AgentLocator Live Dials and Expert Talk, May 25, 2022
Transcript:
Crystal: 0:04
Perfect. Yeah, we've got a handful of you guys on here. Is there anything that you guys are currently encountering with the leads in your system, whether it's navigating your dashboard, whether it is conversational, that is, kind of, holding you back? Or that you would like some direction on how you can change a process in how you're reaching out to these leads or what you're saying to them. So, Paisley is saying: Getting to the listing appointment and how to get in the door.
Bev: 0:42
And, is that, are you generating home evaluation leads, listing leads? How are you generating the listings? Yes. Okay. So, they are home evaluation leads.
Crystal: 0:55
Sellers and buyers.
Bev: 0:56
Yes, and are you doing the buyer leads and, as well, with the potential of them being that disguised seller?
So while we're waiting on that, the most important thing; oh, so when you're paying for buyer Google leads or Facebook leads and their buyers, a lot of times, they're disguised sellers because sellers are looking at what's out there in the market before they think about putting their home on the market. So, and those are the cheaper leads because the pay-per-click seller leads are much more expensive than they are. So, depending upon what kind of market dynamic you're in, if you're in a market that is a relocation market, you're not going to have as many disguised sellers because they're going to be in different areas. But if you're in a move-up market, you have a lot of potential of those buyers being sellers.
I have not converted buyer leads after a year. So, I'm going to ask Paisley, what your consistency is like in attempting to reach these leads, and find out where they are in the process, whether it be phone, text, or email. The struggle is real. I know. You know, and a sad thing is in today's technology phase, everybody's doing it. And we really have to look at what's setting us apart so that we're having a different conversation with these leads so you can stand out and they can remember you. And, the name of the game is no longer - convert to a sale, it's - have the conversation, put them in the pipeline and prove your worth and find out what their needs are and how you can earn their business because it's truly a different dynamic today than it was years ago.
I've, sort of, fallen off the wagon with follow-up as I feel like I don't know what else to say to them. But buyer leads always end up having an agent after spending so much time with them. Yeah, absolutely. No doubt that you are a great agent. And, you know, my coach, he gave me a wake-up call whenever I was shifting my business from a buyer heavy to a listing business. And he says: Why don't you have more listings? And I'm like: I don't know, they're using other agents. And he says: Well, it's your job that they know who you are. And I was like: Huh, you know, it's with all marketing, right? It's all about that brand awareness. I saw a post the other day, and it was, I don't know jack about violinists. But you had this really experienced popular violinist that was playing in a subway. And he was playing like one of the homeless people. And a couple of people would stop and listen, a couple of people would throw him tips. But here he is. He's going to be playing in a live orchestra because he's so popular in that genre. Nobody knew who he was. And I always question that, right? All these concerts that people go to, and it's not just 25 bucks to go to a concert anymore. It is expensive to go to a concert. You can have the exact same talent right in your backyard that you might not even want to pay entry or cover to go to the bar to watch this person. But all of a sudden, when that person has brand awareness, everybody likes them, everybody wants to see them, and they'll pay hundreds of dollars to go see them.
So, our real estate business is really no different. People just don't know what you have to offer. And that's what our job is every day when we wake up. We wake up unemployed. And we have to go out and find who is going to be in need of our services. So, if we really are talking to our leads and thinking about that, what is your value proposition? How do you set yourself apart from all the other websites that these leads are in? I heard a guy yesterday. I was listening to a recorded call with one of our agents. And the guy was on Zillow. And he's like: Zillow just makes it so easy for me to just jump on there and see what's available. Because that's what people know. People know Google, people know Siri, people know how to jump online and do term searches. But what is going to make them choose one agent over the other? And today, it's much different than it ever used to be because these leads are just looking for something easy. They're looking for convenience. They could really give sh less about loyalty because they have no loyalty, which is unfortunate.
So, the follow-up process in that game is so much more important and bringing more to the table than the average agent. And here's the beautiful thing, the average agent isn't doing a whole lot. So, it doesn't take much to be a little bit better. So, when you're thinking about your leads, and you're looking at it from a little bit of a different perspective of I'm not just trying to call them and convert them, I need to really set myself apart, have different conversations, and know how to do that follow up process. Because today, customer service, let's face it, just sucks. Have you ever called an 800 number or a number for a company and actually called somebody, and the live person actually answered the phone in the last two or three years? It's all automated. And people miss that people's communication. You're like: Oh, God, I gotta push one. And then they give you another option, and then you're like: Oh, sh, I wasn't listening to 123456, so I have to listen to the menu again? People are starving for conversations and for real people. But we forget that because we fall in the same category. And we have that microwave mentality.
