Top 5 CRM Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

Pitfall #5: "SOS" - Shiny Object Syndrome

• Being brutally honest... agents (myself included) can be one of the worst with "SOS" - Shiny Object Syndrome. Yes, I made that up but it's true. Did you know that in the Olympics judges award only 20% of the score towards being new, creative and original. 80% of the score is on the perfect execution of the fundamentals. For example, it would be cool to have some social media doo-dad but not at the cost of having a lame workflow with minimal automation. Don't judge a system by the shiniest newest objects but on how well it let's you execute the fundamentals at the highest level.

Pitfall #4: Automation Neanderthal

• Automation is the key to efficiency in your business. There are so many tasks that are the repetitive. These should be driven by action plans or some form of intelligent workflow automation. There are several key features to look out for. First is the ability to have one task dependent on another. This means the next task doe not get scheduled until the previous one is complete. For example, a task for having a photographer should be triggered after the home is staged not before. Second is the ability for one action plan to trigger another which allows for the ability for "Forever Follow-up". You never want your follow-up to drop-off and disappear. Follow-up is the key to conversion. Don't get sloppy and have a "dump" system that can't handle this. It will only cost you multiples of $10,000, if not $100,000 - OUCH!

Pitfall #3: Little to No Team Communication Ability

• Would you describe yourself as a "well-oiled machine"? If your answer is "no" then one of your problems is most likely related to communication within the team. The right technology will allow you to notify team members when certain things happen. You should be able to assign tasks to other team members. You should have a variety of roles available for the team and tasks should be assigned by ROLE not by name. This is very important when you are dealing with turnover within the team - and it WILL happen. Do you have the ability to alert yourself when task are complete or alert multiple team members when an activity or event occurs. Can you do this within the same screen in one click? These are the things that can eat up your time every day in in small pieces and it adds up to hours of your life without you realizing it until you find yourself exhausted and falling behind.

Pitfall #2: Understimating Tracking

• If you want to run your business... well, like a business, it's insane to not have the right tracking in your system. This is a pain that becomes stronger the more you grow. The more you realize what top achievers really do, how they track their business, the more painfully obvious it will become that you don't. This means that you are "flying blind" with your business. It is the most high risk and least effective ways of growing anything. Make sure you are aware of the tracking that is built into a system and be aware of what you need now and what you will need in the future. Large teams with the wrong system have admins spend 20 hours a week just on tracking their data. Don't make that mistake and get a system designed for growth and tracking.

Pitfall #1: Thinking Too Small

• If you're thinking about growing your business... BTW, if you're not growing you're dying when it comes to business. Realize that your CRM is the heart, the engine that will drive your business operations. Having a realistic budget is extremely important, however, if you're installing a pace-maker for your heart, "down and dirty" is not exactly what you want. Doesn't mean you have to get the most expensive, but realize that if you think too small and out-grow your system in a few years you will have great pains in switching your CRM and it WILL cost you in both time and effort ... and a piece of your sanity.