End-to-End Business Management System

While it may not sound like it, this system is the shiny object that you actually need to achieve your business goals.

A big claim, we know, but until you understand this system, everything else will be of little importance.

The reason for this is because all the other shiny objects you get pitched on are all just small pieces of this system as a whole.

Which is why mastering the concepts in this section are vital to your success in real estate, or any business for that matter.

This is a long lesson but read it carefully, read it multiple times, and commit to mastering it - it's that important.

Trust us, when it comes to managing and maintaining your database, we understand and feel your pain!

We all know the power in effectively marketing to our database, however, most of the agents we work with don't have a system for doing so... and some don't even have a database to begin with.

So, before we dive in, lets make sure we're all on the same page.

When we say database, we mean the names, numbers, emails, addresses, notes, and all other info you have on your prospects and clients.

A database is typically stored in a client relationship management (CRM) software. This software can range from free services like Outlook or Google Contacts to robust and costly tools like Salesforce, Hubspot, and Infusionsoft.

Whatever tool you decide to use is up to you, however, you should be able to tag, list, or group your contacts so that you can easily send marketing and prospecting initiatives to them.

We share the tagging system we recommend in Module 2.

How the System Works

Before we can dive in, we need to take a step back and look at this system from a 10,000 foot view. This is important because individual marketing tactics change so frequently, that no one can keep up.But, when you understand the big picture, you can see how all the different pieces work together to create a system that you can depend on to consistently generate new sales opportunities.This system is so powerful because it takes advantage of the irrefutable law of business growth put forth by Jay Abraham. He teaches that there are only three ways to grow a business:1) Increase the number of customers2) Increase the average transaction value per customer3) Increase the number of transactions per customerAnd the Real Estate Agent Sales Funnel below will allow you to easily understand how to achieve all three.

Lead Sources

Any and every company, regardless of the product they sell or the service they provide, is in the lead generating business. In order to increase the number of customers coming into your funnel, you'll either need to do more prospecting or do more marketing. This is activity based.Moreover, prospecting and marketing are based on conversion rates so, another way to get more leads, is to become more efficient in your efforts. This is skill based. However you decide to get more leads - increasing activities or increasing conversion rate - it's going to be the lifeline of your business. Until you get enough leads, nothing else really matters and, if you've been in real estate for any period of time, you know that there are no shortage of lead sources. Whichever ones you're good at, passionate about, or have an edge over other agents on are what you should pursue. Generating leads will take an investment of time and money so, like all other investments, you'll want to diversify. Generally speaking, you should have at least three different lead sources that you focus on with intent. This way, if one were to disappear, you'll still have two others to keep the leads coming in until you can replace the lost source.In this sprint and in our membership, when it comes to lead sources, we're going to focus on marketing and, more specifically, digital marketing. However, this is not to say that you shouldn't focus on prospecting or other types of marketing - they all work if you work it.