So, if we're thinking about having relationships with our leads and building that value over time, most conversations go like this. Hey, I saw that you were looking at 123 main street, or I saw that you were looking in this location. The lead says: Oh, yeah, but I'm just looking. Okay. Well, if you find anything that, you know, is of interest to you, give me a call. Okay, cool. I'll call you if I find anything. That is 99% of all the conversations that happen with internet leads. So, it doesn't take much to go a little bit beyond that. Because we have to remember, our only, our only, one, and only objective is to find out where they are in the process. That's it. Because once you find out where they are in the process, that's going to teach you if you are going to want to be part of that process. So, when they say: I'm just looking, great. What are your future plans? What is your timeframe? If you were to make a move, what does that look like? Oh, I don't know. Hypothetically, if everything was perfect and the stars were in alignment, when would you want to make a move? Then you're getting to the real truth of - some answer: Graduate, somebody has to die, somebody has to get a divorce, somebody has to have a baby, whatever it may be, you can dig a little bit deeper and build that pipeline. Because I'm sure you plan on being in business for the next, I don't know, ten years, maybe five years, at least five years, right? Most of these leads that are in your dashboard are going to be moving within the next five years. So, we have to start looking at what we're doing today is setting up our future for next week, next month, and the next years.
So, if we legitimately look at each and every lead as building our future business, and not just what I don't have right now, it completely changes the game. So, you're not a failure for, you know, not working your leads or feeling like you're not closing anything, but the real question is 30 years, you got a long pipeline to build. You got a long pipeline to build. And that's the beauty of internet leads.
Now, where we get stuck is, I look back at one of the comments that you made about by the time you do get to them, they already have an agent, or they've already closed with another agent. Again, value proposition. And I'm going to bring the story up again. I know I've shared it, but it definitely warrants it being revisited. We had a lead that came in that was relocating. And she wanted a very specific neighborhood. And within this neighborhood, it's not a very large neighborhood, but it's one of those neighborhoods that nobody ever moves out of. So, when one home comes available, it's very sought after. Well, how I've always done business because I want to set myself apart, that value proposition. Because most agents say: Let me see what's out on the multi-list, and let me send you a list of what's out there. That's what everybody does. But what about the homes that came off of the market that didn't sell? What about the homes that aren't on the market yet? So, we knew her exact criteria. She wanted a home in this neighborhood without a basement that had a pool. Well, that warrants a little bit of research. And yes, it takes some time. So, my agent went through the multi-list, went through the tax records. And she made a list of all the homes that did not have a basement, that had a pool, that went into one category. She made a list of all the homes that did not have a basement. Made a list of all the homes that had a basement, that had a pool. So, she had them categorized based on the priority for our client. We went and did the dreadful door-knocking. So, we started with the list of no basement, with a pool.
We had several conversations with people. One conversation, in fact, they were out in their driveway, and they were getting ready to leave. And we said to them: We have a client that's looking to move into this neighborhood. Do you know of anybody in the neighborhood that's thinking about making a move? Or maybe you yourself? They were like: We have an agent. We are thinking about moving, but we'll have our agent contact you when that time comes. Well, that was in November, October, November. She got a phone call. She had been; there's a big process. She had been going through the process of mailing them, calling them, and following up with all these sellers that we talked to. Let's see, this was May, March, she got a phone call from them and said: We're ready to put our home on the market. We're ready to sell. Are your clients still interested? Yes. What would they give us for our home? My agent ran a CMA. They thought their home was worth like 950,000. She goes: How about 850,000? They're going to sell it on Tuesday, 850,000. Because my agent door-knocked, and because my agent had processes in place to do the follow-up, to do the mails, to keep them updated on what's happening with the market, she stayed top of mind. And she closed it without the agent on the other end. So, they made more money because they didn't have to contribute the other 3% on the listing side, and they paid her full 3% commission.
So, that's what I'm talking about when we're thinking about a value proposition. So, those conversations when we're talking to our leads can go a little bit further. Because let's think about what your leads' problem is, especially in today's market. And I'm assuming you're up against multiple offers, and you're in a very competitive market right now, probably all of you. We are starting to see a little bit of a softening right now. And what I'm seeing collectively with everybody is the homes that are staged and beautiful are going over list, with multiple offers. The homes that aren't so appealing, they're sitting, and they're staying on the market a little bit longer. So, there's a definite shift in expectations right now of the seller because they think I put my home on the market, it's going to sell anyway with multiple offers. But that's not so true. So, when we're having these conversations with our leads, those are the things that they want to know, those are the things that interest them. And once we find out what their problem is, we can then come in with a solution mindset. Because at the end of the day, if you haven't heard me say this before, the only thing that creates a binding contract is the buyer or seller's expectation met the opportunity. That's it. Expectation opportunity meets. And all your job is, is to create or find the opportunity on that lead's expectations. But if we don't know what their expectations are, we can't even think about an opportunity.
