Ninja Selling and Cloze CRM

Top-performing agents are maniacally focused on their sphere of influence and past clients because they outperform all other types of leads.

Cloze makes sure all agents are constantly nurturing their sphere of influence — building deep relationships and a strong referral network — which is why it is a perfect match for Ninja Selling.

Cloze can be configured to work seamlessly with the Ninja Selling System. When enabled, Cloze includes several label customizations to match the workflow and methodology of Ninja Selling. You can also track and complete your Ninja Nine activities each week using the Cloze Agenda.

Click here to watch a webinar on Cloze and Ninja Selling

We highly recommend reading the Ninja Selling Book by Larry Kendall and attending a Ninja Installation class if you have not already done so.

What is Ninja Selling?

Ninja Selling is a system developed by a Colorado real estate brokerage called The Group Inc. Their coaching program is designed to focus agents on building strong, long-term relationships as a trusted real estate advisor. This strong network then creates a continuous flow of referrals and repeat clients.

"Ninja Selling system is based on the philosophy of building relationships, listening to the customer, and helping them achieve their goals."

How do I configure Cloze to work with Ninja Selling?

In the Customizations section of settings, you can select the Pre-Built Customization called Real Estate (Ninja Selling). Once enabled you will see several label changes, new Segments, and additional Next Steps as outlined below.

Please note that if you switch to the Ninja Selling setup in Cloze, you may need to re-organize some contacts using the new segments found in the Ninja setup. We recommend exporting your contacts prior to changing the configuration to ensure you have a record.

Please follow these instructions to change your configuration to support Ninja Selling.

Select Real Estate Ninja Selling and then tap on Load.

If you have any questions about your configuration please reach out to support@cloze.com.

Stage Changes

The default Cloze Stages of Lead, Potential, Active, and Past are changed to match the Ninja Business Tracker. The Ninja Selling stages in Cloze are Warm, Hot, In Contract, Closed, and Lost.

After the configuration has been set in your account you will see the following changes to the Stage labels:

Lead ⇨ Warm
Potential ⇨ Hot
Active ⇨ In Contract
Past ⇨ Closed

Ninja Business Segments

When the Ninja Selling configuration is set in your Cloze account, four additional Segments are added. To organize your sphere of influence you can classify the non-transacting portion of your network using the Ninja Selling "A", "B", "C", and "D" categories.

A - Advocate
B - Fans
C - Network
D - 8x8

When an A, B, C, or D contact decides to transact you'll use the Warm, Hot, In Contract, and Closed Stages in combination with the Buyer and Seller Segments to track their client journey with you. Once you complete your year-one post-transaction follow-up you can move them back to the A or B Segments (if needed) or leave them as a Closed Buyer or a Closed Seller.

Ninja workflow in Cloze

The graphic below shows how you'll progress from A, B, C, or D Segments to become a Warm Buyer or Warm Seller (aka Warm List in Ninja Selling terminology).

Using Ninja Segments in Cloze

A - Advocate Segment

Your As are your advocates. They are your raving fans and proactively refer you -- unprompted (e.g. real estate is simply mentioned at a networking event and they refer you). Ninja Selling recommends you are in contact with your As on a weekly basis. This equates to three auto-flow items each month or roughly fifty touches per year. You should spend most of your time and money on your As.*

You can adjust your Cloze keep-in-touch settings to ensure you are reminded to stay in touch.

B - Fans Segment

Your Bs are your fans. They will refer you if asked but are not as proactive as your As. Ninja Selling recommends you are in contact with your Bs on a nearly weekly basis. This equates to three auto-flow items each month or roughly forty to fifty touches per year.*

C - Network Segment

Your Cs know you, like you, trust you, and will do business with you if you stay in flow with them. This group will work with you when they are ready to buy or sell. This group tends to be the largest portion of your database. Ninja Selling recommends you are in live contact with your Cs on a quarterly basis.

D - 8x8 Segment

Your Ds are the people you want to meet and develop a relationship with. The goal is to move someone from a D to an A and then on to a transaction (or from a D directly to a transaction). Cloze includes the built-in 8 in 8 program you can follow and adapt to your needs.

Following the Ninja Selling System, an 8 in 8 campaign is a way to systematically build a relationship over a period of eight weeks. For eight consecutive weeks, a single touchpoint is made with the potential new client. Through the course of the campaign each week you will contact the prospective client via phone, text, postal mail (usually providing an item of value), and email.

The end result is to book an in-person meeting and move them to a Warm Buyer or Warm Seller. Or if they are not ready to transact they move to an A or B.

With Cloze you can track your progress using Next Steps. By default, Cloze includes the following steps, but you can customize them as needed, and add templates.

*The A, B, C, and D definitions are excerpted from the Ninja Selling Book by Larry Kendall.

Using Ninja Stages in Cloze

Stages help track the urgency of a person or where they fall in their client journey with you. You will use stages to track your full life-cycle from the Warm List to the Hot List to under contract and then to closed.

Stages are visualized in a Kanban view

Cloze CRM kanban view of Ninja Selling stages.

Warm Stage (aka Warm List)

Contacts on your Warm List (or in the Warm Stage in Cloze) are showing promise, but have not yet been qualified. These contacts are likely to transact in the next year but have not moved forward enough to be considered Hot (or ready to transact in the near term).

Hot Stage (aka Hot List)

Any person that is committed to buying or selling in the near-term (next 90 days) is considered qualified. Once a Warm Buyer or Warm Seller is qualified they will progress to the Hot Stage (aka Hot List in Ninja Selling terminology).

In Contract Stage

The person has signed or agreed to work with you to buy or sell a home. At this point, they move to the In Contract Stage.

Closed Stage

Once the transaction is complete you'll move the client to the Closed Stage. You can also classify any person that once sold or purchased a property with you in the past as Closed.

The Closed Stage is used for following up. You'll see several steps for Closed Buyers and Sellers to remind you to follow-up after the purchase or sale. Cloze includes Next Steps for each of the major follow-up items.

We recommend leaving a client as a Closed Buyer or Closed Seller for the first year following the transaction closing to ensure you follow the Ninja-Selling recommend post-closing follow-up. After year one you can re-classify clients to the A or B Segment as needed.

15 Post Closing Calls

Ninja Selling recommends 15 post-closing calls to ensure you are strengthening the relationships. Here is a complete list of the recommended post-closing activities.

Cloze assists with these activities. Beyond the above Next Steps, Cloze also includes anniversary reminders and birthday reminders.