and schedule a follow-up call before you hang up.


Your CRM can generate a **daily call list** of people you need to
contact today. This list includes all tasks due today, including
repeating touch-cycle and follow-up tasks. It also includes any
uncompleted tasks that are overdue. You can then make one call after
another by clicking each task in turn. You can easily pull up each
contact record, review your notes, make your call, add notes, and then
call the next person with minimal effort.

## Systems to Simplify Work

When you first start, you will handle every activity yourself, including
putting up yard signs, taking photographs, and creating flyers. As your
business grows, you may find there are not enough hours in the day to
get everything done. I recommend using your real estate CRM to stay
organized and systematize your activities.

As you gain experience, you can create checklists for new listings and
closings that you would assign when a listing or closing is created.
That way, you provide a uniform level of service to each client. This
system also simplifies bringing on an assistant or partner, as you can
assign tasks and track progress without spending all your time
supervising them. As your business grows, you can systematize marketing
activities, such as sending postcards, by using your CRM to build,
organize, and track your mailing lists.

You should not feel forced to work with everyone, such as a seller with
unrealistic price expectations or someone unwilling to put their home in
show-ready condition. Likewise, consider the sales price of the homes
you target. Helping a buyer find a double-wide trailer will yield less
commission than helping a client purchase a high-end colonial-style
home, but both may require the same amount of time and cost the same in
gas money. Before taking on a client, use your CRM to model different
commission scenarios and decide whether taking on a new client makes
financial sense for you.

Your real estate CRM also enables you to pursue different work
arrangements that might otherwise be difficult. You may be a part-time
agent and would like to partner with another agent to maintain a
work-life balance. The multi-user capability of your CRM allows you to
co-work with another part-time agent so that each of you can tag-team
your work. You could also work as a junior partner for a full-time
agent.

Ultimately, a systemized business is one you can step away from. Real
estate agents often struggle to take time off due to illness. With a
CRM, you can grant another agent read-only access to manage your affairs
while you are unavailable. This is one reason many agents team up:
working together can reduce stress.

## Real Estate Calculators

Your real estate CRM includes several calculators to help qualify
prospects. Ideally, your buyer would first meet with a mortgage
professional and get pre-approved before meeting with you. However, some
buyers will not do that and will instead meet with you first. Using the
**maximum loan calculator**, you can quickly determine the price range
your prospect should qualify for based on income, debt, and loan terms.
That estimate helps you align expectations and set a ballpark maximum
home price. That way, you can start showing homes immediately without
waiting for your prospect to consult with a mortgage professional.

While there are many reasons for the high rate of deal failure, a
significant one is that the buyer could not afford the home they thought
they could[13]. Rather than spending hundreds of hours on a deal that
falls apart at the last minute, you can educate your client beforehand
and save yourself wasted effort.


> **Budget Before Browse Secret:** For buyers who have not yet met a loan officer, use your CRM’s ‘maximum loan calculator’ in your very first meeting with a new buyer to set a realistic price range before showing homes. This prevents wasted time on unaffordable properties and establishes you as a knowledgeable, financially savvy advisor from the start.


The **seller’s net calculator** helps you quickly determine how much
cash back a seller can expect from the sale of their home after
deducting commission and other expenses. The last thing you want is for
the seller to be surprised at closing and realize that, after fees and
commissions, they will be taking home far less than they thought. Many
people use the proceeds from the sale of their current home as a down
payment for a new home. The seller’s net calculator helps you determine
how much of a down payment your client might have available for the
purchase of their next home.

For your buyers, the **buyer’s net calculator** is a helpful way to
explain down payment and closing cost requirements, including the
buy-side commission. Most buyers understand the down payment
requirements but are often unaware of the precise amount of funds they
might need, and this calculator can help set expectations.

The **commission calculator** computes your gross commission and final
net commission after deductions for split, franchise, and referral fees.
Use this calculator before taking on a client to clarify the financial
stakes and ensure your marketing budget aligns with the potential
return. While your broker will provide a final calculation, compute it
yourself to project cash flow and double-check your broker’s figures for
accuracy. This also helps you precisely calculate and document any
referral fees you give or receive.

Another handy calculator is **rent-vs-own**. We all know there are
numerous benefits to owning a home compared with renting. Some of these
benefits are psychological, but there are financial benefits as well. A
rent-vs-own calculator computes these specific benefits, including home
appreciation, as well as the tax benefits of owning a home. There are
also circumstances when renting makes the most sense, for example, if
the buyer is uncertain how long they will remain in the house. The
rent-vs-own calculator takes the guesswork out of these calculations and
allows the buyer to explore different holding periods, appreciation
scenarios, and even alternative uses for the down payment, such as
investing in the stock market.

Less sophisticated clients may focus solely on monthly payments. By
explicitly highlighting appreciation, you can explain the benefits of
choosing a home in an area with appreciation potential, as well as the
value of paying a little more for a home with features others might find
desirable when it is time to sell.

The rent-vs-own calculator also offers property investors insights into
the optimal time to sell assets from their real estate portfolio. For
example, when the calculator shows a financial benefit to renting over
owning, this can signal a market imbalance. This imbalance could be
caused by artificially high interest rates or unusually low rents.
Whatever the reason for the imbalance, it can make holding a rental
property less profitable for a landlord. This might mean it’s a good
time to sell the investment property.

The **mortgage payments calculator** is helpful when a buyer needs to
compare different loan programs or interest rates. For example, what
would the payment difference be with a 20 percent down payment to avoid
PMI? What would the payment difference be between a 15-year and a
30-year loan? What about two loans compared with a single jumbo loan?
The loan payments calculator allows a buyer to strategize and become
comfortable with a specific home price and different loan types,
including paying points. It also allows a candid conversation about the
home price range the buyer can comfortably afford and qualify for.

The real estate calculators built into your real estate CRM are
excellent sales tools. They help you approach your prospect and gather
information they might otherwise be uncomfortable sharing, such as
salary and debt. Entering this information into a calculator takes the
stress out of the process, as it is a scientific, non-judgmental way to
explore different options. Finally, these calculators allow you to
provide hard-copy results to your client so they can better study the
underlying analysis.

## Budgeting Tips

Like farming crops, real estate is typically seasonal, with summer
months being a “feast” and winter months a “famine.” Through careful
planning, you can stockpile funds during the busy months to last through
the slower months. The first step toward financial stability is gaining
clarity on your revenue. Your CRM lets you project future income by
tracking your pipeline of listings and active buyers, using their price
ranges and estimated close dates. You can make income projections using
the built-in commission calculator to determine your expected net
commission after accounting for deductions such as splits, franchise
fees, and referral fees. Understanding your true net pay is crucial for
making smart decisions about your marketing budget and expected income
in future months.

Beyond commissions, your CRM can also track other income sources. These
include **Broker Price Opinions** (BPOs), which estimate a property’s
probable selling price. Lenders often request BPOs in situations like
foreclosures, where a full appraisal is not required. Providing PBO’s is
one additional source of income for real estate agents. Other income
streams include finder’s fees for rental properties, referral fees from
other agents, and income from services such as yard sign installation,
open house hosting, and photography for other agents.


> **Know your Net Secret:** Use your CRM to calculate net commission after splits, franchise fees, and referral fees. You can use these figures alongside your expenses to work out cash flow and take-home pay.


Equally important is managing your expenses, which are of two kinds.
Fixed expenses include licensing fees, membership dues, and insurance,
which you will have regardless of how much (or little) you sell. Your
CRM can track when these payments are due, so you can ensure your bank
account balance is sufficient to cover them. For some annual payments,
such as licensing fees, insurance, and membership fees, you may be able
to adjust the due dates or prepay these costs at times of year when your
bank balance is at its highest. 

You must also consider the time between when you incur these expenses
and when you are paid. These delays are typically several months. It is
also possible that you will incur expenses but never earn a commission
if a deal is never completed. By tracking your expenses for each
listing, you can build an understanding of the expenses for each new
listing and compare them against your projected commission for that
listing.

Variable expenses include costs such as gas, professional photography,
advertising, and other promotional activities.

The IRS considers real estate agents self-employed, so you are required
to pay quarterly estimated taxes. Self-employed individuals also face
the highest audit rate, so you will need to document your deductions
carefully. The IRS is particularly focused on distinguishing between
personal and business expenses, especially restaurant and automobile
costs, where the lines can be blurry. Your real estate CRM allows you to
upload receipts, which can be a convenient way to document these
expenses.

—«◊»—


### Mike Holbrook

For real estate agents, annual tax preparation is a big stressor with
serious consequences if done incorrectly. Top Florida agent Mike
Holbrook avoids this stress by meticulously tracking expenses in his
real estate CRM. Mike records his individual and recurring costs, then
attaches a digital scan of the receipt because Mike says, “Everyone
should be making digital copies - receipts fade.” Mike also records his
income by documenting transactions in his CRM's closing features. This
means all of his costs and income are recorded and verified in a single
place. Mike says, “My CRM makes it so freaking easy – I can print out my
deductions in a matter of seconds. When I talk to other agents at the
beginning of the year, I hear: Tax time is coming – it is going to take
me forever with all the receipts and I'm like: Dude, it's going to take
me two seconds.” This is a lesser-known advantage of CRMs that many
agents do not appreciate.

—«◊»—

**Automobile expenses** will likely be your most significant variable
expense. You must meticulously document your business mileage, as the
IRS scrutinizes these expenses. A GPS-tracking smartphone app is the
easiest way to maintain the necessary log. For your taxes, you can
deduct these costs using one of two methods. The simplest is the mileage
method, where you multiply your business miles by a set reimbursement
rate. With this approach, you do not track gas or maintenance costs, as
they are included in the reimbursement rate. The other method is the
actual expense method, where you track every cost, including gas, car
payments, and maintenance, and deduct the portion corresponding to your
business use percentage. For simplicity, I recommend the mileage method.
There are rules about switching methods once you have chosen one. For
this reason, I suggest you decide which method you will use and stick to
it for the life of your vehicle. Consult with a tax professional for
more detailed advice tailored to your individual situation.

To maximize your car deduction, you should establish a **home office**.
A real estate agent’s home office is a dedicated workspace within their
residence for professional real estate activities, including client
communication, marketing, transaction coordination, and administrative
tasks. It typically includes essential office equipment and a secure
internet connection.

If you have a home office, you can treat miles driven from your home to
any business appointment as deductible business mileage rather than
non-deductible commuting. A home office also allows you to deduct a
portion of your utilities, internet, and phone bills. Be aware that
there are tax implications when you sell your home. Capital gains are
the profits you make when you sell an asset for more than you originally
paid for it. While the tax code allows most homeowners to exclude a
large amount of this profit from taxes on their primary residence, this
exclusion does not apply to any part of the home used for business
purposes, such as your home office. This means the profit attributable
to that portion of your home becomes taxable. Regardless of the method
you choose for car expenses, you can still deduct tolls, parking costs,
interest on a car loan, and insurance.

There are two ways to calculate your home office deduction. The simplest
method is the “simplified method,” which multiplies your home office’s
square footage by a fixed reimbursement rate. The advantage of the
simplified method is that it reduces your record-keeping and makes it
much easier to track. The other method, called the “regular method,” is
considerably more complicated.

—«◊»—


### Susan Mogren

When Susan Mogren returned to real estate in Massachusetts after a
20-year hiatus, she found an industry transformed by technology. Susan
realized she needed to start using a contact management system to
rebuild her sphere of influence. Mogren’s goal was to build her business
through referrals. She wanted to provide each client with exemplary real
estate services that would have them enthusiastically recommend her to
family and friends. She found several specialized real estate CRM
solutions, but Susan wasn’t looking for just any system. “It had to be
user-friendly, simple to learn and operate, and economical,” she
explains.

At first, she struggled with the learning curve. “My children were my
tech support, and when they moved out, I was on my own. So, I decided it
was time to really learn this thing.” Susan stated. As she began to
understand her new tools better, she started to blend her personal
touches with modern tech.

“I dove in and immediately set up my expenses so I could track what I
was doing and see how much it cost me to be a Realtor,” she recalls.”
She further explained, “For the past 3 years, I have sorted all my
expenses by category and run a report to give to my accountant at year’s
end. Most Realtors like to reduce costs to increase profits, and this
helps me keep an eye on it,” she says.”

Susan continued, “Next, I added everyone I knew to the contacts
category, and use it as my address book, and keep notes and ‘touches’ in
it. It easily allows me to export a full mailing list, or a defined
category called ‘seniors’ or ‘neighbors’ to send out a smaller mailing.”
Her contact database now includes hundreds of names.

Susan makes many door-to-door visits and is constantly on the go. So,
she decided she needed more mobile technology. “I didn’t think I’d be
using an iPad for real estate at the start. But now I can’t imagine how
much less face-to-face time I’d get if I didn’t!” she stated. She uses
her CRM on her iPad to see who else she can call on in the area. By
segmenting her mailing lists, she can target people in the same
geographic area for calls. If they aren’t home, she leaves a small gift
on each client’s doorstep and then texts them a photo of the package to
start a conversation.

—«◊»—

Some agents delegate their tax preparation to an accountant. I recommend
a more hands-on approach. You can use your CRM to calculate your own
subtotals before meeting with a tax professional. By reviewing your
receipts, you are more likely to spot missing deductions, which you can
add later. Providing your accountant with organized subtotals leads to a
more accurate tax return and a lower preparation fee. This data also
helps you budget for next year, analyze your return on investment across
your lead sources, and strategically allocate your time and money for
the greatest impact. Real estate coaches have identified cash flow and
running out of money as the single biggest reason real estate agents
quit the field. While features like lead incubation, drip emails, and
flyers are helpful, tracking your income and expenses provides key
insights that help you survive your first full season.


> **The Tax Tag Tally Secret**: When entering business expenses into your CRM make sure to assign each expense one specific tax category. By using the categories that match the categories the IRS uses, you save yourself time when you do your taxes. You can then easily **export sub-totals** for each category, which can be used to fill out your taxes.


Some services operate like payday loans, offering agents cash advances
against future commissions. While these services provide quick access to
funds, I do not recommend using them. The Annual Percentage Rate (APR)
can be as high as 60% for these loans. But the high cost is not the only
risk. If a deal falls through, you would be immediately responsible for
repaying the advance. With a real estate closing failure rate of twenty
percent or higher, this is a significant financial gamble. Some
providers may also lack full transparency about their fee structures,
leading to unexpected charges for wire transfers, administration, or
applications.

I recommend that you instead maintain a cash cushion in your bank
account sufficient to cover several months without income. Being a real
estate agent means your income is irregular and less predictable than in
other lines of work. You will often be paid a large sum of money all at
once. While it is tempting to splurge during prosperous times, you must
remember that lean months will follow. Keeping an adequate cash balance
in your bank account is essential. If you do need a loan, a home equity
loan or a personal loan from a bank is a much better financial option
than a commission advance service.

Another cash flow strategy is to use lead-generation services that
charge only after a deal closes. This model has a few advantages. If you
do not close, you do not pay, and you do not have to pay for leads up
front. This can be a useful option for agents without a large
advertising budget. However, there are also several disadvantages to
using these services. The quality of the leads is typically lower, so
you will spend more time on unproductive leads. You will also have less
control over your leads, making it harder to manage the quality and
quantity of your prospects. The fees are substantial and can range from
25% to 40% of your commission.

For these reasons, pay-on-closing leads are not well-suited for new
agents. New agents have less experience closing deals, and the low
quality of these leads means you will spend a great deal of time on
hard-to-convert prospects. As a result, you could spend months pursuing
these leads before securing a single sale. I recommend first focusing on
leads who already know you. Your first clients should come from your
sphere of influence, such as friends, family, and community connections
from church or school, where you have an established reputation. Your
ability to convert complete strangers will be limited when you are just
starting. You should first perfect your craft with people who already
know and trust you. Once your skills are more polished, you can then
refocus on more challenging prospects with lower conversion rates.

## Storing Files

Agents have a lot of paperwork to keep track of, including listing,
sales, and disclosure contracts. In the past, this information was
stored in paper form in your office. Today, most of this documentation
is in electronic form, such as PDFs. So, instead of a filing cabinet to
store your documents, you need an electronic filing cabinet.

One of the best electronic filing cabinets you can use is Google Drive.
It is an online service provided by Google for free with any Gmail
account. The free version offers significant storage, and if you need
more, you can purchase additional storage for a nominal fee. I recommend
Google Drive because the cost is reasonable and it is available on your
computer and mobile phone. It also integrates seamlessly with your Gmail
account, so you can easily add file attachments to Google Drive without
downloading and re-uploading. Google Drive's security is excellent,
including two-factor authentication.


> **Trip Trimmer Secret:** By storing your files in the cloud, you reduce your need to drive somewhere to access important documents. This saves you on trips to pick up and drop off paperwork.


You can also share individual documents or entire folders with others,
such as other agents, your client, the closing company, loan officers,
and attorneys. Your Real estate CRM can integrate with your Google Drive
folder, so you can quickly access the documentation for each of your
listings. Other online file storage platforms offer similar
functionality. Dropbox and OneDrive are two examples of competing
systems.

# Working your Database

> “Your database is your most important business asset and is the
> central nervous system of your business. If you don’t have a database,
> you are not serious about this career; you are a hobbyist.”

—Larry Kendall, *Ninja Selling*

The key to maximizing your contacts database is organization. Simply
collecting a list of names is not enough. You need to categorize them,
add notes, birthdates, and multiple contact methods. While most agents
focus on quantity, I recommend emphasizing quality. How many people in
your database have a mailing address? What about a spouse’s name? When
was the last time you called to say “hi”? Take the time to maintain
relationships with the people in your life, and they will show their
appreciation by using you and recommending you as their agent. This
chapter explains how to nurture and maintain your database to generate
income year after year.

## Contacts vs Prospects

There are two types of people in your real estate CRM. The first
includes your friends, past clients, and colleagues. Let’s call them
your **contacts**. The second group consists of people who don’t know
you but are interested in buying or selling a home. You might meet this
group at an open house or through your advertising. Let’s call them your
**prospects**. 


You should take different approaches with your contacts than with your
prospects. Your contacts might not be looking to buy or sell
immediately, so your goal is to maintain a friendly relationship. They
know you're a real estate agent, and as their friend, you'll be happy to
help with their real estate needs. If you maintain your friendship, they
will contact you when the time is right for you to help them with their
real estate needs.

For the second group, they don't yet realize how great you are, so
you'll need to be more direct. You must show them you're the right agent
by demonstrating your skills and providing accurate, up-to-date market
information and details about specific homes they’re interested in.
Lastly, you need to stay top of mind with these people. Since they don’t
really know you, don’t expect them to reach out when they’re ready to
buy or sell. Therefore, you should keep in touch with prospects more
often than with contacts.

