AgentLocator Live Dials and Expert Talk, February 2, 2022
→ from 9:13 - How online leads have changed with time
→ from 18:33 - A common mistake with online leads
→ from 32:43 - These are your highest priority leads
→ from 34:47 - Example: how to use tags and tasks in the CRM for better productivity
→ from 40:22 - How a voicemail can give you useful information
→ from 53:31 - A clever hack in the AgentLocator CRM to verify one’s phone number
Crystal: 0:03
So, do you want to tell everyone what you're facing currently with your system? Like, where are your struggles and your pain points?
Anita: 0:14
So, all my buyer leads - I've not been spending money recently on buyer leads, but my buyer leads, I've got a ton of them. But either they are not picking up the calls, or they just keep sort of pushing out by saying: No, no. Some of them genuinely do seem to have an agent. They're still in the system, though. But generally, most of them are not responding at all. Some of them are checking online repeatedly. But they just don't seem to be responding at all. And I'm just sort of struggling with that. And now these leads are pretty old. They're not new. I think I stopped doing it for maybe almost seven, eight months - I have not been doing it, or even longer. So these and recently, I started with seller leads, of course. Seller leads are even tougher, actually. Because they don't give their number. So, it's difficult to reach them at all. So, that is what I, basically, am struggling with.
Crystal: 1:15
The seller leads aren't giving you a phone number.
Anita: 1:17
Seller leads are not giving me the numbers. They're all wrong, generally. One of them has a number, but he has never picked it up at all. And I've just started. So, the seller leads are not giving me numbers, or they're putting 000, like that. Or even if they are giving the number, they're not picking up the numbers. So, I think I have just what - 4 seller leads, but I have not been able to speak to even one of them.
Crystal: 1:43
You should have just been texted a four-digit code.
Anita: 1:50
Me. Okay. Texted me, I didn't receive any text. Ah, okay. Yeah. It is here.
Bev: 2:01
What is it?
Anita: 2:02
7414.
Bev: 2:03
Thank you. And how long have you been acquiring leads?
Anita: 2:18
So I have seller leads I've started working on recently, less than a month now. And buyer leads I have been doing for a long time. But in the last year, I totally stopped because I realized it was a very tough market with buyers especially. So, I sort of totally stopped, I think. So, maybe, I must have done it 'till March last year. But I have been doing buyer leads for a very long time. About, maybe, a couple of years at least, if not more.
Bev: 2:43
I see leads in here from 2015.
Anita: 2:46
So yeah, some of the leads are very old. And I'm sure I tried to reach out to them. And in the beginning, I was very hesitant to do anything like this. So, I was not very comfortable even calling and things like this. I was trying to work more with the emails and all. But recently, I mean last year, I did try. And the year before, I did try. And actually, in 2016 or 2017, I closed a couple of leads from there, from buyer leads. Yeah, from buyer leads, I think it was 2017, I think, and I closed two leads from this, which was awesome. But that seemed to be the end of it.
Bev: 3:32
And what do you think was the significance in 2017 versus 2015, 2016.
Anita: 3:37
I have no idea. It was just somehow it. I mean, they picked up my phone, and one of them actually called pretty late. They picked up my phone, and they were pretty keen. I told them I said let's meet, and they were more than willing. So maybe they were just too ready. They were pretty ready, and I think that may have been the main thing because a lot of these leads are longtime leads, but some of them were - those two couples were really ready to do it. I also actually closed a deal last year from a lead which I had got the previous year, so 2020 lead which I actually closed last year. So I did do one deal from there last year, also.
Bev: 4:22
Okay. So, in regards to how many phone call attempts you are making. When a lead comes in, and you see the lead, whether it's a seller lead or a buyer lead, what is your pattern?