So, when we're talking to leads, we're going about it all wrong. Because all we're doing is well: What's your criteria? What's your price range? I'll start sending some listings. That works. But go a little bit deeper than that and ask them: What are you looking for in your experience of buying a home? What can I do for you in the meantime while you're in that investigative stage, information gathering stage? What exactly are you looking for? How can I help you? And that takes the guesswork out of the follow-up. Because if you're talking to them, and you're like: Okay, so you may be eight months down the road, what can I be doing for you in the meantime? And they may say: I don't know. Well, what would be helpful for you while you're going through this process and you're looking online? Are you that person that likes to have a plan? If you have a home to sell, do you really want to know exactly right now what a buyer would pay for your home in today's market? I don't want to put a sign in your yard. I'm not even bringing a contract. All I want to do is arm you with the education and arm you with the tools to be able to be that really educated buyer in the future or really be that educated seller.
That's all our job is, is to equip them with the proper tools so that they can make educated decisions. But if our conversations are short, they're sweet, or we're not having them at all, there's nothing for us to offer. We're just giving them what every other agent is; just keep sending them listings, and hopefully, you'll call me, which we all know is not true. They're not going to call us. They have way too many opportunities, and they're just going to keep continuing to google. So, we have to be the ones that make it super easy, convenient for them, that they don't have to keep googling or they don't have to keep searching. It's just showing up in their inbox. And then: Oh, by the way, how often would you like me to follow up with you and touch base? What's your best form of communication? If we know that out of the gate, it makes our follow-up 100 times easier. Because then they're saying: Well, call me back in three months. Call me back in two weeks. Call me back in three days.
Well, the one thing I want to ensure of because Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, all of the emails out there, send our sh spam. So, we cannot rely on the searches that we set up to go into their inbox and then actually see them. So, just by simply reminding them, I'm just going to touch base with you every couple of weeks and make sure you're in the emails. And oh, by the way, the best thing that you can do for me, for me to help understand what your likes and dislikes are, start favoriting some homes because as you're favoriting them, I can then be able to see what it is you really like. And start building that relationship through time. And tell them: I really don't care when you buy. I just want you to be able to want to choose me as your agent. And people will respect that because they're not going to have that conversation with any other agent.
So, it's really not that difficult. It just takes a little bit of a mindset shift on how we communicate with the leads. And we can do all this through text. I'm a phone conversation person. I'm huge on the phone conversation because I think I, kind of, missed that space of texting. I love the text when it's, like, short, quick, sweet, to the point, to check in with somebody to say: Hey, are you going to be around tomorrow? Or: Hey, I want this communication. But when I'm asking questions, it's too easy for them to not respond and just drop communication. I was looking at a text string yesterday with an agent to a lead. And there was an amazing conversation, and then the agent went what right to: Do you have a pre-approval? Oh my God. And then there was no; it just ghosted. So, we have to be softer in the questions that we're asking and make the questions about them and not about you. Because the only reason you're asking if they have a pre-approval is you're trying to qualify them and weed them out to make sure they have the money to purchase. So, that's really not the way to get a date.
You know, if you think about going to a bar, you want to get a date, there are certain things you just don't say. So, you need to make it about them. And just ask them all the questions. How about this question instead of: Are you pre-approved? Have you talked to anybody about what your mortgage payment would be on this price of a home? So, once they say I'm in a million-dollar price range: Have you talked to anybody about what your mortgage payment would be? Per month? Right, a lot softer approach? So, our texting has to be yes, no, yes, no. We're in a conversation. We can ask those open-ended questions to get nice responses for them to basically tell us what our dreams are or tell us what their dreams are. I'm going to stop for a second. Do you have; are you able to come on and chat with us? Do you have audio?
Crystal: 20:46
I can give her the ability to talk. Another suggestion as well is if it's flowing in your area, leverage that because a lot of the buyers out there were waiting for this to happen, right? S,o they're waiting, they didn't want to go into multiples. They didn't want to overpay for a home when they didn't have to move. So, leverage that with your leads when you're having those follow-ups, right? So, if you're not sure what to say in the follow-up, I would say how it's going, and any notes that you have referring back to that, but also educating them on what you're seeing with respect to that shift that's happening right now. And why it might make sense to start becoming a little bit more active if they're considering or thinking about moving in the next little while here and what you might see down the road as well. So, education goes a long way. Because again, a lot of your competition isn't taking the time to do that, right? So you're offering value in the process of that follow-up, and they may still be in that looking phase, they may not be ready because they still need that down payment, or they still need to repair that credit, but at least you're keeping them updated as to what's happening currently.
Bev: 21:57
And this is when I'm starting to see a lot of agents getting out of the market, just: I'm done. It was so difficult. I'm just done. I'm moving on to other things. So, right now, you are going to have a lot of agents exiting the marketplace, which people that were talking to agents in their dashboards months ago may not even be in the market anymore. So, the opportunity is really great right now. So, Paisley, do you have audio?
Paisley: 22:32
I do.
Bev: 22:33
Yay. So, what are your thoughts? What did you take away from what I was saying?
Paisley: 22:39
I like the pre-approval method. In regards to, like, price, and like, are you comfortable with that price point or, you know what I mean? Because I also don't want to waste my time and not ask them that question and then find out after putting in so many offers that they're not actually pre-approved.
