AgentLocator Live Dials and Expert Talk, February 16, 2022
Beverly dives into an insightful Q&A session with the Live Dial attendees this week.
Here are some of the most interesting questions she answers:
→ How to indirectly ask your lead if they already have an agent
→ How to change your perspective over leads that don’t answer the phone
→ How to prioritize your leads
→ What to do when you initially have a good connection with the lead, but then they ghost you
→ Best practices for filtering and tagging leads
→ How to talk with leads that are “just-looking”
→ How to ask for business from your sphere of influence (SOI)
→ What to do when you’re stuck in the conversation and don’t know what to say
Watch the replay now, and pick up great tips for improving your cold calling skills.
Transcript:
Crystal: 0:05
So, yeah, we were going to have someone lined up, but they did have some showings today. It is that time, you know? I find in any person I did try to call to get on, they all had meetings or showings or listing appointments. So, it's definitely there. Everyone's out there hustling, which is great. It's great. It's just definitely hard to find those that are available.
Bev: 0:32
Yeah. It looks like we have some attendees that are in here today. So we can make it very personal for them. If anybody wants to raise their hand and tell us about any aha moments, any rocks in your shoe, any holes in your boat? Let's take this time to make this your hour. Don't everybody talk at once now! Should know where the chat button is, at the bottom, to be able to jump in the chat and say: Okay, my leads suck.
Crystal: 1:09
Yeah. It is. Let's get on to a little bit of a topic discussion tonight. And so what we do as part of our training now, Beverly, is we do a little slideshow presentation, just educating our clients on what to expect from their online leads. So the motivation abilities, the timelines, right? These aren't people necessarily that are going to be transacting right away. Some can be 6 to 24 months plus from actually transacting. Now, through all that, we obviously deal with objections. We both know what the most common one that we hear is. But I know there's a lot of realtors out there that want to be able to ask that question about agency, if they're working with another agent because they don't want to waste their time. Now how I educate my clients when I'm on this topic is similar to what you've guided. And that is to ask that question indirectly. Have you gone to see any houses yet? Are you guys primarily looking online?
Because if they've gone to see houses, that's when you're going to start digging to see if there's an agent involved in that. But for those that are just online, they've only been looking online; the chances are that they're likely not working with somebody directly at that point, you're in a fairly safe zone. Is there anything that you can add to that or any other ways that we can ask that question without crippling ourselves? Because I know a lot of folks out there, once they hear the: Ah, I have an agent, they're like: Oh, I can't touch this person. Right? There's that fear that they're going to get in trouble or reprimanded for reaching out to that person afterward. So what are your suggestions surrounding that topic?
Bev: 2:56
We have to remember our definition of working with an agent can be much different than the lead's definition of working with an agent. Most buyers do not really truly comprehend the responsibility that the agent should have. So I have found that people will say: I'm working with an agent, but their definition of that is they've been on this agent's website, and they've been getting emails from this agent, the recommendations. But at the end of the day, I don't want to take business away from anybody. Good for them, for that agent, or for that lead to say they're working with an agent. But has that agent ever reached out to ask them about what their expectations are? So, all I want to know is how long have you been looking? And what has your experience been in the process so far? Because we need to set ourselves apart from an agent to an advisor. Our job is to educate these people as much as we possibly can so that they can make their decisions for their future with the tools that we've given them to be able to understand. The average agent just listens to the lead and says: Okay, let's go see 123 Main Street. They don't ask the questions. They don't dive in, and they don't understand the buyer's expectations. And the only way that we can really do our job is to know what their expectations are. So when we ask the lead: How long have you been looking, and what has your experience been while you've been looking? Tell me about that. I've looked at four homes. Well, why didn't those four homes work out? What happened? This home that, this home that; well let me ask you a question. I don't want to take business away from anybody. But has your agent really sat down with you to explain what the process looks like? And to really understand what's most important to you? The chances are that the lead is going to say no. And in my world of analogy, that's like going to a doctor's appointment and no one doing anything about finding out what your ailment is, what your problem is, what your heart rate is, right? Or what's going on with you. And then okay, you're out with a surgeon, well, what the hell? You're taking out my kidneys, but you didn't even ask any of the questions. You just want to take out my kidneys. So whenever we look at our responsibility from that perspective, it changes the game. But we just have to understand the difference of definitions. So we have to ask the right questions to make sure that we're getting the right answers. And not just that overall: I have an agent. Because do they? It's so easy. Like all these buyers get the memo, and they know, well, if I say I'm an agent, well, good luck with that, bye.
Crystal: 6:30
Well, I try to use myself as an example, right? Like, I know, so many agents. So if someone were to ask me that question, it'd be so easy for me to just say: I have an agent, because I know so many. Why wouldn't I have one? It doesn't mean I am actually working with them.
Bev: 6:45
Every lead quickly forgets whenever they go into new construction that they have an agent. Like, okay, if you're going to walk into new construction, what agent's name are you going to put down? Right? Do you really have an agent? Because now it does happen once in a while where you get a call from the new construction where they're like: Hey, they put your name down as being your agent. You're like: Whoa, bonus. I wanted to deserve that, but hey, it happens once in a blue moon. But it's funny, right? They're quick to tell you they have an agent whenever you're trying to convert them. But when they walk into a new construction: No, I don't have an agent. Remember that nobody's loyal. Nobody is loyal. It's all about convenience. And if you're coming from a perspective, I was listening to a training the other day, and Jay Abraham, he's my business guru, I absolutely adore him. But he was talking about preeminence. And I actually had to look the word up. And it's really the ability to make your client the one that stands out. Don't fall in love with your service. Don't fall in love with what you're selling, don't fall in love with what you do, fall in love with your client. Solve their problems, be their solution, ask the right questions and make it all about them. They don't care what you can do for them. They want to know how much you care about helping them and guiding them, and saving enough money. That's where that elevator pitch is so important with buyers, right? It's I can help you save 10s of 1000s of dollars. But if you don't truly believe that, it doesn't sound right coming out of your mouth. Right? Like, how am I going to save a buyer 10s of 1000s of dollars just by using me? Asking all the right questions and making sure that they're not going to be buying the wrong home. Making sure that if they don't have two dimes to rub together in their pocket, making sure they're not buying a home, that they're going to have to replace an HVAC system after they make their first mortgage payment. That's helping somebody save 10s of 1000s of dollars, making sure they have the home warranty, making sure they understand the process and the expense. Not many agents sit down and explain to somebody before it comes up. Now I don't know about Canada, but we have the earnest money deposit that's written when you write the contract. That's the promise that you're committing to a contract.