While some prospects become clients and friends, others are dead ends
you eventually delete. As a result, the lifespan of a typical prospect
record is much shorter than that of a contact record. This functional
difference is reflected in your CRM’s design. Your contacts database
syncs with your smartphone, keeping your long-term relationships easily
accessible. In contrast, the prospects database does not sync with your
phone. This key difference prevents temporary leads from cluttering your
personal address book.


> **The Perpetual Prospect Loop Secret:** When you finish a call or meeting with a prospect, schedule the next follow-up task in your CRM before you hang up or walk away. This guarantees every interaction ends with a clear next step and keeps your pipeline moving.


With contacts, you might send eCards to wish them a happy birthday. You
will definitely send them a Christmas card by postal mail. If they are a
former client, you might visit on the anniversary of their home purchase
to see all the great updates they've made to the house since buying it.
It’s all about building and maintaining relationships. In summary, your
contacts database is a list of your friends. Eventually, you should
expect to earn a large share of your income from referrals and repeat
business from the people in your contacts database[14].

As a real estate agent, you constantly meet new people who need your
services. Those individuals start as prospects. Once they complete their
first transaction with you, they will value your skills and graduate
from prospects to contacts. Over time, you may even help them sell the
house you assisted them in buying years earlier. But that requires time
and patience.

This balance is important because focusing too much on one group at the
expense of the other can reduce your efficiency over time. For example,
your friends move only so often, which limits your earning potential if
you focus solely on this group. Conversely, if you devote all your
attention to new leads, you might spend more time than necessary chasing
weaker leads, which require more effort. Converting a friend into a
client is much easier than converting a stranger from an open house.
After all, your friend already knows how great you are as a real estate
agent, making them less likely to choose another agent for the
transaction.

Meeting someone at an open house is different from attending someone’s
wedding. Treat them accordingly. Approach each lead professionally, but
recognize that many will be dead ends. Friends are just that—friends. If
you nurture your relationship with them, they will likely think of you
as their agent, even before they decide they need a real estate agent.

## Categorize Your Database for Marketing

A category is a digital label or tag, and using categories is the best
way to organize your contacts and prospects. Each person you know should
belong to at least one category. A good starting point is to consider
how you know this person or how you work with them. For example, if you
have a friend from church, they might belong to two categories: “Church”
and “Friend”. If they are also a real estate agent, they would be in a
third category: “Realtor”.

You will have all kinds of people in your contacts database. Categories
like “Friend”, “Realtor”, “Electrician”, “Plumber”, and “Builder” are
great examples of category names because they describe your relationship
with that person.

You should also create categories based on the actions you want to take.
For instance, you could add a “Christmas” category for everyone who
receives a holiday card, making it easier to print and mail labels. You
might also create a “Top100” category for your best referral sources,
providing a focused list of people to call every 90 days. 

You should also use categories to manage these people as a group, such
as printing mailing labels or sending a bulk email. While your total
database may grow to thousands of people, I recommend limiting
each actionable category to no more than 500 people. Why? Handling
thousands of records at once becomes too cumbersome. If you need more
than 500 people in the same group, I suggest splitting that group into
multiple categories, each with a number suffix, like “Newsletter1” for
the first 500 people, “Newsletter2” for the next 500, and so on.
Organizing groups this way gives you finer control when scheduling
emails, printing labels, and performing other activities.

Your CRM will show how many people are in each category. I recommend
removing any categories with no members. Do you have only 1 or 2 people
in a category? If so, it might be too specific. Instead, consider
combining categories to include more people.

When importing data into your CRM, it is common to include a category
that records the import date and, optionally, the data source. For
example, adding a category such as “MLS 2022-07-06” to records imported
on June 6, 2020, from your MLS makes it easy to track, update, or
correct specific records as needed. This approach helps you quickly
identify problematic records and act if issues arise during the import.


> **The Triple Tag Secret**: Assign at least three categories to each person in your CRM. You should categorize each prospect as a “Buyer” or “Seller”. When categorizing contacts, do that based on your relationship with them, such as “Friend”, “Family”, or “Church”. Then assign a special status to each person, such as “Hot”, “Cold”, or “Top100”. You can even use a “Christmas” category to keep track of who gets an annual card. For vendors, list the kind of vendor they are, like “Electrician”, “Plumber”, and add a second generic “Vendor” category.


For prospect records, identify the source or type of the lead. For
example, indicate whether the data came from “Zillow,” whether the buyer
is a “Cash” buyer, or whether the lead is “Cold.” Avoid treating
categories as notes. Instead, use categories for organization. An
example of an actionable category is “Christmas,” which includes
everyone you want to send a Christmas card to. An example of an
organizational category is “Plumber,” which includes all the plumbers in
your database.


Although you can use multi-word categories, I recommend keeping your
category names concise. This is because using your CRM on your
smartphone makes it easier to manage short category names, given the
limited screen space. A common method is to use CamelCase, which
capitalizes the first letter of each word and eliminates spaces. So,
“short sale” would become “ShortSale”.

If you're working in a partnership and want a way to identify which
leads belong to which agent, you can also use categories. For example,
you might use the agent’s first name as a category, such as adding
“Cindy” for leads assigned to or originating from Cindy.

Category management is a crucial part of your real estate CRM. The
problem with untagged records is that, over time, you'll forget who
these people are. Categories help you remember who they are, how you met
them, and why they’re in your database.

## Expanding your Contacts Database

It is essential to expand your contact database. Join organizations,
volunteer, attend church, coach sports, and stay social. Meet your
neighbors. Call your friends. Be sure to include any relatives in your
database as well. Add people you know from high school and college.
Include contacts from other jobs, your church community, and parents of
your children’s friends. Add friends you might invite to a party, or
anyone who might invite you to one. Speaking of parties – host them
regularly. Attend any you're invited to. You should host gatherings for
neighbors, friends, and family several times a year. Be charming. Make
the effort. 


Build goodwill for your real estate practice by volunteering for causes
you care about. For example, assist with the Cub Scouts' annual canned
food drive. If you have school-age children, volunteer in the classroom,
join the PTA, and help with school events such as dances and sports
games. For fundraisers, offer to serve as a parent organizer. Many
organizations, including schools, churches, scouting groups, and sports
teams, publish newsletters—consider helping to write, publish, or
sponsor them. See whether the newsletter needs help covering printing
costs or whether you can sponsor it. This provides exposure to your
neighbors and builds goodwill. You might also consider sponsoring a
local sports team, giving you a chance to connect with many parents.
Some of those parents may be moving that summer, and you could help them
by serving as their agent.

## Maintaining your Contacts Database

Your contacts database contains a list of people you know, such as past
clients, relatives, friends, neighbors, and other agents. This database
is typically synchronized with the contacts on your smartphone, keeping
it up-to-date across all your devices. When you add a contact to your
CRM, that information is automatically updated on your smartphone.
Because this sync is two-way, any changes made in one place will appear
in the other.


For many clients, it’s easiest to use a single contact record to
represent a family unit. You can enter the spouse’s name in the spouse
field and label phone numbers and emails so you know which is the main
contact’s and which is the spouse’s. A combined contact record lets you
keep notes on the family’s collective goals and send a single Christmas
card addressed to the family (for example, “John & Sally Smith”). Emails
and letters would start like: “Dear John & Sally,” providing equal
billing for both family members. This approach follows modern etiquette.
A generic CRM geared toward business sales can’t handle this nuance,
which is one strong reason a real estate-specific CRM is essential.

Your CRM’s mail merge feature allows you to properly address each client
in letters, envelopes, and mailing labels. This flexibility shows
respect by enabling you to customize salutations for couples like “Dear
Jack & Sally,” and properly address professionals such as “Dr.
Livingston.” Such attention to detail is essential because a home
purchase involves multiple decision-makers. Forgetting to include one
partner subtly excludes them from the conversation and can undermine the
trust you aim to establish.


> **The Spare Key Strategy:** For each person in your database, make sure to collect two or more method of contact: a mobile phone number, a personal email address, and a physical mailing address. If someone moves, changes their email address, or phone number without telling you, that additional second method of contact can be used to reconnect. You can then update your CRM with updated contact information. If you have only one key method of contact, your ability to maintain contact is not secure.


Alternatively, you might want to keep a separate contact record for each
family member. That way, when one of them calls, the caller ID clearly
shows who is calling. If you do this, be sure to send only one Christmas
card by hiding the mailing address in one of those contact records.

Your real estate CRM can handle both approaches equally well, giving you
the flexibility to choose whichever makes the most sense for you, based
on your preferences and needs. For example, if someone is divorcing, you
will want to use the second approach.

Beyond personal clients, your CRM also tracks business contacts, such as
other agents and parties involved in a closing, including the closing
company, loan officer, inspectors, and so on. In these cases, include
the job title and company name, along with the person’s name. You should
also include the business mailing address, and you might also include a
home address if you've become friends and want to send something, like a
gift, to their home. 

While speaking with people, I recommend updating their contact records
as you learn new information. Add a date-stamped note for each phone
call. If a mobile number, email, or mailing address is missing, gather
it during the conversation. Note the names of spouses and children,
their hobbies, and even their favorite sports teams. These details help
you remember past conversations and connect more personally each time
you call. During this small talk, you might discover that your friend is
thinking of moving. Non-salesy conversations are built on trust, which
you earn by remembering details about each person you know, thanks to
the notes in your CRM.

An excellent piece of additional information to gather is a birthday. If
there is one time of year when a call from you will be appreciated, it
is when you call to wish your friend a happy birthday. Each contact
record can include multiple annual dates, so you can track **birthdays**
for the contact, their spouse, each child, and even their pets.

You should also track the **closing anniversary**, the yearly milestone
marking the date you helped your client finalize their home purchase.
This date offers a valuable opportunity to reconnect, as it celebrates a
major, positive life event you helped facilitate, reinforcing your role
as a trusted advisor for their most significant asset.

Your real estate CRM lets you view all birthdates as tasks in your
database, arranged chronologically from today onward. As you send
birthday wishes, mark those tasks complete so they reappear on the same
date next year. Your CRM also helps you print mailing labels if you're
sending a physical card, schedule an eCard to be sent on the actual
birthday, and even remind you to call your friend on their birthday.

Pets are a vital part of many people’s lives, and their needs influence
how buyers choose a home. If a pet passes away, sending a sympathy eCard
is a considerate way to show you care. There are several ways to respond
to these meaningful occasions. You can send a physical card, an eCard,
call them, or send a message on social media. The more personal your
gesture, the more meaningful it will be.


> **The Puzzle Pieces Principal**: Your CRM should contain everything you know about someone. When you talk to them over the phone always take notes. Think of their contact information like a puzzle with the missing pieces being hobbies, birthdays, children’s names, spouse information and so on. Knowing that a home is just 5 minutes from your prospects place of business means that you are better able to help them find their perfect home.


Finally, you should keep your database healthy. Most agents have an
active sphere of influence of 2,000 to 3,000 contacts[15]. To keep your
list effective, review the contacts you haven't reached out to in the
past two years. You can do this by sorting your contact list by last
contact date. These individuals might be candidates for removal or a
quick call to check in. If you feel a past client doesn't warrant a
Christmas card, that’s a sign they’re no longer a valuable part of your
database. The key is quality, not quantity. If you have a past client
from five years ago, stay in touch with them at least once a year to
keep them a valuable part of your sphere.

A phenomenon called data paralysis occurs when agents amass large
numbers of contact records over time and become overwhelmed by the
volume, leading to inaction. This problem stems from a lack of effective
systems for organization, consistent follow-up, and prioritization,
often leaving agents stuck in “analysis paralysis” and neglecting their
valuable existing database in favor of chasing new, less reliable leads.
The emotional burden and discomfort of reaching out after a long silence
add to this inertia, turning what should be a strong business asset into
a source of stress and missed opportunities.

## Building your Prospects Database

For prospects, the key is to feed a steady stream of new leads into your
database and follow up promptly. Your real estate CRM offers a wide
range of tools to help you build and maintain your prospects database.


An email feed can automatically convert leads from any website into
prospect records. You can use a call capture phone number to
automatically generate prospect records from callers who reach out for
information via your yard signs. You can automatically add all visitors
to your open house to your CRM database using the open house feature.
Your CRM can even provide an **agent contact info form,** a web form for
your seller to enter contact information from business cards that agents
leave on the counter when they show the listing. Your CRM can also
**integrate with your electronic lockbox** (Supra and eKey) to
automatically create showing records when an agent visits your listing.

You can also load purchased leads from various lead sources using valet
import. That allows you to feed expireds, FSBOs, probate leads, and
other leads like this in just a few seconds.

—«◊»—


### Jorge Roque 

Broker Jorge Roque of America’s Real Estate Force turns every listing
into a follow-up opportunity using his CRM. A former computer systems
engineer, Roque equips all his agents with a CRM that allows him to feed
leads to individual agents and track their progress. Whenever a visitor
enters through an eKey lockbox, the CRM captures their contact details,
logs the showing, and sets a reminder to request follow-up feedback from
the showing agent. “I explain to my agents that they must get organized
if they want to succeed in real estate, and the systems we’ve created
make sure to keep track of everything.” From the moment a contact or
listing is entered, the CRM records and organizes all related
information and activity. “At the very end of a transaction, after
closing, it will automatically calculate commissions based on whatever
fees or formulas I want to use, no matter how complicated,” Roque notes.
This builds a history and creates informative data that ensures no
detail is missed and no responsibility is overlooked.

—«◊»—

The ability to automatically gather fresh leads from multiple sources is
crucial. It eliminates manual data entry and provides flexibility to
pursue a range of automated lead-generation strategies.

A key feature is the structure of the prospect record, which includes
two separate address fields: a **property address** and a **mailing
address**. For a buyer, this allows you to track the specific listing
they inquired about while keeping their current residence address on
file. For a seller, this structure is equally important. The addresses
will be the same if they live on the property they are selling. If the
property and mailing addresses differ, the seller is selling an
investment property or a second home. 

Ideally, people will start as prospects and eventually become clients as
you help them with their real estate needs.

## Cleaning your Prospects Database

You hope prospects will eventually become clients and friends. However,
not everyone you meet at an open house will become a client. Naturally,
some of these prospect records won't be worth your time. 

I recommend using categories to identify which prospect records are cold
leads by adding the “Cold” category to those records. The easiest way to
ensure no contact is forgotten is to periodically sort your database by
last contact date, so the records you contacted longest ago are listed
first and those you contacted most recently are listed last. Then go
through each record and either call them or add the “Cold” category to
that record. If you decide they are not worth a few minutes on a phone
call, then they are cold.

At the end of the year, **export** all your “Cold” records to create an
archive copy, then delete them from your database. If you skip this
cleanup, your prospects will become unwieldy and hard to manage. Some
prospects may be so outdated that their information is no longer valid.
Even the most optimistic agent should delete any prospect record that
hasn't been contacted in two years or more. The chance that someone will
remember you from a brief meeting two years ago is so low that you'd be
better off prospecting strangers in a grocery store.

# Filling Your Sales Pipeline with Leads

> “Farming is work. But, as I said before, what else are you going to do
> while you aren’t selling houses? I farmed.”

—Cathy Turney, *Laugh your way to Real Estate Sales Success*

An empty sales pipeline is the biggest stressor for a real estate agent.
As soon as you close one deal, you need to be on the lookout for the
next. Not every client needs your services right away. Some might take a
few weeks or even a few months before they are ready to buy or sell. The
best way to combat this is to always be prospecting, even when you are
busy with clients. That way, you can maintain a steady workload without
significant gaps between closings. This chapter provides a blueprint for
doing just that.

## Real Estate Sales Funnel

The **sales funnel** (also called a **sales pipeline**) is a visual
model that illustrates the customer’s journey from first contact to
final close. It is called a “funnel” because it starts wide at the top,
capturing many prospects, and narrows to a smaller group of actual
closings at the bottom. Some prospects will not end up buying or
selling, or they will choose another agent, which is why the funnel
narrows. The sales process moves people through this funnel.


There is a science to the sales funnel that you can use to predict your
income and strategize improvements. For example, let’s say you had 8
closings last year and met 150 people who were looking to sell. You can
calculate your conversion rate as 8/150 = 5.3%. We can also invert that
number to determine how many prospects you need to meet to generate a
single new closing, which is 150/8 = 18.75.

To conduct a more detailed analysis, we can divide the sales process
into three stages: lead incubation, the listing presentation, and
finally, a successful closing. For a prospect to result in a commission,
they must first agree to a listing presentation, then sign a listing
contract, and finally, the property must sell. At each stage, some
prospects will not work out and will not result in a commission. 

For lead incubation, you met 150 people, and 30 agreed to sit down for a
listing presentation. That means you have a 30/150=20% chance of
convincing a prospect to seriously consider you as their agent. In other
words, to generate a single listing presentation, you would need to meet
150/30=5 new prospects.

For the listing presentation conversion rate, you had 30 presentations
that resulted in 10 listing contracts. That means you have a 10/30 = 33%
chance of success in getting someone at your listing presentation to
sign on the dotted line and agree to use you as their agent. In other
words, for every new listing, you need to make 3 listing presentations
(30/10). 

In your case, out of the 10 listings you had, you closed 8. This means
you had an 80% chance of success in converting a listing into a closing
(8/10).


Your real estate CRM can help you calculate these key statistics. This
helps you better understand the improvements you might make at each
stage and the impact those changes might have on your overall annual
income.

What would happen if you improved the quality of your listing
presentation and increased your success rate from 33% to 50%? In this
case, you would go from 10 listings to 15. With a listing-to-closing
success rate of 80%, you would close 12 homes instead of the 8 you
closed last year. Your ability to be more effective with the same number
of leads would dramatically increase your income.

One of the most common areas for improvement is your follow-up with
prospects at the earliest stage of the sales pipeline. While most agents
excel at initial contact, they often fail to follow through over weeks
or even months. Industry research shows that it takes multiple points of
contact to convert a lead, yet most agents follow up only twice on
average[16]. Your CRM can help you systematize follow-up, thereby
increasing that conversion rate.

Assuming you have tightened your follow-through and are successfully
taking listings through closing, the next area to explore is how many
new prospects you meet each day and how that directly determines your
commission income. You can then decide whether it is worthwhile to
dedicate additional time and money to lead generation.

