Sean Carpenter directly addresses camera:  Do you take a blanket approach to contacting your database? If so, you're missing out on business. 

I'm Sean Carpenter from Columbus, Ohio. I've been a licensed real estate agent since 1998. In that time, I've been an agent, a branch manager and the agent development director for the Ohio NRT companies. Today I am the CEO and founder of Sean Speaks. Let's take five minutes to talk about your database. 

When you look down at your business from the 10,000-foot level, you'll see that just because someone is in your database doesn't mean that person is a hot lead. There are many levels of a successful real estate business.

If you understand these levels, you can build targeted campaigns and purposeful touches around each of those sections of business. Think about your database like a dartboard, with the outer ring being total strangers. As you get closer to the center, these are the people you spend more time with and have a much higher return on investment. 

Level one is your database. We define this as anyone you have contact information for.”  
This contact information could be in a CRM, an Excel spreadsheet or even in your phone. Of course, it shouldn't JUST be in your phone. What if you lose your phone? Agents will say, 'I have X-thousand contacts in my database' but it doesn't matter how many you have. You'll see why as we go through the levels.

Level two is where it starts getting important for agents. Level two is your 'sphere of influence.' This is defined as anyone who knows you and you know them. Everyone in your Sphere of Influence is in your database but not everyone in your database is part of your sphere of influence. After all, you may have the roster of parents from your kid's school or the members of your church in your database, but the only ones in your sphere of influence are the ones you know personally. If your database is comprised of 2,500 people, your sphere of influence may be about 500. 

A good rule of thumb is that these are people that you see in the grocery store and would say hi to. However, in my opinion, your ideal sphere of influence should be 217 people. Why? There are just a little over 332 million people in the US and there are a little more than 1.5 million members of the National Association of Realtors®. That's one Realtor for every 217 people in the United States. Odds are that people in your sphere know at least 5-10 other real estate professionals. If you stay top of mind with those 217 people, you can be the real estate agent of choice for them.

Level three are your clients. These people have done business with you in the past. This is one category that agents don't always track but they need to do so. If I ask you today, “How many clients do you have? Can you tell me,” Many agents might know how many transactions they closed. While that's an important metric to know as a business owner, real estate isn't simply about closed transactions, it's about the families we serve. Those old enough to remember the McDonalds sign used to say the number of hamburgers sold. Now the sign says, “Billions and Billions served.” Knowing how many transactions you've closed is great but knowing how many families you have served is a much better story to tell.

Finally, the last level is what I call 'the Bullseye.' This is the critical level for real estate agents. Very simply, these are people who want your success almost as much as you want it yourself. These are your biggest fans. 

You should have 20 people in your bullseye. Why 20? If you take a monthly calendar and cross out Saturdays and Sundays, you have about 20 business days. That means one person can be your primary focus each day. Reach out to them, talk to them, and engage. You're probably already talking to these people more than once a month but setting aside one day to make a personal touch is vital. This will earn that all-important top-of-mind awareness. 

If you start looking at your business through these four levels but begin each day in the center where your best relationships are, you're sure to be on target for a great career.