Crystal: 9:22
Yes, you put a deposit in here, in Canada.
Bev: 9:24
You're explaining that to them, explaining how much a home inspection is, explaining how much an appraisal is, explaining exactly how much money is going to come out of pocket just to buy the home so that there are no surprises. And those are the conversations that are so important to have, but we get so caught up in showing the house and hoping it's going to be the right house that we forget to have those conversations.
Crystal: 9:49
Mm-hmm. No, exactly. And it's also building that trust. It's earning that business, as well. And like, as you said, it's showing that you care. It's when somebody actually cares about your end result and the overall well-being; that's when you feel a little bit more drawn to them. You know that they're not after their own best interest anymore. They're actually there to help you and guide you. You feel that much more confident in what they're doing. And you trust what they're saying, rather than being like: well, I don't know why would you want me to go, like, you know? We all kind of get skeptical about certain people that are telling us to do things because they know the process but not really understanding or guiding us based on our own situations. Or, you know, perhaps a lot of them are looking out for their own best interest rather than lead's. They're just looking for quick deals. They're looking to make money as fast as possible. And they're out there. There are tons of agents out there that lack in the Customer Service side of the lead conversion.
Bev: 10:44
And they tell you everything they're going to do for you. And it's that promise, promise, over-promise. But in reality, it's the questions that are being asked to the person that helps that person really feel like you care.
Crystal: 10:58
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
Bev: 11:01
So we have a couple of comments. Jon says: You would love to dig into their leads. All right, yay, I don't know. I don't really need to see. We could bring him on. And we can talk about what's going on in his system. And in talking about why he hasn't had much luck.
Crystal: 11:19
Yeah, and I'm just in his system right now. So when I'm looking at all his leads that have a valid phone number potentially, we've yet to make contact with them; there are 188 leads in there that fall within that category. When we look into the last activity and let's just point out the ones that have been, let's say, active in the last 60 days even, just to kind of broaden it, we're looking at 38 of them that are sitting in there. And when we're looking at the most recently active, we've got leads, like from January of this year, the second most recently active lead was 20 hours ago. And that was a lead from 2020 that he tried calling about six days ago. But yeah, so there are definitely opportunities sitting in here. I can see he's calling his leads. He's logging it. What I'm not seeing, and then I'd have to go through more filters, is the consistency in those calls.
Bev: 12:28
Jon, are you able to keep up in the chat?
Crystal: 12:31
Yeah, I can allow him to talk, so he's able to talk if he wants to talk?
Bev: 12:38
Well, I think, because I'm reading Asher's comment. And Sadie, I hope I said it right; both comments there, they're not having luck with their leads, either. So, Jon, I was just wondering, from your perspective, what's going on?
Jon: 12:55
I just find a lot of the leads are very tough. Just to get a hold of even, like I'm calling the leads, and just nothing, you know, trying to don't leave a message and see if they call back and nothing back. So just kind of getting hung up on what, where to go when I'm not getting through.
Bev: 13:15
Yep. Now the leads that you are generating? Are they Facebook? Are they Google PPC? Are they seller or all the above?
Jon: 13:23
So, mostly Google.
Crystal: 13:24
Buyers, mostly buyers, Google buyers.
Bev: 13:28
And obviously, over the course of years, technology has made our job much more difficult. Because spam shows up on our phones much more often now than it ever did, right? Yeah, and the ringing of our phone had legitimately become white noise, because it used to be exciting when our phone rang, to the complete opposite, to it being annoying when our phone rings now because we're just so accessible no matter where we go. And we're always in that high adrenaline mode. So yes, it is becoming more difficult for us to get a hold of the leads, which is why a lot of the automation has been coming up and happening because the automation can really hit the leads in the first minute and in the first 20 seconds. So people are relying a lot more on text messaging to take off that heavy lifting. And the problem with text messaging is you can't really go to the depths to answer the questions that we need to know to properly qualify the lead. So I still hang on to really wanting to have verbal conversations. So I have actually had to, kind of, morphe into being more comfortable with text messaging than I am with the actual phone calling. But what I will tell you, the consistency of making the phone calls is where the action is at. Now, it might not be what anybody wants to hear, which is why I love how filters are dynamically set up. Because what happens is we get caught up in the people that aren't answering the phone, the people that aren't responding, and we're seeing how active they are in the database. And it pisses us off even more. I'm like: Oh my Gosh, just answer the fricking phone, so I know where you are in the process. All they're telling us when they're not answering is: I'm not ready. It's not a priority. And them answering their phones is not a priority. And one thing I have learned through the years, I end up connecting with the people I met to connect with when I connect. But if I'm not sitting down making my phone calls and being consistent, yes, I'm hearing a lot more ringing and a lot less connections. But when you know that you sit down, and your efforts are going to result in talking to the person that you're meant to talk to today, it changes the game. So we just have to look at it as: I need to be consistently calling my leads. If I am consistently calling my leads, it's only going to be taking 15 minutes of my time a day. Because I'm maintaining consistency. I'm calling the right people. I'm calling the highest priority. I just need to do it. We have to trust the process.
