We've all been there. You sit down for a prospecting session, coffee in hand, ready to crush your calls. You pull up a so-called warm lead, dial the number... and it’s disconnected. Or worse, you finally get through, only to find out they sold their house six months ago with another agent.
The reality is that most real estate databases are like Swiss cheese — full of holes. You might have a name and an email, but no physical address. Or you’ve got an address, but no idea who actually lives there now. Or how long they’ve been there.
When your data’s incomplete, you're just wandering around without a map. You're wasting energy chasing cold leads while actual opportunities sit unnoticed in your CRM. In fact, up to 75% of databases are incomplete, missing crucial homeowner details1.
This isn't just annoying; it’s expensive. Poor data quality costs businesses millions annually in lost revenue2. The solution to patching these holes and turning your messy list into a proactive prospecting machine is data enrichment.
At its core, data enrichment is adding missing information to existing data.
From Experian:
“Data enrichment and data enhancement is the process of expanding existing data sets with additional information often from third-party sources. This process provides businesses with important information about customers, helping to build a complete and rich customer profile from simple data inputs.”
Think of it as adding high-definition color to a black-and-white sketch. Data enrichment is the process of taking the raw, basic data you already have (like a name or email) and matching it against trusted third-party sources to append or add missing information.
At Fello, and in the world of real estate, this means taking a simple contact list and automatically filling in:
This turns a static list of names into a dynamic asset of homeowners.
If you’ve been searching for solutions, you’ve likely heard terms like "skip-tracing" or "data appending." While they're related, there are nuances. Here’s a breakdown of the synonyms and how they fit into the bigger picture of CRM data enrichment.
The term skip-tracing came about to refer to the detective work of locating a person who’s "skipped" town or is hard to find. In real estate, agents often use this to find phone numbers for expired listings or FSBOs. Data enrichment tends to be broader — it’s holistic and often continuous.
This is the technical term for buying missing data pieces. A third-party data append involves sending your list to a data provider who matches your contacts against their massive records and appends the missing fields. This is the engine that powers enrichment, but in our case, is built into the Fello platform.
Data enhancement goes beyond just contact info. It’s about adding depth. It answers questions like: How long have they lived there? What’s their mortgage rate? It enhances the profile of the human behind the data point. This is basically the same as data enrichment.
You might see the term B2B data enrichment (Business-to-Business) or hear about how to enrich B2B CRM data at scale. While real estate is largely B2C (Business-to-Consumer), the strategy is the same. Top-tier companies don't make sales calls without knowing everything about their prospect first. As a real estate professional running a business, you need that same B2B-level of intelligence. You need to verify data at scale so you aren't wasting time manually Googling (or Binging) 500 different homeowners.
All of this matters because better data drives better marketing.
If you're wondering how enriched data improves sales call success, the answer isn't just about having more addresses — it’s about having context so you stop wasting time.
Without Enrichment: You're forced to treat every contact the same. You have to call everyone in your database just to find the one person ready to move. You’ve likely got a list of buyer leads that are just names and phone numbers (or email addresses).
So, you call and say: "Hi, just checking in to see if you’re considering buying or selling?"
This is generic, low-value, and frankly, risky. Without property data, you don't know who you're talking to. That lead might be a lifelong renter, or worse — they might have bought a house two months ago with another agent. Calling them now to ask if they want to buy isn't just a waste of time; it makes you look clueless.
With Enrichment: Enrichment changes the game by showing you who to focus on. You can filter your list to see exactly who owns a home, how long they've been there, and how much equity they have.
Suddenly, you aren't calling 1,000 people to find one lead. You're skipping the low-equity homeowners who can't afford to move right now and focusing entirely on the high-equity homeowners who have options. You’re making better use of your limited time by having conversations that actually benefit the contact.
Instead of a cold pitch, you offer value: "Hi John, I was looking at property values in [Neighborhood], and I noticed you've built up a significant amount of equity over the last few years. Have you thought about how you might want to leverage that?"
This shift allows for personalized messaging, which makes you 20% more likely to get contacts to engage3. Plus, it protects your business by verifying DNC (Do Not Call) status so you don’t break any laws.
For more ideas on how to start conversations with value, check out sales and communication expert Phil M. Jones’s OFQ framework, from his three-part webinar series with Fello.
At Fello, we believe the greatest opportunities for listings are already in your database. But we don't just dump data on you; we operationalize it.
Fello connects to your CRM and uses data enrichment to transform that messy list into a high-value asset. Here’s how we use that data to help you win:
Fello automatically fills in missing addresses and ownership history. Our Property Intelligence dashboard then shows you every active listing in your database — even the ones listed with other agents. Our customers call this the "gut punch" report because it shows you exactly what you missed.
Fello signals potential borrowing or selling opportunities by providing insights into remaining balances, interest rates, and equity.
This is where the magic happens. Fello uses AI to analyze all this enriched data (demographics, activity, property data) to create a Lead Score.
Data enrichment allows you to create highly specific segments based on hundreds of data points, like time in home or engagement frequency. But Fello takes it a step further with Segment Watch. You can create a "hot list" (for example, contacts whose Lead Score just jumped to 80+).
Have a list of old buyer leads with just email addresses? Fello’s Property Address Enrichment (part of Data Enrichment) finds the homes they eventually bought. Our Owner Match AI then verifies the accuracy of that ownership.
Learn 6 more ways data enrichment can help find leads, deals, and revenue in your database >
Data enrichment isn't just a buzzword; it’s the difference between a database that collects dust and one that collects checks.
By using Fello to enrich your data, you unlock the ability to segment your audience, personalize your scripts, and time your outreach perfectly. You move from making cold calls to making warm introductions based on real insights.
For Current Customers: You might have enrichment paused or never even turned it on — don't fly blind! Reach out to your Success Manager or email success@fello.ai to ensure your Data Enrichment is active and working for you.
For Prospects: Are you ready to see how many potential sellers are hiding in your messy database? [Book a Demo with Fello today] and let us show you the power of a fully enriched CRM.
Q: How often should I run data enrichment on my CRM?
A: Data decays quickly — people move, rates change, and numbers update. Fello handles this dynamically, ensuring your data is constantly refreshed so you never rely on outdated info.
Q: Is data enrichment legal and compliant with DNC laws?
A: Yes, reputable data enrichment specifically helps with compliance. Fello’s enrichment includes DNC Enrichment & Verification, which checks phone numbers against the National Do Not Call Registry to protect your business from violations.
Q: Can Fello enrich leads that only have an email address?
A: Absolutely. Fello’s Property Address Enrichment is designed to take contacts with missing info (like old buyer leads with only emails) and append property addresses and ownership data to them.
Q: How does enriched data help with my marketing emails?
A: Enriched data powers segmentation, because you now have many more high-intent data points to sort your database by. Instead of sending generic "Happy Holidays" blasts to everyone, you can use Fello’s Smart Content and Contact Segmentation to send specific messages to high-equity homeowners or potential downsizers, making your marketing much more effective.
Sources:
1 Fello’s data from 50 million contacts connected to the platform
2 Gartner
3 American Marketing Association