A well-utilized CRM is the backbone of an efficient, high-performing team. It’s one thing to have the latest tools and tech, but convincing your team to embrace it and be excited to use it is another ball game. Success starts with buy-in and getting your team excited about using a CRM is all about positioning it as a tool for them—not just the business. Show them the value, make it easy to use, and celebrate every step forward. With these strategies, your CRM will go from a “necessary evil” to the MVP of your team’s success.
Here are some steps to help you overcome resistance and get your team fully on board with using your CRM and seeing the vision of how it will benefit them.
Start with the Why: Show the Big Picture
People resist change when they don’t understand the “why” behind it. Begin by explaining how the CRM isn’t just another tool—it’s a game-changer for their productivity, lead conversion, and client relationships and be sure to ensure that you are explaining how it will benefit the individual agent, not the company as a whole. Personal benefits are much more motivating than being told to use something so that the company can make its goals.
Try this: Share success stories from other teams or agents who saw real results by using a CRM. Highlight how it can make their daily grind easier and more rewarding.
Choose or Optimize the Right CRM
If the CRM feels clunky or doesn’t align with your team’s workflow, resistance is inevitable. Make sure the platform you choose is intuitive, integrates seamlessly with existing tools, and offers mobile functionality for agents on the go. If you feel as though you are under-utilizing all that your CRM has to offer, as a trusted advisor to give you some guidance or overhaul your system for you.
Try this: Involve key team members in customizing the CRM. When they feel like they have a say in the process, they’re more likely to embrace the tool. If you need a second set of eyes on your system, we offer a free assessment of your account that can inform you of where to look to make improvements!
Make Training Practical, Regular, and Hands-On
Simply saying, “Here’s a new tool—go figure it out,” is a recipe for frustration. Provide clear, engaging training that demonstrates how to use the CRM in real-world scenarios. Training once isn’t going to be effective, ensure that you are regularly covering the various ways to use your CRM so that everyone stays fresh on the process.
Try this: Host live demos and walk through everyday tasks like adding a lead, setting reminders, or tagging contacts. Provide cheat sheets or short tutorial videos for quick reference and one place that houses all the CRM rules and training so that they are set up to help themselves should they get stuck on what to do.
Lead by Example
As a leader, your actions set the tone. If you’re actively using the CRM and showcasing its benefits, your team is more likely to follow suit. This will also help you discover challenges before they have a wide effect and discover new ways to identify the hottest leads within your CRM.
Try this: Regularly highlight wins that come from using the CRM. For instance, share how an automated follow-up helped you close a deal or how the database streamlined client outreach.
Gamify Adoption
Competition always spices things up and, for us real estate nerds, it seems to motivate a lot of us. Turn CRM adoption into a game by rewarding those who engage with the platform consistently.
Try this: Tie rewards to activities that drive results, such as completing tasks, updating contact info, or tracking follow-ups in the CRM. Offer prizes for milestones like “Most Contacts Added This Month” or “Fastest Lead Response Time.” Create a leaderboard to showcase top performers.
Address Resistance with Empathy
Some team members may feel intimidated or overwhelmed by the CRM. Instead of pushing harder, listen to their concerns and offer support.
Try this: Acknowledge the learning curve and celebrate small wins along the way. Building confidence will go a long way toward breaking down resistance. Schedule one-on-one sessions to troubleshoot challenges or answer questions as they may be reluctant to speak up in front of the group. Frame the CRM as a tool to support them, not replace them.
Make It a Habit
The best way to ensure CRM adoption is to integrate it into your team’s daily workflow. The more you talk about how to use it, how it works, and how it benefits the agent, the better. By creating universal rules and a CRM Handbook for your agents to follow, you will help them build a strong foundation of habits to use for prospecting to grow their business and yours!
Try this: Set non-negotiables, like logging every new lead into the CRM. When the system becomes part of the routine, it feels less like “extra work.” Encourage agents to start their day by checking tasks and leads in the CRM. Build CRM updates into team meetings and one-on-ones.
Evaluate and Adjust
CRM adoption isn’t a one-and-done effort. Regularly assess how the tool is being used and gather feedback from your team. If something isn’t working, tweak it or consult with those in the know to find a better solution.
Try this: Conduct quarterly “CRM tune-ups” to ensure the system is aligned with your team’s evolving needs and goals. This will help to remind everyone of the basics and ensure that bad habits aren’t having a chance to form, leaving you with clean, reliable data that you can trust to help you find the next person to help buy or sell a home.