You can use your real estate CRM to identify which lead sources are
working for you and which are not. Some lead sources might generate more
leads, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into more closings. For
example, you might find that working with prospects who have credit
problems results in fewer closings per lead than working with first-time
home buyers who don’t have credit problems. You need to look at your
entire sales funnel to determine which lead sources are most efficient
for you. If credit-repair leads are easier to generate, you might find
the lower conversion rate acceptable. Your real estate CRM helps you
identify these patterns and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Many agents believe that working a bit harder can increase their income.
That is likely true, especially when you are new, but you will
eventually reach a point where you sacrifice your quality of life to
increase your income. This is where working smarter, not just harder,
becomes critical. I recommend leveraging the information and analysis
your CRM provides to identify ways to become more effective. If you can
redirect your efforts from inefficient lead sources to those that are
easier to convert, you'll generate more income with the same effort. A
new agent must initially work hard to fill their funnel with every
possible lead. An experienced agent uses their CRM data to work smarter
and refine the funnel for maximum efficiency and profit.

In the example above, a 33% chance of converting a listing presentation
into a signed contract is at best average. A reasonable goal is a 50%
success rate. A great way to work toward that goal is to find a mentor
with a higher success rate and learn from them. Review their listing
presentation materials, sales pitch, and objection-handling approach.


> **Dashboard to Dollars Secret**: Your CRM can track both your deal pipeline as well as your past income. This is perfect for tracking progress towards a specific financial goal like making 20% more this year compared with last year.


Being a real estate agent is a labor-intensive job. A common strategy is
to work with people you already know, such as past clients and friends.
Because lead incubation with friends and past clients requires less
effort than with fresh prospects, you can be more efficient with your
time. You should also expect higher conversion rates when working with a
past client than with a stranger. As you gain experience, you will have
more opportunities to focus on repeat and referral business. It is only
natural to prioritize your most efficient lead sources over less
effective ones, and this shift clearly reflects that reality.

While I have primarily discussed listings, the same strategies apply
equally well to buyer leads. There is a similar sales funnel for buyers.
The three stages are the same: lead incubation, the buyer agency
agreement, and a successful closing. Your real estate CRM will help you
stay on track with follow-up and can even send automated time-release
drip emails to your buyer prospects during that first incubation stage.
New buyers are a particularly good fit for the prewritten, automated
sequences built into your CRM's content library.

A common strategy to improve efficiency is to prioritize listings over
buyers. Buyers are more labor-intensive than listings, and scaling up
buyers is harder. You can drive around only one buyer at a time, whereas
you can have dozens of listings active simultaneously. You can use the
statistics from your CRM to determine the mix of listings and buyers
that works best for you.

Listings also have a synergistic effect on your ability to generate
fresh buyer and seller prospects. A single listing can be used to market
yourself and generate multiple buyer leads. Some of this lead generation
will come from potential buyers arriving at your doorstep. For example,
each time you conduct an open house, you’ll meet buyer leads. A less
direct source of leads comes from your yard signs, which serve as
advertising and generate calls from interested buyers.

While those methods generate leads with little effort, you can also
actively capitalize on your listing by seeking prospects in the
neighborhood. When marketing, ensure the central theme of your
promotional activities and materials is the listed property. For
example, send “Just Listed” and “Just Sold” postcards to the
neighborhood. Another example is walking the area with a flyer before
each open house and introducing yourself through door-knocking. Finally,
once you close on the property, you can announce the home sale to the
neighborhood through more door-knocking or postcards. You could even
sponsor a block party to give the new homeowner an opportunity to meet
the neighbors and for you to network. These activities could easily
motivate other sellers, who are impressed by how you flawlessly handled
the sale and the top-dollar price you negotiated.


> **Listing Leverage Secret**: Maximize the benefits of each of your listings by treating it as a buyer-generation machine: use yard signs, call capture, open houses, and neighborhood marketing to create at least one additional buyer closing for each of your listings1.


The concept that each listing can be expected to produce
at least one additional buyer-side closing originates from The
Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller, Dave Jenks, and Jay
Papasan.↩︎


A third scaling strategy is to hire an assistant or bring on a partner.
You can use sales funnel data to determine whether this change is
justified and which activities the new person could support. Your real
estate CRM is an ideal tool for coordinating with a partner or
assistant. It lets you assign tasks, track completion, and delegate work
to others, freeing you for higher-value activities like listing
presentations.

Your real estate CRM helps you identify these patterns and adjust your
strategy for maximum efficiency. While this book covers the core
systems, my second book, *Real Estate CRM Mastery*, delves into advanced
strategies for growing your business. It offers a multi-year plan to
develop a geographic farm and shows how to build a predictable referral
business from your sphere of influence. These long-term, system-driven
lead sources enable an experienced agent to move beyond chasing
individual leads and build a stable, leveraged business.

While the sales funnel is a great way to track your entire deal
pipeline, a real estate CRM also helps you track each prospect and their
progress through the sales process. This allows you to identify which
leads need more nurturing and to schedule follow-up calls accordingly.

For your listings, your CRM provides ample notice of listings that may
expire without a deal. By collecting showing feedback in your CRM, you
can share a service report with your seller that scientifically
documents what the market is saying about the property, its price, and
condition relative to the competition. This allows you to discuss the
possibility of a price adjustment and the need to extend the listing
agreement deadline well before it expires.

By entering the source of each prospect into your CRM, you can determine
which lead sources are working and which are not. With that information,
you can focus your efforts on getting more of the types of leads you
prefer and fewer of the ones that are less likely to close. Your CRM can
even perform a detailed analysis to identify which lead sources convert
at a higher rate than others. It is not just the quantity of leads, but
also their quality, that needs to be considered.

## Daily Prospecting Habits

Daily prospecting is an important factor in generating consistent income
for a real estate agent. By creating a daily prospecting habit, you
focus on the early stages of your sales funnel rather than just on
closings and clients.

Your real estate CRM is the command center that keeps you organized and
on track. Persistence pays off in prospecting, and your CRM can help you
avoid the pitfall of giving up on a lead too soon. You also need to
space out your prospecting over time. Nagging a prospect too frequently
will not help, and ignoring a prospect will not yield results. Your real
estate CRM allows you to scientifically regulate the frequency and types
of communications you send to maximize your results.

The first step is to set aside time each day for formal prospecting. The
best way to do this is to block out **office hours** in your calendar
specifically for outreach and relationship-building. Office hours are a
scheduled time for making outgoing phone calls. Use your CRM to generate
a daily outbound call list. Use the CRM’s click-to-dial feature to make
your calls. Prepare for each call by opening your notes from previous
conversations, taking new notes, and scheduling a follow-up call—all
within your CRM.


> **Prospecting Power Hour Secret**: Schedule time in your calendar each day for outbound prospecting. By reserving this time, you can maintain a steady flow of new prospects. Think of this as your “me” time. At other times you are helping people buy and sell, but during office hours you are dedicated to generating new leads.


While it might be tempting to focus more on active clients than on
prospecting, you should resist the urge to neglect your prospecting
efforts. By scheduling time on your calendar, you ensure a balanced
approach.

Before making a single outgoing call, be prepared. Develop scripts for
each prospecting activity so you know what to say. Whether you're
canvassing a neighborhood before an open house, calling a new internet
lead, or door-knocking, a script helps you speak confidently. Also,
pre-qualify your prospects as part of your prep. For a buyer, ask
whether they have a loan arranged, what their timeframe is, and whether
they have the down payment or need to sell first. If you don’t know the
answers, use those as discussion topics when you call.

You can use the real estate calculators integrated into your CRM to
support this process. While others might view real estate agents as just
salespeople, you should see yourself as a trusted advisor, helping your
clients manage their largest asset: their home. It is essential that
your client can afford their home purchase, that it makes financial
sense, and that it also meets their housing needs.

Prospecting goes beyond data and scripts; it's about the art of building
connections and rapport. A great way to start conversations is
through community engagement, which offers a sincere social reason to
reach out that fits the moment and reduces resistance. Instead of cold
calling, you might try caroling during the holidays, handing out flags
on the Fourth of July, or delivering pumpkins for Halloween in your farm
neighborhood. These seasonal pop-bys help you participate in your
community and naturally lead to conversations.

When you connect with people, be an active listener and encourage them
to talk about themselves. Your success comes from genuinely listening to
their answers. This reflects a core principle from Dale Carnegie’s
legendary book, *How to Win Friends and Influence People,* which states,
"You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other
people than you can in two years by trying to get other people
interested in you."

Ask about their career, hobbies, favorite sports teams, and vacation
plans. Small details, like knowing which pets your friend has, make a
big difference because they help you recommend homes with yards that
meet those pets’ needs. This information is valuable intelligence that
helps you understand their motivations and needs. Capture all this
information in your CRM. Remembering a prospect’s children’s names or
favorite sports team provides continuity over the years. By paying
attention, you build trust. You can then provide professional advice
based on your understanding of their specific requirements and what will
make them happy.

Not every prospect will be ready to buy or sell immediately, which is
why systematic, long-term follow-up is essential. After initial contact,
you should assign a touch-cycle task to maintain regular contact. It is
easy to make a single follow-up call, but a CRM is needed to schedule
consistent follow-ups throughout the entire lead incubation period.

Be flexible with your communication methods. If a phone call goes to
voicemail, follow up with a text message. If you have their physical
address and the phone number is disconnected, drop off a packet of
information at the house. It is best to schedule follow-ups one at a
time, adjusting the timing and method based on your last interaction. A
rigid, multi-step plan that cannot adapt to your prospect’s changing
situation will fall apart quickly if anything goes wrong - and it will!

A well-equipped real estate CRM includes a library of pre-built drip
email sequences for dozens of client situations, including first-time
homebuyers, veterans, investors, and those looking to downsize. This is
particularly valuable for new agents, who can use the library for
inspiration and to understand different ways to nurture leads of all
kinds.


> **Ping, Don’t Pester Secret**: Time released emails tend to work best when used in moderation and when spaced out at least a week apart. If you send too many emails, people will just opt out. You are less likely to convert someone who finds you irritating.


You can use your CRM’s content library to provide value, but don’t start
a drip sequence until you understand your first prospect’s goals.
Generic drips can irritate prospects and prompt them to opt out. A
first-time homebuyer needs different information than a savvy investor.
Similarly, use bulk emails sparingly. Sending information about your new
listing to someone searching in a different city or price range shows
you aren’t paying attention to their individual needs. Keep your
communications targeted and relevant. Finally, recognize that leads have
a limited shelf life. Track when each prospect was created, and review
your database at least annually to identify old, unresponsive leads.
Mark these contacts as “Cold” using a category so you can focus your
energy on those most likely to convert into income.

New business from old clients and referrals from those who know you are
just as important as fresh leads. Your real estate CRM can track who you
have contacted, and when, and it can create a call list of past clients,
friends, and family you should reach out to. Calling a friend on their
birthday, the anniversary of their home sale, and sending annual
Christmas cards are just three examples of relationship-building
activities you should use with people in your sphere of influence. From
a business perspective, these personal "touches" are a form of long-term
prospecting, but their strength lies in genuine gestures of
friendship[17].

You should also identify a “Top100” category of people in your contacts
database. These are the individuals most likely to recommend you or use
your services again. Place these people on a 90-day touch cycle, so you
contact them every three months. This way, you have an opportunity to
maintain a good relationship and hear about referrals and repeat
business opportunities. For everyone else in your contacts database,
consider calling them at least once a year just to say "hi."

A successful sales pipeline is built through consistent daily habits of
prospecting and nurturing leads. Dedicate time each day to finding new
prospects and nurturing existing leads. Use your CRM’s organizational
tools to stay on top of your pipeline. This increases your chances of
converting prospects and maintains a steady flow of new leads. Your CRM
can turn the chaotic process of lead generation into a reliable system
that fuels your business for years.

## Using Floor Time

**Floor time** is when an agent is physically present in the brokerage
office to handle general inquiries from potential clients who call or
walk in. This duty, also called “up time” or “opportunity time”, allows
agents to generate new leads and helps the brokerage ensure a
representative is available to answer general questions the receptionist
cannot. Floor time is usually assigned to new agents. Why? Because the
people who drop by are unqualified leads, and experienced agents often
prefer to work with referrals and their sphere of influence instead.
However, a new agent may not yet have that pool of people to draw on and
is therefore more likely to benefit from floor time.

Some people you meet during floor time will be highly motivated buyers.
They might want to start looking at homes with you right away. While you
might be tempted to start right away, your first step should be to
pre-qualify your buyer. I recommend using your real estate CRM to gather
as much information as possible during the initial interview. If the
buyer has not been pre-qualified for a loan, connect them with a loan
officer.

When you meet someone new, get to know them. Find out why they are
thinking of buying or selling. This might be due to a life change, such
as a new baby, marriage, divorce, or a job change. You also need to
understand their financial circumstances. If they are buying, what price
range are they considering? What is the timeframe? A great way to break
the ice is to use one of the real estate calculators built into your
CRM.

According to the National Association of Realtors, nearly 40% of buyers
take 70 days or more from their first contact with an agent before
making an offer[18]. Because this process takes time, you should use
your CRM to manage your follow-up, nurturing your prospect while they
get prequalified for a loan and become familiar with homes on the market
that meet their needs. Your ability to manage the transition from
initial excitement to a qualified buyer and, eventually, to an offer is
key to earning your commission check. Buyers are likely to be
opportunistic about which agent they use, so your follow-up will be key
to converting them into a closing.

## Open House Strategies

An **open house** is a scheduled event in which a real estate agent
invites the public to tour a home for sale. During a set time, typically
on a weekend afternoon, potential buyers can walk through the property
without a private appointment to get a feel for the space. It’s a
marketing tool for sellers and an opportunity for agents to attract
interest and gather feedback.


> **Notable Nametag Secret**: You should consider wearing a nametag during open houses and floor time. This will help people remember your name and feel less awkward speaking with you. Your nametag clearly identifies you as the host, making it easier to solicit feedback and gather contact information. When you are face-to-face with someone wearing a nametag, they are more likely to address you by name verbally, reinforcing the connection in their memory.


An open house is a great opportunity to generate leads. While one goal
is to sell the listing, it’s also ideal for meeting new buyer prospects
and attracting neighborhood 'looky-loos' who might consider selling
their homes soon. You will rarely find another chance when so many
people are eager to talk with you.

A successful open house depends on thorough planning. Your CRM can help
you create a checklist of tasks to complete before, during, and after
the event, increasing your chances of attracting new clients and
possibly even a buyer for that house. Post a sign the week before the
open house with the date and time. Promote the open house on your
broker’s website and on syndication platforms like ListHub, which
distributes the information to Zillow and Realtor.com. Use social media
platforms like Facebook and post on local sites such as Nextdoor. You
can also use Instagram Stories to promote the event’s Facebook Live
stream.

Consider partnering with a mortgage broker to produce a co-branded flyer
with your information on the front and the lender’s sample payment terms
on the back. It would be reasonable to ask the mortgage broker to cover
the flyer printing costs and share some of the other open house expenses
in exchange for their listing on the back of your flyer.

An open house is the perfect pretext to meet people in the neighborhood.
A few days before, walk the neighborhood to connect directly with
residents. Bring a **door hanger** or a flyer and knock on each door
near the open house address to announce the event and extend a personal
invitation to drop by. A door hanger is a small, printed card with a
cutout that slips over a doorknob and stays in place if no one answers,
so your invitation and contact details remain at the home.

Real estate coach Tom Ferry recommends this direct approach, framing it
as a “neighbor-only preview” and a chance for neighbors to help “pick
your new neighbor.” This is called **circle prospecting** and can be
effective. Some of the best salespeople for a home are going to be
people living in that neighborhood. You might also bump into a neighbor
who is considering selling.

I recommend getting a large magnetic vinyl sign for your car that
displays your contact information, including your name, brokerage,
company logo, and a portrait photo of yourself. With this sign on your
car, you are advertising yourself whenever you are in the neighborhood.
The presence of your car with its sign in front of the open house also
signals that you are inside. This is ideal not only for open houses but
also for showings, where you might meet a buyer at the property.

On the day of the open house, set up directional signs with festive
balloons to guide traffic and create a festive atmosphere. Before the
open house begins, work with your seller to clean, declutter, and
depersonalize the house. Consider baking a store-bought cookie dough
roll before visitors arrive. The aroma of freshly baked goods is one of
the oldest tricks in the book because it works. Scent is directly linked
to the brain’s center for emotion and memory, instantly evoking
positive, nostalgic feelings of home, safety, and comfort[19]. The goal
is to make the unfamiliar house feel familiar. This welcoming atmosphere
can predispose buyers to a positive evaluation of the property, and you
can offer visitors a warm cookie as well.


> **Barefoot Buyer Secret**: Place a sign by the door asking people to remove their shoes or to put on the disposable booties you provide. This keeps the home clean, shows respect for the owner, and gives buyers the impression that the property is of high quality and has been well cared for.


Your goal at an open house is to build relationships. Greet each guest
with eye contact and a friendly handshake. Answer any questions they
might have, but most importantly, ask questions to find out what the
prospective buyer is looking for and what they think of the home. If the
current house isn’t right for them, or if specific features make it a
poor fit, offer to show them other homes that might be more suitable.
Explain that, as a real estate agent, you are licensed to show them any
home listed on the MLS. This pivots the conversation from selling one
specific house to your expertise in the entire neighborhood and all the
available homes, perhaps even a few that have not yet been listed. Your
expert understanding of the town and the neighborhood makes you the
perfect agent to find this buyer their forever home.

Rather than relying on a paper sign-in sheet, use an iPad or tablet with
the open house app built into your real estate CRM. That way, guests
enter their information directly, and it feeds into your CRM,
eliminating manual data entry. This method is excellent for gathering
information such as the visitor's name, email address, and whether they
are already working with another agent.


> **The Seller Security Secret**: Insist on collecting contact information for every visitor at an open house. Greet every visitor with a firm but friendly script: “Welcome! For security purposes, the seller requires every guest to sign in before touring the home.” That way you can capture contact information for follow-up.


You should also bring printed materials, including property flyers,
floor plans, and FAQs covering Homeowners Association (HOA) details and
local amenities.

While a typical open house is held on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon
after church and lunch, consider scheduling it at unconventional times.
This tactic can help you attract buyers with nontraditional schedules.
It's especially effective for reaching retired buyers or those who work
odd shifts, such as firefighters, hospital staff, and doctors.

Another option you should consider is using the call capture feature
built into your real estate CRM. Instead of relying on your CRM’s open
house form, ask each visitor to text or call your call capture number
and enter a specific three-digit code. This method is faster for the
guest and has the key benefit of capturing a verified mobile number. The
main advantage of this approach is its simplicity. You can also increase
the incentive for visitors by telling them that by texting your code to
that number, they will receive the home flyer with the floor plan, home
details, and asking price.

You can use your CRM to send each visitor from your open house a quick
email or SMS while your name is still fresh in their minds. The best
time is a few hours after the open house, but no later than 24 hours.
Thanks to the open-house form in your CRM, you already have their names
and phone numbers. First, identify each person’s level of interest.
Focus on visitors who showed serious interest in this specific
property—they require immediate, personal follow-up to discuss their
interest in the home. Next, reach out to unrepresented buyers who liked
you but not the house. Offer your expertise to help them find their
perfect forever home. As an expert in that neighborhood, you're the
best-qualified agent to do so.

