Buyer demand is high, and supply is low. Investment in RE technology is reaching new heights, and the RE teams are becoming more sophisticated. These events have come together to force evolution in the RE Sales process.
Eight years ago simply generating demand became a real challenge. Lead generation has always been a top of mind subject for RE professionals, but a strong market assured that with a little effort there were plenty of buyers and sellers to be found. As the recovering market increases in temperature; RE pros find themselves with new problems to solve.
Now we’re asking…
“How do I separate my A buyers from my C buyers?”
“I’ve only got so many hours in a day; How can I find time to prospect?”
“How do I increase my average price point?”
“How can I go from 100 transactions with my team to 200?”
The first logical step many take is to expand on their current successes such as increasing ad spend, and team size. However they quickly discover what growing pains feel like for any company. Increasing spend on existing campaigns will eventually yield diminishing returns, and hiring quality new people is never an easy task. This is where a forced evolution occurs.
The RE follow up best practices in a nutshell are based on two things.
- Number of Contacts: Call the lead X number of times.
- Frequency of those contacts: Call the lead X times over X amount of time.
Example: Call a new lead once per day for 14 days.
This plan is stupid simple, and it works very well. However problems occur when we try to scale. The majority of these problems stem from a lack of available resources or resources that aren’t as effective as we might be on our own. More leads means more people are needed to execute a Contact + Frequency plan, and the more team members we hire the more of a task it becomes to ensure they execute the plan effectively. (Can we clone ourselves yet?)
Most people get their start in real estate as a lone wolf, but everyone knows building a team is where the big money is. This is why in order to scale a modern team we need to consider that while one approach helped us as an individual succeed, we need to think differently to achieve a higher level of success. This is where I encourage a transition to a Timing & Relevancy based sales strategy.
- Timing: When a lead shows strong buying signals follow up.
- Relevancy: Give them a message that is significant to them right now.
Example: This lead has viewed 30 downtown condos, been onsite 4 times in the last 3 days, and just opened a property email one hour ago. Call/text them, and explain how seeing the place in person can really make a difference vs comparing floor plans.
The above strategy is not a massive departure from what we are used to just an evolution. We don’t give up on making our contacts, but as our lead/opportunity volume exceeds our ability to follow the recommended number of contacts, and frequency we start to prioritize. The key difference here is the presence of a BECAUSE.
- I’m calling BECAUSE they’re active right now.
- I’m calling BECAUSE I know something special about what they’re looking at.
- I’m calling BECAUSE this lead has a higher chance of buying than another.
The technology is already there. We don’t need to waste our time guessing when to call or guessing what to talk about. Viewable online activity practically writes itself as a conversation starter. What we need to focus on is getting to the next step, and understanding what the consumer needs for that to happen.
Now I can feel the Glenn Gary’s out there thinking that they can sell anyone, and that all leads need a contact every X number of days. You’re right they all should be contacted, and they all can potentially be an opportunity, but do you have the resources to do it? I see teams with multiple outsourced ISA’s armed with dialers hammering away outbound calls, and is this effective? Yes. Enough volume, and effort will get results, but is drilling through the whitepages the most efficient way to make money? I doubt that’s the case.
Don’t abandon your principles, and don’t ignore the fact that most agents aren’t making nearly enough attempts at contact as an opportunity. Simply consider that you probably got into real estate to be your own boss, set your own hours, and make great money. Use technology that helps accomplish this, and as you expand your team consider if the strategy can be replicated this way many times over. Odds are you’ll need to evolve too.
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