4 Actionable Ways to Add More Contacts to Your CRM
Prospects are the life-blood of CRE. Adding more contacts is a never-ending task, and should be part of each workday. These are not limited to potential clients; the broker’s sphere of influence (SOI) should include all sorts of professional connections as well. Bringing these into your CRM can be accomplished through several approaches.
If you’re making use of a good CRM, you already know how much you can do with information on the contacts you make. Rich profiles can be developed, supplemented with information on the individual’s business activities, interests, and background gleaned from social media and an array of other digital sources.
Social media and other digital tools are important to successfully identifying new contacts, but not all approaches are online. It’s good to employ a variety of different strategies for adding contacts to your CRM.
Create Alliances
Remember to pursue potential business partners and allies in the real estate industry. Create relationships with real estate attorneys, mortgage providers and headhunters for local companies. Recommend them to your clients, link to their webpages, and post to their social media accounts. This will open up opportunities and expose your name to their contacts as well.
Meet with your service providers in areas like warranty, mortgage, title, escrow, etc., and create an atmosphere of mutual support that benefits all.
Volunteer
A fantastic way to network and meet new people, volunteering also adds to your knowledge of the community and makes it a better place to live. Check around for volunteer opportunities at local churches, food pantries or community centers, and build good will along with a larger client list.
Network at community events
A related approach is to attend community events that double as networking opportunities. Benefits, charity auctions, Chamber of Commerce meetings, 5K’s – the list is nearly endless, and you can choose those that interest you most.
Keep in mind that networking isn't something that's going to provide an immediate benefit the minute you step foot into the event. You likely won’t meet someone who’s ready to make a purchase or sign a lease immediately. The point is in establishing contact and staying in touch, because it’s likely that at some time in the future they will want to do those things or will recommend you to someone who does.
Network online
Social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, are made for helping you to expand your SOI. Here are just a few examples of ways to use LinkedIn, via the folks at Placester.
Advanced Search
You can find local contacts by using the Advanced Search feature in LinkedIn. It helps you to find background information on existing contacts and to identify new ones. You can reach out to these new contacts through the platform with a genuine, personalized message that lets them know that you’d like to connect. If they are posting content that you find interesting, be sure to comment or link to it.
Tag LinkedIn connections
Under the Connections tab, scroll over a contact to make use of the Tag feature. This allows you to label that connection with keywords that can help you create categories of contacts for your CRM.
Groups
Groups are available on several social media platforms, including Google+, Facebook, and LinkedIn. There are dozens of real estate related groups, and there’s also the option of starting a group yourself. Invite your contacts to join, and have a ready-made forum for discussing the local market.
How Do You Add Contacts?
Real estate is a contact-driven business. What are your secrets for adding more contacts to your database? Share your best tips and tricks with us on social media.