You can also solicit feedback by sending an email that includes a link
to the **showing feedback form** built into your real estate CRM. When
clicked, the link displays a photo of the open house and asks a few
simple questions to gauge the prospect’s interest level and their
impression of the home's condition and price. Don’t underestimate the
value of a simple text message. For example: “Jake here from the open
house at 12 Main Street. What did you think of the home?” Sending a
brief text message can often give you faster, more reliable results
because many people respond quickly to texts and are willing to share a
one-line answer.


> **Flyer Feedback Secret:** Use the questions people ask at your open house to refine and improve your flyer and MLS descriptions. Sometimes specific features, like stainless steel appliances, or quartz countertop become trendy. If you can highlight desirable features, that can maximize its appeal.


You should also contact your seller after the open house to share how it
went. The easiest way is to send your seller a link to the listing
service report, which summarizes who saw the property and any feedback
they provided. Even negative feedback is helpful because it can start a
conversation about a necessary price adjustment or other changes that
might improve the chances of an offer.

Traditionally, an open house is a public event hosted by the listing
agent to attract potential buyers. A few variations focus on marketing
to real estate agents and brokers instead. A **broker open** is a
single-property open house for agents, while a **broker caravan** is a
scheduled tour of multiple properties in one day. The core difference is
the number of properties shown.

Both the broker open and the caravan are private events hosted
exclusively for other real estate professionals, often held before the
listing becomes public. The primary purpose is for agents to preview the
home and generate buzz within the agent and broker community. Agents can
share feedback on price and condition with the listing agent and network
with other professionals. This also allows them to preview the home
before showing it to their qualified buyers. Offering refreshments is a
popular strategy among listing agents to attract other real estate
professionals and make a positive impression.

As the host, I recommend collecting contact information from all
visitors. That way, you can share price adjustments and other updates
about the listing with attendees. You can also follow up with any agents
who mention they have a client who might be a good fit as a buyer.


> **Broker Bowl Secret:** Place a fishbowl at your broker open with a request that agents drop their business card in the bowl with the price they think the home will sell for written on the back of the card. The person who comes closest wins a gift card to the restaurant of their choice and bragging rights as the most accurate agent. For the price of a gift card, you have just gotten a professional Broker Price Opinion (BPO) from the people most qualified to provide it. By making it a competition, you are less likely to get lowball estimates. You can load the contact information from these business cards into your real estate CRM by using a smart phone app which converts photos of business cards into contact records.


Each open house event gives you an opportunity to collect contact
information. With call capture, the open house form from your CRM on an
iPad, or simply scanning business cards with an app on your phone, you
can have your CRM capture this information without having to hand-enter
anything. Then, you can follow up using your CRM’s email, text
messaging, and click-to-dial functionality.


The attention your open house generates also elevates your profile in
the neighborhood, boosting your mindshare and increasing the likelihood
that other homeowners will choose you as their listing agent when they
are ready to sell. In short, an open house is a powerful marketing tool
that can accelerate the sales process.

## Paid Lead Sources

**Paid lead sources** are services that generate buyer or seller leads
in exchange for a fee. These leads are collected through online
advertising, property search websites, or marketing campaigns and then
sold to agents. Common examples include Zillow Premier Agent,
Realtor.com, and Homes.com. Agents pay per lead, per impression, or via
a subscription model. While paid lead sources can quickly fill a
pipeline, the quality of those leads tends to be lower than that of
other leads.

Some leads will be fraudulent and have no real person associated with
them. Others may be in the wrong geographic area and are therefore
useless to you. Still others might not be serious buyers or sellers, or
might be unable to buy due to poor credit or insufficient income.

The most challenging part of these leads is the limited contact
information you are provided, often just an email address or phone
number. This makes initial contact and follow-up difficult. For example,
you might get a list of 30 people, and only one person will answer the
phone when you call.

For this reason, you should expect the conversion rate for these kinds
of leads to be low and that they will require considerably more
persistence than other kinds of leads. You must use your real estate CRM
to systematize contacting and following up with these leads. With these
kinds of leads, it is a numbers game, which makes using the automation
features of your CRM, such as email feed, click-to-dial, drip email, and
touch cycle, critical.

You should expect that any paid lead source will provide you with
non-exclusive information. Other real estate agents will also receive
the same lead information. So, competition is fierce.

Paid lead sources like Zillow or Realtor.com can be integrated into your
real estate CRM via an email feed. This way, contact information is
automatically added to your CRM, and you receive instant notifications
by text message and email. Studies show that quick responses to these
leads are crucial for conversion. You should expect that other agents
have been given the same loads, and the first agent to establish rapport
will win that client.

As a new agent, I recommend that you first maximize every opportunity to
generate leads through your own efforts, such as open houses, floor
time, friends and family, and community involvement, before investing in
paid lead sources. Paid lead sources naturally cost money, and as a new
agent, the last thing you want is to spend a lot of cash up front.

There are several advantages to paid lead sources, which is why you will
eventually want to experiment with them. You can think of paid lead
sources as channels through which you can control the flow of leads. The
more you pay, the more leads you get. If you need leads quickly, paid
lead sources are a great option.

A third type of paid lead source is **data aggregation,** which can
provide you with a list of recent FSBOs, expired, probates,
foreclosures, and non-owner-occupied homes. Instead of generating new
buyer or seller inquiries through advertising, these systems aggregate
existing data and deliver it in a format that can be loaded into your
real estate CRM.

These lead sources can deliver multiple leads of the same type, such as
FSBOs. This is particularly valuable if you've developed a successful
strategy for nurturing that specific type of lead. For instance, you
might have perfected a highly effective campaign for reaching FSBOs,
using a carefully timed sequence of letters, phone calls, and postcards.
You can use a paid lead source to generate these leads, and your CRM can
nurture them.

Unlike leads generated from advertising, these leads are unaware they
are leads. They did not click on an ad or indicate they needed a real
estate agent. These leads are not live and will not be loaded
automatically via the email feed. Instead, you would load these leads
weekly using your CRM’s valet import feature. For example, you might
load a list of all the new FSBOs in your target area each week.

Due to the aggregated nature of these leads, you are likely to have
several ways to reach each prospect, including email addresses, phone
numbers, mailing addresses, and property addresses. However, some of the
information, such as email addresses and phone numbers, may not be
particularly accurate because it was compiled by combining data from
multiple sources. Also, since you are working with prospects who are not
expecting to be contacted, they might not answer the phone or hang up on
you if you call them directly.

This means that incubating these leads will require a different
approach. The best way to work these kinds of leads is to use your CRM's
automation features to create a multi-step task plan that involves
multiple points of contact and communication channels. You might start
with a printed letter, then a phone call, then a text message, and
finally a series of postcards and even a drive-by visit.

The main advantage of these aggregated leads is that you can quickly
generate hundreds of the same type of lead. This means you can work
leads rapidly and often have too many rather than too few. Working these
leads is ideal for an agent who is highly technical and proficient with
their CRM’s automation features. The key to making these leads work is
the systems you build and perfect over time. Like paid lead sources,
working aggregate lead sources is a numbers game.

In some cases, you can gather this information yourself from tax
records, your MLS, or lists provided by a local title company. While
this is useful when starting out, the main value of these lead
aggregators is the additional information they provide. For example,
they will look up phone numbers to see if they are on the national Do
Not Call (DNC) registry, a database maintained by the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) that allows consumers in the United States to opt out
of receiving unwanted telemarketing calls. Real estate agents must check
their prospecting lists against the DNC before making cold calls, as
contacting registered numbers without permission can result in
significant fines and legal penalties.

Companies that provide these kinds of paid leads are notorious for
overpromising and underdelivering. They also tend to favor lengthy
contracts, often a year or longer. As a result, it is easy to get stuck
in a contract for a service you do not want. For these reasons, I
recommend requesting an initial sample of the data to review the quality
and starting with a short-term contract. If the leads are as great as
the salesperson says they are, you can always convert your monthly
membership into a longer one.

Another way to generate leads is to create your own website. When
someone finds your website through a search engine like Google, it is
called organic search. In today’s internet, it is increasingly difficult
for a new website to rank organically in Google search results. This is
because there are so many other real estate agents you are competing
with who have established websites. You are also competing with larger
competitors like realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, and Redfin. 

You can boost your website’s visibility by paying Google, Facebook, and
other organizations to display your advertisements, which, when clicked,
lead to your website. This advertising is called **Pay Per Click
(PPC)**, as you typically pay a fee each time someone clicks the
advertisement.

This kind of advertising involves creating ads that are geographically
targeted to the city where you work and optimized for specific real
estate-related keywords. When someone clicks your ad, they are taken to
a dedicated landing page on your website. The advantage of this approach
is that you have some control over your advertising and website content,
allowing you to be more selective in targeting higher-quality leads and
progressively improving the quality of your results over time.

However, as you would expect, this can take a significant amount of time
and requires specialized skills. This is why most agents will hire an
outside firm to manage their website's organic and PPC promotion for a
fee.

If you are interested in pursuing paid lead sources in more detail, I
recommend my book, *Real Estate CRM Mastery*, for more experienced
agents looking to take their real estate game to the next level. Paid
lead sources may lack quality, but they more than make up for it in
quantity. With experience, you will improve your ability to convert
specific types of leads, such as FSBOs, and refine the automated systems
that maximize conversion rates. Over time, you will be able to convert
paid leads efficiently and profitably. For example, once you're skilled
at turning FSBO leads into listings, you can leverage economies of scale
by purchasing FSBO leads and automating your efforts.

## Rentals

You might think your job is strictly helping people find and sell their
homes. I recommend expanding your job description to include rentals as
well. Your MLS also lists properties for rent. Typically, you would be
paid a “bounty” for finding a renter for a property. To do that, you
could list the property on your MLS and use other traditional marketing
strategies, such as posting on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist and
using yard signs. While that is not as large a payment as a commission
on the sale of that same property, there are several advantages to
providing rental services to your clients.

When the economy is doing poorly and real estate sales are slower,
rentals are likely to pick up. So, by handling rentals, you are
providing yourself with a diversification opportunity when times are
slow in traditional real estate.

You might be working with a buyer who does not qualify to purchase a
home due to insufficient income, excessive debt, or poor credit. Instead
of turning these people away, you could offer your services to help them
find a rental property. The incremental work required is minimal, as you
do not need to prospect to get this client. They are right in front of
you! By helping them find a rental property, you can also maintain your
relationship. That means that when their credit has been repaired or
their income is more stable, you can then help them become a homeowner.
By providing these step-up services, you are helping people achieve
their dream of becoming a homeowner, one step at a time. Rentals could
be the first step toward becoming a real estate agent for life.

You might also work with a client who has short-term needs for which
owning a home is impractical. For example, they may be military and will
only be in town for 2 years. A rental property might be a more
appropriate option for them. Your rent-vs-own calculator can help you
make that determination. Some corporate clients need short-term housing
for executives temporarily transferred. For these clients, fully
furnished rentals might be a preferred option, particularly if they are
coming from out of the country. Being able to provide these services to
corporations opens the door to offering additional services, such as
helping executives sell their homes when they are transferred and
finding homes for employees who will be moving long-term into a new
area. Your ability to offer full-service to a corporate client can make
your services more desirable and, in turn, make you a preferred real
estate agent for ALL their needs.


> **The Lock or Lease Secret**: Don’t assume every buyer you meet should be a homeowner. Use the rent-vs-Own calculator in your real estate CRM to determine if renting makes sense over home ownership.


A third kind of client who appreciates rentals is the investor. You
might be working with an investor to help him purchase a property to fix
up and either rent or flip. In that case, offering to find a qualified
renter is a great way to extend that relationship.

Your connections with an investor can also help you close other deals.
For example, if you start working with another investor who is looking
to sell his rental property, you could connect the two deals and help
one investor purchase from the other through a special tax-favored
transaction called a 1031 exchange, which allows the seller to defer
capital gains tax.

While we have been discussing helping find a renter and being paid a
lump sum for that service, you can also extend your services to rental
management, where you would be paid a monthly fee to manage the
property. This would entail finding a qualified tenant, managing home
repairs, and ensuring the tenant pays on time. You would be responsible
for finding a new tenant should the current one leave. As in other
situations, your ability to step up and offer these services could allow
you to expand your service range in ways that make you a more desirable
real estate agent for some clients.

One final advantage of handling rentals is that it helps you better
understand the rental market and how to service them. This experience
could be useful if you ever decide to be a landlord yourself. Many real
estate agents own rental properties, and doing these services for others
lets you make mistakes and learn on someone else’s dime. It also gives
you economies of scale, since handling five rentals is only
incrementally harder than handling a single rental.

Short-term rentals on platforms like VRBO or Airbnb have also become a
more established option for managing rentals on a short-term basis, such
as for a few days, a few weeks, or even a month. Increasingly, corporate
clients are relying on these kinds of rental properties for their
executives when short-term housing is needed, so you might be able to
leverage your ability to provide these services to corporate clients.

Your real estate CRM can easily track both renters and landlords, just
as you handle the home sales process now. The closing on a rental is
much easier, but the steps are similar.

Some full-featured real estate CRMs can handle rental management as
well. Typically, this includes tracking rental payments due and paid,
organizing repairs, and billing the landlord for your services and any
repair costs. As with your regular real estate business, you must
maintain a good list of service providers in the contacts section of
your real estate CRM, such as a handyman, plumber, house cleaner,
painter, and yard maintenance, among others.

## Commercial Real Estate

Did you know that licensed real estate salespeople can sell both
residential and commercial properties? **Commercial Real Estate (CRE)**
refers to property used exclusively for business purposes or to generate
income, rather than for personal residence. It encompasses four main
categories: Office (e.g., corporate buildings and medical offices),
Retail (e.g., shopping centers and standalone stores), Industrial (e.g.,
warehouses and manufacturing plants), and Multifamily (apartment
complexes with more than four units, considered an income-producing
investment).

In many cases, commercial properties for sale or lease are not on the
MLS but are instead listed on commercial real estate portals like
LoopNet and CityFeet. For this reason, it is helpful to use a real
estate CRM with a **properties database**, also known as a homes
database. That way, you can collect statistics on properties for sale or
lease, such as square footage and building features, independent of your
MLS. If you want to pursue commercial real estate transactions, select a
real estate CRM with a properties database.

Similarly, you would maintain a list of buyers and their needs in your
real estate CRM. You could then act as a matchmaker, connecting the
properties database with the buyers’ database.

Many commercial real estate agents handle both leasing and sales of
commercial properties. This is because the commercial leasing market is
much larger than the sales market. While commercial sales volume in the
U.S. ranges in the hundreds of billions of dollars annually, the total
value of all rent payments across the country's entire commercial lease
inventory is several trillion dollars annually. Some of the best real
estate CRMs can gather both rental and for-sale information from their
buyer and property databases, covering residential and commercial
properties.

There are several reasons you might want to either specialize in or
dabble in commercial real estate.

One advantage of working in commercial real estate is that it does not
follow the same economic cycles as residential real estate. Corporate
tenants and investors seeking multifamily investment properties
typically have a longer timeframe and may be more active when the
economy is down. Working with businesses and investors provides an
excellent form of diversification for you should the economy turn sour.

Another advantage of working with investors is that they often pursue
properties that more traditional buyers might shy away from, such as
higher-priced, distressed, or difficult-to-show properties. By working
with at least one commercial buyer, you can access properties that might
otherwise be challenging to sell.

Commercial buyers may be driven by different incentives than residential
buyers. For example, a commercial buyer might wish to close quickly to
take advantage of tax-favored status under the 1031 exchange rules. A
1031 exchange is an IRS provision that allows a real estate investor to
defer capital gains taxes when selling an investment or business
property, provided they use all the sale proceeds to acquire a
“like-kind” replacement property of equal or greater value. To do that,
they would buy and sell a property within just a few months. This could
give you the opportunity to do two deals for a buyer whose primary
incentive is not price but timing.

Typically, commercial real estate is priced higher than residential real
estate. Deals can be more complex and take longer to close. As a result,
an agent specializing in commercial real estate might handle fewer
transactions, but the final commission is much larger. The average
annual income for commercial real estate agents is more than double that
of residential real estate agents[20]. For these reasons, using a real
estate CRM to track contingencies, deadlines, parties involved in the
deal, and progress toward closing is even more critical than in
residential real estate.

The line between commercial and residential can sometimes be blurry. A
typical scenario is that you help a client purchase or sell a
residential property, and then they call on your services to handle a
commercial transaction. Your ability to deliver a full level of service
provides immense value to your clients. After all, they already know and
trust you for their residential real estate needs, so they might prefer
to work with you on a small commercial transaction, even though you are
not a dedicated commercial real estate agent.

While there are commercial real estate-specific CRMs, it is not uncommon
for commercial real estate agents to use a residential CRM. Residential
CRMs are far more affordable and offer sufficient features to handle
most commercial transactions.

# Proven Prospecting Methods

> “The best ‘farm’ is a neighborhood where you already have or have had
> several listings. This gives you credibility. Otherwise, you’re simply
> another pretty face on a postcard.”

—Jennifer Allan, *Selling with Soul*

This chapter explains how to systematize the prospecting process. With
your real estate CRM, you'll identify target markets, create checklists,
and develop repeatable strategies that deliver consistent results. The
key to building a sustainable real estate career is converting prospects
into closings. Automation lets you repeat this process for reliable
outcomes. Agents without these tools rely on luck to close deals, which
is not a sustainable approach to running a business.

Once you have identified a target market and built a proven automated
system that delivers results, you can further refine it using your real
estate CRM's goal-tracking features. As you gain experience, you'll be
able to generate higher income from the same effort. All of this is made
possible by your real estate CRM, which organizes, tracks, and holds you
accountable for your successes and setbacks.

## Comparative Market Analysis (CMA)

A **Comparative Market Analysis (CMA)** is a document you prepare to
determine a property's market value by reviewing past sales and current
comparable properties on the market. This is typically done by doing
research using your Multiple Listing Service (MLS). 

The most common use case is creating a CMA as part of your listing
presentation. However, there are other situations where a CMA is also
useful. You might offer to prepare one for a buyer before they make an
offer on a home they are interested in. You could also use a CMA as part
of complementary consulting when speaking with a prospective home seller
in your farm area.

While some software tools can create flashy presentations, I recommend
focusing on a straightforward CMA that is both efficient and accurate.
Let the figures speak for themselves, but use your local knowledge to
tell the story behind them. Your CMA is a moving target. You might
perform a CMA on the same property in January and again in June, and the
results will differ because you'll be using different comparable
properties. The timing of a CMA also affects your analysis of market
trends and current conditions. Selling a home in the dead of January
isn't the same as in June. For these reasons, I suggest creating
low-fluff CMAs. Stick to the facts and the core numbers you use to
calculate your values, and deliver your insights verbally with clarity.

