This post originally appeared on the REImobile blog.
1. Diversifying Communication Platforms (Don’t underestimate texting!)
Real estate investments depends on converting leads into profitable deals, and all of that is done through communication. Diversifying your platforms for follow up will help you convert your real estate leads better. Through emailing, calling, and texting, there are many different channels to effectively communicate with your lead. While those platforms are all worth using, the most effective method out there has to be texting.
OpenView, an online journal, found that it takes a sales representative 18 call attempts before a contact is reached. Generally, calls that go to voicemail have a less than 1% chance of getting a call back, and that only 18% of people check their voicemails. But! Once a call is connected, the response time is much quicker. Persistence is the key with this platform.
Similarly, emails have less than a 24% chance of ever getting opened. Kenneth Burke, from “Text Request”, found that only ⅓ of emails are opened and responded to. But don’t let that deter you! Using every communication platform is important.
However, while calling and emailing might take more effort than they give back, studies from “Text Request”, an online journal that researches the statistics of text usage, found that in 2015 95% of text messages were opened within 3 minutes of receiving the text. If you’re not texting your real estate leads, you’re missing out on a lot of potential communication, and subsequent deals. Communication that can easily convert a lead into a deal. More information from the “Text Request” study shows that getting, and sending, texts is the most used form of communication in American adults under the age of 50.
If everyone is texting, then why not use this as a way to communicate with your leads?
2. Trying Multiple Methods – Just Keep Swimming!
We already spoke about how using different communication platforms is important, but what good is knowing how effective something is without staying persistent with it? If we know that it takes 18 attempts to get one call response from a potential real estate lead, then the lesson there is to stick to what you’re doing and not to slow down! Call, email, and text until you get a response.
Additionally, people are more likely to respond to someone they’ve talked to in person. If you can, set up a meeting with your real estate leads. Once they see a person, they’ll be more inclined to respond to you because you won’t seem like a disembodied voice after their property. You’ll become a real person to them. You’re more likely to get a lead to make a follow up meeting with you once you’re real to them. Staying personable is key when it comes to communication and follow up with your lead.
3. Drafting Emails & Phone Calls – Write Some Scripts
The more professional you present yourself, the more confidence your real estate lead will have in you, and the more confidence you’ll have in yourself. A way to make sure you’re saying the right thing is to form drafts of what you want to communicate, and edit them accordingly. Make sure you don’t sound like a robot, though. Again, make your drafts personal to your lead. Remember, they’re a person just like you. If you draft something that you wouldn’t follow up with, then why should your lead respond to it?
For example, when working on follow up for a lead, use something along the lines of:
“Hi [lead’s name]. Are you still considering selling your
house? What days work best for you so we can get
together and talk about our options?”
Formatting your follow up in the form of a question gives your lead the feeling of control. That way it doesn’t seem like you’re pressuring them into making a decision quickly. Also, don’t be afraid to use “we” language when speaking to your real estate lead. If they feel included in the process, your lead will be more willing to work with you, because you’ve worded your follow up to include them in the process. By staying open and welcoming, you present yourself as someone who knows what they’re doing in your follow up.
4. Keep a Schedule & Stick To It!
Far too often real estate investors don’t stick to a schedule, and give up after the first few failed attempts. Keeping a schedule is important when it comes to follow up on real estate leads, because it keeps you persistent. The hardest time to attempt following up on your lead is the time after you’ve already gone off your schedule. Don’t let yourself fall into a rut of not trying. The effort you put into your follow up will come back to help you as long as you stick to it.
Set a time each day to reach out to your lead. Make this a reminder in your calendar, or an alarm on your phone or computer, so that you know when to follow up. Make sure you time it for the best time of the day to reach your lead. If you’re scheduling communication for a weekday, time it to be around lunch so that you have a higher chance of getting a response on your follow up. If you’re setting something up for weekend communication, try contacting your lead in mid-morning, or early afternoon. Remember, people are more likely to respond to a text message, but don’t be afraid to reach out in other platforms as well.
5. Track What Works & What Doesn’t
Keep a log of all of your follow up attempts, this will help you with future follow up attempts on real estate leads to know which methods worked best and which methods did not. Keep a log of what times work best for getting a response from your lead, and what days you’re most likely to reach them best at with your follow up.
Look at the response time of your follow ups. If you have a lead that responds better in the evening, then try contacting future leads in the evening. If your lead responds better during the day, then try that. Work with trial and error to determine when is the best time to attempt contacting with a follow up on your real estate leads. But most importantly, keep a log! Nothing is more helpful than jotting down useful information in a journal, or on the notes feature on a smartphone.
