When it comes to Real Estate follow-up you are in for a marathon, it is not a sprint.Not all leads are ready to buy or sell right out of the gate, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth pursuing.If real estate is about location, location, location, lead nurturing is about follow up, follow up, follow up.
Roughly 44% of sales people give up after one “no.” Another 22% give up after two. This means that 66% or two-thirds of agents will never follow up a third time. Yet according to several studies, 80% of “non-routine” purchases like a home are made after at least 5 follow-ups. Another startling statistic is that 63% of people who contact you today won’t buy for at least 3 months. If you are not following up with your real estate leads more than once, you are missing out on a ton of business.
This is why we would like to present you our top 5 Best Follow-up Strategies to Massively improve Lead Conversion.
Let’s Begin
1. Always Provide Value to Stay top of mind.
There are a lot of leads who will be hesitant to do business right away. The follow-up process can stretch on for weeks, months before the prospects are ready to buy or sell. So long term follow up is essential for clients to want to stay in touch with you.
No matter how old or cold your leads are, you can send out monthly emails packed with information on market trends, community updates, and industry insights to keep your audiences informed (and keep your name top of mind). The more value you provide, the more likely your leads are to open his emails and reach out when they need an agent.
2. Focus on helping the lead (Cash will flow in later)
Many homeowners want to sell or buy, but might not be ready to (yet). You must understand that seller/buyer timelines vary, and follow up even if they are not ready to do something at the moment.
Rather than expecting a sale you can assist people with whatever they need, they will turn into a sale or referral down the road. You can add them to your sphere of influence and consistently offer help.
Depending on how you received the lead you can take a different approach. Here are two examples:
1-If the lead came in looking for a Home Valuation you can offer to provide an accurate value of their Home and state that this is a “Free” service with NO OBLIGATION TO LIST, you just want to be of service and help them get the most value for their property.
2-If you receive a buyer, you can send out a list of properties they might be interested in and offer to keep them updated on new listings that come up in their area that meet their budget and structural requirements.
3. The “8×8” Follow-Up Schedule
If you’re new to follow-up, this schedule is a great way for you to plant your feet. When someone lands on your follow-up list, call or text them no fewer than eight times – once a week over eight consecutive weeks.
This method has been proven effective in getting leads to list, largely due to the polite persistence. Do not give up soon it’s usually on the later contact points where you can strike gold.
Keep in mind, this contact method works great for someone who is actively looking to buy or sell a home. If someone is a few years, or even a few months away from making a decision, a less frequent schedule may serve you better. Always remember to be considerate!
4. Think outside The Box
In our day and age of mobile technology, you can get more creative with your follow-up than ever before. You can use the power of a simple video to follow up with your prospects. Spend 1-2 minutes recording a video, then send it to your leads via text message.
The video can be about the house, your services, or the next steps your client should take. Take into consideration the situation at hand and your relationship with the client. Be friendly, stay relaxed and professional, and make your video worth watching! Always provide value, even in two short minutes.
The video can be scripted or off the cuff, but we recommend sticking to a rough script until you’re comfortable with the process.
5. Always get agreements on next steps.
If someone genuinely wants you to stop contacting them you should. Period.
But you can often avoid getting to that point by establishing good rapport and clear expectations.
If you end each conversation, regardless of how motivated the prospect is, by asking for permission to follow up with them in a certain period of time, you’re always going to be operating in the realm of mutual respect and consideration when you follow up.
For example if you’ve got a great prospect who won’t be ready to sell/buy for another 6 months, it only makes sense to end the call with, “Joe, do you mind if I call you back in 4 months to check in and see how things are moving along?”.
If they say no, then you know where you stand. If they say yes, then you’ve got an open door and clear expectation that you will be following up.
By asking for permission to follow up you lower your odds of being an annoyance and have solid footing in the future.
Finalize your Follow Up.
With these five follow-up strategies in your real estate playbook, it’s time to reach out and reel in more business! Use any (or all) of these strategies to fill your bucket with listing appointments without any added anxiety.
“The money is in the follow up!”
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