I recommend that you also use the **CMA calculator** in your real estate
CRM. This calculator generates a summary report that can be printed and
emailed. By storing your CMAs in your real estate CRM, you document
exactly what you have provided to your clients and prospects. That way,
if you need to re-evaluate your CMA in 6 months, you will be aware of
precisely what you said earlier. While no valuation stands the test of
time, you should consider neighborhood trends, which can explain any
change in valuation.


> **The Campfire Comp Secret**: Show your mastery of the market by sharing the backstory of each comparable. How long it was listed, what upgrades or issues affected the sale, and why it sold for its final price. Knowing the history of both the property and the local market turns raw data into persuasive expertise.


If you have a listing that hasn't sold, you will likely need to
recommend a price adjustment. The benefit of using the CMA calculator in
your real estate CRM is that you can revisit and update your initial
analysis with new information. If you have gathered showing feedback,
you can provide your client with a service report that summarizes what
the market thinks of your listing and its asking price. A CMA does not
consider the home’s condition or the pink wallpaper in the living room.
Ultimately, the market determines what the house will sell for, and all
you can do is offer your expert guidance.

## Geographic Farming

A **geographic farm** is a specific neighborhood you consider ‘yours’.
You aim to become an expert on everything that happens there and plan to
focus on helping people buy and sell within that neighborhood. How do
you choose a good geographic farm?

Review neighborhood sales and listings in your MLS. Your ideal farm
should have a consistent number of annual sales and enough turnover to
justify your marketing efforts. By calculating the average sale price
and the number of sales per year, you can estimate the real estate
commission potential each neighborhood offers.

Next, review which other real estate agents are active in that
neighborhood. Your MLS will have that information, and you can also get
a good sense by driving around and looking at for-sale signs. This will
help you identify which agents are your competition. Your ideal farm
neighborhood is fragmented, with multiple agents competing for new
listings. If a single agent dominates, it will be harder for you to
break into that market because of brand loyalty to that dominant agent.


> **The Builder Backstory Secret**: Research the original builders of the homes in your geographic farm. Try to get old original floorplans and promotional materials from those original builders. Really get to know the houses, what the shortcomings are, what the most common changes and upgrades are and so forth. Understanding these aspects will give you expertise that no other agent can match, especially when you are preparing CMAs and doing listing presentations.


You should also preview the homes for sale in that neighborhood and take
notes. If builders are actively constructing new homes in the
neighborhood, visit these properties and introduce yourself to the
builder. Home buyers will naturally look at both new and pre-built
homes, so you should understand both the buyer’s and the seller’s
perspectives. Any new listing will compete with other homes, and buyers
often have a more current sense of how competitive a home is relative to
its peers because they see these homes one after the other, usually
minutes apart. Even a slight difference in price, condition, or features
will be noticed. For example, two otherwise identical homes selling for
the same price, but one with a 2-car garage and the other with a 1-car
garage, instantly makes the 1-car garage less competitive. Your ability
to understand these nuances differentiates you from other agents and
makes you more valuable as the listing agent.

Listen to the people in the community. Many communities have an online
presence, so you can easily connect with residents and discover local
trends or concerns. Find out where it is and what people are talking
about. If there is a Homeowners Association (HOA), read the newsletters,
review the financial reports, and attend the annual meetings. Which
schools serve this community, and how do they compare to other schools
in the area? What are the benefits of these schools? Pay attention to
the high school sports teams and which sports are competitive. Attend
some high school basketball games. Volunteer at the local school. Get to
know the teachers. Visit the closest churches and introduce yourself.

Churches are often fertile ground for community activities. This gives
you more ways to meet people and build relationships in your target
neighborhood. Get a copy of their bulletin. Find out whether there is an
opportunity to advertise in it. Find out what is going on and get
involved. Perhaps there is a local Habitat for Humanity home under
construction, and the church is taking part. Or maybe the church is
sponsoring a food drive or a yard sale.

Find out where the local library is. Are there events like story time
and community gatherings? Attending these can connect you with local
families and help you become a recognized part of the community. There
may also be volunteer opportunities that let you rub elbows with
community members. Where are the local parks? Are there summer programs
for kids? Where is the closest day care center? Are there other day care
opportunities, such as at churches and synagogues? Does the local
elementary school offer an after-school program? What about pre-school?

Mass transit can be important for some people. Find out what local
public transportation options are available, including their costs and
schedules. Is it practical for commuting to work? Walkability might be a
factor. How close are neighborhood stores and services, such as
hospitals? What contractors and service companies operate in the area?
Which ones are the best? You will want to build relationships with these
people.

What is the local crime rate? What types of crime are most common? Is
the neighborhood safer than other nearby neighborhoods? How effective
are the local police?

What local newspaper serves the city? If so, read that newspaper. Find
out which reporter covers the beat that includes your neighborhood.
Introduce yourself. Make sure the reporter knows that if they need a
quote on short notice about something happening in that neighborhood or
the real estate market, you would be an excellent source. Be highly
responsive to any requests – free press is the best kind, and it pays to
have connections with the press.

Become acquainted with new developments, shopping, and other changes
that may be on the way. If there are people upset about something that
is going on, find out more.


> **Backroom Briefing Secret:** Attend local city planning and zoning meetings to gain knowledge about what will affect future property values. These meetings will not only allow you to connect with people in the local area but also gives you advanced notice about local changes. This knowledge will make you an indispensable authority able to advise clients on the long-term outlook of the local area.


Find out when local communities are having yard or garage sales and drop
by. If you see someone selling a substantial amount of furniture, ask
whether they are planning to move or helping clean out the home of an
older relative who is downsizing. Yard sales happen all the time, so
this advice is helpful in general, not just during the community yard
sale. You can also sponsor a community garage sale in your geographic
farm each year to build goodwill, increase mindshare, and collect
contact information. The cost is nominal, typically a few vinyl yard
signs you can place strategically, plus postings on Craigslist, Facebook
Marketplace, and other local community websites like NextDoor, as well
as in your Homeowners Association (HOA) newsletter. Coincidentally,
these are advertising locations you already use for your own promotional
activities, so the fit is quite good for you to organize an event like
this.

Find out where the local fire station is located. Is it a volunteer fire
department staffed by neighbors? Many local fire stations host annual
community events. Visit the fire station to learn what is going on
there. Does the city or the parks department host events like a “taste
of” food fair? If so, attend and find out more about local businesses.

It may take you a full year before you are ready to publicly declare
your ‘ownership’ of that neighborhood. When you are ready, walk around,
hang door knockers on every door in the neighborhood, and knock on each
one. Introduce yourself. You will have plenty to talk about thanks to
your careful research. You can talk about the wonderful new elementary
school and whether the high school football team will make the playoffs
again this year, now that their star quarterback has just graduated.

—«◊»—


### Chris Jenkins 

A great way to stay top-of-mind with past clients is to show your
appreciation with a small gift. Real Estate agent Chris Jenkins (Ogden,
UT) finds that his hand-delivered gifts are always appreciated because
they come in the form of Winter Survival Kits. He says the most
effective gifts follow three simple rules:

They are useful enough to keep.

Stay visible at the client’s house.

They are easy to deliver.

He uses his CRM to organize deliveries. Each Salt Lake City survival kit
includes a large bag of ice melt and a thank-you card made by his wife,
decorated with a ribbon and a “Bear-able Winter” message. “I’ve gotten a
lot of positive reactions and referrals from past clients,” he says. “I
chose ice melt as an alternative to branded trinkets because those
trinkets always get thrown out.” Instead of being tossed aside, these
gifts sit on the porch, spark conversations, and remind clients of Chris
every time the homeowner uses the ice melt. These simple yet practical
gifts serve as subtle advertisements and help turn Chris’s clients into
his advocates. The best gifts keep your name in front of clients long
after you drop them off.

—«◊»—

Your first listing in your farm neighborhood will be the most difficult.
That's because you can’t use the pitch you WANT to use, which is that
you are an expert in the neighborhood. So, I recommend that you discount
that first transaction. You need this deal more than any other agent
because it is your launching point, so make sure you get it.

When you send postcards to everyone in a geographic neighborhood, you
can save money by using the **Every Door Direct Mail** (**EDDM**)
service from the US Postal Service. EDDM lets you mail a postcard to
every address on a selected carrier route without individual names or
addresses, lowering postage costs and making neighborhood outreach
simple and consistent.

Canada has a similar program called Neighbourhood Mail. Send postcards
whenever you have a new listing and whenever you sell one. You should
also send one each fall listing all the homes that sold last season and
their prices. People keep postcards like that if they are thinking of
selling.


> **Neighborhood Newcomer Secret:** Monitor property sales in your farm area and personally welcome new homeowners with a small gift and local resource guide. Most agents ignore their buyer clients as soon as they cash their commission check. By being the first friendly face in the neighborhood, you create an immediate relationship.


Watch for signs that a house might soon come on the market. For example,
houses that appear vacant or neglected are a clue. If your neighborhood
has a clubhouse, find out what events it is booked for, such as wedding
receptions, which can provide valuable insights into changes happening
in your neighborhood.

What do you do once you're established in a specific geographic area?
You can never rest on your laurels. Other agents will want “your”
neighborhood. They will use many of the techniques outlined here. Be
persistent year after year, and other agents will look for easier
pickings elsewhere.

## Door Knocking

Door-knocking is a proactive, face-to-face lead-generation strategy in
which an agent goes door-to-door in a specific neighborhood to connect
with homeowners. It helps you get to know neighbors, introduce yourself,
and potentially generate business directly within the local community. 


> **Listen & Learn Secret**: When door knocking you should skip the sales pitch. Introduce yourself and ask, “What is it about this neighborhood that helped you decide to move here?” Listening to their answers builds rapport, disarms homeowners, and gives you authentic language and insights to use in future marketing.


A good pretext for knocking on doors is introducing yourself to the
neighbors when you have a listing in the area. This is especially
effective before an open house. You can say: “You might notice an
unusual number of cars in the area – they will be looking at the
listing. I wanted to give you a heads-up and introduce myself.” Or let
them know about the opportunity to help pick their neighbors by sharing
the listing with a family member or friend. Or, if the price is right,
show them how easy it would be to own a nearby rental house!

Another way to generate interest in your listing is to use your
door-knocking as an opportunity to invite neighbors to an early showing
of the listed home. After all, it is the least you can do given their
patience with all the traffic your crackerjack marketing is generating.

Still, another strategy is to explain that you are providing
complimentary CMAs to neighbors. If there has been significant home
appreciation in that neighborhood, people might be curious about what
their home could sell for in a hot real estate market. A CMA is also
helpful for determining how much equity a homeowner has built in their
home. Equity is the owner’s stake in the property, calculated as the
current market value minus the outstanding loan balance. It grows as
values rise or the mortgage balance falls. Homeowners may want to see
whether they can get out from under Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) by
building equity above 20% or tap that equity with an additional home
equity loan.

The “Rule of Reciprocity,” introduced by Dr. Robert Cialdini in his book
*Influence*, explains why this works. People feel indebted to those who
have done them a favor or given them a gift, so a free CMA creates
goodwill and opens the door to a conversation. It is an excellent
pretext for collecting an email address and phone number. You already
have their physical address, since you are standing on their doorstep!
Every spring, offer a CMA as part of one of your postal mailings to your
geographic farm. If someone takes you up on it, collect their
information and prepare a professional presentation packet to drop off.
It should look polished and something they will want to keep rather than
casually discard. That way, when it is time to sell their home, they
have something of yours in hand. Since they have shown interest, you
might “touch” these homeowners more often than those who have not. 

To make your door-knocking as efficient as possible, start by knocking
on doors on one side of the street, cross at the corner, and then hit
the other side. Or, if the houses are in a regular rectangular grid,
knock every door all the way around the block, then cross to the next.
Either way, you won’t waste time crossing the street repeatedly.

You can preload your **geographic farm** into your real estate CRM using
valet import. This feature in your CRM lets you load data from external
sources, such as tax records, your MLS, or other third-party lead
sources. With your data preloaded, you'll have the names and addresses
of everyone in the neighborhood at your fingertips. You can then
**access your CRM live on your iPad or smartphone** to pull up this
information, add notes, and include additional contact details, such as
email addresses and phone numbers, as you meet with people. This helps
eliminate the need to transcribe handwritten notes later when you are
back at the office.

You can combine your main purpose with helping others. If your daughter
is in Girl Scouts, taking her around the neighborhood to sell cookies
gives you a chance to say “hi” to everyone. Maybe you’re volunteering
for a school fundraiser or collecting petition signatures for a local
event. If so, choose something non-controversial that everyone can
support.


> **Deeds to Leads Secret:** Promoting good causes for which you volunteer for can be beneficial to your brand, especially when people see you actively participating. It can also be a great way to meet people in a socially friendly way.


**Door hangers** are paper flyers with a cutout that hooks over a
doorknob, allowing them to be left securely at a home without tape. If
no one answers the door, place the flyer on the door handle and move on
to the next house. If someone answers, hand the door hanger to them and
explain why you stopped by. This simple handoff links your introduction
to a physical reminder, helping the homeowner remember you after your
visit.

There are many uses for these door hangers. They can promote a new
listing, an open house, or a home sale, or introduce you. They may also
be part of your awareness campaign, where you visit homeowners and offer
to do a CMA. Each door hanger should include your contact information,
such as a company logo and a portrait photo of yourself. You can have
them pre-printed with blank spaces for you to write in the home address
and the date and time of the open house using a Sharpie marker.

Make sure to include a clear **Call To Action (CTA)** on your door
hanger. A CTA is a marketing term for any instruction that prompts an
immediate response after reading your flyer. Usually, your call to
action asks people to contact you or attend the open house. You don't
want someone to read your door hanger and then toss it.

You could add a **QR code** (short for Quick Response Code) to your door
hanger. A QR code is a two-dimensional barcode that can be quickly read
by a smartphone camera. When someone scans the QR code, they are
directed to a landing page on your website where they can enter their
contact details and property address. This information is automatically
sent to your CRM via an email feed, which triggers your CRM to create a
prospect record, categorize it, and notify you of the new lead.

Alternatively, you can use the call capture phone number built into your
real estate CRM. This is the ideal low-pressure way to automatically
feed information into your real estate CRM.

Beyond formal prospecting, brief personal visits help nurture your
entire sphere of influence. These visits are sometimes called **drive-by
visits**. In an age flooded with digital messages, a quick in-person
visit stands out as a powerful way to make an impression. Dropping by a
past client’s home on their closing anniversary is a memorable way to
celebrate with them and see how they are enjoying their home. You can
also create other social reasons for these visits, such as dropping off
small pumpkins for Halloween or tiny USA flags for the Fourth of July.
These short interactions are based on goodwill, not sales.

—«◊»—


### Colleen MacCallum 

Building a steady stream of leads begins with consistent prospecting.
Many new agents struggle with this consistency because they don’t have a
structure to manage leads and for follow-up. Colleen MacCallum, Co-owner
of EXIT Right Realty, is an agent who combines her old-school methods
with new-school technology. “I’m very aggressive: I like to door-knock
and cold-call. My goal is to get a certain number of appointments into
my CRM, and I just keep calling until I hit that target,” she says.
Looking back, she wishes she’d started using a CRM sooner. Many new
agents hesitate to start using a CRM because it feels like “one more
thing to learn.”

Colleen admits she felt the same way early on, but now sees that
delaying it only made things more complicated. “A good CRM makes it so
much easier just to sit down and get to work calling every day. It keeps
me focused and accountable.” But she warns against automating too much
of your work. “People want to see the person behind the call, not a
robot, so personal touches will always be important,” she says. She also
advises against constraining yourself in an overly complex system. “You
shouldn’t spend more time learning a tool than using it,” she says,
“Pick something that helps you stay organized without adding stress.”
Prospecting should be part of our daily routine. If you find it
stressful, you’ll stop doing it. Use a simple system to track your work,
but make sure you stay personable when you do follow up.

—«◊»—

This strategy is vital for building a geographic farm. When you're in
the neighborhood for an open house, it's a great chance to visit a
nearby past client. Regularly showing up in the area helps you build a
visible, consistent presence, letting residents know you're the local
expert. These quick, face-to-face visits foster familiarity and trust,
turning you from just another agent into a familiar, welcome face in the
community.

For high-value prospects such as FSBOs and expired listings, a drive-by
visit is a powerful option. Dropping off a pre-listing packet in person
demonstrates a level of effort that a phone call or email cannot match.

Visiting the day before your listing appointment to drop off marketing
materials helps build rapport and gives you a firsthand look at the
property. This personal touch shows you are a serious professional
willing to invest time early in the property.

If you do not live in your target farm neighborhood, consider building a
network of local friends who do. Buying or selling a home is a
significant decision, and most people spend several months contemplating
it. They might mention to neighbors that their current home feels too
large now that the kids are in college. If you can spot these early
signs, you can support the decision-making process by offering a
no-obligation consultation. Reaching people early is always to your
advantage. This can help you avoid direct competition with other agents
for the listing.

## Prospecting Absentee Owners

One often-overlooked source of listings is prospecting absentee owners.
An **absentee owner** is someone who owns a property but doesn't live
there. You can find these prospects by checking public property tax
records or buying lists from a lead service. Because they don't reside
there, the property is likely rented or vacant, creating a unique
opportunity. These owners are often more willing to sell than typical
homeowners because they may lack a strong emotional attachment to the
property and face the challenges of managing it from afar. For them, the
house is an investment, and selling becomes a practical option if it's
no longer convenient or profitable.


> **The Haunted House Secret**: When contacting absentee owners, research the property’s history and status. By knowing if it’s a rental, vacant, or has been on the market before you contact them allows you to provide customized advice which matches their unique situation.


You can use your CRM's valet import feature to upload your list of
absentee owners into your prospects database. This lets you import fresh
absentee owner leads weekly with a single click. You can then nurture
these leads with a scheduled drip campaign of printed letters,
customizing the content to showcase your services. Additionally, you can
place these leads in a follow-up touch cycle and reach out to the
homeowners via text or voice. These leads usually won't have an email
address, as tax information may not be publicly available.

One nuance to keep in mind is that you should use the prospects
database, not the contacts database, for your leads. These people are
strangers and therefore do not belong in your contacts database. The
prospects database also allows you to store both a property address and
a mailing address. Since the homeowner does not reside on the property,
having two addresses per property is essential. By recording both
addresses, you can print mailing labels using the mailing address and
use the property address as a mail merge variable when crafting your
letters.

