Power Presentations: Database Management

In the first paragraph of the first chapter of his book,Business at the Speed of Thought, Bill Gates delivers the following business prophecy: “How you gather, manage, and use information to serve your customers will determine whether you win or lose in your business in the future.”

Good morning. My name is Tim Braheem, and I’m the President of First Rate Financial Group, a mortgage brokerage company in Westlake Village, CA. It is my pleasure to be able to present to you this morning on the subject of database management. This is a subject I believe is very important to loan officers like myself, and to real estate agents as well.

I began with this quote from Mr. Gates because I believe it describes the philosophy of database management as concisely as any quote I’ve ever read on the subject. And let’s face it; this quote comes from a pretty credible source:Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft.

By a show of hands, how many of you actively manage a database? In another show of hands, how many of you would like to learn how to get started with database management, or would like to gain further knowledge beyond what you are currently doing with your database campaign. Raise your hands, please. Okay, great.

The first item to understand is that database management is not simply an electronic Rolodex. This is a common misunderstanding, and one of the most frequent problems I find when consulting with real estate partners and other loan officers. They view it purely as an electronic Rolodex and nothing more.

Database management, correctly handled, has the ability to be so much more. It is a way of doing business—a philosophy, a mindset. It’s relational thinking rather than transactional thinking. It’s a vertical relationship with a client rather than a horizontal one. It’s understanding what’s important to them, and marketing to their relative needs.

As loan executives and real estate agents, we often commit the cardinal sin in our business, which is closing the transaction with a client and immediately moving on to the next one. We have no plansfor cultivating the relationship for referrals and repeat business.

Raise your hand if something like this has ever happened to you. You’re at your local Starbucks, grabbing a cup of coffee before work, and you run smack into one of your past clients. You closed a transaction for this client two years ago. You reach out to shake hands and you say, “How’s your house, Bill?”He says, “We actually no longer live in that house you sold to us two years ago. About six months ago, we moved to another property about two miles away. But, you know, the house you sold us was great, and it’s great to see you. I’ve got to get to work. I’m running a little bit late. Take care.”

You’re walking back through the parking lot to your car. You’ve got your Venti soy triple Frapuccino with whipped cream and a strawberry, and you’re pissed! And you’re pissed for a good reason! Why did he go somewhere else? You did a great job for him two years ago. You’re mumbling to yourself all the way back to your car. You’re confused, shocked, and you can’t understand why he would do this.

How many of you have ever had this happen to you before? Come on. I’ve had it happen. We’ve all had it happen. There is a simple reason that it happened. Your client had a need, and you weren’t there to fulfill it. It’s just that simple.

The reason you weren’t there to fulfill it is that you didn’t stay in touch with that client. One of the key components to managing an effective database is knowing your clients’ needs by staying in touch with them on a regular basisand owning brain cells in their mind. So when it’s time to have that need fulfilled, it’s a no-brainer as to who they are going to have fill it: You.

Let’s go back to Bill Gates’ quote for a minute, and let’s break it down. The first part of it is gathering information. Write that down. The second part of database management is managing information, also known as reporting information. The third part is using this reported data to serve the relevant needs of your customer. Write this down: Stop assuming what your client’s definition of great customer service is. Ask them, and then give it to them.

Let’s start now with gathering information. What is gathering information? It’s asking a lot of intelligent questions, listening, and taking notes. The more you know about the relevant needs of your client, the better you can modify your service platform, and your presentation, to meet their needs.

As sales people, we often make the mistake of talking too much, and listening too little. We are constantly in sales mode. They don’t want to hear about you any more than you wanted me to come up here this morning and tell you all about my interest rates and the products and services that I provide. How bored would you be right now if that’s what I was doing?

Clients simply want us to solve our problems. That’s what our job is—to solve our client’s problems. The problem with a typical approach is that we are throwing darts at a dartboard. Sometimes we hit the bulls-eye, sometimes we hit the side of the wall, and sometimes we hit somebody right in the eye! Ask probing questions of your clients, know what their hot buttons are, and then you can meet their needs.

Here are some questions you should consider asking at the onset of a relationship with a prospective buyer. Please write these questions down, folks. I think if you write these questions down and incorporate them into what you do on a daily basis, you’ll find that magic will occur.

What is important to you about this purchase?

How important is the school system in your mind?

How long do you anticipate living at this particular location?

How can my team and I make this experience a “10” for you?

How old are your children?

Describe your previous experience of buying a home.

What questions do you have about the community in which you are thinking of purchasing your new home?

Does your spouse have different views than you do on the size of home and location?

What is most important to you when selecting a real estate agent?

Do you have a CPA that will be giving you tax advice?

We could get together and go over the reasons for each of these questions, though I think they are very self-explanatory. I’d like you to raise your hands if you agree with this statement: If you had asked every client of yours over the years these questions;if you had listened and taken notes, and modified your presentation to take into account their relevant needs, it would have had an impact not only on how they perceived you as a salesperson, but on the amount of referrals you would have received from then in the long run. Absolutely it would. We are just too busy selling.

If you would like an idea as to something to do with the responses to these questions, and would like to do some brainstorming with me on that, we can do that at another time over a cup of coffee. We’ll get one of those Frapuccino Venti soy things.

Let’s go on to the next set of questions. This is the set of questions I’d like to see you asking sellers when you are on that prospective listing appointment. You’ve presented a cost-market analysis, and gone over all the things you are going to do for them.