Bev: 23:00
Sure. And that piece that I was talking about is really in those beginning stages of getting to know who they are and getting them to the point of do they qualify for time on your calendar. We got to really be able to identify the looky-loos from the serious. And that's where asking the right questions and finding out where they are in the process and what has to happen for them to make that move is so vital. Because honestly, the amount of bedrooms, bathrooms, and price range, none of that really matters at all if they have no buying power. So, if we can get right to that heart of what is your current situation? What are your plans? And fill in the gaps in between, then you can make that determination: Do they qualify for time on my calendar? Because they are going to be a nurture that I can add to my pipeline. And when we start looking at these leads that we had a conversation with, with Adam. And Adam says: You know what, I really want my daughter to graduate from university. And, you know, she has one year left. My question is: Are you able if the absolute right property came on the market before she graduated from university, would you be willing to make that move sooner? And that's a yes or no. So that really teaches you the urgency of the lead. Like: Oh, yeah, definitely. Well, you want to be a little bit more aggressively following up with them. But if they're like: Absolutely not. There's nothing I can do. I am not even thinking about making a move, until. That changes your timeframe and your urgency, and how you're following up with the lead. But without conversations, we don't know.
Paisley: 24:43
Yeah. I think my issue right now is I kind of fell off the wagon for a little bit there because I was really busy with just personal leads, like my own sphere. But I have; I'm just looking right now. I have 363 leads in my system. And now it's like: Where do I even begin?
Bev: 25:05
Ah, I'll tell you.
Crystal: 25:08
Your saved filters we created for you is the first place you should start.
Bev: 25:13
Yes. And this is always what happens when an agent says: Call my leads. Get me an appointment. And the ISA is like: I don't know where to start. The notes aren't in here. I don't even know who I'm calling. I don't know if the agent talked to them before or not. So, what I want you to be mindful of is, this is just like jumping in the car, plugging in your GPS, and having a 300-mile trip. It's one mile at a time. If you stayed straight on that road, and it was 300 miles 299, 298, 297. It's like: Oh, my God, it takes forever to get to the destination. But if you have 25 miles here, and 50 miles here, and 30 miles here, it seems like it ticks off a lot quicker. Because you're only paying attention to the 25 miles to this turn and the 3 miles to that turn, right? You're like: Oh, my Gosh, I'm down to, like, 75 miles left.
Our leads are no different. But what we have to be mindful of when we're working the leads is looking at them in the priority zone. Because if you want to jump in and get lucky out of the gate, your highest priority leads are obviously your newer leads coming in, but the ones that are actively engaged, that are watching through your website what homes are coming on the market. So, if you're looking at the leads that you have never spoken to, which would be your tried-to-contact leads, and the leads are actively engaged, and that have a good phone number, you have a very, extremely valuable call list. And out of 300 and some leads, I'm going to propose, if you haven't talked to a lot of leads in your database, you should have at least about 120 of those leads in your database that are actively engaged.
Paisley: 27:04
So, I'm just noticing this. I tried setting this up by myself. The campaigns, and I just tried doing the seller campaigns because nobody set up the seller campaigns. From the buyer campaigns that I started a year ago those are set up for me, but for the seller campaigns, I had to set it up myself. So, this one that just came in 15 hours ago, my campaign says it's 100% done. No emails were sent, no text messages were sent, nothing, but it says everything's done.
Bev: 27:38
Something must be activated, that is a, Crystal?
Crystal: 27:44
You have your automatic assignments. You've got a lot of trigger factors for that going on right now. You have a lot of pre-qualification stuff. Like, they have to be that specific source. They have to be this. They have to be this. So, I have a feeling that you have the incorrect source selected. Are you the only agent in your CRM, or, no, that's crazy, but if these were seller leads that are coming in, you would want this assigned regardless of who the agent is, no?
Paisley: 28:18
Yeah, like I am the agent that will hand out leads. I have one other girl I was giving; like, two other girls I was giving leads. So, the other one, I told her to take the; we basically shared a campaign together. When Hamilton in London; so she took all the Hamilton leads, and we split all those, but I switched brokerages. So, I kicked her off. So, because we're not going to have any more. Yeah, it's come in on that campaign. So, she took all those leads, and I archived all of them, I believe, so that she can work on them herself.
Crystal: 28:53
Okay, so I just updated your automatic assignment to just the lead type home seller. So, you got it, I've removed the source, and I've removed the main agent. So, any lead that now comes in as a lead type home seller, which are essentially your home worth leads, they are going to be added to that campaign. Sometimes if we have too many triggers, it has to match all three triggers in order for it to assign. And if I had to guess, it might have been the source that was affecting it. The sources weren't aligning. So, it should work now.
Paisley: 29:31
So, this person came in 15 hours ago. Should I force the campaign to start?
Crystal: 29:35
Yeah, absolutely. And then call them.