You might highlight your ability to manage the sale of a rental
property. Tenant-occupied properties can be harder to show and may have
condition issues. To address this, you could promote your services in
finding cash buyers, investors, or flippers who are less likely to be
deterred by these limitations. Your problem-solving skills help sellers
and distinguish you from other agents. This can be the key distinction
that convinces an owner to choose you, as it demonstrates that you
provide customized solutions rather than just a standard MLS listing.

If the property is vacant, you could offer to find a new tenant or even
handle long-term rental management. These two services often complement
each other when buying and selling homes. The MLS can list properties
for rent as well as for sale. While you would earn a higher commission
from selling a property, individual circumstances or economic conditions
may make finding a tenant a better option. Your ability to provide a
full range of services also makes you a better fit for investor and
flipper clients. It also gives you more options when economic conditions
make selling difficult but renting easier. 

## Turning Expired Listings into New Clients

**Expired listings** are properties listed for sale that didn't sell
before the listing agreement expired. If the house doesn't sell within
the specified timeframe, the seller will likely blame the listing agent.
The seller's initial response is usually to fire that agent and hire
someone new. Expired listings create a great opportunity in slow real
estate markets.

The simplest way to identify expired listings is to subscribe to a
service that provides a daily or weekly CSV file of expired listings.
You can then import the file into your real estate CRM using its valet
import feature. You can also use your MLS to view expired listings;
however, some MLSs have restrictions on this.

Working an expired listing the day it comes off the market can be tough,
as the seller is often bombarded with calls from other agents. The
homeowner is also likely upset and distrustful after their home didn't
sell. Instead of jumping into the initial rush, wait a week or two. This
delay gives the seller time to process their frustration and become more
open to a new, well-thought-out plan. Use this time to research the
property, understand why it didn't sell, and develop a careful strategy
that pinpoints the problem so you can suggest a solution.

Find out who the previous listing agent was. Is there something about
that agent that caused them to fail? There are many ways an agent can
fall short. Maybe the listing agent used poor photos, a weak
description, was inexperienced, or didn't understand the neighborhood.
The previous agent probably failed to communicate effectively with the
seller and did little to promote the home beyond the MLS listing. Drive
by and take a few photos of the property. Is there something about how
the property appears from the outside that explains why it didn't sell?

With this information in hand, you are ready to create your marketing
plan. While your first instinct might be to call, remember this seller
is frustrated and receiving many calls from other agents. Sending a
printed letter is a more professional way to stand out from the noise
and build the credibility needed to deepen your relationship. Write a
letter that hints at your analysis and recommended course of action, and
ask for an in-person meeting to explain how you would market the home if
you were the listing agent.

Remember, the goal of your letter is to secure a listing appointment.
Don’t reveal everything in your letter. Instead, provide enough
information so the seller sees you have a tailored plan for their home
and are eager to get started. The best way to turn a prospect into a
client is through a direct face-to-face meeting.


> **Give Gratitude Secret**: After meeting a potential client, follow up the same day with a personal note referencing your conversation. Acting fast will keep you at the top of their mind.


Most of the expired listings you handle will require a very similar
analysis and recommendation. Therefore, I recommend creating a reusable
letter template in your real estate CRM to save time. Use mail merge
variables for the parts that change each time, such as the property
photo, the seller’s name, and the property address. Before printing,
make one final customization to the letter template. This allows you to
remove irrelevant passages or adjust the wording, ensuring each letter
feels slightly different. Your seller should perceive that you have
provided a unique analysis and recommendation tailored specifically to
them.

By focusing on a personalized approach, you're setting yourself apart
from other agents, which is why you'll succeed where they don't. Mention
that you're already working with several buyers interested in the
neighborhood, leveraging your deep roots in the community. If you
believe home staging was where the last agent went wrong, you could
highlight your skills in that area as well.


While most agents will be calling, you should step up your game. Make
your phone call, but instead of delivering your pitch, say you will be
in the neighborhood, would like to drop off a pre-listing packet, and
would like to confirm that someone is at home. Your packet should be in
a large envelope with the seller’s name and address, along with your
return address. 

Include a small version of the photo you took of the property. The
easiest way is to use a Dymo Label Printer to print two labels for the
envelope’s outside. One label should have your return address, and the
other should include the property address along with a photo of the
house. That photo proves you are not sending a generic form letter. It
shows you have personally visited the property and know what you are
talking about! Include your letter and business card inside the
envelope. You should also add some biographical information about
yourself. While you could include glossy details in your general
marketing efforts, that may not work well for you. Remember, the last
agent probably had a glossy brochure too, and they failed.

Expired listings take time to incubate, so an initial phone call and a
drive-by are a good start. However, persistence is key. Use your real
estate CRM to schedule a recurring touch cycle with the seller every 1-2
weeks. Each touch could be a call, text, or drive-by. The main point is
to be consistent. If your CRM includes a letter sequence specifically
for expired listings, use it. You can also use your CRM to print
envelopes or labels and mail-merge those letters. The more persistent
and consistent you are, the better your chances. Sellers may have had a
bad impression of agents from their last experience. Each time you knock
on their door, call, or send a letter, you're showing them how hard you
work for your commissions. The more persistent you are, the stronger
your case for being their new agent.

## Approaching For Sale By Owners (FSBOs)

When a homeowner decides to sell their home on their own, they may
believe they can save money by handling the sale themselves. Your value
proposition is to sell the house quickly, for the highest possible
price, and with minimal hassle. This isn’t just a sales pitch; data
supports it. Homes sold with an agent’s help consistently fetch higher
prices than those sold by owners[21]. This price gap can even exceed the
entire commission, meaning there’s a good chance the seller will end up
with more money and less stress by hiring you.


> **The Gift Horse Gambit**: Unlike an open house buyer who expects a direct follow-up, an FSBO seller is actively trying to avoid agents. Your first move shouldn't be to ask for their business; it must be to demonstrate your value. When you visit an FSBO in person, bring something immediately helpful, like a one-page neighborhood market update or a checklist of common seller mistakes, without asking for anything in return.


Selling a home involves a tremendous amount of work, and the homeowner
rarely fully understands everything that goes into going from “for sale”
to “sold.” Setting the price is the first hurdle. Thanks to your
expertise in local market conditions and MLS data, you are uniquely
qualified to set a competitive price. Homeowners do not have access to
that same information[22]. They are just as likely to underprice the
home as overprice it. Both situations are less than ideal. In the first
case, they leave money on the table, and in the second, the house will
not sell.

Assuming the homeowner has cleared that first hurdle, they then need to
promote the home. Once again, a realtor has an advantage with access to
the MLS.

Assuming the homeowner generates interest with a yard sign, the next
challenge is to be available to schedule and show the home. Homeowners
are often the worst people to show their own homes, as they lack a
neutral perspective and are unlikely to have decluttered and
depersonalized beforehand.

There is also a real concern that the buyer has not been prequalified or
vetted, or worse, might be a scammer. A homeowner might also worry about
personal safety or theft of their belongings. A real estate agent will
show a home only to vetted, pre-qualified buyers and will do so under
strict supervision.

It's no surprise that an estimated 20% to 30% of FSBO sellers eventually
hire an agent after encountering these realities[23]. In real estate
coaching circles, a common guideline is that many FSBOs give up around
the five-week mark[24]. Your follow-up plan, orchestrated by your CRM,
provides a roadmap for converting FSBOs into clients. The process
usually takes several weeks and multiple interactions with the
homeowner. Your goal is not a quick appointment, but to counter their
impression that you are not worth your commission by consistently being
a resource, not a salesperson.

While your long-term goal is the full listing, a highly effective
intermediate strategy is to offer a different kind of solution during
your scheduled follow-up calls and in your printed letters. Many FSBOs
who refuse to pay a 6% commission will gladly pay 3% if you bring them a
qualified buyer. Present this as a low-risk option. This approach
directly addresses their main concern about saving money while also
solving their biggest problem: finding a serious, pre-qualified buyer.
It’s a great way to get your foot in the door, show your value, and
build trust that can lead to a full listing.


> **Stagger, Don’t Stack Secret:** When you send a series of letters or postcards in the postal mail, send each letter at least 1 week apart. Otherwise, you run the risk of one piece arriving alongside the other. USPS does not deliver on Sundays or federal holidays, and delivery times can vary for reasons outside your control.


Success with FSBOs requires a consistent, long-term nurturing plan.
After your initial contact, use your CRM to start a time-released
sequence of printed letters. This print-first approach is often
necessary for two main reasons. First, because you will always have
their physical address, mailing a letter or dropping it off are your
most reliable ways to reach them. Second, a printed letter offers a
non-confrontational way to demonstrate your value and professionalism,
helping you earn the right to a phone call with a seller who is actively
trying to avoid agents.

Choose one day each week to complete your follow-up tasks. Your real
estate CRM automatically sequences which letters to send, letting you
print them with matching mailing labels in just a few clicks. While
other agents make a single call and then disappear, your system ensures
a professional touchpoint arrives week after week. When the seller’s
motivation wanes, your letter is on their counter. Success with FSBOs
comes from a disciplined system, not a hard sell. By combining a helpful
first impression with patient, systematic follow-up, you become the
clear expert to call when they are ready for professional help.

## Reverse Prospecting

**Reverse prospecting** is a powerful, proactive feature within your
Multiple Listing Service (MLS) that serves as a matchmaking tool for
your listings. Instead of passively waiting for buyer agents to discover
your property, you can identify agents whose clients have saved searches
that match your listing’s criteria. The MLS cross-references your
property’s details, such as price, location, and number of bedrooms,
with the specific search parameters of active buyers. The system then
generates a list of these buyers’ agents, giving you an inside track on
the most likely pool of interested parties.

While the MLS identifies the opportunity, your real estate CRM serves as
the command center where you execute the plan. The first step is to
import this list of agents from your MLS into your CRM using the CRM’s
import feature. You can assign a category to those records during the
data load, such as “123 Main Reverse Prospecting.” This segmentation is
essential for targeted follow-up.

Your outreach should be precise and convey a sense of early access,
fostering a collaborative relationship. Your aim is to position yourself
as a helpful resource rather than just another agent pushing a property.
For example, you might start with a phone call or a targeted text
message sent directly from your CRM.

“Hi Sally, this is Jack Smith from RE/MAX. I saw that one of your
clients has a saved search that flagged my new listing at 123 Main
Street. I am about to add this listing to the MLS and wanted to give you
an early heads-up before it gets more exposure. Call me if you have any
questions. I'm attaching a flyer so you can see if this new listing
might be a good match for your client.”

Experienced agents who systematize this process report a significantly
higher contact-to-showing conversion rate because they have an active,
pre-qualified buyer already searching for homes that match your listing.

You can also use reverse prospecting after a price reduction. A price
change might suddenly place your listing within the saved search
criteria of a new group of buyers. By rerunning the reverse prospect
search, you can notify their agents immediately, creating a fresh wave
of interest. By combining the strategic insights from your MLS with the
organizational strength of your CRM, you can target the exact group of
agents most likely to be interested in your new listing. This not only
increases the chances of a sale but also pre-loads that interest early
in the listing process, boosting the likelihood of a faster sale or even
a bidding war.

## Working with New Home Builders

Working with home builders can generate recurring revenue, as they may
list multiple properties over time. You can collaborate with builders in
various ways, each with its own benefits and responsibilities. These
might include providing services to buyers or serving as a listing agent
for one or more of their homes.

Start by introducing yourself to local builders and visiting their model
homes to get familiar with the homes they offer. Then, ask whether the
builder will honor your commission if you bring a buyer. If they agree,
send an introductory email about any client you refer before that client
visits any builder property. This creates a time-stamped record of your
involvement and protects your commission. Always follow the builder’s
registration policies to ensure you’re properly credited for the sale.

Building a closer relationship with a builder might also involve a
co-marketing partnership to help sell the builder’s new homes. Builders
often have an ideal customer profile for each development. You might not
need to generate entirely new leads, as many of those ideal clients
could already be in your database. You can identify and segment them
using categories such as “First-Time Homebuyer” or “Downsizing.” After
identifying these clients, you can launch a targeted email campaign to
that group. Importantly, the campaign's call to action should direct
prospects back to you, not directly to the builder.

This could be a link to a **lead-capture form** on your website that
adds new prospects to your CRM. Many broker-provided websites include a
basic “contact me” form that serves this purpose. Additionally, some CRM
vendors offer a standalone lead-capture web page you can link to
directly, eliminating the need for a custom website.

When a prospect responds, you can personally introduce them to the
builder’s sales team. This way, the builder receives a qualified lead,
and you remain documented as the buy-side agent, ensuring your
commission is protected.

Another way to foster a partnership is to provide builders with
actionable market feedback. Prospective buyers' opinions are invaluable
to developers, helping them adjust pricing, finishes, and future floor
plans. During open houses or showings, use your CRM to systematically
document visitor feedback. Record comments on the layout, price, and
specific features. Afterwards, compile this data into a professional
service report for the builder. Providing this data-driven insight
elevates you from a sales agent to a trusted consultant, making you an
indispensable partner.

Offering to host an open house can be a great opportunity for builders
without a sales team. During the event, use your CRM’s online sign-in
form to capture visitor information. As leads are captured, your system
sends you instant notifications for quick follow-up. You can then
nurture their interest by assigning visitors to a drip email campaign
with more details about the development. Both you and the builder
benefit. You gain a new source of leads, and the builder reduces
staffing costs. You can also work directly for a local builder as their
selling agent. Some smaller builders may offer this role on a commission
basis, allowing you to keep your existing book of business. Larger
builders might hire you on a salary.

You should also build relationships with contractors who specialize in
home improvements, such as finishing basements and remodeling. You might
be working with a buyer looking to purchase a property that needs
updates. Having a trusted general contractor on your side allows you to
bring them in to help your buyer understand which improvements are
practical and to provide a rough cost estimate. These partnerships can
help you close a deal that might otherwise be overlooked and demonstrate
your value as an agent who leverages vendor relationships to solve
client problems.

# Stand Out When Reaching Out

> “Never wait to follow up. Follow up now. It’s one of my little tricks
> to get attention. No one follows up faster than I do. And when you
> want to set up that follow-up meeting, propose dates that work for
> you. Don’t just ask if they’re free—take control of the destiny of
> your working relationship!”

—Ryan Serhant, *Sell It Like Serhant*

What is the biggest complaint people have about real estate agents?
Would it surprise you to learn it is a lack of communication? This is
ironic because agents spend most of their time doing exactly
that—communicating! This chapter explains how you can use technology to
communicate more effectively. Your ability to reach people quickly with
the specific information they need increases your chances of connecting
with them and becoming their agent. Your real estate CRM is a powerful
tool that helps you organize and automate your communication in ways you
couldn’t otherwise.

## Phone Call Skills

Phone calls are often the easiest way to communicate spontaneously. If
you can get someone to answer, you have their full attention. However,
phone calls come with challenges. Not everyone can answer when you call,
and if they don't, you have to leave a message for them to listen to
later. They might call back, but there's no guarantee you'll be
available then. Voice calls can be inefficient if the person on the
other end doesn’t answer right away. The most important thing you can do
to improve this situation is to answer your phone when someone calls.

This may seem simple, but many agents screen their calls. That’s a
mistake because it wastes your time listening to voicemails and playing
telephone tag. A prompt answer captures a lead when their interest is
highest, showing your availability and professionalism. To make this
habit easier, promote your mobile number above any other numbers you
have. Ideally, it should be the only number on your marketing materials.
When someone tries to reach you and gets a voicemail, they might leave
messages at your other numbers, creating inefficiency and delaying your
ability to serve clients directly. Using a single, primary number also
prevents a full voicemail box, which can block clients from leaving
messages. Remember to delete all voicemails after listening to them to
avoid this issue.


> **Bag of Money Secret**: When the phone rings, answer it. Just imagine that the person on the other end of the phone is a cash buyer who wants to buy a home today.


Once you have answered, your professionalism is on display. Do not just
say “Hello.” Your mobile phone is now your business phone, so identify
yourself in your greeting and ask the caller how you can help. Before
making a call or answering the phone, be aware of background noise, such
as a TV or barking dogs. Provide your undivided attention to the person
on the other end of the line. It is well worth the cost to purchase a
high-quality Bluetooth headset or earbuds with active noise-cancelling
properties. The chances are high that you will be in a loud environment
when someone calls, since you are often outside the office.
Noise-cancelling headsets or earbuds can reduce background noise by as
much as 90%. 

Even though a caller can’t see you, they can literally hear your smile.
When you smile, the shape of your mouth alters the acoustic qualities of
your voice, making it sound brighter and warmer. Studies dating back to
the 1980s have confirmed that callers can hear your smile, and that it
can trigger “emotional contagion,” a term coined by researchers Dr.
Elaine Hatfield and Dr. John Cacioppo in the early 1990s. Their research
showed that humans subconsciously mimic the vocal tones of those they
interact with, which, in turn, causes them to “catch” the matching
emotion. A warm, positive tone on your end will therefore inspire a more
positive emotional response from the person on the other line. Your
professionalism on the phone directly reflects the value of your
service; if you sound distracted or casual, clients may question your
seriousness.

Projecting a professional image also involves subtle trust signals. As
an agent deeply involved in the local community, you should convey that
you understand local happenings and have been part of the community for
quite some time. One way to do that is to use a phone number with an
area code that matches the local region. This demonstrates that you are
part of the community, not just a transient.

In the past, an 800 number was useful for people who wanted to avoid
per-minute charges for out-of-state calls. However, times have changed.
An 800 number probably won't save your prospects money, so it’s likely
not worth the extra cost.

Even with the best intentions, you'll inevitably miss some calls. When
this happens, respond as quickly as possible. When asking for someone’s
phone number, try to get their mobile number. Mobile phones are more
likely to be answered than landlines, helping you reach prospects faster
and boosting your response rates. If you leave a message, you're also
more likely to get a quicker response than with landlines. Additionally,
mobile phones can receive SMS texts and voicemails, making them more
useful than landlines.


> **The Ping After Ring Secret**: If your call goes to voicemail, immediately follow it up with a short, personalized text message. Text messages have a high open rate, guaranteeing they will see it. Mention that you just called, why you called, and invite them to reply by text or calling back.


Finally, your real estate CRM offers click-to-dial functionality to make
your outbound calls more efficient. There are a few ways these dialers
work. The simplest method is for the CRM to send a text message to your
mobile phone with your name and the number to call. You then tap the
number on your mobile device to dial it. The main benefit of this method
is that you use your mobile phone to make calls. By turning a manual
task into a streamlined process, this feature helps you dedicate focused
time to proactive outreach.

You can even queue multiple text messages, enabling you to make several
follow-up calls in sequence. By combining the habit of answering your
phone with the efficiency of a CRM dialer, you turn calls from a
potential time drain into a consistent, income-generating activity.

