In this week’s webinar, Sam Mehrbod sat with Hassan Riggs to discuss converting Real Estate leads. They discuss many valuable points you can see in the video below. We have also mentioned the highlights in the text below.
What is an Inside Sales Agent
According to Hassan:
“An “Inside Sales Agent” is a person in your team responsible for starting conversations with leads, ultimately filling your pipeline to talk to “more qualified prospects” on the phone.”
You could do that job yourself, but you are not going out and selling homes in that case. As a matter of fact, an inside salesperson focuses on starting a conversation with leads from different sources, qualifying them, and moving them to deeper phases of customer relationships.
Lead Conversion Process
According to Hassan when it comes to leads, first you need to know your goal and your first goal is not to set an appointment with the lead to close a deal. Most of the leads are not ready to buy a home right away. They are just looking.
People who are ready to buy a home are at the bottom of your marketing funnel and make a small percentage of the people you talk to. And all agents are looking for these people. The majority of people will be at the top and middle of the funnel. Your very first goal is to start a conversation with a lead. if you fail to do so nothing else matters as you will never be able to move them deeper in your marketing funnel.
What to do with top and middle of the funnel
To move leads to deeper phases of your funnel you need to talk to them to create value by understanding their expectations and needs. Sam also mentions that as real estate agents we are in the education business not in the sales business. And a lot of agents miss that since we can see most of them create 5-minute videos about themselves which do not focus on the needs of the audience.
Leads from Ads vs Leads from Social Media
Sam mentions that leads from different sources cannot be handled the same way. For instance, leads that come from social media, have been following you for a long time and know you. However, those who have clicked on your ads know you for a very short time and need to be warmed up first.
How to Handle Leads
When it comes to handling leads from different sources, Hassan believes it is crucial to understand leads’ intent. In fact, leads from different sources are the same and can be valuable but their intent is different.
Nowadays people have so many different ways to communicate including social media but the reality is they prefer “Text Messages” including direct messages on social media. Users respond to texts more frequently. The text has better deliverability rates, response rates, engagement, etc. It is simply an easier way to start a conversation.
Are You Working with an Agent
This is probably one of the worst questions agents can ask prospects. They want quick results and ask such questions to win prospects as clients. Hassan believes the problem with such a question is that it is a high-friction question and leads to prefer and respond to questions with low friction. Because when asked a question like that they know the only way to continue the conversation would be to say No.
The best Question to Ask a Lead
According to Hassan to best question to ask a lead is a question leads:
- Know the answer to and
- Respond to
So basically asking someone if they are working with an agent is not a bad question. it is a bad First question. The best question would be “How many bedrooms are you looking for?”
“People love to be helped but they hate being sold to.”
Hassan Riggs
Is it Okay to Buy Bulk Leads
Agents should work with leads they know. The problem with buying leads is that you have no idea about them. You do not know them. So buying leads is probably is a waste of time and money. It also depends on what kind of list you have. How much info is in that list?
Sending Listings to Your Contacts
Sam believes that sending listings to all your contacts is probably a bad idea. Because when you send a 3-million listing to all your contacts you are also sending a message. Your first-time homebuyers will think that you are not suitable for them as you work on expensive and luxury homes. And you probably do not have time for them to find a 400k home.
Relevancy
Hassan believes that being relevant is crucial when dealing with leads. You should not send content to people that they do not want because you are not relevant. You can send a listing to a certain lead every day only if you know the type of property they are interested in.
As an agent you need to send:
- The right message
- To the right person
- At the right time
- Through the right channel
- At the right level of frequency
Consistency
To better understand the importance of consistency Hassan says a quote:
“Ordinary things consistently done produce extraordinary results.”
Hassan Riggs
What habits do I need to have to consistently guide you toward success? one aspect people need to be consistent about is the relationship they have with their prospects. They cannot automate everything. They can not automate themselves because Real Estate is a human-to-human business and this side of it cannot be automated.
The Most Common Mistakes Agents Make with Leads
Here are a few mistakes agents make with leads.
Not Following up Consistently
It does not matter if it is a holiday, what time it is, where you are, and what you are doing. you always need to be consistently following up on your leads. if you break the pattern you will lose those leads.
Answering within 2 Minutes
The golden recipe is that agents need to respond within two minutes of receiving a request, question, etc. if they take longer than that they will also lose the leads. However, you should avoid responding too early within seconds as it will show that your message is automated.
Final Words
Hassan believes agents need to think about the following:
- Who is your ideal customer?
- What are doing to attract your ideal customer
- Why is your ideal customer not working with you?
“If you are trying to sell to everybody, you are selling to nobody. There are riches in niches.”
Hassan Riggs