Do You Do Any of These Embarrassing Things on Your Follow Up Calls?
Wed, Apr 4, 2012
Conversion is a critical part of this business. You can generate hundreds of leads, but if you don't follow up with them properly, it was a waste of your time and money to have generated them in the first place. Actually, it's more than a waste. Watching leads "die" is a highly demoralizing experience for agents. It's one thing to never generate a lead -- that problem has its own set of frustrations -- but to find a prospect and then watch them go to another agent is worse. The fact is that follow up is a major weakness for many agents because most don’t have a system that can consistently and predictably convert a prospect into a face-to-face presentation. This is clearly a huge problem. If you don't have a system to convert your leads to appointments, you're wasting most of the time and money you're spending on lead generation. Those who aren't converting their leads at an acceptable rate are the ones who are not following the system. My Universal Follow Up script has been very specifically and strategically designed to not only gauge how qualified a lead is, but also to compel prospects to give you the information you need in order to take the relationship to the next level. When coaching members are having difficulty with conversion, we arrange to listen in to their follow up calls so we can give them specific advice on how to improve these conversations. Often we find that they start off right, but then lose control of the conversation because they don't really understand the reason for the questions they're asking. Here’s an example. An agent might say "Hello Mrs. Smith, it's John Doe calling from Company X. I'm calling to let you know that I received your request for the free list of distress sales in your area and I've sent that information to you. Is that okay?" So far so good. They've followed the script -- a copy of which is available on your coaching site. But after that they forget what they're supposed to do. Specifically, the prospect will say what they're supposed to say, "Yes that's fine," but then, instead of asking the specific questions that will help them gauge motivation and timing -- like, for instance "Are you planning on staying in the area or are you moving out of town" or "If you were to move, when do you think that might be" -- questions that the prospect cannot answer a simple yes or no to; questions that will lead them to tell the truth about their intentions -- instead, the agent says something lame like "Is there anything in the report that you'd like me to explain further?" And the prospect of course answers "No." Knowing he or she has been backed into a corner now, the agent grasps another straw and says something like "Well, if you think of anything I can help you with in the future, I'd be happy to help you so please give me a call" to which the prospect of course answers "Sure" which really means "Good bye". Just like that, the lead is lost. The solution to this problem is so simple, I'm amazed when agents fight it. If they simply followed the script verbatim, their conversion would increase dramatically. When I listen to the follow up calls of agents new to my system, I hear the same mistakes being made over and over – all of which are incredibly easy to fix once you understand the precise science behind these calls. The problem is, “you don’t know what you don’t know”, and until someone points out to you the glaring mistakes you’re committing again and again, you won’t know why your failure rate is as high as it is. We do a lot of role playing with agents, and when they finally "get" it -- when they finally understand and believe in the system -- their conversion problem goes away. P.S. You can test drive my ideas and systems absolutely free by signing up for Free Weekly Training which includes live weekly webinars, a monthly newsletter and priority invitations to free half day training events. This Free Weekly training will expose you to inexpensive and highly effective methods of lead generation (with no cold calling) -- what I call “Reverse Prospecting”, where qualified prospects actually hunt you down rather than the other way around, and then how to follow these leads through to maximum GCI via proprietary lead conversion and prospect presentation systems. This is the easiest way for you to find out with no risk or obligation what my system is all about and how it can help you profitably grow your real estate business and vastly improve your quality of life. JOIN MY FREE WEEKLY TRAINING PROGRAM HERE