A second type of click-to-dial functionality uses a dedicated phone
number provided by your CRM. With this setup, you still click to dial,
but your CRM calls your mobile phone. When you answer, you're connected
to the person you're calling. This creates a three-way call: you and the
person you're calling are two parties, and your CRM acts as the third
party connecting the call. When you click-to-dial this way, the phone
number and caller ID the recipient sees are the ones registered in your
CRM.


> **Millennial Minute Secret**: Don’t forget to take advantage of the text message chat functionality of your CRM. Many people screen their calls, or can’t answer because they are at work. Around 75% of millennials prefer texting over calling, with that figure rising to 80% among Gen Z. Around 25% of this age group avoid answering the phone altogether1.


The preference for text messaging over voice calls,
especially among younger demographics, is well-documented. A Uswitch
survey of 2,000 people found that nearly 70% of individuals aged 18 to
34 prefer a text to a phone call. This trend reinforces the strategy of
using SMS as a primary and immediate communication channel for new
leads, particularly those generated online, to increase contact rates.↩︎


In most cases, you'll want to use your mobile number as your business
number, so this second option is less common.

Several types of dialers automate calling a list of contacts. An
autodialer, also known as a power dialer, makes multiple calls in
sequence. A predictive dialer, sometimes called a multi-dialer, starts
one call while another is still connecting.

With increased automation, regulatory requirements have risen
considerably[25]. When cold-calling FSBOs or Expireds, the only legally
permitted option is the click-to-dial feature. Some agents have
attempted to use more advanced options and have ended up in court[26].
Therefore, it is generally not advisable to go beyond click-to-dial
functionality. You will not find these features in a reputable CRM, as
they are designed for high-volume call centers and pose significant
legal risk for a real estate agent. Stick to click-to-dial.

The click-to-dial feature significantly boosts your productivity and is
a valuable tool. It is especially useful when making outgoing calls from
your daily call list. You can click-to-dial, speak with your prospect,
leave a voicemail, add notes to your CRM, and schedule a follow-up
call—all within a few minutes.

## Text Messaging

Almost all potential homebuyers and sellers carry a mobile phone, so if
you text them, they are likely to read your message within a few
minutes. People tend to read and respond to texts more than to any other
form of communication. This is supported by mobile marketing research:
the average email open rate is 30%[27], while the SMS open rate is
98%[28]. If you get a response, it will likely come quickly and be a
reply text, so be prepared.

During business hours, text messages often go through, while personal
voice calls may be restricted in some workplaces. Most voice calls will
likely go directly to voicemail. With texts, you can expect most to be
read within a few minutes. You might also feel more comfortable sending
texts during extended hours, such as in the evening, rather than making
a voice call. This approach prevents telephone tag, as the recipient can
read and reply to your message when they have time. Voice calls also
work well with texts, since you can use texting to coordinate a call and
reduce voicemails.

Keep in mind that many people sleep with their phones nearby. Avoid
sending text messages during their usual sleeping hours or when someone
might be at church or engaged in activities where the sound of a mobile
phone's beep and buzz is disruptive.


> **The Timely Touch Secret:** At your first contact with the client ask them how they prefer to be reached: phone, email, or text and at what times. Logging this in your CRM shows respect for their schedule and increases the likelihood your outreach is welcomed.


Your initial text message should be personal, direct, and framed as a
question. A statement can be ignored, but a question engages the brain’s
natural need for closure[29]. Including the recipient’s name and a
specific detail makes it personal, while ending with a direct question
makes it actionable. For example: “Jack, that 12 Main Street property is
still available, but interest is high. Are you still interested? -- Sam
@ RE/Max.” This structure makes it psychologically difficult for the
recipient to leave the loop open, dramatically increasing your chances
of a reply.

Text messages should not be used to deliver large amounts of
information. Keep your messages short and to the point. The main goal of
any text is to get the prospect on the phone. Unlike emails, you
shouldn't include a signature at the end of each message; instead,
include your name and company in the initial message.

Your text message must be specific and directly address the prospect’s
needs. If someone asks about a particular property, provide the exact
address. If someone asks you a question, answer it directly. Avoid
sending generic solicitation texts, as recipients quickly recognize them
as spam.

You can also send **MMS text messages**, which are multimedia messages.
These messages can include photos or links. That's a great way to
generate interest and awareness. If someone asks about one of your
listings, send your reply along with a glamour shot of that home.

While you could use your mobile phone for text message prospecting, I do
not recommend it. Instead, I recommend using your real estate CRM for
your text message outreach. There are several reasons I advise this.

First, you'll be more efficient composing text messages on a computer
than on your phone. You'll find it easier to reference information in
your real estate CRM, allowing you to craft a message that directly
addresses each prospect's specific needs. Your CRM will include the full
message thread, your notes, and any additional information about the
lead source and last contact date. You are legally required to include
instructions on how someone can opt out of your text messages, and your
real estate CRM can handle this automatically.

Your real estate CRM will also be able to track whether your text
message was successfully delivered or if there was an issue, such as the
phone being turned off or no longer in service. I also recommend noting
conversations you have started but haven't received a reply to. Your
goal is to get that reply, which is why I suggest always phrasing the
initial text message as a question.

There is a key difference between email and texting in how spam
complaints are managed. The recipient of your text messages can block
your phone number directly on their device, which will also notify their
carrier. Because there are only three major phone carriers in the United
States—Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile—spam complaints are more centralized
than with email, and the carriers are much more likely to blacklist you
than an email service would be. This means that if someone reports an
unwanted text message to their carrier, the impact could be significant.
Just one complaint is enough to blacklist your mobile number from
sending texts to that carrier.

Usually, this is a temporary block lasting 24 or 48 hours. However,
repeat offenders are permanently blacklisted. Therefore, I suggest
sending prospecting messages through your real estate CRM. That way, you
can let your SMS phone number cool down by pausing texts for a few days
if you get blacklisted.

A tiny URL is a shortened version of a long URL, created by services
like TinyURL.com. Spam filters used by phone carriers will flag messages
that include public URL shorteners as spam[30]. This is because tiny
URLs can hide the original link, making malicious links harder to spot.
For this reason, I recommend using full, unaltered URLs in your text
messages if you include links. Any link you share should be in its own
message, with no extra text before or after the URL. This keeps the link
clickable and helps spam filters review it without confusion. Also, make
sure all links use HTTPS. The “s” in https stands for “secure,” which
adds proof that you're legitimate. The spam filters built into SMS are
strong and actively look for suspicious messages.

You can send multiple text messages in just a few minutes using your
real estate CRM. However, be careful not to send too many messages too
quickly. Why? Because you can expect responses, and they will typically
come within a few minutes. When responses arrive, reply quickly. You
will achieve much better results if you block out a full hour and send
10-20 messages at the start. Do your work within your real estate CRM
during that hour. That way, you can respond promptly when you get a
reply. The last thing you want to do is get a warm lead and then let it
go cold by not acting on it immediately. If someone sends you a text
message and you reply within a minute or two, you're almost certain the
recipient will read your reply. If you wait 8 hours, your chances of
being read will be much lower.

## Sending Emails

Email is effective for maintaining contact, but it’s a poor choice for
initial introductions because unsolicited messages are often flagged as
spam. Remember, email delivery isn’t guaranteed. Many spam filters stand
between you and your recipient. Even if an email is delivered, the
recipient might not open it. Most people receive many emails daily, and
many end up in the spam folder or are deleted without a glance.
Therefore, always collect a prospect’s mobile phone number first. A
phone number is more valuable than an email address, especially for
initial contact.


> **The Sweet Role Secret:** Avoid sending bulk emails to role-based email addresses. A role-based email address is one associated with a job function, department, or group within an organization, rather than an individual. They typically start with a common word that describes the purpose or role, such as info@, support@, sales@. Replace these emails with a named person when you can. If you cannot, keep the address for transactional replies only. Spam filters and mail providers look dimly in sending bulk emails to role-based email addresses.


To ensure your emails land in the inbox, you need to understand what
spam filters look for. Spam is unsolicited email sent in bulk, and about
half of all emails sent are considered spam[31]. Spam filters are highly
effective at detecting and blocking unwanted messages. The last thing
you want is for an important email—such as an offer or an inspection
report—to end up in someone’s spam folder.

Filters are more likely to accept emails from people the recipient
already knows. The best way to maximize deliverability is to exchange an
email with someone. Send them a message and have them reply immediately.
This trains the spam filter to recognize your emails as not spam. You
should also ask your recipient to add you to their address book, which
also increases the chances that your email won’t go to spam. The easiest
way is to exchange emails while you're talking on the phone.


> **Love Letter Secret**: For higher open and reply rates, send simple emails with limited use of fancy layout. The most effective include a simple letterhead, some styled text and your signature. These personal emails are less likely to be flagged as spam and can increase reply rates by over 20% and clicks by up to 51%, a finding supported by extensive marketing research1. Complex multi-column newsletter formatted content looks canned and impersonal and tends to get a far lower response rate.


This phenomenon is supported by extensive marketing
research. A/B tests from sources like HubSpot and NextAfter confirm that
simpler, plain-text emails consistently outperform heavily designed HTML
versions, increasing reply rates by over 20% and generating up to 51%
more clicks. This approach has proven especially effective for engaging
an existing audience, driving 60% of conversions in one study. The
improved performance is attributed to higher deliverability, as complex
HTML can trigger spam filters, and a more personal feel that signals a
one-to-one relationship rather than mass advertising.↩︎


Spam filters closely monitor one-sided email exchanges, tracking which
messages are opened and responded to. If you send a series of emails
that go unread or unanswered, spam filters interpret that as low
engagement and are more likely to send all future emails from you
straight to the spam folder. Your real estate CRM tracks **email
engagement** to help you improve the deliverability of your messages.
Email engagement, also called **open rate**, is the percentage of emails
you send that are opened and read. Your CRM tracks this by embedding an
invisible image in each email. When the email is opened, the image is
displayed, and the email status in your CRM updates from “Sent” to
“Sent+Read”.

Filters also look for signs that the sender doesn't know the recipient,
such as a generic salutation like “dear neighbor.” If they detect body
text that appears to be a scam, a get-rich-quick scheme, or a business
pitch, they flag it. Check your spam folder to see examples of messages
that filters aim to block.

I suggest using a separate email account for your business
communications rather than your personal account. This will help you
appear more professional and prevent important emails from getting lost
among personal messages.

If you need a new email account, Gmail is an excellent choice for its
powerful spam filter, ample storage, and free access. Your broker might
also provide a business email address, which is another good option.
Once you are more established, consider registering your own domain
name, such as SallySellsSarasota.com. You can then use that domain to
create a website and send emails from a custom address like
Sally@SallySellsSarasota.com. For email hosting, Google offers Google
Workspace, which provides the same features as Gmail with your own
domain name[32].

When choosing your email address, consider how it sounds when spoken
over the phone. Since you'll share it often during calls, choose one
that’s easy to pronounce and hard to misspell. The longer the email
address, the more likely it is to be misspelled, so avoid using a very
long address.

If you eventually hire an assistant, I recommend using a role-based
email address with a general term like “info” rather than a specific
person’s name. For example, your assistant’s email could be
info@SallySellsSarasota.com. That way, the address stays the same if you
change assistants or hire a new one.


> **The Caps for Clarity Secret**: Format your email address in CamelCase, capitalizing the first letter of each word (e.g., SamSmith@gmail.com) to make it easier to read and remember. While it doesn’t affect delivery, it improves perception, reduces typos, and increases the likelihood prospects will contact you successfully.


When communicating with bank officers and lawyers, remember that their
email servers likely have robust spam filters. These professionals
handle sensitive information and want to avoid emails that could
compromise their systems. Therefore, I advise against sending
promotional material to bank officers or attorneys.

If you need to send a file attachment, start with a heads-up email to
let recipients know it’s coming. Then send a second email with the
attachment. Emails with file attachments are often blocked by spam
filters when filters are set to their strictest settings.

If you're sending a simple document like a flyer, consider converting it
to an image and embedding it directly in your email. This lets the
recipient view the content immediately without downloading anything.

Treat your vendors and tradespeople as professional partners, not
marketing targets. Good tradespeople are busy and don’t have time to
read marketing materials, including your newsletter. The last thing you
want is to irritate a trusted vendor and have them mark your emails as
spam. Then, when you need them, you won’t be able to reach them.

Your real estate CRM makes sending **bulk emails** easy. Bulk email is
the process of sending the same message to multiple recipients. To do
this, you first create a category for the people you want to email.
Next, you create a **mail form**, sometimes called a template, that
contains your message. The template uses **mail merge variables**, such
as %Salutation%, which are filled in with unique content from each
contact’s record. This feature is powerful because it ensures each email
you send is personalized with the recipient’s name. Mail merge variables
can also include a unique property address or details about a specific
listing, making your communication feel personal and relevant.

Your real estate CRM can also send a series of time-release **drip
emails**. Unlike bulk emails, each email in a drip sequence is sent to
one recipient at a time. Instead of sending all the emails at once, they
are spaced out over time. The sequence is automatic and helps you stay
in touch with someone. Each person in a drip sequence has their own
schedule. So, if you met someone a week ago, they might receive the
second drip email today, while someone you just met today might get
their first drip email today. Drip emails also use mail merge variables,
so each email contains personalized information, such as the recipient’s
name and the address of the property they might be interested in
selling.

Drip sequences are most effective for nurturing new prospects. Suppose
you meet someone interested in buying a vacation property. After
discussing their needs, they tell you they are not quite ready to
purchase because they need to review the tax implications and consult
with family members. You could offer to send information about the
advantages of owning a vacation property through a drip sequence
tailored to that purpose. Your real estate CRM letter library includes
many drip sequences, each customized for specific situations. The more
targeted your drip sequence, the less likely recipients will find the
emails unwanted.

Avoid sending generic prospecting drip sequences; instead, send targeted
ones tailored to each prospect’s needs. Generic content can feel overly
salesy. A drip sequence sent to a single person can be narrowly focused
on that individual’s interests and needs. Your drip emails and printed
letters aim to provide information and educate, not to bother the
prospect. A buyer's needs differ from a seller's. Someone purchasing
their first home will have different objections than someone downsizing.
By customizing a pre-made drip sequence, you can further refine the
content to make it even more personal. The ideal frequency for each drip
depends on your assessment of your prospect’s timeframe. For some, you
might space the emails weekly; for others, you might extend the
intervals. The effectiveness of a drip sequence tends to decline after
four or five emails, especially when spaced a week apart or more. If you
send too many emails or space them too closely, people get tired and
will opt out or mark your emails as spam.

Your CRM will automatically add an unsubscribe link to your emails,
along with a physical mailing address for you, the sender. This is
required to comply with federal regulations. Your real estate CRM will
also track when an email address is no longer valid (HardBounce), when
someone has complained (Complaint), or when someone has opted out of
your emails (OptOut). For bulk emails, these addresses will be
automatically excluded, so you don’t have to worry about sending emails
to people who have opted out or complained.

This is for your safety: sending an email to someone who has opted out
or complained will harm your email reputation and reduce your
deliverability. If your reputation is poor, your other emails may end up
in the spam folder or be rejected altogether.

A complaint occurs when someone selects the Spam or Junk folder in their
mailbox or files a complaint with their email provider, such as AOL,
Yahoo, Outlook, or Gmail. If you send more emails to someone who has
complained, the mail server treats this as very rude behavior and views
it negatively.

Similarly, sending emails to a hard-bounced email address can be seen as
spammy and robotic, since a human wouldn’t do that, and the consequences
are just as serious. Email providers share these insights with other
providers through feedback loops[33], allowing reports of reckless
behavior to spread across email servers. A bad reputation is like a
wanted poster, and the last thing you want is for email servers to
prejudge all your messages.

You can also track who opens your emails and when, helping you evaluate
the success of your email campaigns.

I advise against sending drip emails to someone you know well. For
people you know well, send an occasional eCard or make a phone call
instead.

Not everyone is ready to buy or sell immediately, so send real estate
drip campaigns only to prospects who are actively interested. A drip
sequence doesn't replace the value of a phone call, an SMS message, or a
drive-by visit. Think of email as a supportive tool, not a primary one.
Email is a passive medium, whereas phone calls and SMS are active.
You're more likely to receive feedback from a phone call or text message
than from an email. 

Ultimately, writing emails that get read is about providing useful
information, not just blasting out mass messages. You will get the best
results by using a targeted drip sequence after your call with your
prospect. This strategic approach ensures your communications are
welcomed, read, and acted on, turning your database into a steady source
of business.

## Proven Printed Letters

Your real estate CRM includes a content library of pre-made letters that
can be part of a timed drip series or used as standalone letters or
emails. Your CRM lets you send the original letters as they are, but I
recommend customizing them to fit your specific needs. Using pre-made
content saves you time and helps you produce higher-quality results.

The letter library may also be available in multiple languages,
including Spanish. Because about one in seven U.S. residents speaks
Spanish at home, bilingual letters are a practical tool for many
markets. 

You should consider your letter library useful for both print and email.
That way, you can use the same letters for as many people as possible,
saving time and keeping your communication consistent across channels.
Most prospects in your database will have incomplete contact
information. For example, one person might have an email address, while
another might have only a phone number and a mailing address.


> **Template Treasury Secret**: Use your CRMs content library to save hours of work. Your CRM comes with a pre-built library containing templates for eCards, flyers, letters, and email campaigns for every situation. Always look to the library before writing or designing something from scratch, it will save you time and look more professional.


**Mail merge** is the process of transforming a mail form into a
personalized letter. The mail form contains the text of your letter,
along with mail merge variables. These are parts of the letter that
change for each recipient. The most common mail merge variable is
%Salutation%, which is set to the recipient’s name. Other variables
include %Signature%, which contains your contact information. 

Each real estate CRM will have different mail merge variables. For
simple letters, you'll only need a few mail merge variables. However,
you might require more complex ones if you're requesting feedback for a
showing—for example, including a photo of the property and its address.
You might also want to include the date and time of the showing. Each of
these would be mail merge variables filled in before the email is sent.

The tone of your letter depends on how well you know the recipient and
their age. While traditional letters usually begin with ‘Dear,’ it is
often omitted in modern communications.


> **The Ugly Envelope Effect Secret**: To make your letters look more personal and less like junk mail, handwrite the address and return mailing address. To add to the personal look, you can use a commemorative or seasonal stamp. This adds a special touch that makes people less likely to simply throw it away.


I recommend using the pronoun “we” instead of “I” when discussing your
services, as it suggests you're part of a larger organization, such as
your brokerage. I also suggest using the individual pronoun “I” for
anything that involves personal attention you will provide. For example,
at the end of your letter, you might say, “If there is anything you
need, do not hesitate to give me a call.” Why? Because people want to
believe there's someone in charge who cares.