Jon: 16:56
Okay, so is that kind of like just your most active, you're focusing on just reaching out to them every kind of day, every week? Like if I've got to, say, 30 or 40 people that have been active in the last 30 days? Should I just be reaching out to them once a week, kind of thing? Kind of, what's the process there that's most effective without sounding harassing.
Bev: 17:19
Great question.
Crystal: 17:22
You do have those filters in your system. Have you been using your filters, Jon?
Jon: 17:26
Yes.
Crystal: 17:27
Yeah. Okay. Are you really using those filters? Because there's a lot of, it doesn't appear like you're actually using these filters.
Jon: 17:34
Well, yeah. More recently, I have been trying to focus on the ones that have had more activity in the last 30 days. And the other thing that kind of comes up is what do I do with the older leads that haven't been around as much, do we just kind of let them die off?
Bev: 17:54
How many do you have coming in a month, Jon?
Jon: 17:58
Coming in a month, probably about 20. 15 to 20, I would say.
Bev: 18:04
Okay, so this is the true bare-bones reality. Leads are coming in. If you're getting 20 a month, you're getting less than one a day. Right? You're getting one here, one there, one here, one there. The lead comes in. We can confirm if it's a bad phone number or not. Right. So, what happens if you're using the dialer? Sometimes if it's a bad number, it's going to ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, and just end. That is a red flag to say it's probably a wrong number, do a manual dial, double-check it, if it's a bad phone number, check it off as a bad phone number in the system, put it on a bad phone number campaign, the system's going to take care of it whenever they go to log back in. That's one lead you don't have to worry about trying to call again. So, out of the 20 leads, I can promise you, there's going to be at least three to four; they're going to be bad phone numbers. So you're left with 16 leads. Out of those 16 leads, I can promise you, you're going to have two to four conversations. So, it's what do those conversations look like when you're having them? Being prepared with the right questions to find out where they are in the process. And out of those two to four, one's just going to be a rental. I'm not serious, blah, blah, blah. One's going to be way far out if not two of them. And one may turn into a high priority out of a month.
Jon: 19:37
Yeah, I think the biggest one that I'm hitting the wall with is the I'm just looking. There's a lot of those out there.
Bev: 19:43
And that's okay, Jon. So just think about it. I want to challenge you to change your mindset right now. Because what you're doing today is where you are going to be in the next three to four months. Because when we're generating leads, we have this innate thought process of if I'm buying leads, my return on my investment, I'm going to make more deals. Yes, in the long term. Most of the people that are online looking are conditioned to go online and look on their own. Just like when we walk into a store, is there anything I can help you with? No, I'm just looking. So, our buyers that are online are the exact same way. So we have to shift our mindset on: I'm converting, I'm converting, I'm converting, to I need to find out where you are in the process of the just looking and what your expectations are over the timeframe that is working for you, Mr. Seller, Mr. Buyer.
So our job is not to quickly convert into a paycheck in my bank account. It is to find out: Okay, you're just looking. Well, what has to happen for you to be able to make that move? Well, prices have to come down. Okay, let's just talk about that for a minute. What is your current situation? I have a home to sell. Well, do prices really have to come down if you have enough equity in your home to be able to trade? What's more important to you? Is it really about the prices coming down? What is it that makes you even thinking about wanting to make a move right now? So if we can peel back the layers and really find out why they're online looking and why they're truly just looking? Like if everything was in alignment and prices were working in your favor? What does that look like? What does your monthly payment look like? I can afford 3000 a month. If I found you a home that would be 3000 a month based on the equity that you have, the money you're putting down, would you be interested? People don't know what they don't know. Everyone right now is: Oh my God, the market is so crazy. But is it really? It is what it is. There are people that are still buying. There are people that are fighting over homes. So, this might not be the time for you to buy if you think the prices are high, and the honest truth - if you're renting right now, and you're trying to buy a home, and it's a crazy market, you probably might want to wait. Because yes, you are going to overpay. And yes, I believe there's going to be an adjustment in the market. It's not going to be tremendously huge. But there's going to be an adjustment. So you're just looking but tell me about what's important to you. That takes it from being that agent that I'm trying to convert to I really care about your best interest and where you are in the process. Do you plan on, Jon, being in real estate next February?
Jon: 22:51
Yes.
Bev: 22:52
So, just look at it this way, right? If you talk to somebody today, guess what? If you do all the right things, and you ask them all the right questions of how they want you to check in and follow up with them, they could be your right now this time next year.
Jon: 23:11
Yeah, that makes sense. And I've tried to set up the task reminders for those leads that have kind of gone that route, you know, following up six to eight months, set up those reminders. But then, when it comes to following up, I'm just, I'm getting nothing from them.
Bev: 23:26
We all do. And that's what happens, right? That's why I like to really set the expectation in that phone call. Because I don't expect them to answer the phone whenever I call them with a touchback. And if I bring that to the attention on the phone call, and I ask them: Okay, so you're looking at probably October before you're even thinking about looking at making a move. Jon, what's most important for you that I could be doing for you over the process from now until October? I don't care when you buy. I just want to be able to earn your business. What can I do to earn your business? And honestly, they're going to say: I really don't know.
Well, then let me ask you what's most important for you while you're gathering information? Well, just keep me up to date on homes. Perfect. Get their criteria, get them set up, let them know that they will be receiving emails. And oh, by the way, our emails love to go to your spam. Do you mind if I check in every so often to make sure that you're getting the emails and to see if there are any changes that I need to make? Sure, that'd be great. So, Jon, I know that we get busy, and you're probably not going to answer the phone whenever I call. Do you mind if I just shoot you a quick text message after I give you a phone call? Sure. You don't have to respond to me. I don't expect you to; I know you're busy. I know you're not going to be until October. I just want you to know that I'm here on my end doing my job.
