If you’re the team leader/owner, there is nothing more important than properly converting an online or offline lead you’ve generated for your team members. Whether you paid for the lead or not, a new ready, willing and able “hot” lead has to be treated with urgency and care and provided with high value immediately to turn that lead into a new listing or new buyer and ultimately a sale. Training real estate agents with the right skills and the right system for follow-up ensures that everyone on your team is responding to new online leads.
Follow these proven strategies to convert more on and offline leads into listings, sales and ultimately income for your team and your business:
- Be responsive—it’s a potential sale, after all. I’m always surprised at how many real estate agents don’t answer their phones. It’s vitally important to your success that you respond immediately to leads coming into your funnel. Whether a sign call or an online showing request, not responding immediately is practicing a form of what I like to call “sales prevention.” Opportunities aren’t lost; they go to someone else who maximizes them. Always look at that call or email request as a potential sale, because that’s exactly what it is. Agents who wait to call someone back or reply to an email are going to appear uninterested in earning that potential buyer’s or seller’s business.
Immediately responding means you are engaged in the business and ready to help them. Especially with impulse buyers who are in the market and want to purchase a new home, consumers will take note that you answered your phone the first time they contacted you. If you have a team, you have agents that can rotate to be “on call” and take all incoming calls. Consumers want a live person to answer, so I would suggest no voicemail unless you are in an appointment—but even then, have another team member take the call, and, if not service the call, have them at least schedule an appointment for you. Again, the consumer wants to hear a live person, not a recorded voicemail. Always return calls and emails promptly, and as early as possible. Again, this is a potential sale.
- Add tremendous value. If you want to convert the lead, then you need to provide value. Offer a copy of your Exclusive Home Buyer Guide or to enroll them into your Exclusive Home Buyer Program. Explain that you have a free giveaway that has everything you need to buy and sell a home. These add value and differentiate yourself. This will also keep them on the phone with you or engaged in an email dialogue longer. You can offer to email or mail it to them, or present it to them when you meet them to show them the house they are inquiring about. Using this will help you prove your unique value proposition, too. Really speak enthusiastically about the information included, such as mortgage, title, home inspection information and moving checklists. This will help de-stress their experience, impressing them. Adding tremendous value is one way to get yourself hired by potential new buyers and sellers.
- Get them into new listings first and fast. If you’re active in your market and your office, you probably know about new listings that are hitting the market before they even do. Letting these potential buyers know immediately that your company or team has the largest marketshare—and, because of that, you know about listings that are coming on the market before they hit the market—means you can get them in first and fast. Letting a potential buyer know that you are a top agent or team, and that you have access and knowledge of new listings coming on the market, makes you invaluable to them and their home search process. You can also let them know you have pre-approved buyers that may be a good fit for their current home, as well. Also, offer other properties that would fit their search criteria. For example, “I can show you three other homes that I know are on the market that meet your search criteria after we see this one. How does that sound?”
- Ask for the appointment, right then. Ask the lead for information that will help you help them, and lead to securing an appointment. Asking the right questions helps set the tone and cadence for how you can add value and help them buy and/or sell their homes. Ask them which times are better, and give them two times to choose from. This is a presumptive way to have them choose one of them, because you’re the one setting up the meeting—it’s just a matter of when.
Get the appointment by adding value, such as: “I would like to go over my Exclusive Home Buyer Guide with you and do a consultation meeting at my office, where I can show you lots of homes in my conference room on display, and we can discuss how we can best work together and then go out and see several houses.”
Alternatively, you can add value by offering to save them time and money, such as: “Before you make a list for Home Depot for improvements to your home, see me to learn which improvements you need to make that will result in a faster sale.” You can further say, “I am not coming to list the home, but to see it and give you advice.” Ask them for the appointment and show value; they will respond with enthusiasm.
- Be presumptive and certain. Say things with confidence and certainty—for example, “I’m so glad you contacted me, and I’m excited to be showing you homes and working with you during this exciting time.” In your Home Buyer Guide, have an intro letter that says, “Dear New Client, Congratulations on your decision to buy a new home! I’m so glad we will be working together!” Say you have access to mortgage providers and listings, and you have an incredible negotiation strategy, you can make the process smooth and stress-free and you handle all the details before and after the purchase, as well as when selling their home. Say “when,” not “if.” Use the opportunity to set yourself apart as the agent they need to work with, both to find them the home of their dreams and to help them sell their current home.
Making sure you are responsive to leads and adding value during the very first conversation will make the difference in getting you noticed by potential buyer and seller leads. You will grab their attention with your value-driven strategy to give them what they need, even when they don’t know they need it. It adds extra surprise value to the process, and will make them attracted to your style and services you offer.
To receive a complimentary copy of my exclusive “Overcoming Objections” guide, click here.
Sherri Johnson is CEO and founder of Sherri Johnson Coaching & Consulting. With 20 years of experience in real estate, Johnson offers coaching, consulting and keynotes, and is a national speaker for the Homes.com Secrets of Top Selling Agents tour. For more information, please contact coaching@sherrijohnson.com or 844-989-2600 (toll-free) or visit www.sherrijohnson.com.
