In Greg Harrelson's latest coaching call with our Real Geeks community, he covered one of the most on-demand topics in our industry: real estate workflows.
Specifically, how the workflow game has changed in 2024, and what you need to do to make sure you're at the forefront of these changes.
Because one thing's for certain: deliverability and engagement are both at an all-time low.
Today, we share with you the key insights from this call so you can action these workflow changes right away, and continue making the most out of your database.
And if you're ready to take the next step and discover the secrets behind Greg's system to generate over 500+ organic leads every single month with Real Geeks, join his private coaching community, RGMastery.com, for less than $200 a month and no contract. This includes Greg's exact workflows, as well as the specific SEO techniques his team utilizes every single month.
Within the Real Geeks community, Greg has seen it all.
Agents who are getting 60+% engagement in their workflows, and agents who are complaining that they can barely get 5%.
What sets these two professionals apart? They're basically taking an opposite approach when it comes to workflows.
Fundamentally, the approach that agents with unsuccessful workflows are taking is the same approach Greg used to take 10 years ago – only back then, it worked.
"I used to pride myself in creating these massive campaigns that went on for years," he shares.
One of these campaigns Greg had was the Adoptive Buyer Program, where after he'd listed and sold a property, he would engage with the buyer of that property after they had settled into that home for a couple of months.
His first message would be something like: "Hey, just so you know, I still maintain a relationship with the seller of this property, if you need information about the house and you think it would be helpful to speak to the owner."
The buyers would be so thankful that Greg would add them to his database and run a 5-year workflow on them.
The hope was that their buyer agent would eventually drop the ball (which they usually did post-closing), and through delivering value to them, they would choose Greg for their next transaction.
It was an extremely successful workflow for Greg, that generated millions of dollars.
And there's no way he would use it today.
"Forget about 5 years – I don't even build 5-step sequences anymore!" says Greg.
The rules for workflows have changed. The "set it and forget it" campaigns of the past that went out to everyone and span over months and years are no longer effective.
People's attention thresholds are shorter than ever, and they have no patience for generic sales emails.
Long campaigns won't get opened because they're generic, and they won't get replied to because they won't stay relevant. This will cause your deliverability to suffer, and you will lose access to your own leads.
So what should you do? Take the opposite approach, and do the three things that agents with extremely successful workflows are doing:
Let's explore each of these in more detail.
Workflows should be, at most, three steps long to be effective right now.
Greg's favorite structures are:
"That's the type of campaign that will get you 50, 60, and even 65% engagement rate," says Greg.
An example of these campaigns would be:
Step 1 – Email: Hey John, here's a listing I think you might like [link]. What do you think of the kitchen?
Step 2 – Text: Hey John, I sent you a new listing to look at the other day via email, did you happen to see it?
Sometimes you don't even need Step 1, because you're already sending everyone listings when they come into the MLS.
And the wording "the other day" is ideal, because it doesn't specify an actual time, so it feels even more conversational.
And that's the key. This short workflow doesn't feel pushy or salesy at all. You're not asking them for a call. You're not asking them if they're still looking.
You're simply sending them something that you think could be of interest to them.
Now, say they don't answer in the next 2hs. You could add a third step.
Step 3 – Text: Hey, just wanted to make sure my text was coming through. Is this John?
They'll usually answer this. If they say "Yes, this is John", you can then manually text them: "No worries, just wanted to text you a property you might like: [link]".
These simple, short, value-driven emails and texts will get you a much higher engagement rate than the long salesy ones most of us are used to sending.
We can't do one-size-fits-all workflows anymore.
To make sure your campaigns are truly targeted, you have to use Advanced Search Filters in Real Geeks.
This tool allows you to truly segment your database, and create and action workflows that are much more relevant to each individual lead (and therefore, have a higher engagement rate!).
For example, you probably have a segment of your audience who are Property Owners, who you have set up on a Market Activity Report, right?
Well, if you do, you can set an Advanced Search Filter to only show you people who have viewed a Market Activity Report in the last 60 days, but with whom you haven't logged any communication with.
Once you have that as a filter, you can create a specific workflow that speaks to that audience.
This should also be a short, 2 or 3 step workflow for potential sellers who are actively viewing Market Activity Reports.
On the other hand, you can have an Advanced Search Filter for all the property owners who are not viewing your Market Activity Reports, and set a specific workflow for them.
This one can be even shorter. Just one text:
Step 1 – Text: Hey Steve, I just sent you an updated Market Activity Report for your neighborhood. I just want to make sure that's going through, did you get it?
That one text will not only trigger a response, but it will get them to open the email with your Market Activity Report, which will trigger a new campaign.
And you can do the same with buyers. You can set an Advanced Search Filter for potential buyers who have favorited a property on your website in the last 30 days, but with whom you have no communication logged in that time.
These segments give you a much more precise idea on how to write your campaigns. And this, in turn, makes them way more effective at getting people to engage with you and take action, because they feel more targeted and conversational.
Lastly, your workflows need to vary.
Here's what Greg means by this: if you have 6 or 8 Advanced Search Filters, they should continuously increase and decrease in size, because people will be going in and out of them.
If we take the example of the buyers who have favorited a property, let's say that they answer your text asking them if they want to check it out.
They would move from: Potential Buyer who has Favorited a Property in the last 30 days, with no logged communication in the last 30 days.
Or: Potential Buyer in Dreaming Phase (looking at properties everywhere).
So you should actually have 10 to 15 Advanced Search Filters at any given time, and every morning when you log into your CRM, you will see people moving from one filter to the next.
If all of this sounds like a lot of work – it isn't.
A lot of work would be figuring out how you can have a workflow that would last for two years and stay relevant (which, spoiler alert: it wouldn't).
Setting all of these Advanced Search Filters and small campaigns will take you a couple of days, yes, but once they're set, you'll be actively interacting with your database in a much more targeted way, and you'll see the results that come with those interactions.
It might mean a bit more manual work once they reply to you, but you want that. Because once it moves into a conversation, that's when it becomes an actual opportunity for a transaction.
So go to your Real Geeks platform and check out all the free tutorials on Advanced Search Filters and workflows, or join RGMastery.com and copy in real time what Greg is building, and start automating your practice the right way.
Automation shouldn't replace manual work, it should optimize it. By following these 3 rules of workflows, you'll guarantee that you're only engaging with people once they're closer to a transaction, and in the meantime, your CRM is helping you move them towards that stage.