The magic of the holiday season can also bring unique challenges, especially to our mental health. Many of us are already navigating the pressures of being leaders in this industry, and adding colder weather, shorter days, and holiday planning can tip the scales leaving us feeling anxious and stressed making it harder to enjoy time with our loved ones.
It’s especially important this time of year to be proactive about maintaining our mental wellness so that we can continue leading at work and showing up for our loved ones at home.
Here are some ideas to help you stay on top of your game this holiday season:
Look ahead for your seasonal stressors. Planning ahead can help you minimize rushing around and last-minute pressures. Take a look at your current transactions and holiday commitments and plan accordingly.
Prioritize movement and daylight. Taking a quick walk outdoors, even if it’s cold, and ensuring that you get some daylight each day will help you keep your mood on an even keel. If you struggle to find time outdoors or your climate doesn’t allow it, adding an inexpensive light therapy lamp to your desk may be a great tool!
Set healthy boundaries. Social obligations abound this time of year both personally and professionally and it’s easy to get excited and overcommit. Say no to the activities that drain you, limiting after-hours work emails and calls, and carving out downtime with loved ones without interruption will help you shore up those boundaries. These boundaries also include setting a budget to avoid overspending. Your 2025 bank account will thank you!
Lean into your routine. Real estate schedules can be unpredictable and, at times, chaotic so a consistent routine can work wonders. Establish set times for healthy meals, exercise, and sleep and stick to them to help you stabilize your energy levels and mood, making it easier to handle (waves hands) all the things.
Stay connected to avoid feelings of isolation. Attending community events like holiday markets or industry networking events, scheduling a coffee date with friends, or virtual visits with long-distance loved ones will help you engage and fill your cup!
Reflect on all the good the year has brought to you. Gratitude helps you shift your focus from perceived things that are missing to those that are abundant. Take a look back at the year as a whole and reflect on everything you are thankful for and all the positive things that happened.
Embrace rest. Sleep isn’t the only type of rest we need. Give yourself permission to pause, say no, or scale back on commitments that don’t make you feel great or align with your goals.
Seek professional support, if needed. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we need an outside perspective to give us a leg up. If you are feeling overwhelmed or stuck, seeking the guidance of a mental health professional is a sign of strength, not weakness. There are plenty of private, low-cost resources available to help you get through a challenging time.
Did November sneak up on anyone else, or just me? When you operate in this industry, time flies and it can be easy to get caught up IN your business, but there’s a crucial time to step back and work ON your business, and that time, my friends, has come again!
The end of the year is a time to reflect on the year’s accomplishments and map out our goals for the upcoming one. This preparation goes beyond just setting financial targets—it’s about positioning yourself strategically in an evolving market. Here’s why planning now for the new year is essential and how doing so will create momentum and clarity to carry you through January and beyond.
Anticipate Market Shifts and Trends Early
Interest rates, housing demands, and buyer expectations evolve constantly. By starting your goal-setting process now, you give yourself time to analyze potential changes and prepare for them, giving yourself an advantage over those who do not. Take the time to study emerging trends, forecast potential market demands, and identify where your focus should lie in the next 12 months and use that as your compass.
Reflect on What Worked this year…and What Didn’t
Effective planning begins with reflection. Look back at the strategies you used this year and ask: What were the high points? Where did you face challenges? Pinpointing what led to your successes, as well as areas where there is room for improvement, will give you clarity as you plan. Are there areas where you need to invest more time, learn new skills, or even bring in outside expertise? Now is the time to take inventory and make those adjustments.
Define Specific, Measurable Goals
Vague goals like “increase sales” or “grow the team” rarely lead to meaningful change. Break these objectives down into clear, measurable targets. Instead of just aiming for increased sales, identify the exact percentage of growth you want to achieve. Think about the specific types of clients you want to attract or the number of networking events you plan to attend each month. By creating clear, measurable goals, you’re more likely to stay focused and committed throughout the year.
Set Short-Term Milestones and Track Progress
Big goals can be daunting, but breaking them into smaller, actionable steps can make a significant difference. Divide your annual objectives into quarterly or monthly milestones, allowing you to track progress incrementally. If you aim to close a specific number of deals by year-end, set quarterly targets and determine what actions will help you reach those numbers. Tracking progress at each step not only keeps you motivated but also allows you to make adjustments, if necessary.