Bev: 29:39
Yeah, don't depend on the campaigns. Because, again, that's what 99% of all the other agents are doing. So, you want to be a little bit different. And if you attempt that phone call, and, you know, this goes back to the analogy of a lead. You always want to acknowledge the lead in that opening when you get a hold of them on the phone of how you got their information. So, if it's a home evaluation lead, I always like to present: Hey, this is Beverly. I'm just checking in. I saw that you're online, and you were looking for the value of 123 Main Street. Because we don't want to assume that's their home. Because other times you got people that are driving around, like: Oh, my Gosh, look at that house. And then I was looking for the value of it, and they land, and they put that address in. I made that mistake very early. So, I always ask them: Did you like what you found? And then explain to them how general it really is and say: Do you have any plans on selling your home? You know, what are your future plans?
Paisley: 30:46
So, does that actually send them an email with their home, like, home value on there?
Crystal: 30:53
No, no.
Paisley: 30:53
Okay.
Crystal: 30:54
So, when they fill out the form on the website, it gives them some average pricing of some current homes that had sold, right? It's just a general idea, something to walk away with after they just gave you all their contact information. The goal is for you to talk to them and essentially get in the door to have that evaluation. If we gave them everything they wanted, they wouldn't need you to go. They wouldn't need you to do that.
Bev: 31:24
It is, it's our job to explain that to them, that, you know, that was a very computer-generated general search. If you are looking for something more in-depth, I would be happy to come out and see your home. Home evaluation leads are usually longer-term leads. But again, we just have to be mindful of where are you in the process and when are you going to fit in. And if you're planning on doing this for the next 30 years…
Paisley: 31:55
Or more.
Bev: 31:56
Right? If you were doing this a year ago, with this perception, plugging your pipeline, you would have leads in place. That's the beauty of a pipeline because you can create your pipeline and work your right now business so that your business is going to grow exponentially instead of being in that rollercoaster. Because when we start generating leads like we're generating, we're calling, we're generating, we build it because it's new, and then we create it, we have a few that are going to settlement, and then we just stop calling. And then we have to start that process all over again, which is why I became such an organized fanatic, because the busier I got, the less time I had to be spending in my database. And I really needed to organize and bring my top priority leads I never spoke to, to the top. Because once you have the conversation, it's easy to set the reminder and follow up. Well, it's not easy to do it. It's easy to set it up. Where we slack are on the ones that we've never spoken to? How do we call them? When did we call them? How do we know how often we call them and really be efficient?
And that's why it's the new leads coming in. And then I like to be really heavy on that attempt, those first couple of weeks, because I don't know in those first couple of weeks if they've been looking for a long time, and they've increased their searching, or if they're just popping on the internet right now, and they're five years out. We have no idea. But we have a better chance of figuring that out if we can catch them in those first two weeks because I like to be able to look at a lead and say: If they tell me they have an agent, well, I did absolutely everything I could have to have tried to reach them. I had x amount of text messages. I had x amount of emails and x amount of phone call attempts. There's nothing more I could have done to earn their business. But the ones that hurt are the ones that I see one phone call, one text message. It's six months later. They may have texted a message, the agent missed it. And then you call them, and then they already closed on something. Those are painful. And it happens a lot.
Yeah, the industry is really good at saying speed the leads, speed the leads. It's easy. A lead comes in. We can be reactive. But the proactiveness of working our leads is where it gets tricky. But to Crystal's point, if you work your call filters, and you work them every day, honest to God, with the amount of leads that you have right now, you should never be in your dashboard more than 15 minutes a day with the lead flow you have. And that means you're touching every lead that is a priority lead because let's just think about leads that you've never spoken to, leads that have never responded. A new lead comes in, and it's the highest priority. Every week that goes by, they're moving down that priority chain. But if they're staying actively engaged, and they're opening the emails, and they're utilizing the search tools, they're going to stay in that priority. But if they're not, they're just going to fall off, and then they're going dormant in your database. So, as long as you're paying attention to those leads that are coming in and the leads that are always active, you're going to be increasing your chances of those conversations. And then if you have more than 15 minutes, and this is where it's best practice if you have a buyer that cancels, if you have a settlement that reschedules, if you have any extra time, then you can go into the leads that are nonresponsive. I've never talked to these leads, and they have not logged in looking at anything for 30 or more days. And just plug out 25 at a time.
And if you follow the four ring, 23-second rule, which, four rings, think about your cell phone ringing four times. It's annoying, right? Because my phone, I don't think it's ever rang four times unless I'm carrying my groceries or unless my hands are full, and I can't get to it to hit it off. But even if my phone would ring right now, I would click it off on the first ring. So, if it goes four rings, it's kind of redundant to keep it ringing. So, 23 seconds is approximately four rings. Hang up, go to the next. Hang up, go to the next. You can call through 25 leads in about 15 minutes. But if somebody answers the phone, but the beauty of that is, I guarantee you, you call 25 leads, nobody answers. Someone's calling you back.
Paisley: 36:51
That's happened.
Bev: 36:52
Yeah.
Paisley: 36:55
When I tried calling; sorry.
Bev: 37:01
Go ahead. I said: Just prioritizing.
