Communicating with leads, buyers, sellers...

[Sandy Neumann]

Jennifer,

Do you have separate follow-up campaigns for (a) leads you are pursuing, (b) buyers you are working with, and (c) current sellers?

I feel overwhelmed with marketing and communication. Can you help me simplify?

Currently, I do:

1. Weekly calls to my sellers.

2. Bi-monthly newsletter, primarily for my farm area but everyone gets a copy.

3. Borino's Expired Campaign (my easiest task, mostly automated)

4. Drip emails or letters to prospective buyers (generic Top Producer letters).

5. And of course, property searches for potential buyers.

The problem is that I am inundated with web leads (often from The Real Estate Book online or realtor.com) that have never resulted in a closing. Many of these leads don't seem to go anywhere. I read in one of your other blogs that you never, EVER turn down a prospective buyer, so...

1. How do you manage the follow up with so many different types of customers?

2. How do you focus your energy on the people that matter most, when these other follow-up activities are so time consuming?

[Jennifer Allan]

Great questions!

But first... I think you should change your tagline here on the forum - Save a Realtor - Buy a House - it's cute, but sounds a little self-defeating... NOT the attitude you want to convey to others, but more importantly, not to yourself!!!! You are WONDERFUL!!!

Sandy - it sounds as if you have tremendous potential to make a bucket of money - obviously you have clients - (20 listings?) and prospects, so what's going on? This is Very Good News - the biggest challenge for most agents is getting business - well, you have that - so let's get it SOLD and PAID.

Okay, to answer your questions one by one...

1.  Weekly calls to your sellers.
Keep doing that. Very important. I send my seller updated CMAs every 3 weeks (easy to do online) and check in once a week. I created a list of questions to ask so that I don't avoid the calls due to having nothing to say. Just don't be apologetic when you call. Confident, empathetic, but not apologetic

2.  Bi-Monthly newsletter - what does this look like? Is a template or custom? Can I get a copy?

3.  Expired Plus - cool...

4.  Drip letters - STOP. These suck (IMHO).

5.  Property searches - Yeah, good to do, if they're responding to you. See below.

Internet Buyers - I never had much luck with Internet buyers either, so I stopped pursuing them. However, when I say to never turn down a buyer, I'm not referring to web leads - I mean flesh & blood buyers who I'm pretty darn sure exist. While web leads might add a closing or two, I just don't think they're worth a lot of effort. That said, I'll bet I gave them more attention than any other agent they contacted, because most agents (as far as I can tell) ignore them all together. It's a case-by-case thing. Every once in awhile you'll connect with someone online and then you can pursue them for awhile. If they're local, nicely try to set up a meeting. If they're out of town - they are a Very Low Probability prospect. If it's possible to have a phone conversation with them, do that and you'll find out a whole lot more about their motivation and personality.

There may be ways to capture more Internet leads, but what I'm seeing is that it's not a good use of YOUR time - in other words, it's not YOUR thing! It wasn't my thing either. If I can get in front of someone - either on the phone or in person, they're mine, but I rarely captured a real buyer or seller just from an email conversation.

How about back-burnering these leads for awhile and focus your attention elsewhere? Maybe refer them to someone in your office who you suspect might have a better closing ratio.

You have listings to sell and (real) buyers to show. And friends to seduce!!!

[Jennifer Allan]

BTW - do you mind if I move this topic to the general forum?

[Sandy Neumann]

BTW - do you mind if I move this topic to the general forum?

Of course you can move it. Thanks!

[Susan Haughton]

I generate a fair number of internet leads and end up closing a few every year;  the rest of them, if I can manage to get any kind of dialog going, I refer the oness I don't want (yes, I cherry pick) to a couple of other agents who are RCHB but are new enough not to be TOO busy to pursue the ever elusive internet leader.

Several of these referrals have ended up in sales, so I collect a few dollars for my efforts and the other agents love me for it because it seems that generating business for some people is their biggest challenge.

So, rather than ignoring or kicking them to the curb, see if there is another agent who would be interested in working them.  It may work out well for both of you.

[ElizabethKing]

Jennifer, Can you share the list of questions that you have created to communicate with listing clients?

[Jennifer Allan]

Yep. Here's an excerpt from my "74 Ways to Sell Your Listings in Today's Market"


Staying in Touch – Pick Up That Phone!

Hey, I’m a big fan of email communication. But when you’re dealing with a nervous seller, you really need to pick up the phone on a regular basis.

Thirteen Excuses to Call Your Seller

Sometimes staying in touch means simply calling to say there’s nothing going on. But most of the time, you CAN come up with an intelligent reason to call. Here are some ideas:

1.   Find out if he’s running low on brochures
2.   Ask if the showing instructions are working for him.
3.   Provide showing agent feedback
4.   Ask to hold an open house this weekend
5.   Give feedback from your last open house
6.   Let him know about a new competing listing
7.   Schedule an appointment to review the latest market activity
8.   Provide a Fluffing & Flushing report
9.   Offer to take him out to preview the new competition
10.   Ask if you can come by and check the function of the lockbox
11.   Ask for feedback on how you’re doing
12.   Invite him to visit you at another open house you’re holding
13.   Ask if he’d be willing to act as a reference for you

[ElizabethKing]

Jennifer, Thanks for the list, I have been working on a seller campaign, so that they get something from me each week in the mail on top of the weekly calls.  This list will help me get going with my own...

On a totally different note, I am curious how you created your email "stationary" for newsletters. I am sure that you went over this in the previous class, but I can't seem to find it in the forum.  Could you please share.

[Jennifer Allan]

Elizabeth -  on the email stationary - I created the banner in Publisher and then saved it per the instructions on Constant Contact (I think I had to save it as a gif or tiff or something other than a jpeg).

I really don't remember the details, but I do know that I followed the CC instructions exactly and it worked great!

[JenniferCastillo66]

Jennifer, what is the "fluffing & flushing" report?   Also, where can we access/purchase this, "74 Ways to Sell Your Listings in Today's Market?"

Thanks, Miss!

[Jennifer Allan]

Hi Jenn,

Fluffing & Flushing is the act of checking on a vacant listing to make sure everything is as it should be... and it hardly ever is. After I go Fluffing & Flushing, I report back to my seller as to what I found... what I fixed... and if there's anything they need to address.

The 74 Ways to Sell your Listings is a part of my Listed to SOLD package and not sold separately. However, if you're interested in buying it individually, let me know and we'll work something out. It's $25.