As an agent, your current CRM system should help you make money off every lead. Meet the next generation of proptech that is changing the game.
I’m no fisherman, but I understand the basics: if you want to catch a good fish you need a good fishing rod. Likewise, I’m no longer a real estate broker but I meet with many every day and one thing is for sure, if you want a good lead you need a good property.
However, whilst the rod (the property) is important, it is the fish (the lead) that should take centre stage as only one of these will feed you. (I promise that I’ll try to keep the fishing analogies to a minimum from this point on.)
So, what is a ‘lead’? For the purposes of this article, a lead is anyone who contacts you expressing any interest in either renting or buying a property from you, the agent. Maybe they called about a specific property; they might not end up buying or renting that exact one but at least you have them on the hook (sorry!).
Once you have a lead, it is absolutely imperative that you record their details somewhere that is searchable, and therefore useful, in the future. Tomorrow, next week, next year, whenever, really. Just because they didn’t buy something from you right now, does not mean they won’t buy something from you in the future.
Therefore, mission number one should be to get their name and contact details, but really the more information you can get the better. Things like how they found your contact details (the lead source), which areas they are interested in, how much they have to spend, when they are thinking of buying, are they buying with a mortgage, are they pre-approved – and so on.
The good news is, if they are not pre-approved, you can refer them directly from myCRM to Mortgage Finder without any additional steps. This will pay you commission for a successful referral.
The more information you are able to collect, the more myCRM can assist in making relevant matches and reminders. Also, in addition to helping you remember and find every lead you ever spoke to, it is great to have peace of mind that your colleague could pick up the trail and help you should you be on vacation, sick, or otherwise indisposed.
It is also worth considering that the lead might not want to give you this information. They don’t know you, why should they give you their email address right now, for example? They don’t have to give it to you, but you’ll get it soon so don’t worry about it. If you focus on the relationship part of CRM (Client Relationship Management) they will have no problem letting you have it in good time.
One of the hardest parts of any salesperson’s job is doing what they said they were going to do when they said they were going to do it.
Where to start with the relationship building? Try being helpful. If you have similar stock, you should show it to them. Would you not like to be able to say: “I know you want to view this property, and I promise you that we will look at it today, but I also have three other similar properties available that I think you will really like, would you mind if I emailed them over to you? With myCRM you can easily find and select properties that you think they might be interested in.
Who would ever say “no” to a question like that? Remember that lead who refused to give you their email address? Well, it’s probably not an issue anymore. Plus, if the email line fails you can always send the listings from myCRM via WhatsApp.
Now that mission one (getting their contact details and anything else you can) is accomplished, now it is time for mission two: make some money!
A scenario where someone likes the property that you showed them and bought/rented it right there and then may happen every now and again, but it’s not worth relying on this as a strategy for the long run.
So, you’ve sent the lead the properties you think they will like – now follow up and check if you were correct, but just make sure you remember to record what they say in the Notes section for that lead on myCRM. If the lead tells you they don’t want to live in a pink house, then write it down so you don’t forget and, for goodness sake, don’t show them any more pink houses.
One of the hardest parts of any salesperson’s job is doing what they said they were going to do when they said they were going to do it. If the lead asks you for a call-back next Tuesday simply make a note, and within myCRM you can also set a reminder. Then your phone and computer will make sure that you don’t forget to call them back. Before you call them back, be sure to check their section in the system as maybe some more property matches have dropped-in since you last spoke. Diarise, follow-up, meet, and repeat.
Be sure to use all of the tools in your chest to secure that lead exclusively; if you are their agent, although they might not buy or rent the property that they originally called for, you can still secure your company a healthy 50% (which is a great-deal better than 0%) of the commission.
Even if you have exceeded all expectations with your lead and demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that you are the best and most professional agent in town, that is still no guarantee that the lead will definitely buy or rent from you. They might still go to your rival down the road and do the deal.
This is the game we play! Dust yourself off, and onto the next. However, whatever you do, don’t forget this lead as they will certainly be buying or renting (or have friends that are doing the same and can be referred to you) again in the future.
All is certainly not lost as you still have their contact details, you know which areas they like and what budgets they have – myCRM will continue to match properties to their requirements and match them to your listings and those within Property Finder. Keep in contact, make notes, set reminders and, most importantly stay useful and relevant to them.
If you would like to know more about how myCRM can assist in ensuring every lead makes you money, get in touch at tom@mycrm.com
This article was originally published in Trends Report, Vol 5.
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