How to Turn Dead Leads Into Profits
Have you ever heard the saying “the money is in the follow-up” and “most sales are made after three contacts.” They are both true, it doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or more experience in quick turn real estate, you need to have a follow-up system.
You probably already have some type of system but how effective is it? You may think that your current system is working just fine but what if I told you that you could increase your business by 20%, 50% or 200% with the proper follow-up system. Would you implement one? Here the basics of a follow-up system.
Lead capture: How do you capture your leads? Do you find the closest piece of scrap paper and scribble as much info as you can get? You should have a form to capture this information when a lead calls in.
You should have a similar form on your website. This form should collect the essential data such as name, address, multiple phone numbers, condition, the least amount they can accept, and marketing source. Whether you are using an answering service, a website, or answering the calls yourself, you need to have a lead capture process.
Lead tracking/management: Do you have a pile of papers in your office with old leads on them? Once you capture the basic info from a lead, you need a way to store and organize that information for later use. Later could mean three hours later when you go out to see the property or three days later. In either case, you need to know how to retrieve the data.
There are many contact management software systems available today. You can start with something as easy as Excel and create your own system or you can purchase Act or Goldmine. I would stay away from a very expensive software programs until you grow out of the ones mentioned above.
Act and Goldmine are low-cost systems that have the ability to store the captured data and set a follow-up action such as setting an appointment to visit a prospect, calling a prospect back, or sending a prospect a letter or postcard. You can also set it to give you a daily task list of what prospects you should be taking action with and what action you should take.
Follow-up/action: You look at the folder of old leads and think to yourself, I wonder if that prospect has sold their property. You should have a system in place so that you never have to think about that again because with the proper system you will already know the answer. With a contact management system your follow-up will be automatic. Every morning or night before, you can print a task list that will tell you who you need to call, visit, or send direct mail to.
The part I find the most challenging to do is entering the data into the system since I don’t spend most of my day at the computer. You have a few options: Carry a laptop or PDA and enter the data as it comes in, choose one time per day to enter a batch of information, or hire someone to enter the data. I prefer the last option since it frees me up to be out making offers and closing deals that I wouldn’t have been able to do without a good follow-up system.
Don’t let a penny of marketing go to waste because you lack a proper follow-up system. The best leads to follow up on will be the ones that are not that motivated yet but have equity, you captured their caller ID but they didn’t leave a message, appointment no-shows, or decided to try a Realtor first. There is a deal in all these situations and unless you have a system to follow up you’ll miss out on most those deals. How much more money will you make after implementing the proper follow-up system in your Quick Turn business?