Anita: 4:40
I am trying to reach out to them a little more now. Or earlier, I would try it, and my ego would come in, which was very wrong. A little thing would come up, and I would be like: Go to hell, I'm not calling them, I'll just keep texting them or emailing them. So, that's what I was doing. And some people I have called, I think quite a few times, but they will not pick up. They will not pick up. One of the leads you will see over here, I think her name is Sita if I'm not wrong, she has never picked up my phone. And even though I have messaged her recently, she simply does not pick up the phone.
Bev: 5:18
I'm not looking at your system right now. Just a second, please. How many call attempts to her?
Anita: 5:27
I think if I am not wrong, I think I may have done at least 7-8 over a certain timeframe. And yeah. And I was messaging her a lot. And recently, I actually texted her three times. I wanted to text one, but it breaks, and it goes, three messages went to her, telling her that if she's just going to be standing on the sideline, you know, prices are just rising. So it doesn't make sense. And she still doesn't respond. And she's checking the emails regularly, but she doesn't respond at all. So, I'm having people like those. There are some people who I have spoken to, and they seem to be both buyer and seller leads a sort of, but they say: Oh, it's two years away, it's two years away. The long-term ones are the ones who are more proactive over here on my system than anything else.
Bev: 6:20
And let me just ask you this, just devil's advocate here. If she answered the phone and said to you: I love HGTV, and I'm just online looking at pictures to get ideas of how to decorate my home.
Anita: 6:36
Oh, okay.
Bev: 6:38
What if after she answered the phone, she said that?
Anita: 6:42
Right. So, I'll say, first of all, I'm sure I'm going to thank her. I'd say: Great, at least I've come to know now what it is that you're looking for. I mean, or what ideas. And if you want, I can actually send you some, and maybe I'll ask a little bit older woman, maybe I'll even send her some listings, you know, which will give her a better idea. So, that's where I will be with her. So, it'll be fine.
Bev: 7:04
How much time would that take you? For her to answer the phone, her to explain that she's not really looking, she's just looking at pictures. How much time is that?
Anita: 7:15
I don't think it will take more than a few minutes. Maybe 2, 3 minutes at best, not more.
Bev: 7:20
Well, how much time does it take you right now that she's not answering the phone?
Anita: 7:24
Oh, I mean, I just take a few seconds, maybe 10 seconds. 20 seconds.
Bev: 7:31
And how many people can you call in that 3 or 4 minutes that will answer the phone versus having a conversation that's meaningless?
Anita: 7:40
Yeah, but the thing is, nobody really is picking up the calls. And even if they are, they are just telling me some people do pick up. And I mean, it's been some time, though. But people do pick up. But they have been saying that they are just not interested right now. Or they've told me that they are just looking over here because they already have another realtor whom they are working with. So these sorts of things are happening. And so, finally, I just gave up on that.
Bev: 8:05
Are you actively using the dialer right now? Do you use the dialer that's in your system?
Anita: 8:14
Yes. Yes.
Bev: 8:16
How many calls are you making a day?
Anita: 8:19
Nowadays, to buyer leads, none at all. I'm not making any. Just last week, I tried to make a few calls to buyer leads. And they all went unanswered.
Bev: 8:32
So when you say a few, is that 3?
Anita: 8:34
Yeah, not more than 3 - 4.
Bev: 8:37
So, is it fair to use the word nobody is answering the phone?
Anita: 8:44
Oh, this is not now. This has been… These leads, like I said, these leads have been older leads. They're not new leads anymore. And I have tried to call them earlier, recently. Then if you are asking in the last week or so - no, I've just tried to reach out again to a few leads. That's all. But I used to call them early. I've given up, sort of given up.
Bev: 9:05
That makes sense. So just pointing out a few things. I always like to remind people back in 2008, when all of this lead generation started, everybody answered their phone. It was their home phone. And that was back in the time, where traditionally, every time your phone rang, you pretty much knew who it was, give or take a few telemarketers. And it was exciting when your phone rang because: Oh somebody wants to talk to me. Somebody's thinking about me. Fast forward to today, where our phones have become the biggest noise in our day.
Anita: 9:58
Right.