Do you have an opinion of the value of your home?

How did you arrive at this opinion?

Share with me your experience in working with a real estate agent in the past.

How can my team and I make this experience a “10” for you?

What is more important: getting top dollar for your house, or selling it quickly? If it’s selling quickly, define “quickly” for me.

Are you comfortable with me sharing ideas on how to improve the way the property shows to prospective buyers?

Does your spouse have a different view on any of these answers?

Share with me the features of your house that you like best, and that you think will have the greatest impact on its value. In this way, we can feature those aspects of your home to prospective buyers.

Are there times and days that you do not want the house to be shown, to ensure your privacy?

Do you have a CPA that you’ve talked with about the potential tax ramifications of selling your home?

These are just a sample, and I’m sure you can come up with better questions since you are doing this job every day.

If you knew the answers to all of these questions prior to selling yourself, would it not have a positive impact on your approach? You’d be able to modify your presentation to hit the bulls-eye at a high rate!

These items should be in your database under your client’s profile. This way, your team can refer to them throughout the process, and ensure your client’s needs are met and/or exceeded.

Additionally, you’ll be separating yourself from your competitors by showing that you care about what makes them happy in the first place! Believe me, when I pose questions like this to my clients, they are simply blown away that I would take the time to ask them what is important to them.

Let’s now address the key questions you should ask once this person is a client of yours. You’ve earned their trust, and they’ve decided to work with you and your team. The answers to these questions will ensure that you know the critical relevant needs in this particular individual’s life.

How old do you want to be when you retire?

Where does real estate fit into your long-term plan for overall investing?

What are your hobbies?

How old are your children? Do you plan to have any more?

Do you expect to have any significant changes in your employment structure in the next three to five years?

The reason we ask these questions may not be so obvious to you. Therefore we’ll address the relevancy of each question.

How old do you want to be when you retire?

If you know when they want to retire, then you know how likely it is that they will be downsizing in the future. You can set an alarm in your database to remind you to stay in touch with these people. That way you won’t run into them at Starbucks and feel like a jerk the entire time you’re walking to your car with your latte.

Where does real estate fit into your overall plan in terms of investment?

If they feel that real estate is a good investment, and they are more bullish on real estate versus to stocks or bonds, then you want to make sure you are educating them on investment property opportunities. Put them on a regular mailing list. If you have access to a seminar on investing in real estate, make sure they get an invitation to that. Expose them to the idea of buying a second home and investment properties through you, because these people can become multiple transaction people for you.

What are your hobbies?

One of the keys to marketing is buying brain cells. The more brain cells you own, the more referrals you will get, and the less likely you will have one of those infamous Starbucks encounters.

If you know that they like golf, for example, you can get them a subscription to Golf Digest for the holidays. If you know they like travel, you can get them a travel magazine. If you know they like cooking, you can email a recipe a couple of times a year to stay in touch. You can say that you saw this recipe and thought of them. Ask how they and their family are doing, and ask them to give you a call if there is anything they need. If their kids are their hobby, send them interesting articles about children. For example, you can send an article on herbal remedies for the cold and flu season, for children under the age of 15.

I’ve done these things on a continuous basis over the course of my tenure as a loan officer. This is why I’ve been able to build such an enormous database of referrals. There are a lot of people out there whose brain cells I’ve bought with the information I’ve gathered. I give them what is relevant and important to them.

How old are your children and do you expect to have more?

The reason for this question may be fairly obvious to some of you. However, if you haven’t figured it out, let me share it with you. Let’s say the client is buying a three-bedroom/ two-bathroom house. They have a four year old and a two year old, and they are planning to have perhaps one more. You better stay in close touch with these people, because the odds of them staying the same house for a long time are slim to none. Once the kids’ toys start meandering out into the halls and into the parents’ bedroom, they’ll be looking for a bigger home. You need to be there to fulfill that need.

“Do you expect to have any significant changes in your employment structure in the next three to five years?”

Raises in stock options equal larger homes. It’s just that simple. Retiring or moving to single income equals downsizing. It’s just that simple.If they tell you that they will be retiring in the next five years, it’s a pretty good chance they’ll be moving into a smaller home. If they tell you they will be starting their own company, they are expecting significant raises, or they are going to get stock options, the chances are they will be moving up. You want to be there to do those deals for them.

Once you’ve gathered this information on your clients, it’s time to do something with it. This is the second part of Gates’ quote: managing information. This is the aspect of database management that we know of as “reporting.”

There are too many business people I know who just gather information. They don’t do anything productive with it. Then they go and gather more information. They are basically professional information gatherers.

You need to be able to run reports on the profiles of your clients, and then use this feedback to fill their relevant needs by giving them exactly what they want. Write this down: Stop assuming that you know what your client’s definition of great customer service is. Ask them, and then give it to them!

One final thought: When you ask these questions, you’ll find that there are people out there who have unrealistic expectations of what they can have. You will sometimes determine that you cannot meet their needs. Wouldn’t you rather know that up front, rather than two-thirds of the way through a difficult transaction that you wish you weren’t involved in? By asking these questions up front, you’ll be able to profile the customer, and determine whether he is an ideal client for you.

I hope that you were able to get a few good ideas from our time here today. There are many other things to cover on the subject of database management, but covering them would take far more time than I’ve been allotted today. If you would like to spend some time together one on one to talk about this subject, we can get together for a cup of coffee and brainstorm some ideas that could help your business.

I hope you have a great day, and thank you for your attention and time.