Have you heard the term “divide and conquer”?
Of course you have, but what does it have to do with real estate, you’re thinking?
When it comes to your database you need to divide in order to conquer.
More gently put, I’m talking about long-term nurture versus an active, short-term pipeline of potential vendors.
Your strategy around these two similar, yet distinctly different areas of your database, needs to be clear.
Your long-term nurture strategy is how you effectively use your database to keep track of potential vendors that may be looking to sell more than a year from now.
Research shows that in most markets the average vendor sells every nine to 13 years, so having a long-term nurture plan is vital.
But what should that plan entail, I can hear you asking.
A long-term nurture strategy requires you to consistently enter contacts into your database and keep in touch with them, delivering meaningful, relevant and tailored information at the right frequency – without being annoying or causing people to unsubscribe.
This is where local market updates can work well, as can a phone call every six months to let people know what properties have sold in their street or neighbourhood recently.
It’s also an opportunity to let potential vendors know that values in their area have changed and to ask them whether they’d sell in the current market if you could generate a premium price, well above the current market sale price, for their property.
Asking these questions will help you ascertain if they are happy with where they are living or if there’s some level of dissatisfaction.
Have they been mulling over the prospect of selling or are they still a cold lead?
If selling still isn’t at the forefront of their minds, you can then reset your database to contact them again at an appropriate time in the future.
In the meantime, your database will automatically send them useful information, specific to their area, demographic and age group.
If you hear one of those purchasers, former buyers or potential vendors is thinking about selling you need to move them to your short-term, pipeline progression spreadsheet quickly.
It sounds fancy, but you really can’t beat an old fashioned Excel spreadsheet with 30, 40 or 50 warm vendors on it that you can work down the pipeline.
You need to keep this spreadsheet on top of your desk every day as part of your prospecting program, and it’s vital to divide (again) your potential vendors into those looking to go to market in less than 30 days, 30 to 90 days and three months to six months.
If a seller slips back into the six to 12-month category or beyond you need to move them back into your long-term nurture section of the database.
Having an obsessive and in-depth strategy on the two different areas of your database, long-term and short-term, provides you with the conveyor belt of potential business you need to succeed and thrive in real estate.