Because let's face it, I don't like to talk to every single person that sends me a text message. I don't like to talk to every single person that leaves a voicemail on my phone, you know, and I relate this back to; I hope I'm not the only idiot that thinks like this. Some people send me a text message. They'll be like: Got it. And then they come back and say: Thank you. And then I'm like: No, but thank you. Who ends the Thank you? Who ends the Got it? Do we ever think about that, Crystal? Am I the only one like that? Like, who ends?
Crystal: 25:32
I sometimes look at that, and it's just like: Why did you just respond to me again? I felt like what I just said was the end of the conversation. And then they have to, it's almost like they have to have the last word. And then sometimes you feel guilty. Should I respond? Or should I not respond? Like, what do I do? Yes.
Bev: 25:53
Right. And if you, if you call a spade a spade, it takes that pressure off of the lead. Because they feel bad that they didn't respond to you, they feel bad that they're not calling you back after phone call, after phone call, after phone call. But if we say: Hey, you know what, don't worry about the phone. I don't expect you to answer the phone unless you need to say something to me. I just want you to know that I'm doing my job on my end. They're getting a text message. They're getting the phone call. Let that be the system, and trust that process. We're not going to win everyone. But at the end of the day, if I call them and they say they already purchased, and I missed out on that deal, I did everything I could. There was nothing more that I could physically do than go and knock on their door and drag them in my car. So as long as we're doing what we say we're going to do, we are absolutely increasing our chances of breaking through and being that person, because I will tell you this, the buyers are not going to go be loyal to anybody, I promise you. They are going to go with the person that is the most convenient. And why have we all lost buyers? Because there was another agent that was more convenient, I promise.
Crystal: 27:16
Give them some space. I feel like I'm bothering them. Oh, I'm just bothering them. Oh, I won't. I'll give it some time. As soon as you give it time, let's see. Other agent just swoops right in and steals it right out from underneath you.
Bev: 27:31
So when I look at Asher's note in the chat, and I look at Sadia's note in the chat. When we are exchanging money for leads, we put an expectation on it that we are going to convert at a certain percentage. And I would challenge each and every one of you. It's not about the conversion. It's about the conversations. But if we're not consistently calling our leads, we're never going to have those conversations. And sometimes, we just need to get them to raise their hands. I was in a dashboard the other day. And the agent was working on bad phone number campaigns. They had a ton of bad phone numbers in their system because they never did the campaign. Like what do I do with these? I'm like: Let's put on a bad phone number campaign. He had a lead respond, and they said: I'm not going to be ready until summer. How much am I looking at putting down for a down payment? That was February 4, the lead emailed back, and the agent didn't respond. And I'm like: Okay, wait a minute. We do this work to get these leads to raise their hand. And they're like: Oh, now what do we do? They responded, what do we say? So it's being logical, right? And that's why I say that this is such an example. We don't need to go in and solve their problem. We just need to ask more questions. Well, what do you think your capacity is to be able to put money down? What is your expectation of putting money down? There are programs from 100% financing to 20% down? What do you think? Right? Engage and have the conversation because nobody wants to commit.
And as long as we have that understanding, and we remove the expectation of I have got to close every single person I talked to or every single person that I'm not calling, we're not going to have the results that we're looking for. So Jon, to get back to answer your question. We were talking about 20 leads a month. Three, absolutely three to four being bad phone numbers. Let's take it down to 17. Let's say two to four you're having conversations with; we take it down to 15. We have 15 leads a month coming in that aren't answering their phone or responding to text messages. That's not a whole lot of phone calls when you sit down to make your phone calls. So here's my process, the first 14 days that they registered, six to eight phone attempts, along with the email and text campaign that's going out to them. So what's going to happen? A lead that registered today is going to stay in that filter for 14 days. And on day 15, they fall out. If they don't answer the phone, and you don't move them to a contacted stage or another stage in the pipeline, they just move through. I just go: Whoop, I'm going to call today, I'm going to call on Wednesday, I'm going to call on Friday, I'm going to call on Saturday, and then I'll call again on Monday. You're not looking at the names, you're not looking at the activity, you just know you've registered in the last 14 days, and my job is to find out where you are in the process. I am just going: Whoop. For me to call through 15 leads, it's literally going to take me less than 10 minutes, even if somebody answers the phone. So, I'm not a proponent of saying: Sit down at your dashboard and dial for three hours a day.
As long as you're maintaining consistency and you're clearing the leads out as they're coming in, you're never going to get backlogged on the leads that registered in the last 14 days. That's your highest priority besides your tasks, the next set of leads that are your highest priority, Jon, to your point, those are the ones that are actively engaged over the last 30 days. No matter when they registered, after the 15th day, that is your second priority list. Because if we've never talked to these leads, and they've been in your system for six months, a year, five years, and they're actively engaged in the emails, they're a high priority. I call them once a week. Because if I have six to eight attempts to you in the first 14 days, I'm not going to keep trying at that capacity. I'm just going to be trying once a week. So once a week, you can pop out a text, you can make a phone call. And you're just consistently checking in with them. Not looking at what they're looking at, not looking at notes, not judging them on who these people are and how many phone calls you've made to them. Just going through and trusting the process.
