Key Takeaways

After going through this guide, you will be equipped with the knowledge of using TotalBrokerage efficiently and effectively. From managing your transactions to marketing your business and expanding your team, you will gain a solid understanding of all the key features. Toward the end of this guide, you will find a list of key terms with definitions that will be helpful when using TotalBrokerage.

This guide is here to serve as a reference, and you can always revisit it in case you need to refresh your memory or learn something new. We highly encourage scheduling training with our team or joining our webinar sessions to improve your skills even further.

We hope that this guide will be helpful to you and your team. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. Thank you in advance for reading our success guide and choosing TotalBrokerage to help you manage your business.

Training Roadmap

To become an expert at using TotalBrokerage, we strongly suggest scheduling and completing training sessions with our Onboarding Specialists. We understand that running a brokerage can be demanding and time-consuming, so we’ve tailored our training program to be flexible and efficient, fitting seamlessly with your schedule.

Setup: During this initial training session, we go over all configuration settings in TotalBrokerage and other features that can be set up. We suggest doing this first training before attempting to set up anything in TotalBrokerage so you can better understand how all the features work together.

CRM & Marketing: During this training session, we go over the CRM, Marketing, and Lead Routing features.

Transactions: During the last training session, we go over transactions, including documents, signature requests, sharing documents, compliance, and much more.

Below is a list of our Brokerage Essentials. To keep track of your setup progress, we find it helpful to check each box after completing its corresponding task.

▢ Upload Logo

▢ Setup Commission & Fee Plans

▢ Create Transaction Checklists

▢ Set Brokerage Permissions

▢ Upload Transaction Forms

▢ Create Wizard Questions

▢ Create HR Agent Onboarding

▢ Add Agent Account

Applications Used for Training

Product	Description
Asana	A project planning software used to track your onboarding process and communicate with the Success team.
Calendly	An online calendar used to schedule your training with the Success team.

To sharpen your TotalBrokerage skills, take advantage of our free live training classes. These comprehensive trainings will provide a step-by-step walkthrough on navigating TotalBrokerage for you and your agents. Why wait? Let’s get something in the books! Schedule your trainings by clicking here or using the following link: https://calendly.com/totalbrokerage-success.

Are you a self-learner? No worries, we have something for you. Check out our help desk articles which will walk you through every step of the process with photos and videos to follow along. Access these helpful resources by clicking here or using the following link: https://support.totalbrokerage.com/support/home.

Webinars:

Our Success Team is committed to providing you with the training and support you need to succeed with TotalBrokerage. Our expert instructors will lead in-depth sessions on various features and functions of the platform, as well as share best practices and answer your questions. Don't miss out on this opportunity to improve your skills and knowledge with TotalBrokerage.

Interested in learning more about our webinars? Click here or use the following link: https://support.totalbrokerage.com/a/solutions/articles/44002393086

If you're unable to join us for the live session, don't worry. A recording of the webinar will be sent to you at the email address you provided upon registration.

Best Practices

Welcome to our guide's best practices section for TotalBrokerage, the all-in-one solution for brokerage management. This section will provide a comprehensive set of guidelines for effectively utilizing TotalBrokerage's many features, including CRM, marketing, transaction management, and HR. From storing and organizing customer data to creating transactions, executing effective marketing campaigns, and onboarding new agents, these best practices will help you to streamline your workflow and make the most of TotalBrokerage's capabilities.

Our team has spent countless hours analyzing and testing different methods to bring you these recommendations, designed to help you achieve maximum efficiency and productivity while saving you valuable time so that you can focus on growing your business.

By implementing these best practices, you will unlock the full potential of TotalBrokerage and revolutionize your brokerage management process. Whether you are a seasoned professional or just starting, these guidelines will be invaluable in helping you achieve success and reach your goals.

We're thrilled to share these best practices with you! Get ready to experience the full power of TotalBrokerage and take your brokerage to the next level. Let's get started!

CRM

To ensure a smooth and successful import of contacts into your TotalBrokerage CRM, it is essential to confirm that the file being uploaded is in the CSV format. This will prevent any potential issues and ensure the data is properly imported. Please note that TotalBrokerage only allows for the CSV file format to be imported into the CRM. Any other file format is not compatible with the system.

Before importing your contacts, conducting a thorough review of the CSV file before uploading is vital. We recommend checking for the following:

Verify that the first row of the file contains the appropriate column titles, such as First Name, Last Name, Cell Phone, Email, etc.
Ensure that there are no duplicate contacts in the file and that each contact is located on a single row.

