For many Americans, their home may be their greatest asset, so it makes sense that they would have questions and concerns about how this health and economic crisis has impacted their local real estate market and their property values.
This is exactly why now is the perfect time to call them!
To have high caliber conversations with buyers and sellers you need to be a student of the market, this will allow you to have data-driven conversations. Data-driven conversations will demonstrate how knowledgeable you are, provide valuable information to those you are speaking with, and spark opportunities.
Many people who 6-12 months ago had no real estate plans may now be in a situation where they are forced to sell, or are tired of their home, or simply feel that life is short and they want to be somewhere new and different.
This is why you will want to call every past client, everyone in your sphere and all of your friends and family….ask them, “Are there any real estate opportunities you would like to explore?”
Many of our clients are offering annual real estate check-ups and real estate planning conversations via Zoom, this is helping them identify the long and short terms leads, and cement loyalty with their customers and prospects.
They are offering virtual coffees to answer questions and virtual events to educate their clients and prospects on future opportunities.
We are noticing that it’s often even easier to have someone commit and show up for a virtual consult vs. an in-office appointment and the entire world is now comfortable on Zoom, use this to your advantage.
Of course, each week brings changes in our world and changes in the financial world, so be well informed, and choose a helpful and valuable topic to discuss on your lead generation calls.
When you lead with value, you will feel better about making the calls.
Much of the real estate world will use this time as an excuse not to prospect, you need to do the opposite, hit it hard.
Often agents tell us they are concerned about bothering people in this sensitive time. Let’s be realistic, most of the world is not sick, and because real estate is for most people one of their biggest investments, it’s only natural that they have questions and concerns they want to discuss.
Our coaching clients are even sharing with us that as they do their circle prospecting, a.k.a. cold calls, they are facing very little rejection. In fact, the biggest challenge is getting the people off of the phone.
Yes, you should be mindful of their situation. Yes, you should have a gracious approach, and if they are suffering in some way, perhaps it’s not the time to take the conversation to real estate.
Most though, are just fine and they would be delighted to talk to you!
How many deals are hiding in your leads?
It’s also time to double down on your lead follow-up with new leads/old leads/cold leads, 70% of most agents’ business often comes from their follow up and yet, most agents tell us that their system for follow up is weak. Remember we cannot let anything fall through the cracks.
You also need to accept the fact that leads may take longer to convert, recent data says it may take 6-12 contacts and 4-18 months. It’s going to require more time and more effort in most cases to convert them. Don’t get your feelings hurt when they, “go dark”, maybe they just aren’t ready. Don’t be afraid to call them more often than you are comfortable doing, Zig Ziglar used to say, “Timid salespeople have skinny kids.” Just make the calls, then email, then text, and then repeat!
If your system isn’t set up for long term follow-up you will lose opportunity – it’s time to once and for all commit to a systematic approach to your follow-up.
Part of your quality systems should be a good CRM (See information about Brivity CRM in this report) and your follow-up needs to be a critical piece of your time blocking. In fact, if you are lead follow-up challenged, do it first thing and then move on to your lead generation.
We encourage you to have a morning session lead follow-up session of 30-60 minutes, an afternoon session, and one evening a week to chase those who are super-hot and one Saturday morning a month. You are going to need to hunt the leads harder than ever and you will need to work to inspire them to action with data-driven conversations tied to their particular needs and situation.
If you want more guidance on how to grow your luxury real estate practice, you can learn more about the Institute’s training options here.