Real Estate Databases vs Real Estate Databanks (& Why You Only Want One of Them)

How can you leverage the Real Geeks system to turn your database into a data bank that consistently generates business for you?

That's the question Greg Harrelson, our friend and coach who owns one of the first Real Geeks websites ever created, was set to answer during our recent Mastermind Call.

In this article we break down the difference between what most agents have (a database), and what most agents want (a databank), and the steps you should take to build the latter.  

And if you want to learn from Greg first-hand who's doing over 1,000 transactions a year through the Real Geeks system, join his private coaching community at RGMastery.com, where he shares live all of the workflows and tactics he's using today. Membership is less than $200, and you can cancel at any time.

A Real Estate Database vs. A Real Estate Databank

"If you build a database correctly and you nurture it correctly, you should be getting consistent business out of it", says Greg, starting us off.

That's what he means by databank. An active set of leads that's consistently engaging with you and moving through different stages in the buying funnel, rather than a dead list of phones and email addresses.

"In a database, you put a bunch of phones and names in, and nothing comes out. In a databank, you nurture your list with value content, your leads see you as an authority, and they reach out to you."

Even if your leads don't reach out to you, you know you have a databank when they're open and responsive when you reach out to them. Because by that point, they're familiar with who you are as an agent. 

And if they're willing to buy or sell their property, they're willing to do it with you.

So, how do you achieve this? Let's find out.

Back to Basics: Building a Database the Right Way

A lot of agents, when they start out with the Real Geeks system, will worry and say that they don't have a database yet. Greg disagrees.

"All of us have a database. Your database might just be your phone right now."

Many agents don't know this, but you can actually go into your phone's app store and find an app that will export your contacts. 

Within seconds, for less than 99 cents (a simple exporting app generally won't be more expensive than this) you can have a .csv file of all the contacts on your phone.

You can then check that file, complete the missing data, and you'll have a clean spreadsheet, full of potential leads. That is your starting database that you can upload to Real Geeks.

There are many other ways to build a database. When you call FSBOs for example, even if they're not ready to work with you, you can offer to keep them up to date on market trends.

"As you know, the slightest market change can have a significant impact on the price of your property. What's your best email, I'll keep you updated on these changes?"

Then, you put them on a Market Activity Report and you start nurturing them with value, because it's keeping them updated as to how their real estate investments are doing.

Now these people in your database become valuable as well. And that's the key difference between a database and a databank. 

Open houses, circle prospecting, these are also some ways for you to build up your database.

The real challenge is turning them into an active databank that consistently works in your favor.

Turning Your Database into a Real Estate Databank

In the past, we used to have campaigns of 26 touchpoints in a year for the people of our database.

But today, with so many players in the game (and so many huge players like Zillow or Realtor.com), this doesn't make sense anymore.

No. If you look at what the big players are doing, they're touching their leads at least 40 times in a year.

"There's a lot we can learn from these big companies by being a lead in their database. These businesses are spending millions of dollars on marketing and they're A/B testing everything – so what they're sending their leads works." advises Greg.

So what are Zillow and Realtor.com doing?

Number of Touchpoints

Well, as we said, the first thing they're doing is touching their leads more. Greg's touchplan is around 70 touches in a year.

And you can get to that number pretty quickly. A Market Activity Report sent once a month is 12 touches, a HomeBot report is another 12 touches. And those are more generic campaigns. 

If you go to your Real Geeks CRM and look at all the people who don't have a Saved Search (as in, they're not getting any notifications when listings come on the market that fit their criteria), this means they're not getting any touches from you in a year.

Compare that to Zillow. Zillow would be touching this buyer at least 40 times in the same year.

You may not like these big players, but let's face it. Consumers do. 

These players are big players not just because they're building their databases, but because they're nurturing them effectively and driving their leads to come back to them consistently. 

Give Them a Reason to Engage

One of Greg's new workflows is a page on his website that pulls the Top 10 New Listings in the Myrtle Beach market. And he sends out a text with that page saying: "Hey Lisa! Not sure if you saw the new home that hit the neighborhood just now, I made a link for you so you could quickly scan it: [link]".

That simple workflow has insane engagement, and almost zero opt outs.

Why? Because his leads feel like this was made for them.

Your leads will see short, targeted texts like this as extremely valuable, because they feel like they're coming from a friend doing them a favor, rather than an automated campaign blasting out to hundreds of people.

Greg states that these simple campaigns generally get a much lower unsubscribe rate.

"And I know, because I have sent out campaigns in the past that did get a huge unsubscribe rate," he says.

And if you do get a high unsubscribe rate, use it as feedback. Your leads are speaking to you, and they're letting you know that campaign was not compelling enough for them to engage. 

Three Types of Nurturing

It's hard to deliver value that's compelling and relevant if your workflows span over the course of months. 

That's why Greg's workflows nowadays are 2 days long, and are typically made up of an email and one or two SMS texts shortly after.

This type of nurturing generally encourages your leads to click on a link, whether it's a Market Activity Report, an MLS, or a new property page on his site. And they're generally quite conversational and targeted, and when a lead answers, it will trigger a very manual conversation.

Besides this very personal touchpoint, Greg still has the standard campaigns that go out every month, whether it's sending his leads a Sold Report, or a video of him going over the changes that occurred within a specific market every single month (in his case, Myrtle Beach, NC).

And then you have the time-bound, extremely relevant email blasts that are triggered by a specific event. For example, in most markets you have to pay property taxes. In Myrtle Beach, this happens in November. 

So every October he sends out an email that says: "Hey, your property taxes are going to hit your mailbox pretty soon. If you feel like your property taxes have increased more than the value of your property, click here.". 

He then shares a link of the tax assessor's office in their county, so that they can appeal their Tax Assess Value.

"Funny story – I did this one year and I posted the assessor's contact information, and within a week someone from the office called me telling me if they were getting bombarded with appeals, so they asked me to add a note to my email to hopefully reduce the number of incoming calls," shares Greg.

That's how valuable those emails were to his leads. 

Closing Thoughts

Annual reports, Top 10 Listings, Insurance emails, Tax Assessment emails, all of these are great ways to nurture your database and generate value.

This is what gets your leads engaged and builds your authority, so that if you call them with a transaction in mind, they're more than willing to work with you.

That's the definition of a databank. 

So continue testing these touchpoints, and always default to those where you receive the highest Click Through or Response Rate. Learn a thing or two by joining the big players' email lists, and always give your leads a reason to engage.

To your success, agent!