Tucson By Choice!

It's Not Who's In Your Database. It's What You Do For Them That Makes You Stand Out.

Just when I get my DB cleaned up, clients go and change relationships on me!Databases are for relationships.  My relationship with my client.  My clients' relationships with each other. 

And just when I get my database cleaned up the way I like it, people go and change things on me! 

With my old database, I had to manually  create the new relationship record, and then delete the old record.

With my Send Out Cards database, I can marry the two records with a single click!

Too cool!  And my Upcoming Reminders tell me when to send the happy couple an anniversary card.

What could be easier? 

It's not who's in your database, it's what you do for them that keeps you in their mind when they think about the service you offer.  I appreciate you thinking about me, so here's my gift to you:

Somebody you know needs to receive a card from you right now.  (I'll pay for the card and the postage.)  Click on this link, turn up your speakers, and my friend Kody Bateman will talk you through the process.  It's fun, it's free, it takes about 10 minutes, and the best part?  The person you're thinking of will receive a real card (not an e-card, so you need to know their street address,) a card that he or she can hold in their hand.  You know what will happen then? 
The card you send will make them think of you with a smile!

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, AZ Mortgage lender.
Mike Jones (Tucson Mortgage Company, LLC): Loan Officer in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona
Think of me as your Tucson mortgage expert. 
Subscribe to my blog!

Other posts in this database series:

10 comments • Mike Jones • November 03 2008 10:13PM

Jumpstart Your Database: From Zero to 100 Contacts in a Week

This is Part II of a series of posts that makes this assertion:  Your Database (& What You Do With It) Is the Glue That Holds Your Social Network Together."   It's your most valuable resource.

What if you haven't developed a database?  What if you're a newbie in the real estate, lending or other sales-based profession?  Some Rainers commented on Part I that they have cultivated a valuable database of contacts for more than a quarter century.  What if that's not you?

How many people do you know?  If you sit down tomorrow with a legal pad and start listing those people, how many pages can you fill?  Most people say "not many."  When I've asked this question in seminars (in increments of 10) most answer "fewer than 30."

It's no so!  You know at least 100 people, and probably have access to at least 200.  It's not that you haven't met them and talked with them.  It's that you can't recall who they are.

Send out cards linksLet me share a cheat sheet from my primary database (Send Out Cards) to help you compile a list of at least 100 people you know over the next seven days.  It's called a Memory Jogger.  This simple tool will allow you to recall the people you already know. 

This doesn't have to take 7 days, but don't try to do it in a marathon.  Use an Excel spreadsheet to record First Name, Last Name, Birthday, Mailing Address, Relationship to you, and (very important) who forms the "triangle of trust" with each person.

Send Out Cards Memory Jogger

To this list, I'd suggest that you add the Active Rain contacts in your town or city.  Some will be your competitors.  It doesn't matter.  Put them down.

The next step?  What to do with them, and why you want a "portable" list that you can put on your thumb drive...

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.
Mike Jones (Tucson Mortgage Company, LLC): Loan Officer in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona
Think of me as your Tucson mortgage expert. 
Subscribe to my blog.

28 comments • Mike Jones • November 01 2008 09:27PM

The Glue That Holds Your Social Network Together? It's Not Your Blog; It's Your Database, and What You Do With It.

President Clinton & my web designer, Donte' OrmsbyA Xerox sales executive stopped in unannounced yesterday.  I'm not in the market, but I offered him a cold bottle of water and my sympathy.  Anyone trying to sell capital equipment to mortgage brokers in this market deserves some sympathy.

I rarely turn away someone who's trying to sell me something.  Successful salespeople in any industry--yours included--know a lot of people.  I try to remember that it's not about me.  It's about them.  It's about who they know that I'd like to know.

Case in point is the young fellow on the right.  Donte' Ormsby (12 years later) is my web designer.  Whoa!  That photo was taken in the Rose Garden, and you know the guy on the left.

Turns out the Xerox guy is a REALTOR as well, newly licensed just a year ago.  Auspicious!  I turned the conversation to the subject of that most precious of business tools--his database.  He has two, and neither of them belong to him in the sense that he could walk away from either job tomorrow and not miss a beat, database-wise.  (By the time he left, he was converted to my "database for keepers," and it's not my Loan Origination system--Calyx/Point.)

I'll be blogging about database protocol for the coming week or so, because it's the difference between successful people who are still earning a living in real estate and lending, and the rest who should have taken database protocol more seriously five years ago. 

The really good news?  It's never to late to start a good habit.  Stay tuned.

Better yet, subscribe to my blog and click the RSS feed!

I'm Mike in Tucson, your preferred Tucson, Arizona mortgage lender.
Mike Jones (Tucson Mortgage Company, LLC): Loan Officer in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona
Think of me as your Tucson mortgage expert. 
Subscribe to my blog.

 Other posts in this series:

23 comments • Mike Jones • October 31 2008 12:57AM