As a realtor, you must have noticed that not all your prospects convert to clients, right? In fact, perhaps only one or two out of 100 prospects end up becoming clients!
Does it make you feel like you’re doing so much but having so few results? Do you give up on those prospects that don’t buy and focus on getting new leads?
You’re leaving a lot of money on the table! One reason why you might be experiencing this is that you don’t follow up with those prospects. As soon as they don’t buy, you take it that the deal is over and give up too easily.
Here’s good news for you; even if your prospects don’t need you right now, it doesn’t mean they won’t need you in the future, and staying in touch with them will keep you at the top of their minds.
With the right follow-up systems and strategies, you’ll be able to turn more prospects into clients, even if they have rejected your offer twice or thrice before! These follow-up strategies and scripts will help increase your lead conversion rate and increase your business in no time at all.
In this article, we will be highlighting in detail the 6 real estate follow-up systems that’ll help you follow up with your real estate leads.
One of the best ways to follow up with real estate leads is through emails. It’s an increasingly preferred and nearly always appropriate communication method. Why? Because through emails, you can regularly stay at the top of your prospect’s mind.
Follow-up emails are essential to maintain relationships with prospects and clients alike as they increase your chances of closing a sale.
If you’re wanting to connect with buyers who have a longer time frame, sending a follow-up email is exactly what you need to do, and with a drip campaign, things can get even easier.
As a realtor, you could receive additional leads that may not be ready to immediately buy or sell, but with follow-up emails, you can nurture them and help move them closer to a transaction.
In clearer terms, here are a few reasons why you should always send follow-up emails:
Buyers generally prefer emails as they get to read them in their leisure time.
They’re excellent for long-term leads. According to survey data from Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report in 2019, buyers usually spend an average of about 4.5 months shopping for a new home to buy. On the other hand, sellers spend up to 6 months on average just thinking about listing their home, and those who have owned their home longer take even more time to decide if they’re to sell.
As a real estate agent, it gives you an opportunity for personalization as you can reference your prospects’ answers in your follow-up emails and build rapport with them.
Follow-up Emails drive business; you can encourage the buyer to connect over the phone, book an appointment, and then eventually complete a sale.
While writing follow-up Emails, there are a few things you should note:
Be quick to get to the point. Most prospects will likely skim through at first. It should be worth it.
Keep your follow-up emails short. Only include two to three clarifying questions at a time.
Make it personable by using the prospect’s name while greeting and thanking them for their time.
Help your prospects understand why you need a response by detailing your next steps. Give them a reason to connect with you by telling them when you’ll be available next or how you can help them.
Include a call to action that is easy to respond to. Include your phone number so they can call or text you.
Don’t send emails too frequently or try to hard sell your prospects. It’ll only annoy your prospects.
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2. Phone Calls
If you ask any buyer or seller, they’ll likely tell you that the ‘follow-up caller’ is one of their least favorite persons, and it’s not so hard to tell why.
Unlike emails, phone calls are much more intrusive, and a lot of people become annoyed. That’s why most Realtors set reminders and end up staring at their notes and trying to come up with excuses as to why they won’t call their prospects, like “They’re probably busy! Or I don’t want to bother them!” Does this sound familiar?
Well, you don’t have to. You don’t also have to ignore the classic follow-up phone calls, which have worked the trick for several real estate agents like you for many years. The only thing here is that you have to make sure you’re doing it correctly or else you may wish you hadn’t called.
One way to ensure you’ll get the desired results through follow-up phone calls is to be prepared. Having a script for different scenarios will help you achieve that. Instead of ending up clueless for lack of words to say, a script that you can loosely follow will help you stay on track so that you won’t get lost in the conversation. That way, you can confidently follow up your leads with phone calls which can be crucial to your business. Here’s how…
A few very important reasons you need to utilize phone calls for your follow-up is that it helps you personalize your interactions with prospects. With phone calls, you have the chance to introduce yourself, ask questions, and directly answer the questions your prospects have as they’re asked, address the objections of your prospects in real-time, immediately countering their arguments if need be, and also forging a stronger connection with buyers and sellers alike. That’s something, isn’t it?
You might ask. “When is the best time to call a lead?” Well, from research, any time between 4 pm and 5 pm is the best time to pick up the phone; 8 am and 10 am happens to be the next best time. However, regardless of when you want to call, never attempt to follow up through phone calls on the weekends. Don’t do it.
Follow-up calls aim to build rapport with prospects and not to hard-sell them. Build rapport, and the opportunity to sell to them or book an appointment will come.