Bev: 9:59
It's annoying. So we've completely gone to a different level of what the phone means to people. On both spectrums, right? I'm trying to get a hold of you. There are too many people trying to get ahold of me. I don't want to answer the phone. So, technology has changed the way we can conduct business. So, the value of a lead today versus the value of a lead in 2008. Way different, way different dynamic, right? We may be paying the same amount per lead. But us getting ahold of them is a completely different ballgame. So, when we know the reality of the problem, we can't change that.
We can't make somebody answer their phone. But we, and I say we, continue to become discouraged because people aren't answering their phones. But we know why, right? The only thing that is separating you from having a conversation a day or not is your discouragement and being stuck in your head that nobody answers the phone. Now when I hear nobody answers the phone, which is why I asked how many phone calls you make a day, I can make 100 dials and have 2 conversations. I can make 50 dials and have 0 conversations. What we have to look at is, who are we calling? How many times are we calling? And what does our consistency look like? Because I promise you with the consistency people will answer. Is it going to be the expectation that we want? Probably not. And when I look at all of the databases that I have dialed in, my biggest struggle and challenge was a database that I worked out of Breckenridge, Colorado. I have called, you name the state, I have managed a database in every state in the United States, including some in provinces in Canada. And I can tell you; this one stands out to me because it was the most frustrating. I can literally sit down and dial through 300 leads and not talk to a person. Right? And I'm like, nobody answers the phone on this site. But there was a reason. He was over-texting. And they were blocking the phone number. So I was calling people that I never got the opportunity of them answering the phone because it was a blocked number. And unfortunately, you do not detect that they've blocked you. It'll just ring and ring and ring and ring and ring and ring and go through. So when I can legitimately call that many people and have absolutely no answers, there's a different problem. Because at some point with consistency, if you saw the same number come up on your phone repeatedly 7, 8, 9, 10 times in a row, wouldn't you be a little bit curious as to who it was.
Anita: 13:46
Right.
Bev: 13:49
I have time to answer this call right now. I'm going to answer his call to see who the heck this is, right? This is why I don't leave voicemails, which is why I text from a different number, or I don't call and text. I text at a different time that I'm calling, so hopefully, they don't recognize that it's the same thing; it's the same person. So, when we know what the problem is, we can create the solution, instead of going: Nobody answers the phone, I'm discouraged. I'm just making a few phone calls, and then nobody's answering the phone call anyway. Well, if we are thinking about what we don't want, that's what we're going to get. So, we really do have to put on a different pair of glasses and look at it from a different perspective and see, okay. And the reason I asked, you know, if that lady would answer the phone and tell you that she's not looking, can you see how we tell ourselves our own story? How we tell ourselves our story, right? And in reality, we have a choice when we sit down to call our leads.
We can say nobody's going to answer the phone, why am I wasting my time? But at the end of the day, what else are you doing to get face to face with people? Do you have another option? If you don't like calling leads and nobody's answering the phone, what's your other option? Doorknock? Right? You go through the phonebook and just start calling people. So it's honestly our best excuse not to do something that makes us uncomfortable. I mean, it's really truly what it is. In relation to the leads coming in right now, are they all seller leads that you have coming in right now?
Anita: 15:50
Yeah, just, I think four have come in. I think they're all seller leads, 4 or 5. And they're all seller leads. But again, if you go there, you'll see that I think 2 of them have given a number, others have not. And the number, one of the numbers possibly is the correct number. And I have called them quite a few times. I have texted him; yeah, I think it's him. I've texted him a few times, I've been sending each day some emails, but this is seller lead. I can't; I mean, I need to talk to them about their property and things like that, right? So I can't text, but I did try. The other one is the wrong number. It goes, it rings, it rings, but it reaches some office. It reaches some office, but I'm not sure whether I have, maybe, I think I've also said that it's the wrong number over there. So, when you see it, you will know it looks like that. But others are not giving any numbers, or they're just putting 0000.