Active Opportunities

Once the leads are generated, they enter your database as active opportunities. As the name indicates, this is where all your active prospects and clients will be. An active opportunity can be in any of the six stages of the funnel.Sales Funnel Stage Definitions1) Prospects: Those who have expressed interest in buying or selling but you haven't had a two-way conversation with. You know, based on their actions, that they're in the market, but you haven't qualified them or know their goals. 2) Leads: Leads are simply prospects who know who you are and you've had a two-way conversation with. A prospect would become a lead once you've qualified and engaged with them. 3) Appointments: Set or kept appointments. 4) Clients: Signed agency agreement as a buyer or seller. 5) Contracts: In escrow and under contract. 6) Won: Closed transactions.As you can see, each stage of the funnel progresses into the next and, at any given stage, they could be taken out of the funnel by being marked as a lost opportunity - more on that later. The point is that only a percentage of contacts in your funnel will progress to the next stage, therefore, each stage will have less contacts than the previous stage. This is what gives a sales funnel it's shape. Because of this, each stage of the funnel has a specific goal and all efforts in any given stage are focused on completing that one goal. Sales Funnel Stage Goals1) Prospects: Make contact and learn their timing, motivation, and goals.2) Leads: Set an appointment.3) Appointments: Get a signed agency agreement.4) Clients: Get them under contract and into escrow.5) Contract: Close the sale, the contract to close process.6) Won: Get reviews, referrals, closing gifts, etc. Since each stage has it's own specific goal, we want to create a process that is designed around that outcome.Meaning, someone in the prospect stage isn't going to get marketing messages about setting appointments as that is not the goal of the prospect stage. This would result in getting unqualified appointments.Instead, the process for the prospect stage is designed to focus solely on the goal of that stage - qualifying the lead. This isn't to say that a contact can't move from prospect, to lead, to appointment, and even to client all on the first call. We don't rule this out as a possibility, however, it also can't be expected as the norm. This is why your process needs to be designed at each stage of the funnel with the one specific goal in mind. Most CRM's will have a feature for these processes. They're typically called action plans, marketing automation, sequences, etc. Once created, your CRM will automatically send emails and texts or it'll create a task for you to make a call and take some action.If you don't have a CRM with these features, you could create a simple word doc that outlines the activities you'll do for contacts at each stage and manually create tasks or reminders for yourself. An example of a process for the prospect stage is below and the goal for the prospect process is to qualify the contact. Day 1: Send intro text and email.Day 2: Phone call.Day 3: Email link to buyer/seller tips.Day 5: Phone call.Day 7: Text messageDay 10: Phone call followed up with an email.Day 14: Text message.Day 21: Phone Call followed up with text.Day 30: Phone call followed up with text.Remember, this is just an example, you can mix and match anything you want into this process. The point is to create a process so that you can easily and consistently reach out to contacts in your active opportunity funnel.Furthermore, since each stage has it's own specific goal, you would create a separate process like this for each stage in the funnel.Then, whenever that goal is achieved, weather it be on the first step or the last, the process for the stage would be stopped, and the process for next stage would start. For some contacts, it could take every step in the process to achieve the goal of that stage. For others, it could happen on step number one. The point is, that whenever it happens, the process stops, and the next starts, this is how you move people through the sales funnel. The first three stages in the funnel - prospect, lead, appointment - will be more process based so that you can handle a higher quantity of leads.The next three stages in the funnel - client, contract, won - are more checklist based so that you can provide the highest level of service to those who have chosen you as their agent. That covers the active opportunities, however, as we all know, not every contact you add to your CRM turns into a closed transaction. The ones that don't turn into lost opportunities. You can lose an opportunity for many reasons which vary based on the stages they're in. For the first three stages of the funnel, one of the main reasons will be due to no contact and unresponsive leads. Which is why we suggest setting a timeline for each stage. Many CRMs can do this automatically while others do not. So, depending on what CRM you use, you may need to manually clean out active opportunities on a weekly or monthly basis. We recommend keeping contacts in your active opportunities for the following durations.1) Prospects: 30 days2) Leads: 60 days3) Appointments: 30 daysFor the last three stages in the funnel, the reason an opportunity would be moved to lost are likely life events or a bad experience as opposed to being non-responsive. Meaning, a clients goals or needs change, they become unqualified or unable to transact, they cancel the listing, or fire you as their agent. Therefore, we don't assign a duration to these stages. Also, depending on the reason an opportunity is moved to lost, you may need to scrub and remove the contact from your database. Let's be real, we all have clients that we are happy to lose and never want to talk to again, don't feel bad about cleaning them out of your CRM. For the lost opportunities we want to stay in touch with, we'll move them out of the active opportunity funnel and into either the prospect or client database.

Prospect Database

The prospect database is for contacts in the prospect and lead stages that turned into lost opportunities, and, for appointments that were set but never attended.Or, for appointments, if you did meet them and it didn't go well or there wasn't a strong connection, you would also move them into the prospect database, as opposed to the client database. However, more often, these contacts will be scrubbed and removed from your CRM as they likely hired another agent. You can think of this as a bucket where you'll store contacts for future business opportunities. Once a contact is moved to the prospect database, you'll follow up with and market to these them just like you would to your cold lead sources. This follow up will typically be tasked based. Meaning, once marked as lost, you would create a task to follow up with them based on their timing. This could be 30, 60, 90, or one year later, as long as you know when they want to transact, you'll schedule a follow up call for that time. The prospect database can also be seen as a "lead-pool" where you and members of your team can prospect out of. In short, this is where all your lost opportunities go that you do not have a strong relationship with.

Client Database

The client database is for those you are in relationship with and would consider your sphere of influence. It is named this way because it is the database that you will generate repeat and referral clients from. This is where any contact you have a relationship belongs.Meaning; vendors, contractors, inspectors, referral agents, past clients, friends, family, etc all live in the client database. So, as your active opportunities are closed, or, contacts in the client and contract stage fail to close, you'll move them into this bucket within your CRM.The main difference between the prospect and client database are that you'll focus more on appreciation and relationship building. Those in your client database are the ones you send holiday cards to, have appreciate events for, do gift giveaway to and so on. You should a marketing calendar in place so that you remain top of mind with these contacts - something that we'll help you with in later modules of this sprint.

The Return Path

The last and final item of this system is the return path. When you market to your prospect and client databases effectively, you'll begin to generate new sales opportunities that will become active opportunities in your sales funnel. This is what completes the cycle and why we call it an end-to-end business management system. Every part feeds the next which, in-turn, grows the system and your database as a whole.

Conclusion

We understand this lesson is dense and, while you likely understand the concepts, you may feel lost in how to actually build this out inside your CRM. Don't worry, we cover this in module 2 when we discuss tagging, categorizing, or creating lists within your CRM. For now, the important part is that you understand you now have a business management system that has a specific place for each and every contact in your database. The goal from here on out is that you can begin to organize your database using this framework. When you do, you'll be able to consistently and easily stay in touch with your contacts and remain top-of-mind so that, when they think of real estate, they'll think of you.