Why do you need a database? To help you understand, let’s look at real estate like it’s a contact sport. It’s all about gaining and maintaining – gaining relationships and building trust. It’s important, however, that as an agent you learn to maintain these things as they grow with your business. It’s a two-way street. Databases are the most important piece of leverage an agent can invest in and it all comes down to this…
1.Foundation
Just like every house needs a strong foundation, so does your business. The reason why a database serves this purpose is because it’s where you store all of the contact information and manage your communication. Without a database, you have nothing to show for your work. You have no point of contact. And you lose any type of organization. You’re building your business without a foundation.
Maybe right now your database is non-existent – It’s not too late to start! You begin by simply creating a list of everyone you know – friends, family, cousins, your best friend’s uncle, co-workers, past clients… you get the picture. Because the foundational aspect of a database is the “who” of your business, start collecting all information on the “who” that you can.
2. Assets
To tell you the truth, databases are the only representation of our assets that we have as agents. It’s what represents your business. You know the saying, “show me your friends and I’ll show you your future?” As an agent, it sounds a little more like, “Show me a clean and well cared for database and I’ll show you a very successful agent”.
The thought of building your database can seem very overwhelming, but little steps go a long way. As long you take your time, make sure all the information you’re inputting is accurate and complete, you keep notes on all of your conversations, and keep track of your follow-ups – you’re bound to get ahead of your competitors in no time!