Allocate Time for Professional Development
A constantly shifting market demands that we stay updated with new skills and knowledge. Whether it’s learning about advanced marketing strategies, the latest in property technology, or ways to enhance client relationships, allocate time and resources for learning. Professional development can serve as an investment in your future, equipping you with the tools to tackle new challenges. Consider which skills or areas you’d like to improve on personally, as well as those you would like to see your team develop, and include these in your goal-setting plan.
Strengthen Your Support Network
A successful year is rarely a solo effort. Take the time to evaluate your network of partners, mentors, and collaborators. Identify people who can help you achieve your goals and consider new networking opportunities to expand your reach. Whether you focus on building stronger relationships with mortgage brokers, legal experts, or other agents, nurturing your network will increase your resource pool and open doors to new opportunities.
Maintain Flexibility in Your Strategy
While setting specific goals is essential, it’s equally important to be open to unexpected changes. The market could change quickly, and your strategy may need to evolve. By building flexibility into your planning, you’ll be better prepared to shift gears when necessary without losing sight of your overarching objectives.
Use Visualization to Inspire Success
Goal-setting isn’t just about outlining what needs to be done; it’s also about creating a vision of where you want to go. Visualize what success will look like at the end of the year. Imagine your team thriving, your clients satisfied, and your business growing. When the inevitable challenges arise, this mental picture can serve as a powerful motivator, reminding you of the bigger picture.
Data integrity isn’t just about managing a clean CRM—it’s about making better decisions, building stronger relationships, and staying competitive in a rapidly evolving market. By prioritizing your data’s accuracy, completeness, and reliability, you can confidently guide your real estate business in the right direction. Whether it’s for pricing a property, analyzing market trends, or tracking client interactions, having accurate and reliable data is crucial for leaders who want to make informed decisions. Yet, data integrity is often overlooked, leading to costly mistakes and missed opportunities.
Here’s how maintaining high data integrity can significantly impact your decision-making and ultimately your success:
Accurate Client Insights for Better Sales Strategies
A CRM filled with outdated or incorrect information can lead to ineffective client outreach and poor decision-making. Data accuracy ensures you have a clear view of client preferences, purchase histories, and interactions. This can improve targeting efforts and enable you to tailor your strategies based on reliable insights.
Improved Operational Efficiency
Whether you’re tracking listings, client requests, or marketing campaigns, a clean CRM system ensures seamless internal operations and communication, allowing many people to work on their part of a transaction, without duplicating efforts or frustrating the client with multiple requests for the same thing. When data is reliable, tasks can be automated more effectively, and team members can collaborate without worrying about misinformation.
Enhanced Client Trust
Clients rely on your expertise to guide them through critical transactions and when done successfully, you gain trust and clients for life. If they realize your recommendations are based on incorrect data, that trust will erode. By focusing on data integrity, you demonstrate professionalism and reliability, leading to stronger, long-term relationships with clients.
Accurate Forecasting and Planning
Predicting market shifts, client demands, and sales growth depends heavily on having consistent and accurate data. Data integrity plays a major role in forecasting because it provides the foundation for creating realistic, actionable plans. With faulty data, your predictions could be off, leading to ineffective strategies and financial losses.
The garbage in, garbage out saying is true in all cases, but especially so when it comes to putting information within your CRM. If you can’t rely on the information that is being put in your CRM, you can’t rely on the accuracy of reporting, insights, alerts, smart lists, or literally everything as my ten-year-old would say. Making consistent efforts to create and maintain data integrity within your organization will help you set yourself apart from the competition!
Here’s what data integrity should look like within your database.
Accurate Client Information Taking the time to collect the proper contact information, preferences, and communication history ensures that you are supplementing whatever your technology is auto-collecting from their activities. Having this allows you to ensure that you are staying timely with your services as well as personalizing the content and conversation wherever possible to build rapport, connection, and trust. Take notes and pay attention!
Efficient Transaction Management If your CRM reflects a transaction’s true status and all communications then everyone within your organization can collaborate to take action to ensure a high level of service and communication. Being able to rely on this information ensures that fewer balls get dropped and increases the chances your transaction makes it to closing.
Compliance with Regulations Data privacy and communication laws are something that should be taken seriously. If your CRM has a high level of data integrity, it helps you to stay compliant and protects sensitive client information from breaches.