Paisley: 37:03
Yeah. When I tried calling with my system, like, so that it would record, I could never hear the other person on the other end. So, I had to call from my cell phone.
Crystal: 37:15
It was likely because when you open it up, you may, it'll ask if it can use your audio, and you might have to adjust those settings, what they are on the computer. What is your, you know, your speaker? What speaker is being used at that time? Is it a headset? Is that the computer speaker? Right? Sometimes you have to just adjust the settings.
Paisley: 37:35
Okay.
Crystal: 37:36
Yeah, and you can try it before you call a lead. There are those two options on the dialer, one where you can make sure that your voice, it'll detect it. Here is the voice. You can see the sound waves, and the other is listening. So, there's one where you can test the sound to hear if you can hear it. So, you can just keep fiddling around with your audio settings on your computer. Just close out that window, refresh and see each time and then you'll figure out which setting your system needs to be on to do that. So, what you can try to do, as well, is because you may have already set your permissions, right? When you first opened up that dialer, you might have said no, or you might have clicked something, is try opening up your CRM in an incognito window and then try making and testing your audio because it's going to re-ask you at that point to allow access to your audio. Can they use your microphone, yes or no? And then you can adjust or make sure you hit yes. And, I think, let me just see here do I have a dialer open? Let me just see here. Yeah, so when you have the dialer open, you have; I'll share my screen really quickly so you can see. There's my share screen option. Come on.
Paisley: 39:06
I don't know how to open my dialer anymore.
Crystal: 39:10
Alright, so when you have your, this is your lead behind here. So, when you have your dialer open, I'm just going to do this. You have this little thing right here, right? So you can click it, and you want to make sure it has access, that's your microphone, and then you can manage it as well. But if I had to guess, they have your mic, test your headphones. It might be your headphone. So, it might be, you have to go into your settings, your sound settings, and make sure you have the right speaker selected. Because sometimes, your system just selects the speaker that doesn't actually work.
Paisley: 39:48
Yeah.
Crystal: 39:49
That's really it, yeah. No, I'm trying to figure it out. Stop sharing that. But that makes it faster, too. It makes it faster. But if you definitely go through those filters, and I sent you the link in the personal message with mine, if you want to, kind of, go and create. I like to break it up into segments. So, this is your homework for this week. We'll reconnect next week, see where you got. And now we're going to go over the next step. I just had a call last week. I think it was last week. He's following it to a tee. Like, he's got spending $1,000 a month, solo agent, on leads. Every single filter is empty. Like, there's no one in there because he's just on top of it. But he's going to be hitting about a 2% conversion rate this year because he's consistent with what he does. Everyone's followed up with. Everyone is contacted. And his number two filter is always empty. So, always making connections because he's just so organized and makes it a priority of his to actually contact his leads every single day.
Bev: 41:00
And it is, it's just a best practice, and you put it on your calendar, just like you would an appointment.
Paisley: 41:07
Yeah, I have 173 in my number two.
Crystal: 41:11
Yeah. So, those are, and you'll see there that some of them are very active. And I think it was, like, they're active just a couple hours ago, and it was, like, three months ago was your last call attempt on them.
Bev: 41:22
So, my suggestion on that; because 173 miles is a long trip, right? It's over two hours. And when you're looking at 173, it's very overwhelming to think about calling 173 people. That's where I like to use these subheadings to filter them into the highest priority. So, if you're calling the leads, and out of 173, the most important lead, in my opinion, is who registered the longest ago that you haven't spoken to? And is that filter denoting, Crystal?
Crystal: 41:59
I don't know. So, in the number two, basically, it's everyone that you've called at least once, and you essentially have a good number, you haven't made contact, and you're calling them every two days. That's for number two. So, there are 104 in there.
Bev: 42:16
It's all the leads in her dashboard, though, that she's only made one attempt to?
Crystal: 42:19
Yeah, yeah.
Bev: 43:21
Okay. And so, what we'd do, I would break it down by registered, least recent. And just do 25 at a time, and then you'll knock them out. Don't, you know, it even, if 25 sounds overwhelming, just do 5. See where the 5 takes you, and then make it a game. This is what I had to do. Like, I love those little online games. I am a junkie. Like, when Nintendo came out, like, I didn't have a life. That was my life. So, if you look at it like a game and say: Okay, I'm going to make five phone calls today with my dialer, jot the time down that you start, jot the time down that you've finished. And tomorrow, see if you can beat that time and do five again. If you get the time, make one more, and just start increasing so that you're not just dreading jumping in there going: Oh my God, I got to call 25 leads today.
Paisley: 43:16
I started calling them. It's fine. I can be here for two, three hours and not even realize how much time has gone by. It's just actually starting it.
Crystal: 43:26
It's like going to the gym. Once there, we're good. It's just actually getting the motivation to get out the door to the gym, right? It's the same idea.
