5 Minute Lead Followup
For lead followup best practices/stats, click here
When following up with leads, time is of the essence. Inside Real Estate enabled both email and text alerts to immediately notify you any time a new lead registers or is assigned to you, so you can respond to that lead through at least four channels in the first five minutes.
If there’s an issue with your lead alerts, please contact your Account Manager immediately.
According to years of research, we can tell you that the quicker you respond to a lead, the better your chances are of turning them into a converting customer. Your Inside Real Estate platform actually tracks your response time to both accept the lead and follow up, so there’s no more question of accountability. That said, follow up immediately! We’ve outlined our recommended approach to lead followup:
1) Call
2) Set up/edit the search filter
3) Email
4) Text
1) Call
It is important to contact leads within the first five minutes, and the first minute is even better. Your odds of reaching them and turning them into a client go up exponentially if you can reach them within that time frame. Within your lead alert, you can simply tap the click-to-call icon, and it will connect you to their primary number. Regardless of where you are, you can call them immediately!
Remember, offer VALUE! Don’t sell them on your site; instead, see what they’re looking for.
2) Set up/edit the search filter
Search filters are designed to notify a lead any time a new property shows up on your site within their search parameters. As a new property shows up, it will email the visitor and let him or her know that there are new properties, then provide them with a link and try and drive them back to your site. A good search filter is tailored exactly to the lead’s needs: price, location, size, bedrooms/bathrooms, type, etc.
Your Inside Real Estate solution is designed to capture the visitor’s search activity, then automatically create a search filter for you. The default setting for this alert is daily, which means that every 24 hours, the system will look through your site to see if there are new properties fitting their parameters. If there are new listings, it will send an email alerting the lead of the listings.
Inside Real Estate’s automatic system alert is built based upon the visitor’s searches. However, that doesn’t mean it’s always accurate! If the visitor searches an area outside your specialty, you’ll need to get in and refine the filter so it searches appropriately. If you’re able to get a hold of the lead on the phone, you should be able to talk through their criteria and get a good idea of their interests. If you can’t reach them, never fear: your Inside Real Estate platform is collecting the details of their search.
To view the visitor’s search history, log into your dashboard, then follow these simple steps:
Visit your Lead & Contact Center
Click on the lead’s name
Click on the ‘+’ sign to expand search history: recent activity, recent/saved searches, and recent/saved listings.
Add to/update the existing search filter with your new knowledge
By clicking on the listings and searches, you can usually see the lead’s area of interest and search preferences (such as price, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.). The Saved Searches option gives you access to the filter built by the system, and you can edit this filter by simply clicking on it. To build a new filter, click on the magnifying glass icon in the Quick Actions section in the upper left hand corner.
To remove an alert, simply click the Delete button in the Saved Searches filter.
3) Email
After you’ve called the contact and set up or modified the search filter, follow up with an email. You can do this in your Lead & Contact Center or in the lead profile’s Quick Actions section. The system’s email is already linked to your email, so it will appear to the lead as if it’s coming from your personal address. The conversation will automatically be stored in the Agent Notes section of the lead’s profile, so you can return to it at any point for details.
A few tips:
1) Use the system email. It’s already linked to your primary email account, so the lead won’t know the difference. The system saves the entire conversation for you, and files it away with all the profile information. Don’t split systems - it’s too easy to lose data.
2) Keep the email simple. If you were able to reach the contact on the phone, follow up with your contact info. If you were unable to reach the contact on the phone, briefly introduce yourself, make yourself available, and keep it casual.
3) Keep it conversational. The more formal it is, the less likely to get a response. Leads like to feel like they’re speaking to a person, not an automated system.
4) Provide value. Add an MLS listing number to the email - the system will automatically pull the listing into the body of the email. Take advantage of the widgets, too - market data sets you apart from the competition.
4) Text
Texts actually receive the highest response rate in a variety of businesses. Use the Quick Actions button, or respond directly from your lead alert - it will all be stored in your notes.
Remember, texts are meant to be short. Keep it under 160 characters, and like your email, keep it simple and conversational!
Make sure you’re comfortable with the 5 Minute Follow-up process, and you’ll find that it’s not hard to get four points of contact within those first few minutes. With your professional persistence, you should see your lead conversions go up, which means more business, and ultimately a higher return for you!