To ensure that your CSV file is formatted correctly and free of any errors, we recommend conducting a test import of a small batch of contacts before importing your entire list. Doing this will allow you to identify and address any issues beforehand.

TotalBrokerage provides the ability to attach tags to contacts at the time of import. To enhance your future workflow and improve organization, we recommend attaching a date tag to contacts during the import process. Doing this will allow for tracking when the contacts were uploaded and facilitate when searching, sending mass emails, or deleting contacts by a specific tag.

The activity tab of a contact enables you to add notes and alerts to agents simultaneously. This feature facilitates communication and coordination between you and the agents and keeps an organized record of all notes and activities related to a contact in one central location. This functionality is essential for managing customer relationships and ensuring efficient communication within your team.

When creating transactions within TotalBrokerage, it is recommended to create them from within a contact's profile by utilizing the 'Actions' button. This approach saves time and eliminates the need for manually adding the contact to the transaction, providing an efficient and streamlined process.

MARKETING

For your convenience, we've made pre-designed templates available to you as a foundation when crafting marketing templates. These are a great way to save time and effort, rather than starting from scratch and creating a template entirely on your own.

When creating a marketing template from scratch, it is recommended to utilize the Basic view as it is generally more simplified than the Enhanced view. Using pre-loaded templates can also be helpful as a starting point, saving time and effort when creating templates.

For more advanced users, TotalBrokerage also allows you to use custom HTML code for a marketing template. Doing this allows you to easily import templates created in other software, giving you more flexibility and control over your marketing campaigns.

To streamline creating and sending marketing templates, we have included a convenient insert button within the template editor. This button allows you to easily insert placeholders and tags that automatically import essential information such as transaction details, contact information, and sender information. This feature is handy for sending templates to multiple contacts, as the system automatically pulls and replaces the appropriate information for each recipient. For example, to include a contact's first name in your template, you would use the tag [CONTACT_FIRST_NAME].

To ensure compliance with industry standards and best practices, be sure to include an unsubscribe button in the footer of your email templates. Doing this allows recipients to easily unsubscribe from your communications if they wish to do so. It's important to note that if you forget to include an unsubscribe button in your template, TotalBrokerage automatically adds one by default for your convenience. This ensures that you are always in compliance with regulations and that your recipients have the ability to control the communications they receive from your brokerage.

TRANSACTIONS

In the transaction section of TotalBrokerage, it is a best practice to utilize the folder feature to keep track of your offers. Instead of creating a new transaction for each offer, you can use one transaction and create different folders for each offer. Doing this allows you to easily switch between offers and keep track of their status, whether pending, accepted, or rejected. If a deal falls through, you can easily reference the folder for that offer and make any necessary adjustments. It's an efficient way to manage your transactions and stay organized.

When creating transactions in TotalBrokerage, it's essential to ensure you fill out as much information in each transaction tab as possible. Doing this allows for more information to be automatically imported into forms, saving time and effort from inputting the information manually.

The Activity tab within each transaction is an incredibly valuable tool for keeping track of important details and progress. By utilizing this tab, you can easily see when documents have been sent for signatures and track the status of each signature. Furthermore, you can also use this tab to add notes and notify other team members of any critical updates or actions. This feature is essential for managing transactions and ensuring efficient communication within your team. It is highly recommended to use this tab as it helps you stay organized and on top of things.

To ensure accurate reporting and keep track of agent commission contributions, it is a best practice to lock commissions once a transaction has been completed. This process prevents any further changes from being made to the commission amounts and can only be undone by a manager. By locking commissions, you can have peace of mind that the numbers reported are accurate and reliable.

Another great feature to take advantage of when working with transactions is the transaction email address located in the Email tab of each transaction. By having others send documents to this designated email address, the system will automatically import them into the transaction, making it easy to keep all necessary documents in one place. Additionally, by cc'ing the transaction email address in any email communication related to the transaction, the entire thread will be imported and visible in the Email tab, providing a central location for all related communication and documents.

To ensure that the information displayed in dashboard widgets and reports is accurate, it is important to input the transaction's closing date in the Calendar tab.

HR

To ensure a smooth onboarding process, it is recommended to upload all necessary HR forms before creating the onboarding questionnaire. Note that only the onboarding account can sign documents within the HR section, so it is a great idea to pre-populate the forms with your information before uploading them.

When creating the onboarding questionnaire, it is best to have a clear idea of the steps you want the onboarding account to complete and the information you want to gather in order to streamline the process and ensure that all necessary information is collected.