Bev: 43:39
And, you know, what happened to me, I hated calling my leads. It was such a fear for me. But I hated my bank account not being full and the thought of my bank account not being full. So, I had to make myself do it. My fear of not succeeding way over exceeded that not wanting to start or that fear of making the calls. So, we really do have to have that mindset shift, to say, you know: I'm going to sit down, build my pipeline today. I want to see because when you get a whiteboard, and you start to put names and sales prices, look at those people. My first coach, he did. He was like: Who do you have closing immediately who's under contract? Who do you have closing in the next 60 days? In the next three months? Like, 90 days? What's your pipeline? So, he really taught me how to be more pipeline focused than right-now focused. So, every conversation that you have that qualifies for time on your calendar take that person down, print a whiteboard, put their sales price next to it, and you're going to treat it a lot more like a client than an actual lead that you're trying to nurture. Because then you're actually focusing on your future income.
Paisley: 45:02
Yeah. I'll probably do a spreadsheet. I tried doing a spreadsheet, and I fell off the wagon with that, too.
Bev: 45:11
That's why I like whiteboards, right? You have a whiteboard. You just write the name down. And then, you can break it up into months, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days. You can just put their first name, put their sales price, and then you know what you have in that pipeline. You can even, you know, even when you talk to somebody, they're like, you know: Well, I'm thinking about June, or I'm thinking about December, plug them into that date. And spreadsheets are great that you want that visual everywhere you go. So, if you have that spreadsheet printed out, take it with you. Always have it where you can look at it all the time. Keep your tab open on your computer. And that's why I like the whiteboard, right? Because if you're sitting in your office, it's right behind you. You're always seeing it. As you walk in the room, you're like: Oh, if I do everything I need to be doing, this is going to be my future income for the next year.
Paisley: 46:05
How do you know which ones are, like, the most serious though, because I find, like, I'm not even joking, I spent a whole weekend with this one couple, all over the place. Probably, like, a couple of tanks of gas in that weekend, maybe two tanks of gas in that weekend. We drove so much. And then I couldn't get a hold of them again. I mean, they said, like: Thanks. He ended up calling me again, like a week later, because he got sued or was going to be sued with a previous agent I didn't even know about before doing that with us. Because he put in an offer, and then he went in firm. Was not explained what a firm offer is. He thought it was conditional for 60 days. And I was like: You can't have conditional first 60 days. That's your closing. Your mortgage broker needs 60 days to close the mortgage, is what he was saying. That's how much time he needed for your file, which is really bad. So, he was, like, really happy, goes: Wow. Like, thank you so much for explaining so much to us. Like: We didn't understand. Like: When you were explaining that to us last night, at the last house, I kind of felt sick to my stomach because I knew what I did. I'm really sorry for not telling you and all this stuff. So, we ended up losing, like, a $10,000 deposit.
Bev: 47:24
That right there, Paisley, is reason enough that you need to call your leads. That is an amazing story of why you need to save every one of them from a horrible experience. And that, you know, I always joke around like I'm a multiple Ph.D. degree because I've, there's so much money, right? Look at two tanks of gas as a college course. Because what you learned and took away from that are two things. One, agents suck, and two, that qualifying piece. And I never ask anybody if they have an agent. I ask them: How long have you been looking? And if they, like, say six months, four months, whatever. Have you been in any homes? Yeah, we've been in a few. Oh, great. Tell me about those homes that you went into and why they didn't work. Why are we talking today? Tell me about your process so far.
Paisley: 48:29
Oh, yeah, that's better.
Bev: 48:30
And you're going to get that out of them because then they can't lie, right? But if we're like: Have an agent? No, no, because they want you to take them out. They don't want the other agent. They want out. But if we're asking them, you know: How long have you been looking? How did you get into those homes?
Paisley: 48:48
Not so blunt.
Bev: 48:49
Exactly. Have you written any offers? Yeah. Well, what happened? Then you'll get it out of them. And I'm not opposed to steal them, I guess, because there are so many agents. And there's one in particular that, she was a lead. I called her. And I said: Did you want to see this home? And she says: Actually, no. We already put an offer on a home in that subdivision, and I was looking to see what the prices really were because I feel that we're overpaying. And I said: Well, if you don't mind me asking, like, what's that process look like for you? And the home was listed at 325. They went in at 400. And I have it pulled up right in front of me, and the highest one sold in there was 349. And I asked her. I said: Well, you do have an appraisal contingency, right? And she says: What do you mean? So, I went through that whole process that you did. And she's like: I don't know, would you look at the contract for me? I said: Sure. She's like: I can't find it on here. She sent it over, and I said: You do not have an appraisal contingency. What does that mean? I explained the process to her of having to bring more money to the table if it didn't appraise. She's like: I don't have that money. I said: Why did you write that offer? She says: I told the agent I did not want to lose this house. Whatever we had to do, write the offer up, so we don't lose it. She was like: My husband signed, and I don't know what he signed. So, you talk about leading somebody down of a complete hellhole of expectation. She would have gotten the settlement company and seen that settlement sheet and she had the money to take the settlement. But I asked her. I said: Are you willing to part with $50,000 outside of another 20 if it doesn't appraise? She said: No. We closed on her a month and a half later. She fired her agent. She fired her agent.