6. Do Business in Person – Be Present & Personable
In a LinkedIn article about customer satisfaction, McKinsey Business Journal is quoted as stating that “70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated.” Additionally Gary Vaynerchuk, from “The Thank You Economy”, says:
“People want [this] level of engagement from the
companies with which they do business…even the best
of what formerly passed for good customer service is no
longer enough.”
Basically, do business in person as often as possible, and do it well. Be polite, personable, and punctual. If you leave your lead with a good experience, they will be more inclined to respond to your follow up and do business with you. Be sure to shake their hand, smile, and remember their name. At the end of your meeting with them, get their contact information and keep communication alive with all of the methods we’ve already spoken about, but more importantly, use those forms of communication as ways to set up meeting in person. The more you interact in person with your real estate lead, the more likely they are to respond well to your follow up.
7. Make an Agreement & Hold Them To It
Doing business in person is the first step to solidifying more meetings that can turn your real estate lead into a deal. Make future plans with your lead, and hold them accountable for those plans. When talking to your lead, indicate interest in future meetings with them, and be sure to get their word on it. If you make a plan to meet and discuss pricing in the near future, send them a reminder of your planned meeting 24 hours before the time you’ve set. This will ensure that your communication was open, and prevent them from having an excuse if they aren’t able to make it. Your business depends on their dependability, hold them to the agreements you both have come to in your follow up.
8. Send Letters & Postcards
Similar to having scripts pre-written for emails, or phone calls, sending a follow up letter to your real estate lead keeps you personable, and helps better establish communication. Remember, keeping that communication channel open is key to converting your lead into a deal.
An example for an initial follow up letter is:
[Lead’s name],
Just checking in to see if you sold your house at [address].
If you did, great! That’s awesome.
If you have not, we’d like to make you a no-obligation cash offer to
buy it. Just think, by this time tomorrow, you could have the house
sold! It doesn’t get any easier.
We don’t charge fees either. You won’t have to pay thousands
in agent commissions or deal with surveys, appraisals, inspections.
I’d love to talk with you about what we can offer. Feel free to call
me at [phone_number] or simply reply to this email.
Thank you,
[Your name]
[Your company name]
An example for a follow up letter to use a couple of weeks after the offer to your real estate lead is:
[Lead’s name],
We made you an offer for your house at [address] a couple
weeks ago.
Hopefully you’ve sold it. But, if you haven’t, we’re still interested
and wanted to let you know that we can probably get it closed
within a week. We pay cash which allows us to be able to close
super fast.
You won’t have to wait for appraisals, surveys, inspections and
all of the uncertainty that often arises from those things.
Most people want some time to make plans and arrangements, but
often we find people would prefer to just be done with the house so
that they can move on with their life.
Please give me a call at [phone_number] so that we can discuss
how fast we can get this closed.
Thanks!
[Your name]
[Your company name]
9. All That Swag – Use Your Merchandise
An effective way to keep your real estate leads interested, and keeping communication open during the follow up phase, is to use your pre-existing content. Merchandise such as pens, magnets, mugs, t-shirts, or anything like that is a perfect way to show appreciation for your lead, and create brand recognition. Use them as gifts when you send a thank you follow up letter, or use them as incentives for your leads to stay in communication with you. Plus, this is a great way to continue to get your name out there while also building a community of people who know about you and your real estate business.
10. Use a System (…Like Ours!)
All of the tips we’ve gone over are the first steps to converting your real estate leads into deals with your follow ups. But what good is all of that knowledge without having a way to stay organized? We talked about keeping a log of your attempts at follow up communication, but how is your organization past that point? How are you tracking the letters that you send out? Where do you keep your scheduled appointments? Do you write and store every email that goes out? What is the cost of following up?
Having a system in place to manage and track follow ups is a must. Sure, you can stick to using a spreadsheet or hiring an assistant to track everything for you or manage a Rolodex, but these methods still have a high probability of costing you leads, and potential real estate deals. One method we’ve found for staying organized, and staying on track, is using a CRM.
Finding a CRM system that meets your needs is an important part of every real estate business. Real estate CRM systems can track phone calls, mailings, manage schedules and even send you live notifications. Take REImobile for example. REImobile saves you valuable time by keeping track of your follow ups and sending live notifications to keep you informed of when, where and how follow ups are happening. You convert more real estate leads into deals when you follow up with your clients. A good CRM will not only make you more money, but it will save you time. And time is money, people!
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