CRS Data MLS Tax Suite

Real Estate Agents Deserve Better Tools
Multiple Dates Thousands of agents are incorporating Cloud Agent Suite tools into their everyday workflow. Agents love the modern design that helps them look awesome in front of their clients. With the Cloud Agent Suite, agents are writing more offers with Cloud CMA, sending the fastest listing alerts with Cloud Streams, working smarter with Cloud MLX, and generating their own leads with Cloud Attract. Cloud Agent Suite tools are helping agents stand out from the competition and stay top-of-mind with their clients. Join our live webinar and we'll cover topics such as: Creating your first landing page with Cloud Attract How Cloud MLX centralizes your workflow How to set your client up with the fastest listing alerts Creating your first Cloud CMA report How to brand your Cloud CMA reports How you can automate your lead follow up process Register

The Time Is Now to Supercharge Your Database
The perfect stay-at-home marketing activity Imagine what the future would look like if you could stop cold calling, door knocking or chasing after FSBOs indefinitely--or at least cut way down on those activities? Ditching the more distasteful aspects of your real estate lead generation routine may be possible if you vow, right now, to get serious about your CRM database. Warm calls are so much more pleasant and knocking on doors where people are happy to see you beats the alternative. Make building better relationships with people you already know the center of your current stay-at-home activities. How's your sphere of influence? Agents who have been in the business for more than a minute tell horror stories about friends and even family members who "forgot" that they were in real estate and listed their homes with another agent. In fact, NAR statistics say, "The typical real estate agent earned 13 percent of their business from repeat clients and 17 percent from referrals from past clients and customers." Look at those numbers – they're pathetic, aren't they? Especially when NAR surveys say that nearly 90 percent of real estate consumers say they would use their agent again in the future. Past clients know you and, hopefully, they like and trust you. Shouldn't agents be getting more than 17 percent of their business from referrals from them? We get it. Agents have a ton of irons in the fire during the typical work week and keeping in contact with their SOI typically ends up as a low priority. What would happen, though, if you moved it up on the list? Made those warm contacts (instead of contacting strangers) a priority? You'll end up top-of-mind with your sphere when someone mentions buying or selling a home. Step 1 to get your real estate business on the referral track Organize your database. Yeah, it doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun, but it's necessary to keep you on track. And there is no better time to do this than right now, while you're at home. If you already have an organizational method, you're one step ahead. If not, let's create a simple one. Start by grouping your contacts. There are many ways to group them, so choose labels that make sense to you. Some suggestions include: Hot leads (people you don't know yet) Cold leads (again, people you don't know) Sphere (or "family," "friends" "ladies I play tennis with" "past clients") Vendors Feel free to create subgroups, if it will help you to stay organized. Some of these may include: Immediate family members Extended family Closest friends Acquaintances Neighbors People you met through your kids Thanks to the folks at TopProTraining.com for some of those ideas. Check out their list for more. Kim Hughes at KimHughes.com suggests that the next step in setting up your database to help you succeed should be to go through all of the leads, checking the information you have on them and adding anything that comes to mind. At a minimum, Hughes says you should have the contact's full name and the name of immediate family members. Naturally, you won't have family member info for some contacts, such as leads. Then, take some time to pick up the phone and start calling people. Start with folks you know, like past clients, relatives, and friends. Let them know they're in your thoughts and you're checking in to see if you can help them with anything. While on the phone, tell them you're updating your database and want to ensure you have their correct contact information: Verify that their addresses, both snail and email, are current. Best phone number to contact them. Birthdate is an important one (folks LOVE getting birthday greetings). The birthdate might be a tough one to ask, but tell them you like to reach out to people on their birthdays. You don't need a year, so that may make the question "Hey, when is your birthday?" a bit easier to ask. Get ideas for these conversations at TheRealEstateTrainer.com. Listen carefully to their end of the conversation for any tidbits you can add to their spot in your database. Then schedule a follow-up call, or a reminder to send a card, depending on what they've told you. This is a project that, although it needs to get done sooner rather than later, can be done in chunks. Hughes brilliantly recommends starting the organization process with your past clients. But do schedule those time chunks and vow to stick by the schedule. Before you know it, you'll have an organized, clean database, making your real estate lead generation a much more enjoyable and rewarding process. Do you have current listings to promote? Create "virtual" open house postcards for your current listings using the Just Listed Series and promote them through social media, on your website, and through mailings. To view the original article, visit the ProspectsPLUS!

3x Your Lead Generation ROI with These 5 Tips
It's no secret that leads are the lifeblood of your real estate business, but they are also a source of frustration. Agents often question the ROI on their lead spend, blaming the quality of the inbound leads when they don't convert, instead of looking at the user experience the lead undergoes from the moment it's received. Here are some tried and tested tips to ensure that every lead in your pipeline receives a meaningful, relevant experience and that you will nurture and convert on a much higher percentage. 1. Evaluate Lead Source vs. Monthly Production Do you know where the bulk of your past business came from? Use this handy spreadsheet to backtrack over the past 12 months to determine where your business originated (e.g., referral network, social media advertising, PPC lead generation, etc.) and make sure you are putting ad spend into the channels that produce. 2. Use a CRM A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a necessity to effectively manage every stage of your lead's lifecycle. A comprehensive CRM will allow you to keep detailed lead records, prompt outreach and follow-up, and provide valuable insight into every step of the sales process. I recommend an end-to-end solution like Elevate, which provides one singular location for everything you need without requiring convoluted (and pricey) 'bolt-on' technology. 3. Create Marketing Workflows For every $1,000 spent on lead generation, an average of $10 is spent on lead nurturing and follow-up. I assure you that many times it's not the quality of the lead that's the problem, it's the quality of the follow-up! A good workflow will allow you to automatically connect with your leads in a timely manner, while prompting you to take meaningful action along the way. Your workflow should include telephone / text outreach, email, social media connection, and even direct mail (a handwritten note goes a long way). Communication should feel personal and relevant to whatever stage of the process your lead is in, and you should receive analytics on engagement behavior (e.g., opens, clicks, responses) where applicable. Once again, a strong end-to-end CRM like Elevate will have pre-built workflows and communication tools built in that you can easily customize. 4. Touch Frequency Statistically, it takes anywhere from seven to 13 touches to convert a lead into a qualified opportunity, so when you are developing your marketing workflow, be sure to touch your leads early—and frequently. I develop marketing workflows for many brokers and agents, and generally will start with 27 touches over 30 days, with 14 of the touches occurring in the first seven days. Sound like a lot? It is—and it works! 5. Be of Service The real estate agent who's just there to sell will NOT have as much success as the agent who's there to be of service. When developing your workflows and touchpoints, make sure you include helpful resources, personal insight and local 'goodies' as part of your communication process. This helps build rapport and drives higher engagement with your leads. I always enjoy buying from someone that I actually feel connected with, don't you? I know, I know—taking the time to learn a CRM and build meaningful, intelligent workflows is not why you went into real estate. Trust me, though—the time you spend putting these strategies in place will be well rewarded. You will have greater efficiency, happier clients, and increased ROI on your lead generation dollars. Happy selling! Bondilyn Jolly is a tech entrepreneur, investor and business leader. She currently serves as the VP of Marketing at Elevate and the Managing Partner of 3sixtyfive.agency, a full-service digital and creative advertising agency servicing the real estate sector and beyond. Bondilyn and her team work with brokers, agents and companies to build unique, memorable marketing experiences both online and