It’s Spring – Time to Spring Clean your CRM
A Guest Article By Todd Flavio At Adaptive Consulting
If you’re like most real estate pros, your CRM is the central hub where the magic happens—or is supposed to happen. But let’s be honest, CRMs can become a bit of a mess over time. Contacts get jumbled, follow-ups slip through the cracks, and before you know it, you’re wading through a swamp of outdated info. Fear not! Let’s talk about turning that chaos into clarity – Here are some key areas to review, revise and clean up!
Clean Up Contact Information
Deep Cleaning Contacts:
- Dive into each contact entry. Merge the Johns and Jonathans if they’re the same person and remove any duplicates.
- Update or discard any information that seems as dated as shag carpets.
- Clean up you email addresses to increase deliverability. Remove bounces, correct obvious errors (@gmial.com) and double check all opt outs to insure that no messages are going out.
- As you clean up data and entries, do not take on the entire task all at once. Instead of reviewing all 6,754 leads over the weekend, set daily or weekly tasks of 1o, 20 or 50 lead to review per day or week to work through them over an extended period
Consistency Is Key:
- Make sure all contact information follows a single format. It’s like having all your shirts folded the same way—so satisfying.
- Ensure critical fields like “Status” or “Last Contacted” are filled out for everyone.
- Add any other notes or corrections to help remind yourself of key information such as “Loves Hawaii” or “hates corndogs”.
Streamlining Action Plans
Action Plan Overhaul:
- Toss out steps in your action plans that have gathered dust. If it’s not working, it’s walking.
- Add in fresh, modern steps that align with today’s market—update all bio, any current data you are using as well as action plans that have shown limited interest.
Segment, Segment and Segment
- The world is moving to better messaging with better segmentation. Segment your inactive or unengaged leads into a modified action plan that is longer with less frequent touches. Instead of deleting them, just stretch out communication.
- Your past clients are your biggest fans. Leverage an action plan to make them semi-animated and include some human touches, messages, and interactions. As your important leads, make sure you have at least some interaction rolling.
Prioritizing Leads
Sorting the Stack:
- Arrange leads by their temperature—hot, warm, cold. It’ll help you focus your energy where it counts.
- Label them in a way that makes sense to you, whether that’s with colors, numbers, or emojis.
Tailored Follow-Ups:
- Design follow-up strategies for each category. Your hot leads get the steak dinner treatment, while the cold ones might just need a coffee catch-up or moved to your inactive list.
- Don’t play favorites—every lead is a potential opportunity.
CRM Feature Utilization:
- Investigate every nook and cranny of your CRM. Are you using the forecasting tools? What about the pipeline management?
- Make your CRM the center of your tech universe. Ensure it connects seamlessly with other platforms you use.
- Integrate with email, scheduling, and marketing tools to get a single view of your operations.
Regular CRM Maintenance
Scheduled Cleaning Sessions:
- Mark your calendar for regular CRM clean-up dates. Think of it as a spa day for your database.
- Keep the momentum going with ongoing tweaks. Spotted a typo? Fix it on the fly.
Embrace automation:
- You should have 50% of all communication for text and emails set up with templates or automation with at least 3 variable fields used in the message.
Delegating for Efficiency:
- If you’ve got a team, delegate CRM tasks. Make someone the “Contact Czar” and another the “Data Detective.”
- If you’re riding solo, consider a virtual assistant to help keep things polished.
Fostering Accountability
Tracking and Updates:
- Monitor how your team uses the CRM. Are they keeping notes up to date? Are they logging their calls?
- Encourage regular updates post-client meetings. If it’s not in the CRM, did it even happen?
CRM Training Workshops:
- Host regular training sessions on CRM best practices. Keep everyone on their toes and in the know.
- Share tips and tricks. Got a hack for logging visits more efficiently? Pass it on.
Profit & Loss Management
Insightful Analysis:
- Use your CRM to dissect your income and expenses. It’s like having a financial advisor right at your fingertips.
- See which marketing channels are giving you the best bang for your buck.
Resource Reallocation:
- Invest more in the areas that show promise and cut back on those that don’t. Think of it as pruning your business tree to help it grow.
Use any disorganization as a strategic weapon
Try calling:
- Imagine calling any leads in question as asking “I was going through all my contacts over the past few years to make sure I did not miss anyone. I know we have spoken…. did you ever find a home?”
- If successful, try on all you lead that you have not connected with over the last 90 days. This noninvasive but laser sharp direct script can work magic, leading to deeper conversations.
Try messaging:
- Send a text or email “I wanted to make sure I am serving all of my clients and their real estate solutions…do you still have plans this year for buying or selling?”
- Do not expect of avalanche of responses but a 10% response will lead to reengaging with key leads.
So, there you have it: a CRM that’s not just cleaner, but also works harder for you. And the best part? With these tips, maintaining a pristine CRM isn’t just doable; it’s downright easy. Now, go forth and organize—your future self will thank you, and so will your bottom line.
About Todd Flavio
With over three decades of experience in the mortgage, real estate, and technology industries, I’ve had the privilege of serving thousands of families and contributing to over $1B in financing. I am a consultant and work to pursue excellence by forging transformative partnerships using technology and innovation within our industries.