Sometimes, you won’t be able to reach your prospect on the first try. That’s okay. What’s not okay is to hang up and call it a day. Instead, leave a voicemail revealing your identity and reason for calling. It’ll either get them to call back or give you a better chance the next time you’d decide to call them. Win-win!
3. Text Messages
Granted, calls can be scary and quite challenging, especially if you’re unprepared or just shy. That doesn’t mean you can’t follow up with your prospects. Whether you’re comfortable with calls or not, you can use the option of sending a text message instead of, or in addition to, a phone call or voicemail.
In many cases, texts prove more effective than phone calls because some people hate talking on the phone, but they’re usually happy to text or read their texts.
It may surprise you to know that the vast majority of people actually want you to text them; a National Association of Realtors report found that up to 62% of all home buyers prefer their agent to send property information through text messages.
Text messages have an open rate of 98%, and this helps realtors to stay in front of clients, improve response rates, generate more leads, quickly find buyers, stay in touch with prospects, and keep them updated on open houses, new listings, and any other relevant information.
Getting amazing results when following up with prospects with text messages entails being strategic. A few steps are needed to get the job done.
The first step is to ensure you have the right contact information and reach out to prospects at the right time. You must also have a good reason for contacting them.
You ought to get a response from your contacts when you reach out. To achieve this, your text needs to be personal and relevant. Be sure to address your prospects by name. It gets their attention and makes them more apt to respond.
As soon as they take action, reach out to them. If they’ve just visited your website, send them a ‘Thank you” message for their interest.
Note: Don’t reply immediately, even if you’re using an automated system. When you do that, it makes them think it’s an autoresponder and puts them off. Make it look natural. Wait a few minutes. It’ll do the trick.
Keep your messages short and straight to the point. Ask a question or make one request at a time.
Ensure that you have a good reason for reaching out. Ask for feedback on your service. Offer a free consultation. Whatever the reason, be sure that it’s clear in your message.
Don’t send promotions or unsolicited messages to your leads. It will just annoy them, and they’ll likely unsubscribe from your list.
Always include your contact information in every follow-up text message you send so the contact can reach you if they have any questions.
With these tips, you’ll surely write follow-up text messages that get the desired responses.
4. Retargeting
Retargeting is a very sophisticated way to follow up with prospects. It helps you reach out to leads that have previously visited your website.
A retargeting tool like Facebook pixel can aid in tracking your prospects after they have left your website. With these tools, there’s no escape for the prospect because even when they go to other unrelated websites, they’ll still see your ads. Sweet, right?
With those ads, they’ll be reminded about their real estate problem and that your service can help them solve it. Win-win!
Retargeted leads are more likely to click on your ad because they’re already “warmed up.”
After setting up the ad and routing leads back to your website, you will have successfully followed up, but there’s a catch. You might be tempted to think you’ve done it all, but you haven’t. Instead of sending prospects back to your home page, send them to an optimized lead magnet instead so they can sign up to your email list to get the freebie.
Now, you can build a relationship with them and eventually get them to be your client!
5. Social Media
With so many leads on social media, it’s disastrous not to take advantage.
Several leads, buyers, and sellers alike can contact you by engaging with your posts. Some might even indicate interest in your services through social media, and it’s up to you to make them go over the line and follow through with a deal.
That’s why you need to take your follow-up on social media very seriously. Whether on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, you can reach out to leads who have shown an interest and build rapport with them in the DMs.
By doing that, you can answer some of the questions they have and schedule an appointment or a call or even recommend a free resource that can help them, which will make them leave their contact details in the process for further communication.
It’s not the popular follow-up system for Realtors, but it’s certainly worth considering because it’s quite as effective as the others. You should try it.
6. Face-to-face Follow-up
When it comes to following up with prospects, most real estate agents tend to look past this method but should they? Definitely not!
Face-to-face visits are one of the best approaches when done right, as it puts you in personal communication with the prospect. However, it must be done with the permission of the prospect.
You can achieve this by booking an appointment via a text message, a phone call, or an email. When the prospect consents to it, date and time should be arranged, and then you can proceed.
It’s particularly useful to Realtors who have just a few prospects each month as they’ll have the time needed. With this method, you’ll have a higher chance of converting more, even with fewer prospects.
This is because face-to-face follow-up conversations, being the most personal, allows for more direct interaction and will help you read the prospect’s nonverbal signals and body reactions, which are very helpful.
I became a realtor when I was 25, Right now I’m a digital marketing expert helping realtors, brokers and real estate agents generate more leads online.
