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I understand that as a new agent I'm expected to make a list of everyone I know and start sending them emails/actual mail letting them know I am now an agent. The company/my broker I work with has a contact system through their website I'm supposed to enter emails in of people I know. I'm really uncomfortable doing that is the thing. I can make a facebook page and let my friends and family on facebook know I'm an agent can't I? I also plan to leave business cards at local businesses,get magnet signs for my vehicle, and set do raffles at local events. Is it aabsolutely necessary to do that list through my brokers website or is it ok if I say no thanks?
I understand that as a new agent I'm expected to make a list of everyone I know and start sending them emails/actual mail letting them know I am now an agent. The company/my broker I work with has a contact system through their website I'm supposed to enter emails in of people I know. I'm really uncomfortable doing that is the thing. I can make a facebook page and let my friends and family on facebook know I'm an agent can't I? I also plan to leave business cards at local businesses,get magnet signs for my vehicle, and set do raffles at local events. Is it aabsolutely necessary to do that list through my brokers website or is it ok if I say no thanks?
It's a contact management system. They offer it to you because they know it's important that you have one. Experience tells us that most new agents don't have an organized system for tracking prospects, including their sphere of influence, and therefore don't engage in the activities that will bring them business. If you have a system, good for you. So long as you engage with people and market your business, they're not going to force the issue of using their system. Use whatever system you want.
Who owns the information once you load it into their contact system? Even though I pay for a similar system with my bank, once I enter my prior customer database into my bank's contact management program, the bank "owns" that contact. By my employment agreement, I agree to not contact bank contacts before a one year period after my departure.
For that reason, my newlsetters will always be homegrown and filled with information I would want to receive, not with advice on cleaning out a closet and a format going out to 1000's by every loan officer subscribing to the service. It may not be slick and polished, but I am the only one in my office that receives regular requests to be added to my distribution list.
Whether canned or not, make sure the content is something you, yourself, would want. If not, as someone hinted, you may find yourself with fewer friends.
The only thing I send out to family and friends is a monthly update on the real estate trends (price sq ft, # of sales, inventory, etc). Most people, even if not planning to sell anytime soon, love to see that information. Only 2 have opted out. I do keep a contact database for the rest, but I don't do canned email because it seems to impersonal to me. I reach out and discuss items that I know interest them.
Thank you for your replies! I really appreciate it. : ) I would hope no one would stop being my friend over it lol, but I just don't think I'm comfortable with giving out a bunch of peoples emails.
Thank you for your replies! I really appreciate it. : ) I would hope no one would stop being my friend over it lol, but I just don't think I'm comfortable with giving out a bunch of peoples emails.
Would you really be "giving out a bunch of people's emails", any more that you would be giving them to Google when you use gmail, or to Microsoft if you use Outlook?? My company offers an online contact management system as well, because it's easy, convenient, free of charge, and available on any computer at which I can access the internet. They never send anything out to any of my contacts, & they don't distribute, use, or even access, any of the info I put there. Do they have that ability, from a technological standpoint? Sure. But then, any cloud storage option comes with that particular worry, and I'm more trusting of my brokerage company than I am of any of those cyber storage companies.
I wouldn’t consider it to be like using an email providor. I would consider it as handing over my contact database to my employer, who as Broker, then owns it. In real estate, your Broker today is your competitor tomorrow.
Some employers are requiring prospective employees to turn over their facebook password. Truly.
When it’s Creepy, Just say No.
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Just say "no"...thanks