And it can take; one of my favorite stories is this guy always comes up. I don't remember his name. But he came into our system in March. He called us back in November. We did our due diligence, and back then, we were 10 to 12 attempts in the first 14 days. He maintained being active and looking at properties. We called him every week. By the time he called us back in November, it was 84 phone calls we had into this guy, never talked to him. But he called us back. My agent left two voicemails within 84 dials; she left two voicemails. The only reason she left a voicemail was because his voicemail said: If you don't leave a message, I won't call you back. And he called her back and said: I feel like I owe you this phone call because you have been so diligent with earning my business. And you don't even know me. I can only imagine how hard you're going to work for me whenever we commit to you as our agent. We may not be seeing and getting confirmation of what we're doing is working. But I promise you; it's making a difference.
Just get out of your freakin ego and don't worry about receiving the confirmation from them: I got your voicemail. You're going to be my agent in eight months. Thank you. You don't need that. Just trust the process and do what you do. Don't expect anything in return. Just make the phone calls. Whether they're answering or not, you're making an impact, I promise. And play with the voicemails. So when you're talking about the people that you set up on the task, they're not responding back to you, tell them on the voicemail: Hey, don't worry about calling me back. If you need anything, I'm here. If you have any questions, I'm here. That's all they want to know. They don't have time for you. You're not that important. Sorry.
Jon: 34:23
Thanks so much. That helps.
Bev: 34:28
So does it help in realizing that you don't have to spend hours upon hours in your database?
Jon: 34:32
Yeah, for sure.
Bev: 34:36
And when you were talking about the leads that are not so active, that's your extra credit, so your leads that aren't active. If you have more time to spend, those are the leads that honestly are the ones that usually pick up the phone because they're not actively engaged, and their phone isn't ringing off the hook with other agents because they're not online looking.
Jon: 34:58
Okay, so once they kind of hit that 30 day activity time period, is there a process that you have for keeping in touch? Or is it just kind of when you've got free time type of thing?
Bev: 35:12
I look at those leads as a priority, right? So if they come into my system, and I have those 68 attempts, and then I have, you know, those weekly attempts, and then they're not active, they have 10 to 12 phone calls from me within that monthly time frame. So then you're going to have leads that are active on the 30 to 90 day, right, like they haven't looked at a property for 30 to 90 days. And then you have leads from the 91 days to 150 days, inactive. So the longer they're in your system and haven't logged in, they're going further and further inactive in your dashboard. So in my eyes, the higher priority are the 30 to 90 days, then the 91 to 150 days, then your 151 to 200 plus days, depending on how many leads you have in your dashboard. So it's up to you. How many leads do you have in those categories to just try to call once a month through the dialer? Try calling them once a month. For me to drop 50 people into a group, or even if I have 100 people in a group and I just prioritize it on last login, or last touch, for me to get through 50 dials, it's 23 seconds next, 23 seconds next, 23 seconds next. I promise you, I will physically promise you, if you sit down and make those 50 phone calls, you are going to have a conversation, if not two or three, to be able to move those leads back out. Now you might not get the response you want to hear. But you're getting a response. You're having a conversation. Those 50 dials, they should not take you an hour. It should be less than 45 minutes, 23 seconds, 23 seconds, 23 seconds. Don't get hung up in the notes. Don't get hung up on anything. Just try 23 next, 23 next, and have the conversations that you have and move them and just look at it as organizing your database instead of making the conversion. And then you might just get lucky.
Jon: 37:21
Okay, perfect. And then when you have them fall off, do you reach a point that you just kind of let them go as a lost lead? How do you make that decision?
Bev: 37:31
When you are out with buyers, and they're inactive, they're not a priority at all when you have too much going on. And I always say, look at your business as the number one objective is sitting at the table with the customer. If you're sitting at a table, closing, you're collecting a paycheck. That is the number one goal. If you're not at the table closing, you should be in front of a ready, willing, and able buyer or seller. If you're not in front of the ready, willing, and able seller or buyer, you should be talking to somebody on the phone. If you're not talking to them on the phone, you should be attempting to get somebody on the phone or out networking in front of people or doing your research. So the question is, what are you doing with your time to make yourself known so that buyers and sellers know you are an option in your market? So you can answer that question yourself. Right? I could be sitting here doing Facebook. I could be sitting here emailing. I could be sitting here doing nothing. But what am I doing to get in front of people? What am I doing to potentially have a conversation? Because if you're doing nothing, you get nothing. If you're doing something, you have that ability of having a connection with somebody.
Jon: 38:57
Right. That makes good sense.
Bev: 38:59
And you can always do text messages out, say: Hey, at one time you were looking at home, just wondering if you're still in the market, or if you found something. Hey, if they come back and say: Found something, great. That's one less lead I have to worry about. But just remember, there are two different types of leads that we have coming in, whether it be Facebook or whether it be Google. They're ones that have increased the amount of time they're looking at homes on the internet because they're getting ready to pull the trigger. Or they're genuinely really just looking. And what I love about the market that we're in right now is it's created more opportunity with the leads that we have come in, if you are equipped with the right questions, because they cannot believe there's no inventory and they're looking for that needle in the haystack. They're looking for that one listing that they think that their agent may have missed. They're looking for that one listing that may not have been there yesterday or an hour ago, and they become obsessed about finding the property that doesn't exist because we have no inventory. We just need to find out which lead they are. Does that excite you a little bit more about wanting to make a phone call?
Jon: 40:23
Yeah, that definitely helps.
Bev: 40:28
Just get out of your head and stop thinking about it. Just make the calls.
Jon: 40:31
Sounds good.
