What do Realtors have in common with doctors & attorneys? Well, aside from being considered professionals, we all sell a service rather than a product. When you sell a service, what you are really selling is yourself and what you can do for other people. Your service is your product.

Hopefully you aim to give great service to your customers. Great. That’s a good starting point for being a successful Realtor. Now there’s only one problem: who do you give your great service to?

Even though real estate is commonly referred to as a relationship business, it really is a transactional business in the sense that we generally only do one transaction at a time with each of our customers. Of course, there will be some repeat business, but this generally happens after several years, so whenever you have successfully performed your services, you need to find a new customer to help.

But where do you find your new customers? The answer is plain and simple – in your database! Yes, your database is your “book of business.” Your database is where future business comes from. Your database is also what you would sell, if you were to sell a successful real estate practice. Yes, you might have a computer, a website, a printer and whatever else is needed to conduct business, but the real value of your business is in your database.

If you currently don’t have a database, stop reading this article and start one NOW! How? There are many solutions out there to help you organize your database, but in reality, how you do it isn’t the important part; rather, it’s just doing it that really makes all the difference. Whether you keep your contacts in a database software, Excel spreadsheet or on the back of a napkin, make sure you keep them somewhere.

Start by putting in everybody you know, are currently working with and have worked with in the past.

Once you’re done inputting all your current contacts, make it a habit to systematically feed your database new information and work it. There are proven systems for lead generation and follow up which will help you feed and work your database, however these are well beyond the scope of this article. One way I feed my database is through my website.

Remember your database is your business. No database, no business!

Thomas Druck, P.A., is a broker associate with Keller Williams Realty in Miami. For questions on questions on how to start, grow and work your database, contact him at:
Phone: (305) 482-1688
Email: contact@SouthBeachCondoAgent.com
Website: http://www.SouthBeachCondoAgent.com