3 Ways to Stay Relevant

Is your business' back door open?  In other words, are you seeking to market and grow your real estate sales business or brokerage but prospective home sellers, buyers, and even real estate agents slip off your radar because you are not meaningfully connected with them?  If you answer is “I don’t know”, “maybe”, “well…” or a definite “yes”, the following tips will help you make lasting business connections.

The New Way to Do Paper Business Cards
Since the 17th century, business cards have been used to convey first impressions.  How easy it is to learn about a person from the design, condition, and neatness of one’s business card.  As a long time staple, business cards are still very critical if you are in the business of building your contact database (which every real estate agent is!).  However, my counsel to agents, especially those that are trying to build their book of business, is to make sure you get business cards.  Why?  So that the agent can control the level of follow-up in order to stay top of mind.  

If we, as real estate practitioners, only dole out business cards but never cultivate a give and take, we may find that we lose contact with many of the potential clients and new friends we have enjoyed conversing with at various locales.  For agents that are especially shy, I recommend leaving your business cards in the car to get in the habit of asking for others to provide their contact details so you can stay connected on your terms.

An Innovative Approach to the Electronic Business Card

Take all of the power of a paper business card and add the ability to seamless update information, share en masse, and track engagement, and now you have an electronic business (e-business) card.  My new favorite e-business card is CardTapp, which shares not only your contact information but your listings, a mortgage calculator, a pre-qualification form, your website/blog, your videos, your showing appointment scheduler, and anything else you want to link.  Your app visitors receive access to this real estate toolbox simply when they register, which gives you their contact information.  Plus, CardTapp allows your contacts to share your apps with their friends.

This is is a God-send for those that cannot carve out time in their day to follow-up with paper business cards and cannot get the hang of a full-blown Customer Relationship Management System (CRM).  I encounter many agents that are networking “machines” at local soirees but, unfortunately, are not able to follow-up in a timely fashion with contacts.  On the other hand, maybe you are an agent that loves the thought of a CRM in theory but, in practice, it is just not part of your daily routine to stay top of mind.  No need to feel guilty on either side of the “lead nurturing” fence.  CardTapp helps agents, who may be swamped with the day-to-day tasks of managing a business and family, track via text messaging how often a contact taps the app (indicating business opportunities).  Instead of never hearing from a contact again because you did not have the time to follow-up, you can at the least instantly get a text alert when a prospect is viewing your listings, trying to identify how much home she can afford, or studying up on you (since we all do a little cyber-snooping occasionally) from the app, all signs that you have a “live one”.

Make Sense of the CRM Craze
CRMs take the power found in e-business cards and help you to proactively stay in touch with your contacts via social media, text message, email, and video message, instead of waiting for them to reach out to you.  CRMs are enigmatic for many but check out my tips on picking a CRM that will actually improve your productivity and see some of my favorite CRMs by perusing this article (click here).


Do any of these methods help you connect with contacts? I would love to read your thoughts below.  Or, give me a shout me on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google+ or at LearnWithLee.Realtor. And, be sure to get a copy of the 5-star rated workbook, Plan to Win, to transform your real estate sales game plan. Here's to your success!