TOP 5 IN REAL ESTATE NETWORK, July, 2009-There are four distinct skills you need to develop to take full advantage of this tremendous opportunity with buyer leads.
1. Contact the leads.
2. Convert the leads into appointments
3. Develop and conduct a winning buyer presentation.
4. Stay in touch with the leads until they buy from you or you drop them.
First, you need the habit and discipline of contacting enough of the leads that you generate to reach your goals. Most agents generate enough leads to reach their next level of production. What they lack is the habit of following up on all the leads they generate.
When you get a lead, call it that minute. If you can’t, call it at the next ten minute break you have in your day.
If you are really disciplined, and most agents aren’t, you could set aside time to make lead follow-up calls. Most agents that try this, don’t make the calls immediately and don’t honor the lead follow-up times and, therefore, simply lose lots of leads for lack of follow up. So, I suggest you develop your discipline to call back immediately. If it is an e-mail respond immediately. The point is to make the contact.
The second skill is your ability to convert the lead into an appointment with you. For most agents, for all but the highest producers, this is the ability to convert the lead into an appointment to meet with you.
This conversion skill includes the language, the scripts and the approach to get the person wanting to meet with you. You make them see that they will buy a better home for a great price if they meet with you and learn what you have to teach rather than continuing on their own.
When you contact the lead, do two things. First, give the person the information they want. Second, ask them probing question that helps them and you.
Like this, “The price on that property is $249,900. Is that the price range you are in or are you looking higher or lower than that?” Give the information and ask a relevant question.
Or, “That house is 1400 square feet with three bedrooms and one bath. What size home are you looking for?” Give the information and ask a relevant question.
Continue this process until you feel comfortable with asking for an appointment to proceed.
Like this, “Great, that sounds really doable. Let’s do this. Let’s get together and see if we can find just what you are looking for. If we hit it off, I’d love to help you find the best place to live. If we don’t, I promise you’ll at least get some good information and we’ll shake hands and go our separate ways. What evening this week are you free?”
The third skill is the ability to conduct a buyer appointment that educates the buyer in the process, creates tremendous confidence in you and your ability to help them find and purchase the best possible property.
Show them how you are watching out for them and ensuring their success as you describe their process of buying and also so they know what to expect from you. You describe things they probably hadn’t thought of. At the same time, you educate them and you distinguish yourself as the type of agent they want working for them. Continually ask for their agreement as you go through the process and describe your function.
Like this, “I will pull up everything in the MLS that is even close to your desired home. I have the ability to search over 100 different criteria so I will be completely thorough. How does that sound to you?”
By effectively doing this step:
• They will buy faster.
• They will be more loyal.
• They will be more confident in your advice.
• They will be more forgiving if something goes wrong.
• They will send you referrals.
The fourth and final skill to turn the maximum number of leads to sales is your habit of what we call lead retention. Lead retention means your system of recording the lead’s information and prompting yourself to stay in contact with them until they buy or you choose to drop them.
The key here is to have a simple contact management system.The simplest contact management system is to record each lead on an index card or calendar then prompt yourself to call them.
The most efficient method is to use a contact management system like Top Producer, Microsoft Access, Outlook, ACT or some other system that contains both a database of the information on the lead and a calendar to prompt you to call them.
For most agents, doubling your business or at least adding 50% to your business is possible with this skill. Begin to retain your leads, staying in touch with them by phone in addition to your auto notification by e-mails. Use a contact management system to retain your relationship with the maximum number of leads and your next level will occur.
Of course we all know that you can have these four skills and still not get the job done if you don’t put the skills to use.
If you want to increase your effectiveness at these skills and never get to it and continue to suffer lost leads, disloyal buyers, and continuous disappointment then call me for a free strategic business planning session and we can discuss how to have you start implementing these skills immediately.
Rich Levin is a National Real Estate Authority with over 30 years experience; the last 15 dedicated to coaching and speaking. His specialty is in raising Agent Production while improving quality of life. He has spoken in 38 States at events from small offices to the NAR convention.
Join our 1st Fifteen Daily Real Estate Training Webinars every week day. Contact us at 585-244-2700 or visit http://www.RichLevin.com.