Bev: 16:48
So you made a comment that you need to talk to them. Why do you need to talk to them?
Anita: 16:55
I mean, I don't mind if they even respond to me on an email for a seller lead. Because for a seller lead, for me to give them an evaluation, I need to know about their property. Without that, I cannot give them a home evaluation. So, that's why as far as sellers are concerned, I definitely need to know, even if they email me, that's fine. If they message me, that's fine, but I need to know something about it. So, that's why I said I needed to talk to them or email, get some response from them. And one seller lead did. It was very confusing. So I called, and a youngish girl answered, and she said: Oh, yeah, we're looking for information and all that. And I said: Great. And she had not left her address, though. So I told her I said, you know: You've given your information, but not left the address. So, she gave me the address. And I'm not sure whether I made the call from the dialer or directly called her. But then when I actually tried to, you know, sort of ask them a little about the house and all, somebody else ended up replying that: No, no. And they eventually told me I'm too pushy. All I was doing was asking them: When is a good time? And I mean, his language is also very funny, but he just wrote saying that. No, you are being very pushy. And so I just gave up on it. And he said, don't. We are not interested in selling anymore, or we're not interested in selling.
Bev: 18:23
You said a lot right there that unpacked really good information. And you are not alone. This is the biggest percentage of everybody that is paying for internet leads. So, do not take this personally because this is just how we are wired as salespeople. When you said I need to talk to them, that makes the process about you. That makes the process of I'm sitting down to call you, to give you something that you said you want. I'm trying to give you something. So that makes it about me wanting to deliver. But if we look at it from a different perspective, I don't need to do anything. I don't need to have a conversation with you. I don't know where you are in the process. You may not need to talk to me. You may have just been wondering what your neighbor's home was looking like online, and you were just checking up a neighbor's house and checking out the value of the neighbor's house. Or you may have just driven by a home that you used to own way back in the day, and you saw it on the market. You want to know what the value was of it, and you messed up and clicked the wrong link and didn't go to the link where it was listed. You were trying to find the value of it. They don't need to talk to you. But our minds are saying we need to talk to them because they want a home evaluation, but they might not. They may just be debunking the appraiser because they might be in the middle of a refinance.
Anita: 20:09
Okay.
Bev: 20:11
So, we don't know what we don't know. And if we come at it from a perspective of: Where are they in the process? What do they need? And thank God, they didn't answer the phones. They really don't want to talk to you anyways. I hate making these phone calls. It's really uncomfortable for me to make these phone calls. Right? When I sit and dial, I can't say it's a bad thing when people answer the phone because I'm like, I'm doing my job. I'm doing my job. I'm doing my job. I'm being consistent. I'm getting my dials in 23 seconds, 23 seconds, 23 seconds. I'm only looking for the person who's going to answer the phone because that is the person that I am meant to have a conversation with today, nobody else. So, I don't need to talk to anybody. So, when we need money in our bank account, we're going to come across as pushy. So, if we have a perspective of, I need to talk to you because I need to give you a home evaluation because that's what you came in looking for. If we're assuming that, instead of asking the questions as to what exactly are you looking for? I see that you were looking for an evaluation? Or did you find what you were looking for? I did. Great. Were you happy with what you saw? Because it's really just a general idea of a number. It's not really the specifics of the number. Would you be interested in the specifics of a number? It's a totally different conversation. Does that make sense? So we always have to think about it from their point of view. And if you've heard me before, it's going to sound like I'm beating a dead horse. But, when you walk into a retail store, and the salesperson says to you: Is there anything I can help you with today? What do you say?
Anita: 22:16
No, thanks. I'm just looking.
