How Buddy Blake Pairs Automation with Authentic Connection

Key Takeaways, or TL;DR

• The Challenge: Even for top-producing agents, switching CRMs over a long career can cause valuable past-client relationships to fall through the cracks.
• The Solution: In a market that demands connection, non-scalable actions like personal phone calls are the most valuable way to build relationships.
• The Amplifier: Fello provides the behavioral intelligence to know who to call, turning a massive database into a manageable, prioritized list of homeowners signaling their intent.
• The Result: By monitoring client activity in Fello, Buddy Blake's team re-engaged a client they sold a home to 15 years ago — a listing that would have otherwise been completely lost.
• The Advice: No tool or tech will hand you signed contracts. Use the intelligence it gives you to fuel purposeful, personal outreach and start conversations.

We've all felt that pang of frustration. You're scrolling through social media or driving through a neighborhood and see a "For Sale" sign in the yard of someone you know. Maybe you sold them that house a decade ago. You check your CRM, and they're nowhere to be found — a ghost in the database, lost in one of the many platform changes you've made over the years.

For a veteran agent like Buddy Blake of Coldwell Banker SeaCoast Advantage, this isn't just a hypothetical. With a career spanning decades, he understands that an agent's database is their single greatest asset. But he also knows how easily that asset can become forgotten, filled with opportunities you can no longer find. In a shifting market, letting those relationships lie dormant isn't an option. The question is, how do you systematically find the right key to unlock that chest?

The Challenge: Your Database Is Leaking Value

For agents who have been in the business for a long time, the tech journey has been a wild ride. You've likely used half a dozen different CRMs, website systems, and lead-gen platforms. Each time you switch, you risk losing a few contacts.

"When you change CRM systems, you lose your database," Buddy explains. "Some people, you lose them... somewhere in the changes over the platforms, they got lost."

This creates a massive problem. According to NAR, 61% of an agent’s business comes from referrals and past clients, so not engaging your database can be a costly problem. If your system of record has holes, you're actively leaking future income. The challenge isn't just retaining contacts; it's about knowing who, among thousands of people you've worked with, is actually starting to think about selling now.

The Solution: Marrying Old-School Wisdom with New-School Intelligence

Buddy’s core strategy focuses on the belief that the most powerful tool for conversion is the one thing you can't scale: a personal phone call. (Note: Wait until he sees our Conversational AI launching soon!)

"I want you making phone calls because that's how you build relationships," Buddy tells his team. "That's the only thing that's not scalable, which makes it the most valuable."

But how does a busy team know who to call? That’s where technology becomes the amplifier.

Buddy funnels all of his leads and contacts through Fello, which acts as an "intelligence" layer over his database. Fello quietly monitors for behavioral triggers. When a homeowner who may have been dormant for years, suddenly starts checking their home value report over and over, it signals that something has changed in their life.

"It's all behavior," Buddy says. "If somebody all of a sudden is starting to look at their home values... a lot more often... there's obviously something going on."

These signals feed directly into his team's workflow, giving them a surgically precise list of who to call each day. They aren't cold calling; they are warm calling people who have already raised their hands digitally.

The Results: A 15-Year-Old Listing Saved from the Brink

The proof of this strategy isn't in abstract numbers, but in a single, powerful story.

"We just had somebody [who] we're listing their house [...]. I sold them or somebody on my team sold them the house 15 years ago," Buddy recalls.

This client had been lost during a system migration. They weren't in his primary CRM, and he couldn't find them in any of his old exports. By all accounts, this was a relationship that had fallen through the cracks.

But they had somehow made it into Fello. They were receiving the automated home value updates, and one day, they reached out because they had been receiving them. That outreach led directly to a listing appointment.

"If it wasn't for [Fello] in this case, I would have got nothing," Buddy states. "I would have lost that completely."

This single transaction, recovered from the digital graveyard of past clients, is the ultimate testament to the power of combining consistent, valuable touch points with the intelligence to know when to follow up personally. And while this is one example, for thousands of agents, this type of re-engagement is happening every day in their Fello accounts.

Buddy's Advice for Real Estate Agents

For agents considering Fello or just getting started, Buddy’s advice is direct and action-oriented.

1. Load and Enrich: Get every contact you have into the Fello system and get them enriched. The more people receiving your valuable information, the more opportunities you'll uncover.
2. Act on the Intelligence: Don't just sit back and watch. "Pick up the phone and call the people that [...] take action," he advises.
3. Lead with Curiosity, Not Commission: Your opening line shouldn't be about selling. Buddy suggests an easy conversation starter: "Listen, we got this new tool we're using, what do you think of it?" It’s a low-pressure way to open a dialogue.
4. Do the Work: "If you just buy the system and hope it's going to [...] send you signed listing agreements, it's not going to do it," Buddy warns. "You gotta work."

The market is shifting, but the fundamentals of real estate remain the same. Success comes from building and maintaining relationships. Buddy Blake’s story proves that by combining timeless, high-touch principles with smart technology, you can not only protect your most valuable asset — your database — but also uncover the gold you thought you’d lost forever.

Ready to Uncover the Hidden Opportunities in Your Database?

Buddy Blake's success comes from action. Reach out to your Success Manager or email success@fello.ai to build a strategy for turning Fello's insights into focused, high-touch follow-up campaigns.

Stop letting past clients slip through the cracks. If you’re ready to see how Fello’s intelligence can amplify your relationship-building and uncover listings you thought were lost, book a demo today.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a simple strategy I can use to find more listings in my existing database? 

A powerful strategy is to provide consistent, valuable information to your entire database and then closely monitor engagement to identify intent. Fello automates the first part by sending personalized home value reports, cash offer valuations, and CMAs, keeping you top-of-mind. It then maximizes the strategy by using AI to track who is repeatedly viewing their reports, creating a prioritized list of homeowners who are silently raising their hands. This allows you to focus your personal outreach on the warmest opportunities.

My database is huge OR I'm just one agent! How can I follow up more efficiently without just cold calling everyone? 

The key to efficiency is shifting from cold outreach to intelligence-driven conversations. Instead of guessing who to call, a platform like Fello acts as your intelligence engine. It analyzes behavioral data across your entire database to pinpoint the contacts who are showing signs of selling. On average, Fello uncovers the 50–70 warm leads for every 1,000 contacts in your database, allowing you to spend your valuable time talking to engaged homeowners, not dialing for dollars.

How can I prevent past clients from falling through the cracks and ensure I'm their first call when they're ready to sell? 

To prevent client drift, you need an automated system that consistently delivers value. Since 73% of sellers only interview one agent, being that top-of-mind expert is critical. Fello helps you achieve this by automatically sending branded home value updates about their single largest asset. This "set it and stay relevant" approach ensures you maintain a consistent, professional presence, making you the obvious first call when they decide it's time to sell.