Define & Qualify Leads
Successful property consultants/Real Estate Agents/Sales Executives understand that effective lead follows up starts with filtering out bad leads. Top producing agents often have far less leads in their pipeline because they are careful not to saturate their lead follow up database with people that are not serious about buying or selling a home in the near future. Agents that have thousands of inbound internet leads in their databases typically find that consistently staying in touch with all of them is far too daunting.
The degree of urgency is the key to defining a lead as qualified. Good leads are people motivated to buy or sell within a certain time frame. Many agents will stay in touch with people looking to move within a year. So the sooner the time frame, the warmer the lead.
Ask a lot of questions and listen for a defining event that requires a move like a job transfer or other life changes. People that are also willing to answer questions and provide information over the phone show a willingness to move forward in the process should be treated as priorities. The longer the telephone conversation, the stronger the lead.
How to Conduct Lead Follow Up
As far as lead follow up is concerned, you really can’t call a warm lead enough. So how should agents maintain constant contact without harassing prospective clients? The answer is to always come from contribution when following up. Agents that offer to help clients over the phone prior to a move prove that they offer a higher level of customer service in order to gain trust and build rapport. Some examples of ways to accomplish this include:
- Offer to set them an appointment with a mortgage lender to determine their monthly payments & down payment will be, or even to determine if they need to sell their home before they buy another.
- Set them up on a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) client auto-prospecting home search so they can start searching for homes online based on their own criteria ahead of time.
- Ask them what they think they still need to fix or update in their home prior to putting it up for sale and offer to put them in contact with your preferred vendors to help them with the work.
- Offer to inspect the home to help sellers determine where to spend money on improvements and where not to.
- Provide regular neighbourhood sales activity updates of other homes in the area that come up for sale, go pending under contract and sell and show them how this may impact the price or marketability of their home.
LEAD FOLLOW UP SCRIPTS
Use the following Property Consultant/real estate agent scripts to conduct regular lead follow up phone calls to offer prospective clients customer service in advance of buying or selling a home.
- GENERAL LEAD FOLLOW UP SCRIPT
- INSPECT TO HELP WITH REPAIR DECISIONS
- PREFERRED VENDOR ASSISTANCE
- HOME STAGING SERVICE
- SET UP ON HOME SEARCH
- MEET WITH MORTGAGE LENDER
Are you still thinking about moving? When can we set up an appointment to start getting ready?
Most of clients tend to spend too much money in the wrong places, and You as the Consultant/Agent should be more familiar with what buyers are looking for. So how about you ask the client to schedule an appointment for you to do a quick walk-through of their home so that you can advise them on where to spend money and where not too?
What if I swung by to help you get a list together of what needs to be done around your home? I also have a list of trusted professionals that might be able to help you save some money and time if you need a hand. Would that be of benefit to you?
What if I helped you with getting your home looking ready to sell? I work closely with a great stager to get your home looking just right. The last thing I want is for you to worry about that right now. Would you like me to have him/her/them come out to at least take a look around?
What if I set you up on a property search so you can start shopping for homes online from the privacy of your home computer now? I can input all of the criteria you are looking for in your next home (i.e. – size, location & amenities) so that you can see all the homes listed by all of the agents in our area that are currently up for sale. In addition, you will be alerted of new homes that come on the market as quickly as real estate agents know about them. How does that sound?
Since you want to start looking for a new home, would it help for you to know what your monthly payments would be depending on the sales price of each home you look at? Or even how much money you will need to put up as a down payment? Would it be alright if I had my trusted mortgage lender contact you to help you out with that?