It is best practice to upload all your HR forms and set up your onboarding questionnaires before creating an agent's account. This allows for a smooth onboarding process for the new agent.

There are a few key terms that will assist in your understanding of TotalBrokerage. We’ve collected some of them below:

Key Terms

Account	Also known as users (your agents and staff). A list of accounts can be found within Setup → Accounts.
Account Pools	A group for your lead routing that is assigned a distribution type and contains the agents you place within the pool.
Additional Agent	Other agents in your brokerage that will be working with you and collaborating on the same side of a particular transaction. For example, two agents both working together on the listing side of a transaction (not to be confused with a Cooperating Agent).
Agent Roster	A list of all TotalBrokerage users within the brokerage.
Automations	A drip campaign strategy that can create scheduled automated emails and texts to your contacts.
Bullhorn	Notification icon on the top right corner of TotalBrokerage near a user's name that is used to introduce new feature announcements.
Checklist	Helps agents stay in compliance when their brokerage has a specific set of procedures and documents to gather as part of a transaction. A tab within the transaction that lists all the steps an agent must do to remain in compliance.
Cooperating Agent	An agent that represents the other side of the transaction (not to be confused with an Additional Agent).
CRM	Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a section within TotalBrokerage that allows for nurturing, building, and managing relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers.
CRM Action Plan	A set of automated tasks, emails, and text messages pertaining to a contact. CRM action plan items are configured to be executed based on a designated time after the previous action.
CSV	Comma Separated Values (CSV) is the only spreadsheet format compatible with mass uploading contacts, vendors, or accounts to TotalBrokerage.
Dashboard	This is the home page of TotalBrokerage, where the Calendar, To-Do list, and Intranet widgets are located. Users can add additional widgets to the dashboard and customize its placement.
Forms Library	This is the section where forms/documents are stored and edited.
Forms Mapping	Process of making PDFs e-fillable for e-signature.
Intranet	Section of TotalBrokerage where the Agent Roster and Message Board are located.
Lead Routing	The process of distributing incoming leads to the agents within your brokerage.
Message Board	A section of the Intranet where Broker managers can post announcements.
Piranha	This pool will make the lead available to all agents in the pool at once - the lead is assigned to the first agent to claim it.
Protect Contacts	A setting to prevent anyone besides the assigned agent from viewing contacts. The brokerage manages this setting and aims to mitigate the possibility of agents taking each other's contacts. Setup → Brokerage → Protect Contacts
Request Signatures	Sending a document for electronic signature.
RETS Feed	A connection between a brokerage portal and their MLS that allows them to import property listing information into a transaction and create a report based on the MLS contents.
Round-Robin	This pool will distribute leads to agents one at a time in the order you configure.
Routes	Specific points within your lead routing where you can edit how to handle incoming leads.
Setup	The settings within your TotalBrokerage portal.
SMS	Stands for Short Message Service, the most common form of text messaging used today. TotalBrokerage has mass SMS capabilities to send blast texts to your contacts.
Teams	Allows Teams to be seen in the CRM Contact card and within a transaction. You have the ability to share contacts, vendors, transactions, and reports.
Transaction Action Plan	A set of automated tasks, emails, and text messages pertaining to a transaction. Transaction action plan items are configured to be executed based on a designated time after a person is added to a transaction, a specific date within the transaction's calendar tab, when another action plan step is completed, or when the transaction status has changed.
Transaction Coordinator	Handles the administrative work of the real estate transaction. They will have full access to a transaction, including all information, documents, financials, and data.
User Fields	Allows you to customize the functionality of TotalBrokerage. Here is where you can customize everything from Activity notes all the way to Vendor details.
Vendors	Any company/third-party that provides specific services for purchasing, renovation, move-in, and management processes. For example: Title Companies, Attorneys, and Escrow Agents. These can be tracked in TotalBrokerage's Vendors section.
WAVV Power Dialer	Allows brokers and agents to call contacts within the CRM. They can make bulk calls as well.
Wizard Questions	A list of questions asked at the beginning of a transaction's creation. Answer choices will bring in the relevant forms as configured by the brokerage.

Closing Comments

Thank you for taking the time to read through our best practices guide. We hope these guidelines have provided valuable insights and information on managing and organizing your customer data in TotalBrokerage. If you have any questions or need assistance, our dedicated support team is here to help. You can reach us at [email protected] or by phone at 561-766-0409. We are always eager to assist you in any way we can. Thank you for choosing TotalBrokerage!

Best Practices: Brokerage Managers Print