Crystal: 40:33
I would take your number one filter and call 20 to 30 of those a day, get it down to nothing. And then, in your second filter, hammer as many calls as you can in that one a day. And essentially, you'll get to a point where your number one and number two are empty. And then it's just a matter of upkeep because number one is going to show you all the new leads that you've never attempted to call. And number two is going to be the ones that you have to keep calling for the next two weeks. You're going to call them every two days. So, the biggest thing and what is common is I'll look into systems, and there's one, two, maybe three call attempts all spread out. And then: Oh, no one answers. So there's consistency not there, we're not making enough coll attempts, leads are hesitant, or we're calling at times that they might just not be available to take a call every time we're calling. So it's not necessarily that they don't want to talk to you. It's that we're always calling in a time that they're unavailable to take a call. So just keep doing it. Just keep being consistent with your calls. And, you know, allocating stuff, giving yourself, even if it's just 30 minutes a day, set that time aside and just hammer out as many calls and have as many conversations as you can. And a lot of your leads are going to be just looking. We have to figure out what that timeline is. Right? There's often intent behind just looking. We just have to figure out what that is. They're not garbage. Some people will deem them as garbage because they don't ask the right questions. If you don't ask the right questions, well, everyone's garbage, they're just looking, no one's actually serious. But there's just looking people out there that are actually ready to buy, have their pre-approved, they've got pretty much all their ducks in a row, they're just kind of browsing online, and they're not, you know, off the fence yet. You have to ask those questions to find that out.
Bev: 42:29
And make those filters, I mean, how these filters all came about, was, on my previous webinars, I talked about Farmville back in the day, right? You had to be strategic in planning your crop because if you didn't harvest it, you lost it, it died. So you had to be strategic. Okay, I'm going to plant my corn. It's two days. I'm not going to have anything in two days. So I plant my strawberries, that's an hour, I can harvest that in an hour. It was a game. Candy Crush, it's a game. If you look at your filters as clearing them out, make the game work for you. And go: Oh my Gosh, I got it down to zero. Yay. Right? And then tomorrow, it's down to zero, yay. So that's what I had to do for me because it does become monotonous calling the leads and not getting an outcome sometimes. So my outcome is literally clearing out my filters and knowing that I'm trusting the process. I'm calling the right people. And don't do it at the same time every day. You have to change the timeframes.
Jon: 43:33
There are a couple of preset filters. Are there any other filters that I should be using to help narrow that down? Like, I've only got five filters; I think those are just the preset ones. I've never kind of set up my own. Any suggestions on that?
Crystal: 43:48
So those ones, they're the only… Yeah, so if you wanted to do the 14 Day one, you can; I wouldn't do it yet, because you're not consistent with your calls in here. So when we do the Registered in 14 days, and Beverly is in there making those calls, and then they move on to the next filter, she's jumping in there every day and making her calls. If we're not, unless you're going to be doing that and know for sure that you're going to be doing that, I wouldn't put the registration and have them fall off that list into another list. So I would focus on the number one and number two first. We can add a number three, which is after they've hit the eighth call. If they haven't answered, then we move them down to just once-a-week calls if they've been active in the last 30 days. Because those are kind of like your first priority in that list, those are the ones that have fallen off because you've already exhausted two weeks of calling with no success. If you're consistent, most of them will answer by the six-day call attempt because they have got to figure out who it is that's trying to get ahold of them.
Bev: 44:51
Yeah. And most people don't put together the phone number that's coming in versus the text message that comes in. And just let your database work for you. Rory had asked if AgentLocator could help set up the filters. Think about what the capacity of AgentLocator allows you to do and think about: Okay, if my tried-to-contact people are all my people that I have no idea where they are in the process, that is a group of people that screams opportunity, because I just need to find out where they are in the process. So everybody who is in the tried-to-contact stage is going to fall into the different time spectrum that we were talking about. So if you have your filter as tried to contact, folks, this isn't difficult. You go in, customize your filter, try to contact. Break it up into your days, break it up into their activity. So try the contact Registered in the last 14 days. That's your filter. And then if you want to customize it to as a valid phone number or unknown, now you have a proper call list because everybody you move into a bad phone number is going to fall out. Try to contact 15 or more days, 15 plus days registration. Activity, last 30. Good phone number, unknown phone number. Really let your database work for you in what you feel is going to be a priority lead to be able to pull in, and that's what's so awesome about the filters is that they are dynamic. So when you call that lead, and you have a conversation, and you move them out of try to contact, they're falling out of that filter. Whoa, win, I started at 12, now I'm at 11. And just having fun with it. I hope that was helpful.
Crystal: 47:02
Make it a game. You guys have stats, too. You guys have stats that you can access. So that's one way that you can look at it, is, I'm sorry if I'm breaking out, my internet is unstable, is the stats, and you can say like: Last week, I made X amount of calls. This week, I'm going to do at least one more call than I did last week, or my call duration time was, you know, 30 minutes last week. I have to push to make sure that my call duration is, you know, 45 minutes this week. So you can create little, you know, similar type of games, but using the stats is knowing how many calls you've accomplished, how much talk time, how much time you've actually spent having conversations.
Bev: 47:42
Well, and what I do with some of my coaching clients that haven't been used to making 50 calls a day, make five today. Tomorrow, when you sit down, see if you can beat that time, track your time, track your results. Tomorrow, call five more and see if you can beat it. The next day do 10. Then the next day, do 10 and see if you can beat that number, and just gradually increase, start creating that habit. And then it's going to get more and more comfortable for you.
Jon: 48:22
Yeah, definitely. Thank you so much for that big help. I think part of my problem was just not knowing how to work with the leads and kind of the process, how to manage that process. But this is just; it's been very insightful for me for sure. Thank you.
Bev: 48:38
You are so welcome. I want to touch on Sadie's comment here. Some of the leads were very enthusiastic in the beginning but became cold in the next couple of days. I'm unable to understand the reason. Don't try to figure it out. You know, it's very easy to get caught up in the moment. And, you know, I'm going to go back to my direct sales days. It's happened to me all the time. I would go to a party. I don't even know, do people even do home parties anymore? Everything's like online anymore.
