If you import contacts randomly, you get random results. Sort first — and your best leads get the attention they should have gotten from day one.
This article is about what happens before you upload anything to RealScout. It gives you a universal system for sorting any contact list into a working priority order — no formulas, no spreadsheet skills required. The system works whether your list has 50 contacts or 5,000.
The actual import steps are in Step 3: Add / Import Contacts.
The Tiered Structure
Before you create a single import file, divide your database into three groups. The size of your database does not matter.
RealScout Tier 1 — your active contacts. People you would recognize if they called you today. Recent leads, active buyers and sellers, past clients, homeowners you want to stay in touch with. These go into RealScout first, get the most complete setup (Listing Alerts, Home Value Alerts where applicable), and are the contacts most likely to engage with what RealScout sends them.
RealScout Tier 2 — your warm database. Contacts you know but haven't spoken to recently. Sphere referrals, leads from a year or two ago, people who went quiet but never said no. Import these after RealScout Tier 1 is fully set up. Name and email is enough to get them in to start.
RealScout Tier 3 — your cold archive. Leads that have gone dark, contacts with missing information, anyone you genuinely aren't sure about. We recommend agents skip this group entirely on the first import pass, save them for the last import grouping, or only bring in homeowners from it for Home Value Alerts. Do not let this group hold up your RealScout Tier 1 and RealScout Tier 2 imports.
The gut check question:
"If this person called me today, would I know who they are?"
If yes — import first. If you have to think about it — second round. If you'd have no idea — last or skip altogether.
How to sort when you don't have date data
Not every CRM export includes a clean date, open, or active status field — and that is fine. Sort by whatever signal you have available.
Lead source. Referrals and past clients almost always belong in RealScout Tier 1. Online leads from portals more than a year old typically belong in RealScout Tier 2 or RealScout Tier 3.
How well you know them. If you remember the conversation, they belong in RealScout Tier 1 or Tier 2. If you don't, save them for RealScout Tier 3 or skip.
Whether they have a property address. A home address usually signals a homeowner — a strong candidate for a Home Value Alert and a RealScout Tier 1 contact.
Phone number present. If you have a phone number, a real conversation happened at some point. That is a RealScout Tier 2 or higher signal.
Tag each contact in the tags column with RealScout Tier 1, RealScout Tier 2, or RealScout Tier 3 — RealScout uses this tag to control the order contacts start receiving alerts, not just as a personal sorting label. For most agents with a list under a few hundred, this takes less than 20 minutes.
How to sort when you do have date data
If your CRM export includes a date column — date added, last contacted, lead creation date — you can use it to assign tiers based on recency rather than doing it manually. The logic is straightforward: contacts from the last 12 months become RealScout Tier 1, contacts from 1–3 years ago become RealScout Tier 2, and anything older becomes RealScout Tier 3.
You don't need any special tools for a smaller list — you can sort by date and assign tiers by eye.
A note on batch sizes
RealScout's contact import accepts up to 990 contacts per file. If your list is under 990 contacts total, you can import everything in one go — just use separate files for each tier. If any single tier exceeds 990 contacts, you'll want to split that tier into multiple files before uploading. Splitting them clearly (Tier1_Batch1, Tier1_Batch2) keeps the process trackable.
Quick reference
Tier | Who belongs here | Import order | Setup priority |
RealScout Tier 1 | Active leads, recent contacts, past clients, homeowners | First | Full setup — Listing Alerts, Home Value Alerts where applicable |
RealScout Tier 2 | Warm sphere, older leads, referrals not yet followed up | Second | Name + email to start, alerts configured later |
RealScout Tier 3 | Cold leads, incomplete data, unsure | Last — or skip | Homeowners only for Home Value Alerts, or skip entirely |
Do I have to sort every contact before I import?
No — but the outcome is different when you do. Agents who import their full database at once without sorting tend to configure alerts indiscriminately, which hurts deliverability for the contacts who would have engaged. Even a rough sort makes a real difference.
What if my tiers each have fewer than 990 contacts?
Then you do not need to split. Each tier is already one file. The 990-per-file limit only applies when a single tier exceeds that count.
What if I don't have date data and can't tell which tier a contact belongs in?
Use the gut check: "If this person called me today, would I know who they are?" That one question sorts faster and more accurately than any formula when your data is incomplete.
Can I import all three tiers back-to-back on the same day?
You can, but the purpose of tiering is to configure alerts for your RealScout Tier 1 contacts first — before RealScout Tier 2 and RealScout Tier 3 are in the system. Import RealScout Tier 1, set up their alerts, then return for the rest. RealScout's Email Deliverability System performs better when your earliest traffic comes from contacts most likely to open and click.
Will importing the same contact twice create a duplicate?
No. RealScout matches on email address. If a contact already exists in your account, a second import with the same email updates their record rather than creating a second entry.
What if a referral comes in later that I want to jump the line?
Tag that one contact RealScout Priority — it outranks every tier and starts before all of them. Don't apply it to a bulk import file.
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