If you read an article I wrote for Realty Times a
while ago, that will get you started. It's at
http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/20030103_contactmgr.htm
When you're done with your categories, they should
look something like this:
Buyer – Active
Buyer – Past
Buyer – Pending
Buyer – Prospect
Seller – Active
Seller – Past
Seller – Pending
Seller – Prospect
Closed/Settled 2006
Church/Synagogue, etc.
E-mail, has
E-mail Only
Expired
Friend
FSBO
Golf Partner
Investor
Neighbor
Preferred Vendor
Relative
SOI
Tenant
Once you've done this, you want to select any
category that will be included in your Sphere of Influence (which would be
most of the above), and create a "Group" called "Sphere of Influence".
Click on Tools, Group, Search by example,
Categories (then select all the categories that will be in your "Sphere of
Influence" group, and click on OK).
Then click on Begin (in 'Group Name', key in
"Sphere of Influence"), then - Contact must be "one" of the specified
categories, check the box that says "Save Group Definition", then OK.
This will do a search finding all the contacts in
all those categories, and save that search as a group called "Sphere of
Influence".
The next time you want to gather your sphere for a
mailing, just click on Tools, Group, Saved Group, Sphere of Influence, Begin
Query. From then on, anyone you add to any of those categories, will be
automatically added to your group "Sphere of Influence".
To do your mailing, simply gather your group as
above, then click on Write, and choose from Letter/Form Letter/E-mail/Form
E-mail/Labels (or any of the other choices), and print/send.
If you are sending many e-mails at once, note that
you may be restricted by your ISP as to the number of e-mails you can send at
once. Also note that AO uses Outlook/Outlook Express to send those e-mails.
If you are using a version of AO prior to 8.5,
Microsoft has a box that comes up asking for permission to access the Address
Book. It will ask that for each e-mail.
To defeat that nagging box, you will need to
download a free software tool called "Express Click Yes" at
http://www.webattack.com/get/clickyes.html
, which will automatically click on that access box for you.
If you are using 8.5 or later, you can defeat that
issue by going into Tools, Setup Options, E-mail Settings, and click on
'Enable Enhanced E-mail'.
The next thing to deal with is people that are not
potential or past clients/customers. I suggest putting them in "Other". That
pick list would look something like this:
Accountant, Ancillary Services, Appraiser,
Attorney, Banker, Buyer’s Parents, Carpenter, Carpet Cleaner, Co-op Agent,
Electrician, Exterminator, General Contractor, Home Inspector, Landscaper,
Lead Testing, Lead Remediation, Maid Service, Mortgage Broker, Municipal
Authority, Plumber, Radon Testing, Radon Remediation, Seller’s Parents, Septic
Remediation, Septic Testing, Tech Support, Termite Testing, Termite, Title,
Water Potability.
Although I went into a lot of detail here, there
is more to consider when you are organizing your contact database for a good
long-term solution. There is a good deal to discuss with regards to the
overall and detailed concept of how to "Categorize" your contacts, such that
they are easy to find and separate for any kind of mailing or prospecting you
want to do. I typically spend about 2 hours on this in my
Agent Office classes.