Improved Decision-Making The more information you have about what your client wants, needs, and why, the better decisions you can make in advising them. Just as we rely on the data for market trends, MLS information, and property values to be correct, our own internal information needs to be accurate as well.
We hear about agent safety measures, but is this something that you have policies and guidance for within your organization?
If not, we’ve got you! Use our Safety Tips for Agents list as a guide to discuss ways with your agents to be more aware of their surroundings, be proactive about their safety, and arm them with exactly what to do should they find themselves in a place where they feel uncomfortable.
Above all, slow down and trust your instincts. No transaction, client request, or amount of money is worth your safety!
The August date is here for the NAR settlement changes and we will begin to see the real effects of what this has in store for our industry. We will finally have some actual facts to go with all the feelings circulating around this, which is exciting because the unknown will become known and navigating the new way forward will be that much easier.
One thing that happens whenever there is a shift in the industry is that agents tend to migrate toward organizations and teams that offer better systems, resources, technology, and tools. And since you’re a subscriber of our newsletter (and maybe even a client!) you are likely going to be the place agents are flocking to instead of from.
Having an onboarding checklist will help you to welcome these new agents to your team or brokerage in a smooth way, ensuring that they have the utmost confidence in you and your ability to lead them.
Save a copy of the attached document and personalize it to your organization. No, you cannot edit this one, silly! Then, add everything that you do when you onboard an agent – nothing is too small to add to this list. This allows you to ensure that everything you do for one agent is done for all so that there won’t be anything overlooked or forgotten.
A smooth onboarding is an initial key to a long relationship of success. By having a proven, repeatable process you will ensure that the onboarding experience is stress-free for both your new agent partner and yourself.
Are you interested in knowing what other teams use for their marketing and operational strategies? We learned of an amazing opportunity for you to find out and couldn’t wait to share it with you!
Tom Ferry and RealScout are conducting a large survey to uncover essential benchmarks for real estate teams. The research will shine a light on key operations and marketing answer considerations including:
Team Structure: How team leaders structure and compensate with staff, agents, and ISAs.
Customer Acquisition Channels/Costs: Where top teams acquire business and how much they spend on each channel.
Prospect Follow-Up: How top teams manage inbound leads, including routing and nurturing strategies.
They’re making the insights from this survey available to anyone who completes it, which is why so many organizations in real estate are sharing it with their communities.
Here’s how to participate and get your copy of the results:
If you are a team leader, use the link below to complete this survey to contribute your insights. Everyone who completes the survey will get a copy of the results!
If you are not a team leader, forward this email to yours and encourage them to participate!
Mark Twain said, “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first”. While this advice is evergreen, it’s especially important during the summer months to ensure that you are accomplishing what you need to and still have time for fun activities. Here are some things to consider as we refresh on this strategy:
🐸In the long run, this approach will help you overcome the fear of difficult tasks or stop procrastinating on them. This leads to a boost in productivity and a reduction in stress levels as you will feel more in control of your day.
🐸More challenging items require more effort, and if you leave them until the end of the day it is highly unlikely that you will be more motivated to complete them at the end of the day than the beginning. Decision fatigue is real, and knocking out your important work first will take less of a toll on you mentally throughout the day.
🐸In real estate it’s wise to leave time in your day for the almost guaranteed reactive items that come your way. If you have already completed the must-do or most challenging item, you will be in a much better mindset to tackle the whirlwind than if you are still trying to complete a project.
🐸Summer schedules, especially for those of us with school-age children, can often be challenging even though they are jam-packed with fun things. Different drop-off and pick-up times and weekly shifting schedules with camps or childcare often leave either us or people on our team feeling frazzled as a baseline. Knocking out your most challenging or important items first allows you to have more ease in the rest of the day knowing that the heavy lifting is done.
🐸Take a look at your work management system and while you are listing out everything you need to do during the day, begin to prioritize the most challenging and must-be-done-today items first. Knock those out very first thing and create a habit of doing this every day so that it carries you throughout the entire year.
🐸 More effort doesn’t always yield more results. Figuring out how to accomplish the work you need to do within working hours is important not only for your business but your mental health. Many of us believe that adding hours to our work week will help us accomplish more, but that will take a toll mentally, emotionally, and physically ultimately leading to lower production and other unwanted side effects. Rather than more hours, most of us just need a re-set to our approach to work and how we manage our time.
