Summary: Here are 7 thoughts on how you get the MOST out of your leads, including how to scale up your stay in touch program to turn your ‘contact list’ into a ‘contract list’ 1. Act quickly. Your prospects are busy and will move on quickly. When prospects call, email or submit an online form, they are actively asking you to engage with them. The more you wait the colder the lead gets 2. Appreciate the lead. Not every lead is created equal, and not everyone is ready to transact today. Be patient, and tailor your follow up, and you’ll find you’ll have more opportunities to connect with those internet buyers. Some early stage buyers & sellers take up to 12 months to transact. That is future business, if your follow up is consistent. 3. Use the same method of contact. This one is pretty simple. If they emailed you, email them back. If they reach out on a social network then use that medium for dialogue. Same goes for calls. Some people just ‘don’t do email’ and want to talk to a live person. These individuals usually have more specific questions, and have often one more research on the neighborhood. Just remember: get back to them ASAP. 4. Leave them with something useful. They've reached out to you, isn't there something you can send them? Even though your sphere is not currently interested in buying, everyone wants to know their value of their home and area they are living in. This shouldn't be promotional, but information. When we follow up well it is a service to our prospects service they will thank us for through future transactions and referrals. 5.Organize and update your contact list. Are all of your emails and phone numbers up to date? It’s important when getting new contacts to make sure you ask the right questions and get as much information from them as possible so that you can insert in your database. It’s important to keep all your contact information in one database instead of having some in Outlook, Gmail™ and some contacts on your phone or in handwritten notes. 6. Keep In Touch When was the last time you spoke on the phone with your sphere of influence? Make it a habit to regularly call your sphere. By sending out something valuable like trend reports to your sphere, this gives you excellent talking points when you follow up on the phone without sounding like you are cold calling. Set aside minimum 2 hours each day to call the people on your list. The best time to call is usually on weekday mornings. 7. Go out and Prospect Many agents are afraid to devote 100% of their time into prospecting. They feel it will cost a lot of money in marketing and advertisement. This is a misconception. When prospecting, you don’t have to spend a lot of money. Expensive advertisement in magazine is not the way to go anymore. Most of the lead generation can be done in a cost effective way.
