We often get asked about the best way to organize your contacts.  Why does it matter?  Because whether you have a list of 100 or 10,000 contacts, it becomes hard to manage and prioritize which contacts to reach out to.  The key is to categorize the contacts so that you can have a quick and easy way to remember who to reach out to and keep top of mind.  When you don't categorize your contacts, you may let your best leads slip through the cracks......


Here are some best practices to categorize your contacts.  As you edit your contact, you will see the different ways to categorize your contacts:

  • Referral Source: Use it as a way to identify and track your leads of where they are coming from.  Over time, you will realize that the best leads that have converted to clients are referrals.
  • Buyer/Seller:  Pretty simple.  Identify whether they are a buyer or seller or both.  If you want to add more values into the list, click on Manage Items and add your own list.
  • Relationship Status:  By default, you will see Hot, Warm and Cold.  You may add your own list like A, B or C.  As you categorize your contacts with the Cold, Warm or Hot, Sparky will remind you to reach out to your contacts so that you don't miss any opportunities!
    • Hot is a lead that will close within 90 days.  You will want to keep in touch on a weekly basis.
    • Warm is a lead that will close within 3 to 6 months.  You should connect with them at least once a month.
    • Cold is a lead that will not close anytime soon but you should connect with them at least once a quarter.  
  • Spheres: This is a way to define your relationship with your contact.  Because this is a multi-select field, your contact can be a Friends & Family and a Lead at the same time.  This is handy to categorize your relationship with your contacts - vendors, fellow agents, leads and clients.
  • Groups:  Along with the Spheres, you can tag your contact into groups.  Some examples might be to tag who gets a Christmas card vs Hannukah cards rather than the generic holiday cards.  Other examples include the Pumpkin Giveaway list or the PTA list.  What groups are you associated with that you want to identify your list?




There are no wrong way or one way to categorize your contacts but it is important to categorize your contacts because it will help you to reach out to your contacts in a methodical way.


PS.  You can use Sparky to update and categorize your contacts over time.  Just let Sparky know what groups or categories your contact should be in!