While it is tempting to create flashy letters with lots of graphics and
fancy tables, I advise against it. A simple layout is easier to read on
a smartphone. Also, when you send a clear, straightforward letter, you
give the impression that you are writing from the heart. The more
elaborate your letter, the less personal it seems and the more it looks
like a generic form letter.

Should I use a P.S. in my letters? Yes! Studies have shown that many
people skip directly to the P.S. before reading the main body of a
letter. Most people are scanning rather than reading, and since a P.S.
is the last words in an email or printed letter, it tends to feel more
urgent.


> **Borino Boomerang Secret**: When prospecting using printed letters, send a short introductory letter. A week later, send the exact same letter, but this time crumpled up with a handwritten note on it like, “Don’t throw this away! Let’s get your home sold.” The homeowner will think you rescued it from their trash, a bold move that grabs their attention and makes you unforgettable.


Sending a printed letter through the postal service remains a
traditional form of communication that still holds value in this digital
age. For certain types of outreach, such as FSBO, probate, and expired
prospecting, it is the preferred method. This is not only because you
might not have a valid email address or phone number for these
leads, but also because a letter offers a professional, non-intrusive
way to introduce yourself to a prospect who is not expecting your
contact. Additionally, receiving a letter in the mail has a more formal,
official feel, which can be beneficial when making a strong first
impression as a real estate professional.

Your real estate CRM includes time-release drip sequences you can print
and send to these types of prospecting leads. Typically, this is a
series of printed letters spaced about a week apart over several weeks.
The letters are personalized with the recipient’s name and property
address, and can also include other mail merge details specific to the
property, such as a photo of the property and the asking price. Once the
drip letter sequence is assigned to a prospect, the letters are queued
for printing. Each week, you print that week’s letters and mailing
labels. You then stuff the envelopes and mail them out. As an
alternative to printing mailing labels, your real estate CRM can also
print the address directly on the envelopes, including the return
address in the upper-left corner.

When mailing a letter through the postal service, consider using a
first-class stamp instead of a bulk mail stamp. This looks more
personal, increasing the likelihood that your letter will be opened.
Another advantage of a first-class stamp is that the letter will be
returned if the recipient no longer lives at that address. The return
address on your envelope also signals what’s inside. People often look
at the return address and may toss the letter without opening it if they
see it’s junk. For this reason, you might want to avoid including your
company name or even your full name on the envelope's return address. 

Your real estate CRM can print your envelope or mailing label for a
polished look. However, you might prefer handwriting the envelope
address. Why? Research from the General Envelope Association shows that
handwritten envelopes are opened 72% more often than typed-and-printed
ones. This might seem counterintuitive because handwritten addresses
look less professional. But in this case, that’s a good thing, as it
makes the envelope look more like a personal letter.

## Flyers

Your real estate CRM includes a flyer library you can use to create
flyers for each of your listings. You can also use it to design
invitations for open houses. These flyers can be printed or sent as
images via email or text message. Using the built-in flyer templates in
your CRM lets you quickly fill in the details, saving you a lot of time.

Some agents still like to include flyers in the flyer box on the yard
sign outside. But many agents have shifted to using an electronic flyer,
which can be accessed by texting a 3-digit call capture code to a
special phone number posted on the yard sign. The advantage of this
approach is that you no longer need to spend money on printed flyers or
refill the flyer box. It also automatically captures the phone number
and caller ID for anyone who inquires. When someone grabs a flyer from
the flyer box, you only get a lead if the buyer calls you. With call
capture, you capture all inquiries.


> **Priceless Paper Secret:** When you make flyers for your listing, remove the house price. Hiding the price gives you two benefits: One, if the house’s price gets reduced you won’t need to replace the flyers. Two, it forces price-curious buyers to call your call capture number which turns an inquiry into a captured lead.


When hosting an open house, a flyer is a standard takeaway for
prospective buyers to remember the home. Therefore, a printed flyer is
valuable.

## Sending eCards

Your real estate CRM includes a library of **eCards**. These animated
email templates can be sent to contacts in your database for various
occasions. You might send an eCard to wish friends and family a happy
Halloween or a birthday eCard to someone on their special day. eCards
offer several benefits. The most obvious is that they convey the
sentiment expressed in the eCard. 


A more subtle benefit is that when you send your eCard, you verify
whether the email address you have for someone is still valid. The
phenomenon of contact information becoming invalid over time is called
list decay[34]. Expect about 20% of the email addresses in your database
to become inaccurate each year as people change email providers. By
sending periodic eCards, your real estate CRM alerts you to which email
addresses are no longer valid. When you receive that notification, reach
out to the person by another method, such as a call or text, and ask for
their current email address. A HardBounce may be a temporary error, such
as when someone’s email account is full. However, even in that case, it
strongly indicates that, while they haven’t completely abandoned their
email address, they have moved on to another as their main address.


> **Bungled Birthday Secret:** Sending an automated birthday e-card misses out on a more personal touch. Use your CRM’s birthday reminders to make a phone call instead, which is more effective. This is especially true for a “Top100” contact.


I recommend using eCards in moderation. While eCards can be fun, they
can also become repetitive. For example, if you send one for Halloween,
another for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas, and one for New Year’s, by
the time Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday arrives, even your own mother
might unsubscribe. Sending one or two eCards a year to people provides
the best benefits while lowering the risk of someone unsubscribing.

## Call Capture

To ensure you don't miss any leads, your real estate CRM might include a
**call capture** feature. This is a dedicated phone number linked to
your CRM. When someone calls or texts that number, they receive
information about your listing by entering a three-digit code that
matches your listing.

The most common way to use this is to include a sign rider on your yard
signs, which looks something like this:

24-HOUR RECORDED HOME INFO:

Text “999” to (970) 235-9114

or Call (970) 235-9114 Enter Code 999

The phone number and code above are live, so give them a try to see how
call capture works.

Call capture lets people access listing information at any time, day or
night. Studies show that agents who use an automated hotline or
text-for-info service receive more inquiries than those who display only
a regular phone number[35]. Why? Buyers feel more comfortable calling at
odd hours, when you may be asleep. An automated hotline also helps
overcome concerns about talking to a pushy real estate agent, waiting on
hold, or leaving a voicemail. Instead, they simply text a 3-digit code
to receive the information within a few seconds. 

When someone calls your automated hotline number, their phone number and
caller ID are recorded, and a new prospect is automatically added to
your CRM. You receive email and text message notifications so you can
respond quickly. If you prefer, you can also let the prospect connect
with you directly, which will ring your mobile phone and connect them to
you live.

You are also informed of which property they have inquired about. If
they leave a text or voice message, it is included as well, and a
**transcription of any voice message** is attached to the notes section
of the prospect record.

This method is far more effective than using paper flyers in a flyer box
outside the property. When someone takes a paper flyer, you might never
hear from them. With call capture, every inquiry is automatically added
to your CRM.

Your call capture phone number can also be used for open houses and
targeted marketing campaigns. For instance, you could create a unique
code for a Spanish-language campaign about a listing, information on
qualifying for a home loan, or a special seminar you're hosting. Because
each code is tracked, you can see which campaigns are effective and
which aren't.

The main advantage of using call capture is how easy it is for both you
and the people inquiring about your listings.

# Conclusion

The main ideas of this book are straightforward. A real estate-specific
CRM is not optional; it is the command center of your business. Generic
CRMs lack key features found in real estate-specific CRMs. It is
important to choose a CRM that is affordable and fully under your
control. Ease of use and reliable support are more important than having
many features. Over-automation can harm your relationships, so use your
CRM to stay consistent while keeping every message personal.

Your database is your most valuable asset. Keep it organized and
up-to-date. Using it regularly will boost your prospects' conversion
rate and generate referrals and repeat business from your sphere of
influence.

Top agents rely on systems, not luck. Spend time each day prospecting.
Start with simple systems, keep costs low, and let your CRM support your
growth.

I have also written a companion book, *Real Estate CRM Mastery,* which
covers advanced topics such as growing your business, long-term
lead-nurturing strategies, and how to generate repeat and referral
clients from your sphere of influence.

# Further Reading

This book, *Real Estate CRM Secrets*, focuses on the core systems a new
agent needs to get organized, build consistent habits, and grow their
business. I have also written a companion book, *Real Estate CRM
Mastery*, designed for the experienced agent who has mastered these
essentials and is ready to scale their production. It covers advanced
strategies for managing time, automating marketing, and leading a team
or an assistant. Together, these two books offer a complete, repeatable
system for transforming a new agent into a top-producing real estate
professional.

If you are looking to explore the business concepts discussed in this
book further, I recommend the following books.

*Your First Year in Real Estate* by Dirk Zeller is a comprehensive
roadmap for novice real estate agents seeking to build a successful
career.

*Your First 365 Days in Real Estate* by Shelley Zavitz is an honest,
practical, and highly relatable guide for new real estate agents,
especially those starting without an established network.

*Sold: Every Real Estate Agent’s Guide to Building a Profitable
Business* by David Greene details strategies for lead generation and
client management, emphasizing a proactive, entrepreneurial mindset.

*Ninja Selling* by Larry Kendall teaches a system for creating
predictable sales by building relationships and providing value, both of
which are key to nurturing leads through the sales funnel.

*The Millionaire Real Estate Agent* by Gary Keller et al. offers a
proven, systematic formula for real estate professionals to build a
thriving, million-dollar business. The core philosophy centers on
adopting a “Millionaire Mindset” and mastering the “Three L’s”: Leads,
Listings, and Leverage.

*Selling with Soul* by Jennifer Allan is a “rookie survival guide” that
vehemently rejects the high-pressure, “Old School” sales tactics often
taught in the industry. The book’s core message is that an extraordinary
real estate career is built on the pillars of Respect, Competence,
Enthusiasm, and Confidence, achieved by prioritizing the client’s needs
and practicing the Golden Rule.

*Fanatical Prospecting* by Jeb Blount is a rigorous, no-excuses guide
that argues the number one reason for sales failure is an empty
pipeline, caused by a lack of consistent prospecting.

*The Book of Yes* by Kevin Ward provides real-world scripts to help
agents handle objections and close more deals.

*Endless Referrals* by Bob Burg explains how to build a network and
generate business through relationship-based marketing.

# About the Author

Scott Schmitz is a leading expert in real estate technology,
specifically real estate CRM systems. He is the creator of the real
estate CRM, RealtyJuggler. With over 20 years of experience in the real
estate technology industry, Scott has worked with over thousands of
agents to improve their business systems and maximize income through
real estate technology.

Scott has written two books that provide a comprehensive, repeatable
system for agents to maximize their use of a real estate CRM. The first
book, *Real Estate CRM* Secrets (the book you are reading now), focuses
on the fundamental systems a new agent needs to get organized, establish
consistent habits, and grow their business. The second book, *Real
Estate CRM Mastery*, is for experienced agents who have mastered these
essentials and are ready to expand their production by focusing on
advanced strategies through automation, teams, and networking.

Scott currently lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, with his wife Michelle.
Scott received an MBA from The George Washington University and a
Computer Engineering degree from the University of Michigan.

# Endnotes

[1] Based on NAR’s 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 38% of home
sellers used a referral from friends or family to choose their agent,
while 28% used the same agent they had previously worked with. Resulting
in a combined 66% of sellers coming from an agent’s personal and prior
client network.

[2] In The Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller, Dave Jenks, and
Jay Papasan, the authors emphasize that many new agents leave the
business within their first two years because they lack the financial
reserves to bridge the gap between initial expenses and the arrival of
consistent income. This view is shared by industry coaches Tom Ferry and
Brian Buffini, as well as by Inman reporting, all of which identify the
lack of cash flow as the primary reason new agents leave the career.

[3] The Conversion Code provides call openers, voicemail scripts, and
follow-up texts that operationalize a sub-five-minute response time in
real estate.

[4] According to the National Association of Realtors 2024 Member
Profile, the median tenure for Realtors at their present firm was 5
years.

[5] The National Association of Realtors 2024 Member Profile reports
that the typical Realtor earned 20 percent of their business from repeat
clients and 21 percent from referrals from past clients, totaling 41
percent from these two relationship-based sources.

[6] The “speed-to-lead” concept was first quantified by a foundational
2007 study from MIT and InsideSales.com (Oldroyd and Elkington), which
analyzed the rapid decay of online leads and established the five-minute
response as a benchmark. The findings were later confirmed and amplified
by a 2011 Harvard Business Review article, which further underscored the
high cost of slow response times.

[7] The National Association of Realtors 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and
Sellers reports that home sellers in 2023 had lived in their home for a
median of 10 years. This tenure has increased over the last decade,
underscoring the importance of nurturing long-term relationships.

[8] CRM industry research shows that many users employ only a limited
range of the features available in their system. DemandSage reports that
43% of CRM users utilize fewer than half of the system’s capabilities.

[9] Atul Gawande famously detailed the use of checklists to reduce human
error in complex professions in his book, The Checklist Manifesto.

[10] According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community
Survey, over 42 million people aged five and older speak Spanish at
home, representing over 13% of the population in that age group.

[11] The term “habit stacking” was popularized by James Clear in his
book Atomic Habits. The principle is to link a new desired habit with a
current habit to increase the likelihood of success.

[12] This approach is supported by The Progress Principle by Teresa
Amabile at Harvard Business School, which finds that making progress in
meaningful work, even in small steps, is a key motivator.

[13] The primary reasons for contract termination shift with market
conditions. While home inspection issues are common, the National
Association of Realtors Confidence Index for 2024 and 2025 shows that
difficulty in obtaining financing and appraisal-related issues are the
leading causes of terminated and delayed contracts.

[14] Jeb Blount’s Fanatical Prospecting promotes a high-activity,
“numbers game” philosophy of sales that emphasizes cold calling,
in-person prospecting, and constant lead generation as the key to
success. Kevin Ward shares similar prospecting focused approaches as
seen in his book The Book of YES. This idea is also in Ryan Serhant’s
book Sell It Like Serhant. All three authors emphasize disciplined daily
outreach and direct prospect contact as their primary drivers of
business.

[15] The figure of 2,000 to 3,000 contacts is based on statistics
gathered by RealtyJuggler. Note that this is the typical upper range for
an experienced real estate agent’s database.

[16] Research from the sales intelligence firm Brevet found that 80% of
sales require at least 5 follow-up calls, yet 44% of salespeople give up
after just one follow-up attempt, and 66% after two. This highlights a
significant gap between the effort required to succeed and the typical
agent’s persistence.

[17] Real estate coaching experts like Tom Ferry and industry platforms
like Inman News regularly emphasize that it takes between 6 and 12
“touches” to convert a cold lead into a viable client. These touches can
include a mix of phone calls, emails, text messages, and valuable
content.

[18] The 2024 National Association of Realtors’ Profile of Home Buyers
and Sellers shows that buyers typically search for 10 weeks and look at
a median of 9 homes. This underscores the need for a system to manage
relationships over an extended period.

[19] The technique is supported by the scientific principle of
Odor-Evoked Autobiographical Memory (OEA), which explains the link
between scent and the brain’s emotional centers. (See: Herz, R. S.
(2016). The role of odor-evoked memory in psychological and
physiological activity. Progress in Neurobiology, 139, 100–109.)

[20] The median gross income for all Realtors (most of whom specialize
in residential real estate) was $55,800 in 2023. In contrast, NAR
members who specialized in commercial real estate reported a median
annual gross income of $120,800 in 2016 (National Association of
Realtors, 2024 Member Profile and 2017 Commercial Member Profile
reports).

[21] A 2024 market analysis published by ColumbusGarealestate.com found
that the median sales price for homes sold by an agent was $460,000,
while the median for FSBOs was only $405,000. This significant gap
underscores the financial value an agent brings through expert pricing,
marketing, and negotiation.

[22] According to NAR, the most common challenges reported by FSBOs
include getting the right price, understanding and performing the
paperwork, and selling within the desired timeframe. An agent’s ability
to solve these specific problems is their core value proposition.

[23] Based on industry observations, real estate coach feedback, and
brokerage-level tracking, 20% to 30% of FSBO sellers ultimately list
their property with a real estate professional. This is often due to the
seller’s frustration with pricing, marketing, qualifying buyers, or
managing transaction paperwork.

[24] The five-week figure originates from real estate coaching and
training programs that use it as a rule of thumb rather than a
statistically verified national average. It is based on the observation
that sellers may begin to question their decision to sell on their own
after several weeks without success. This time frame—the actual tipping
point—will vary from seller to seller.

[25] In the United States, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and FCC
rules govern autodialers, prerecorded calls, consent, caller ID,
abandoned call rates, and Do Not Call compliance. Manual click-to-dial
is treated differently from automated dialing.

[26] Agents and companies have faced individual and class-action
lawsuits over improper automated calling or texting; damages and defense
costs can be significant. Consult your broker or legal counsel before
using advanced dialers.

[27] Mailchimp reports open rates of 31% for business and finance
emails.

[28] Marketing industry reports consistently show a dramatic difference
in engagement between email and SMS. Sources such as Gartner and Forbes
have reported SMS open rates exceeding 95%, compared with average
marketing email open rates of 20% to 30% across industries.

[29] This leverages a psychological principle known as the Zeigarnik
effect, which states that people remember incomplete or interrupted
tasks better than completed ones. A direct question creates an “open
loop” or unfinished task in the recipient’s mind, generating cognitive
tension that they are motivated to resolve by answering.

[30] The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA)
provides messaging principles and best practices for commercial texting.
Its guidelines, along with those of major mobile carriers, warn that
using public URL shorteners is a spam characteristic and can result in
message filtering or blocking.

[31] According to a Statista projection, spam emails accounted for
approximately 48% of global email traffic in 2024, a notable decline
from the 80% levels observed about a decade earlier. Still, that means
nearly one in two emails remains junk.

[32] Google Workspace, formerly known as G Suite, is an upgraded version
of Google’s free tools: Gmail, Google Drive, and Chat. For a low monthly
fee, you can use your own domain name and get technical support. It is
the perfect addition to your website, as it lets you use the highly
secure Gmail platform for your email while keeping your own custom
domain name.

[33] A feedback loop (FBL) is a service offered by Internet Service
Providers (ISPs), such as Gmail and Outlook, that shares spam complaints
with other ISPs. Maintaining a low complaint rate is critical for
maintaining a good sender reputation.

[34] The marketing research firm MarketingSherpa reports that contact
data decays at a rate of 2.1% per month, which compounds to 22.5%
annually. This phenomenon is often called “list decay.”

[35] Real estate marketing-tech provider SMS Listings reports a 314%
increase in responses when a “text or call for info” rider was added to
a standard yard sign. Proquest reports an increased response rate of
75%.