How to Maintain an Effective Database

As both real estate manager and broker, I know the difficulties involved in finding the best way to keep a current, accurate database. Over the years, my firm attempted to have the brokers all use the same database. We thought this would give us a number of advantages over our competition. One advantage was a cleaner database. Also, we wanted to eliminate the “shark” aspect of brokerage firms by ensuring the same access to files for everyone. Brokers would know who was working on existing deals and avoid calling on another broker’s client.

However, brokers don’t operate this way. The many different database applications available, including Outlook, Access, Act and Goldmine, offer every agent the ability to manage their own database. Agents just don’t want to share their data. Neither do they want their prospects revealed to other agents in the office.

As a result, brokerage companies have a major dilemma: how to provide good data to their agents and the resultant costs of not providing this data. A mailer now costs, on average, about $1. If they are sent with inaccurate mailing addresses, the costs add up quickly. Each wrong address is one less opportunity to receive new business. Also, without a way to effectively update an existing database, the current database will quickly become outdated. But when a new database is purchased, how are the existing files updated without duplication?

Starboard may have found the answer. Recently, we purchased the Dunn and Bradstreet database for our market area. We also purchased monthly updates to keep the database updated with guaranteed 93% effectiveness. In addition, our agents have access to the updated files each month, so they can maintain their databases their own way. This keeps a clean database by which mailing campaigns can be created so our agents can control costs. At the same time, it gives agents accurate data with which they can update their databases.

We control the database for mailing functions; yet provide current, accurate data for cold calling. In doing so, we have effectively cut down on the waste of inaccurate mailing data and increased our chances for new business for our agents.