I am a real estate broker. I know a little bit about buying, selling, and leasing real property.
When it comes to every other product or service in life, that is NOT real property, I am a simple consumer, and many times I am somebody's lead.
In fact, I have some pretty finely tuned radar that alerts me when I am being treated as a lead.
Here's a true life story:
Somehow, I ended up on a contact list for XYZ Communication Company. The rep calls me once or twice a week; she faxes rate comparison sheets, and then calls me again to ask if I have any questions.
I know she is just trying to do her job. And it is quite possible that changing phone carriers would save me money. But there is just simply not room on my plate to deal with it right now.
If and when I am ready to look into it, I most likely will NOT contact XYZ Communication Company, because they have just plain pestered and annoyed me way too much.
This is not the way to handle internet lead conversion, or any kind of lead conversion.
If I am not ready to purchase your particular product or service, no amount of badgering by phone, fax, email or snail mail is going to cause me to purchase.
If I am ready to purchase your product or service, I will make a decision to work with you based on my perception of how knowledgeable you are about your product or service.
If you give me the impression that you know what you are doing, and if on top of that, you are personable and likable, you will most likely have closed the deal with me. And you are gonna need to give me that impression of competency in the first few minutes of our very first conversation.
Is it possible that the people who are my potential clients have the same kind of feelings?
The First Impression is the foundation of any lead conversion system. I believe that the First Impression trumps almost anything you can do in subsequent follow-up.
In that very first conversation, you must convey the impression that you know your stuff. Your market, your neighborhood, the angles of financing, how the how process of purchasing works.
If you succeed with the First Impression, you can get away with ignoring the potential client for the next two months, and they will still remember you.
And in that same conversation, you need to explore the who, what, where, why, when and how of the potential client to begin to get an idea if the possibility of a strong working relationship exists.
In original 2009 edition of Gary Keller's book titled "Shift, How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times" there is a chapter titled "Get to the Table - Lead Conversion". Keller suggests some scripts for mining the client's who, what, where, why, when and how when having that initial conversation.
Although, truth to be told, I cannot see myself saying to a potential client "Thanks for sharing that" with a straight face.
For other methods of converting internet leads, be sure to check out giftofshift.com/activerain where you can purchase a limited edition hardcover of Gary Keller's book SHIFT, which comes with a free version of the eBook Soci@l: Attract Friends, Followers and Connections to Your Business, written by Ben Kinney and Jay Papasan (in which Ben shares his 'ten days of pain' lead conversion method) as well as free audio versions of Millionaire Real Estate Agent and Millionaire Real Estate Investor all for $19.99.
Disclaimer: This is an entry in Bob Stewart's most recent contest for which I may or may not receive Active Rain Bonus Points. :-)
Cheryl, you may not get points from ActiveRain for this post, but you get points from me! I just hate being pestered to death!
You are absolutely correct. Some say followup weekly, but I disagree as well. Once you find out where they are in the process on first contact, honor their wishes. I ask if they would like an auto search set up, and if they do, I review the searches to see if still viewing. All our closed leads came from clients who we had first contact with and left alone until they were ready to buy.
Hi Cheryl-
That is part of what is wrong with those high-contact concepts, where the agent is initiating all of the contact - the customers generally end up annoyed. Thanks for giving us your viewpoint!
--Sara in San Antonio
I agree, when a consumer is ready they will find you. Pestering and constantly emailing or calling is annoying and I don't anyone to do it to me and I won't do it to anyone.
I agree -- I know if I get pestered then I likely go elsewhere and not with the peson doing the pestering.
Cheryl - There is a fine line between too much and just enough. It's even more challenging when your a dedicated and commited Realtor trying to ensure that prospects know your the best! It takes a lot of trial and error fine tuning your systems.
Let's try a different scenario.
Let's say I am considering a room addition at my own home to prepare for having an aging parent move in.
I interview 3 or 4 licensed building contractors just to get a sense of who they are and how they work, and whether the addition I am imagining will cost in the neighborhood of 50,000 or the neighborhood 500,000. :-)
Let's say I also make it clear that this addition is a plan for the future, maybe a year or more off, definitely not something in the next 30 days.
How often would it be appropriate for those contractors to follow up with me? What kind of follow up would be appropriate? Email? Postcards? Phone calls? At what point does the follow up become intrusive and annoying?
If one of the contractors really impressed me from the get-go, I would be inclined to contact that contractor when the time comes to actually start the addition, even though one of the other competing contractor might make sent me more postcards and more emails.
@Christopher
In my playbook, it comes down to that First Impression. I am expecting a prospective client to choose one of my agents because they realize the agent really, truly knows this business, not because the agent sends out the most emails. :-)
"If you succeed with the First Impression, you can get away with ignoring the potential client for the next two months, and they will still remember you."
I haven't found that to be true in real estate. Believe me, I've tested that idea and LOST. There are tons of Realtors out there and regardless of what a great impression you've made, if you don't stay in front of people they will forget you and go with whomever is in front of them at the moment.
Lisa, that's true, although the First Impression system has kept us in business for many years.
One of my faults, I suppose, is thinking that other people act or react the same way I do in a given situation.
Looking at my contractor example above, if I was really impressed with one of the contractors, I'd put that person's business card on my refrigerator door, or I'd clip it to the inside page of my appointment book so I could find it again.
If I really liked that particular contractor, I'd make a effort to contact him or her again when I was ready to start the project, even if one of his or her competitors had been sending me postcards and newsletters every month.
Another example: Mortgage Loan Originators
Do you have 3 or 4 mortgage loan people you know you can trust to take good care of your clients?
Suppose a new mortgage guy goes on a campaign for your business and starts bombarding you with phone calls, emails, mailouts, faxes and flyers?
How many emails and postcards will it take from the new guy to pull you away from the people you know and trust?
Cheryl,
I tend to treat people how I want to be treated as well. Therefore I don't bombard them with phone calls. I just email them information, put them on automatic notification & send them an email now & then to follow up. Eventhough I do get some clients getting back in touch with me after a few months or in some cases a few years to do business with...I often wonder that I may lose many others for not following up with them more aggressively.
Lead generation is the fuel for the engine and Lead Followup is a key ingredient in the fuel.