Bev: 22:18
But that salesclerk needs to talk to you because she needs to make a sale. You'd be like: Leave me alone. Leave me alone. Just let me look. So we have to be mindful of what we are doing and why we're doing it. Are we doing it for $1 in the bank? Are we doing it in the best interest of the seller so that they don't go with another agent and have a really bad experience? And we know that we have a value proposition and that we have the advantage to talk to them, to give them something that nobody else in the market is going to deliver? Big difference, right? I have to save you from going with anybody else. Can you please just make me a promise that you won't do anything until we have a conversation when that time is right? What are you taking away from that conversation? How are you feeling right now, Anita?
Anita: 23:18
I'm just finding it slightly tough. I say tough because when I said I need to talk to them, it was simply, I meant that if somebody's looking for a home evaluation, and some of them have, and this person had not given the address, that's the reason I was reaching out. And for a seller lead, I mean, I know what you are saying now. I do understand that maybe they were just, it is not even their property, it is somebody else's property, they just wanted, or a better thing that you mentioned, they are refinancing, and they just need to know, I never thought of it that way. So yes, going forward, I will have to think also that it is not necessary that a lead which is coming is genuinely a seller lead. They may be just looking at refinancing or just getting some idea of where the market is going right now and where does it stand more than anything else.
Bev: 24:10
Well, and honestly, I had the exact same mindset that you had until I really started having conversations with people. And again, we only know what we know. We only put into our minds the stories that we've experienced. So, I don't like seller leads. They are not my favorite, honestly. I love my buyer leads because the majority of them are disguised sellers, and they're a hell of a lot cheaper - to pay for a buyer lead than it is to pay for seller leads. My seller leads that I paid, I stopped my seller campaign, just saying. In my seller campaign, I was paying over $28 per lead. In my buyer campaign, I'm paying less than $8 per lead.
Anita: 25:02
Right. No, seller leads are more expensive, for sure.
Bev: 25:06
Much more expensive. And in my experience, the quality is not as high. Because the majority of them are really nosy about just what their value is. And they have no intention of making a sale. That's my opinion. And I will tell you; every market is different. It really all depends on what's going on in your area and your location. But, what does the seller do before they even think about putting their home on the market?
Anita: 25:36
I mean, they would like just to get some idea.
Bev: 25:39
They are online looking. Should I sell now? Is there anything out there that meets my expectations to even think about this being right, putting a home on the market? Because seller lead is a definite. This goes back to the analogy of a lead, understanding the source and how they were acquired and targeting that conversation very specifically to: Oh, I saw that you're online, and you were interested in the value of a home at 123 Main Street. I always assumed it was their home. So, until someone said to me: Oh, no, I was able to use those few examples because those are objections that I got. Because I was assuming. They're like: Oh, no, no, that was a home that I lived in as a child. And I saw a sign in the yard, and I was wondering what the value of it was. And then the other one, that's my neighbor's house. I know that they're getting ready to put it on the market. And I was wondering what the value was before they actually put it on the market, and I saw the price. So that's where I'm like: Whoop, gotta stop this because you never know why somebody is online looking. And that's not a real seller lead. So guess what? You don't need to talk to them. The only reason you talk to them is to find out where they are in the process and, honestly, what made them click on the link, like: here he is. So, what my suggestion is, my question to you: I have your site. And I see leads in here. I'm going to share my screen. Okay, you should see your…
Anita: 27:38
Yes, I see that. Yeah, yeah. So what are these initial ones? Yeah.
Bev: 27:44
The ones that are not set tried to contact, not set, new lead. You have not spoken to these people, correct?
Anita: 27:52
No, actually, I have spoken to some of them. Once, in a while, I forget about… Like, the first one, I couldn't speak with them because they had not given any number. The very first one. And there are some numbers which are not really Canadian numbers. So I can't, like, some of them are maybe Indian numbers or from another country. So, if I can get somebody on WhatsApp, I try and get them on WhatsApp. If not, then I can't.
Bev: 28:20
And what about email. Are you emailing them?
Anita: 28:24
Yes. Yes, I definitely try and email them.
Bev: 28:28
And what is your email like?