Paisley: 50:59
So, are you guys in, is that like the United States or Canadian?
Bev: 51:05
Atlanta.
Paisley: 51:07
Yeah. So, for us, it's if you talk to or give advice; like I even said to him, I was like: Do not tell anybody that I told you this because I asked him to send me over the buyer representation agreement to see if he was still being represented because like, technically, I was really mad at him because I said: You could get me in a lot of trouble. You get me, like, fined quite a bit of money if it was found out that I talked to you while you were being represented by somebody else. It ended up being another agent in my brokerage that he was being represented by, which made it awkward. And she made him sign off basically saying that, like, he was going in firm, et cetera, et cetera. But he had no idea what he was signing. And they had him forged signatures for the other, the people that were actually signing the agreement, they weren't available. So, they went ahead and said just sign for her. He wasn't even on the agreement of purchasing sale. So, like, there's all these, like, legal things, but I couldn't really give him too much advice other than: You need to talk to a lawyer.
Bev: 52:12
So, here's how I looked at me having a conversation with this lady. She says: What would you do? And I said: Well, I can't tell you what to do. But if it was my mom, and my mom called me with this situation, this is what I would tell my mom. I just switched it, right? And here's the reality, if a lead comes into your dashboard, they gave you their phone number, their name, you have every right to call them because you do not know. So, by asking them: How long have you been looking? Have you been in any homes? Have you written any offers? Then the truth is going to come out. And then you can make those decisions on what that conversation looks like. Because I do, I ask people: Tell me what the process has been like for you. Horrible. I had another conversation with a guy: I put three contracts on three different homes, we increased it $35,000. I didn't get any of them. My question to him. I was like: What's significant about $35,000? I said: Why is that? And he was like: Well, we just thought it was a good number. And I said: Well, based on what? So, we're having those conversations, and I said: You know what, dude, you're looking in the wrong price range. I said: You're in a price range that we can look at homes that are higher than what you're looking for because they're staying on the market a little bit longer. I still want to meet with you, Smokey.
Because what we found was homes over that 650 price range, they should have been listed at 600. They'd have gone 675. But they were posted that they were listing them at 675. And they were sitting there because the buyers weren't looking at what they could afford. They were looking at what they could afford to increase their price on. Does that make sense? So, I didn't care that he was working with anybody. Fire them because they suck. Like, who does that, 35,000 over each? Like, educate your buyer. So, my point was: I don't want to take business from anybody. But I would love the opportunity to earn your business if it's not too late. How about if I just send you some properties that are coming up? I want to send you properties over that price range, and let's put a strategy together. You can't help what they're doing. You want to protect them, absolutely, 100%, but we have to realize there are a lot of frustrated people out there that are very misguided. And that's why it's said, you know, you're like: I'm not a bad agent, you know? It's like: Yeah, you're not, but they need to know that. They need to know why you're better and why they need to use you and that value is going to be in that conversation. And use that story. See, this guy was so misrepresented. This is what they did. I hate, and I do, I tell people, I hate real estate agents. It is the lowest level of entry for the most amount of money in any business. So it attracts all walks of life. But it doesn't really give somebody the knowledge to negotiate a person's biggest investment. And that's what people don't realize. Oh, you have a real estate license. Oh, you can write a contract for me. Oh, you can open up the doors. Oh, you can put a sign in my yard. They don't realize all the intricacies of having you be protected.
Paisley: 55:48
Yeah.
Bev: 55:49
So, let yourself shine, girl.
Paisley: 55:54
Well, I did book a training session too, to get myself organized and ready to go again.
Bev: 56:00
Good. Good. Go save your leads.
Paisley: 56:04
I spend enough money on them to just let them.
Crystal: 56:08
I know, right?
Bev: 56:10
And just remember, it's all about having the conversation, finding out where they are in the process and where you're going to fit in, and asking them: What can I do to earn your business? That's it.
Crystal: 56:18
Don't be attached to the outcome. Relaxed conversations. People open up when you're just casually talking to them.
Bev: 56:31
For sure. Well, thanks for joining us. What a great surprise.
Crystal: 56:35
Yes, it's good. Good. It was a great conversation. That's for sure. I'm sure many of us out here have benefited from that conversation.
Bev: 56:45
Yes, I loved it. Thank you, Paisley. And I know, Elena said, real quick. It diminished completely. There are so many different dynamics that you might want to have them look at your dashboard and figure something out. You've got a lot of different dynamics.
Crystal: 57:04
Yeah. And a lot of different factors. Competition could be increasing because the market is shifting. Buyers are slowing their searches, right? So, it's, there are a lot of different factors that can contribute to that because you'll notice it goes up and down, up and down, up and down. And it's all market-related.
Bev: 57:23
For sure.
Crystal: 57:24
Awesome. Perfect. Thanks, Beverly. Thanks, everyone. We will see you again. Alright. Bye.