Crystal: 49:17
I don't know. Somewhat, but not really. I don't know. I guess it depends on how old you are.
Bev: 49:23
Right, Crystal? Did you ever attend a home show?
Crystal: 49:28
Like a home show? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Bev: 49:36
So, you go to a show, you're kind of excited about going, but it's kind of a pain to go because they're going to, like, make you buy something. And you have a great time like: Oh my Gosh, I want to have a party. It gives the host credit. Right? Like: Woohoo, I scheduled a party. I'm going to have a party next month. Then you're at home; the next day happens, you're still excited about having the party. And then that consultant's trying to get ahold of you, to get your guest list. And you're like: Oh, I gotta get a guest list together. I really don't want to ask everybody to come to a party. I really don't want to ask them to be spending money at my party. I'm going to avoid that phone call at all costs because I don't want to tell her that I've changed my mind because I feel bad. I know I'm not the only one out there, or I'm just a complete bitch. I don't know.
Crystal: 50:31
Oh, we've all done it. Yeah, I know. Like, I send it to my girlfriend: Oh, it'll be fun to do, right? And then, now they've been hounding me to do it. And I'm like: Do I really want to do that, though? Like, I don't know. It was like in the moment where you're like: This seems like a great idea. And then you're like: Maybe not a great idea. I don't know. I am kind of skeptical of it.
Bev: 50:51
Even if you go out and party and you're drinking, is it a great idea? Give me a glass of wine. Yeah, a glass of wine. And the next day, you're like: Oh, my God, I'm never going to drink again, right? People get caught up in the moment. People get caught up in the conversations. It's exciting talking about moving.
Crystal: 51:06
Mm-hmm.
Bev: 51:09
But the commitment of it after the conversation is: Oh, God, I just had this conversation, they think I'm going to be moving. And I really don't have any intention of moving right now. So I'm just not going to take that phone call back. And that's why I'm saying it's so important for us to take that pressure off of the lead. To say I don't expect you to call me back, I don't expect you to return my phone call. But guess what happens? When you take that pressure off of them, that's when they call you back. Because then they don't feel that you are going to be selling to them. And we just can't hold leads to a certain standard of our expectation. So I'm going to challenge you, Sadie, to go back and just reach out to those people, say: Hey, I've been trying to get you, don't worry about calling me back, just letting you know that I'm here. If you have any questions about the market, or what's going on, or about your search, just let me know. Shoot me a text, give me a call, no big deal. I'll check back in a couple of weeks. It's okay that they're not responding to you. It's actually good. It saves you time on the phone. I get excited sometimes when people don't call me back when I'm going through my tasks because I just want to get through them.
Crystal: 52:23
Time to move on. Yeah, I find too, sometimes what happens, and it's actually very common, when I'm looking at call notes, is that we don't ask enough questions to really understand where they're at in the process and what their actual timeline intention looks like. So, we have a lead that's now talking to us. They're giving us all that they're looking for, and they, you know, it sounds like a great conversation, but we forget to ask one of the most important questions. And so now we're under the impression that they're moving right away or relatively soon. So your follow-ups are consistent with that. And they're like: Whoa, we're not ready for like another six months here. Now she's trying to get me to go look at houses this weekend. So that's what it's also vital to your follow-up and success, so your leads stop ghosting you as much, is to understand that, so you're not coming off as sales and push them into something they're not ready for just yet.
Bev: 53:24
And that's why I always like to ask people: What can I do to earn your business? Because we have to realize they're probably talking to a couple of other people. So what's going to set you apart? Asking: How can I earn your business? How would you like me to follow up? Because that speaks volumes because it's showing that you care. It's showing that you're not just expecting their business. There are a lot of hidden words in that phrase of: What can I do to earn your business? And very few people ask it. And you saw, you've been doing it the last few days, perfect. This is a marathon, not a sprint, guys. So, the only thing that is getting in your way is that you're thinking about it too much and just not trusting the process. These people will reach out at some point. It may not be you, but if you don't go through the process and trust the process, it's never going to be you. So you just have to keep the phone calls going, keep being consistent, and just keep doing what you do. And so you had a question here: Is it okay to ask directly for the business from SOI, from a sphere of influence? Absolutely. If you want to, I don't like working with my friends and family, but absolutely. Your sphere of influence needs to know that this is your business and this is what you're doing, and is there anything that you can help them with? Are there any questions that they may have about the market? You know, it's funny. I was telling a story just the other day before I got my license. And you know, I brought up the whole party scene. I did Pampered Chef in my former life. And I remember one of my repeat hostesses had just gotten her real estate license. And she called me. She's like: Hey, Bev, I just got my real estate license. I was going to go look at some homes. Do you want to come look at some homes with me? Yeah, that would be some fun times. Absolutely. She freaking converted me into a buyer. I'm like: I think I want to move. Just, I didn't end up. It was a crazy, crazy market. We did put a couple of offers on homes, and she was too green to actually get us the offer. She didn't position us properly. So we ended up not moving. But just like I was telling Jon, our goal is to be at the settlement table, in front of people. Networking. Utilize your friends to go and preview homes. And you go preview a home, and you're like: Oh my God, this is the most beautiful fireplace I've ever seen. Take a freakin picture. Do a quick video. Get it on Facebook. Get it on Instagram. Oh my Gosh, I went and previewed this home with this friggin fireplace. Isn't it amazing? Take your friends. Everybody likes to look at houses. Everybody's online looking at houses. You know, in my mind, I'm like: Oh, that's a really good email. I'm going to preview houses this weekend. Would you just want to go look at a house? Right?
Crystal: 56:37
Oh, I'm looking at them, for sure. I look at all the lottery houses. Every time they're in the area, the lottery houses, I'd go in there imagining what it'd be like to live in this 5000 square foot. I don't need this much room, but you know, it'd be sure nice to have it. You start to, you know, this is cool. Cool idea. Looking at the sites, right?
Bev: 57:02
Well, I'm sitting even here thinking: Wow, what a great email or text message to the leads. Hey, who are my HGTV people? I'm going out this weekend looking for ideas on, I don't know, whatever. I'm remodeling? Yeah. Does anybody want to go and look at some kitchens with me? I mean, who knows, get creative and have fun with what you do. And the more we do of something, the easier it is to stay in the flow. So, you know, if you haven't been with a buyer in a couple of months, it's like: Oh, my God, trying to find that buyer. But if we're out just looking at homes, and we're out previewing homes, we're in the motion, we're in it, just go with it. So Sadie, sometimes I don't know what to say to them. Is that with a brand new lead that you're just first calling or with the people that you're following up with a nurturing? Because we don't need to know what to say, we need to know what to ask. When you have the right questions, you don't need to know what to say because they're basically telling you what, and just question.
And what are the most important things you need to find out? Hey, I saw you online looking at homes in wherever. Just wondered where are you in the process? What are you looking for? Oh, I'm just looking. That's awesome. I'm glad you're just looking. What are your future plans? Do you have plans on making a purchase? Oh, no, I don't, and not anytime soon. So what is your current situation? Do you own or do you rent? Oh, you own a home? How long have you been in your home? Eight years. You probably have some really good equity then, right? Yeah. So, what's the purpose of the move? If you were going to move, right? If you were going to move? What would be the purpose? Are you looking to get something bigger? Are you looking to go smaller? What's your intention? I need a bigger home. Oh, so what does that look like? How many bedrooms? So, if the stars were aligned, and there wasn't anything getting in your way, when would you like that move to happen? And you'll be amazed at what they say. Just get to know them a little bit better, ask the questions. If you go to fixyourcrm.com you will get access to my questions, my tags, and I know, Crystal, I think they have the tags out there too.
Crystal: 59:50
Yeah, we have. The tags are automatically added to everyone's system now.
Bev: 1:00:00
So just really focus on becoming a great question asker because he who's asking the questions controls the conversation.
Crystal: 1:00:08
And just think of it as a conversation. That's all you have to do, it takes the pressure off of you, and it takes the pressure off the lead. Right? It's just a casual conversation. We just happened to be talking about homes and maybe something else that might pop into that conversation to drop the pressure even further. If you don't get all the questions, you can ask the next time you call.
Bev: 1:00:30
I'll answer your question, Sadie, and then we'll go ahead and tie this up. So she has a lead that told her that she wants to sell and buy in the summer, she wants to do a follow-up call, but she doesn't really know what to say to her. Just check in. You can just check in with her right now. And just say: Hey, I'm just checking in. I know that you were summertime, just wanted you to know that I'm here if you have any questions. But in reality, we just want to find out when does it make sense for you, the lead, to know your numbers. Because really, there's no time too soon to do that market analysis, to give them their numbers, to be able to watch the market. Because you never know what may happen or come up abruptly. So the quicker you can get into that listing appointment. And how I like to transition that is I always ask for permission, right? Would it be helpful for you to know your numbers while you're in the information gathering process? No obligation whatsoever, just to be able to give you an idea of what your home would sell for right now, what money you would put in your pocket, while you're in the information gathering stage of looking at homes that may meet your expectation. Would it be helpful for you to have those numbers? I would love to come out and give that to you with no obligation.
And then, so my follow-ups, I would just be checking in right now. And that voicemail: Hey, I'm here to answer any questions, if you have any. I'll check in with you in a few weeks. Feel free to reach out if you need to. If not, I'll check in with you in a few weeks. If she answers the phone, it's: Hey, I was just checking in with you. I know you're not going to be ready until the summertime, just wondered how's everybody doing? You know, what's going on in the world? Just care. Just check in with them. See if they have any questions. That's all. They're real people just like you. Treat people like you would want to be treated, put yourself into their situation and just say if someone called me, what would I like someone to say to me? Oh, she answers every time I go. That's great. Because I know, when she answers the phone, just ask her: When do you want me to check back in with you again? Put it on them. When would you like me to check back in with you? What makes the most sense? And then that way, we take all of our guesswork out of it when we ask for that permission. My job is just to earn your business. I just want to make sure that I'm meeting your expectations. But I need to know what your expectations are so I can check back in. And that's when you start treating your tasks. Like that's putting bread on your table. Because now you've made a promise, and now you have to follow through. We love to overthink this stuff.
Crystal: 1:03:30
I know. Just call. Have conversations. Just call, you're a friendly, nice person. Offer help.
Bev: 1:03:38
What did you guys do for Valentine's Day?
Crystal: 1:03:44
Did you have pancakes? We had pancakes.
Bev: 1:03:54
I love it. Did you cut them in heart shapes?
Crystal: 1:03:56
No. We didn't go that far. We did crepes, so it would be a little bit difficult. Well, I guess he could have done it, but it would take forever. Crepes always take forever anyway.
Bev: 1:04:07
Yeah. And you all are welcome. Thank you all so much for taking the time out of your day to spend with us.
Crystal: 1:04:12
Yeah, absolutely.
Bev: 1:04:14
Get on the phones.
Crystal: 1:04:16
Yeah, you guys just send me an email if you want to be part of the live dials the next session or guest of honor. I think we'll be looking into March, actually the second session now; I think I've got the first one lined up. But do send me an email. I have a list, so, you know, in situations like this where we had someone cancel, I go through, and I start calling people to see who's available or have you lined up already, and then I go from there. Awesome. Thanks, everyone. See you again in a couple of weeks.
Bev: 1:04:44
Thank you. Bye.
Crystal: 1:04:46
Bye.