Anita: 28:31
Most of the time, it is generally what has been given to us. Sometimes there were some; I think some messages, an email had come where you had said that these are the kinds of messages which you can send, so I copied from there. I formulated a copy from there, and then I sent it to them.
Bev: 28:49
So, does your email make sense based upon how the lead was acquired? Because we want to make sure: Hey, I saw that you were online looking for the value of this property. I tried calling you at 3456. It doesn't appear I have a good number. Is there a better way to reach you at? Are you identifying in the email how you got the lead's email address and trying to get their cell phone number?
Anita: 29:24
So, the first time when it is, it is normally always said: Thanks for registering on my website. So, that's how they know that, yeah, that's how it is done. That's how I do it. Yeah.
Bev: 29:36
And do you have that on, as a campaign, for as soon as you mark them as a bad phone number? Does that campaign start, or are you manually doing it?
Anita: 29:44
I couldn't get you, could you say that again? Please.
Bev: 29:45
Do you have a campaign on, because I see, like, usually when emails come in, it is not set? You don't have any campaigns on. Do you have a bad phone number campaign for your seller leads? Or are you sending the emails yourself?
Anita: 30:02
Oh, no. So I don't have any bad number email campaign on this thing. I don't think anything is said like that. And like I said, I just started doing it. I think just last month I started doing this thing. So no, they're barely any leads that actually become the seller leads. It's more of just partial leads which keep coming. Yeah.
Bev: 30:23
Yeah, I would. I am having a seller bad phone number campaign. It just takes the heavy lifting off, right? All your bad phone numbers, if they respond via email, great. But we always have to remember that bad phone number leads can be our highest value leads. Because if they're a bad phone number in your database, they're probably a bad phone number in someone else's, right? Because nobody works the bad phone number leads. Where's that seller going to find their agent from? There's a zero chance of any online lead happening if we're not working those.
Anita: 31:00
Right, right. I understand.
Bev: 31:01
Okay. So there are now your seller leads that are coming in. Are they on any type of market report or a home search?
Anita: 31:14
No. So, the seller leads which have come, like I said, the very few that have come, no, I have just been able to, actually, I know only one of the people, one of the leads is actually opening the emails. So, I have basically been trying to ask her, I mean, let me answer it simply. No, I don't think I have put them on anything yet. I have just tried to reach out to them presently. Yeah, but now what you have told me, it makes sense that okay, I shouldn't be, you know, sending out stuff to them. And I was; actually, I'm waiting for the Market Report to come. Which should be coming, I think, tomorrow or so, by the Toronto real estate board. I was thinking that is something which I will start sending out to the seller leads.
Bev: 32:03
Yeah, because we have to remember, right? When you go online, and you're looking for something, it's really cool to get updates on, like, I love Amazon. Amazon, if you buy something or if you have something just in your shopping cart, you know, it'll update you and tell you the price has changed. Really cool. So I like to give things to people that keep them in my dashboard instead of them going out to somebody else's.
Anita: 32:40
Yeah, yeah, I understand.
Bev: 32:42
Yeah. So I'm looking at this. The way I sorted this is I put everybody that supposedly you have not spoken to; there are 387 leads that we have not confirmed any bad phone number. And I sorted it by activity on who's been in the most recent. So this tells me these are the highest priority leads that are in your database right now. And, this one doesn't appear they ever got a call. Now maybe you have your dialer on back in. So you may have manually called, but you never marked it Called.
Anita: 33:22
Right. Right.
Bev: 33:25
Seven months ago, one month ago, ten months ago. But they have been in, look at this, 5 hours, one day, two days, five days, six days, nine days, two days. So these are, in my opinion, your highest priority leads. Now, with new eyes, or you know, a new perception, try calling 25.
Anita: 33:54
Okay.
Bev: 33:55
And just see what happens, right? Because you don't need to talk to anybody. What you need to do is just have conversations so that you don't have 387 leads, find out, right? Or confirm bad phone numbers, find out who's going to answer the phone, and get that list down to 280. And then worry about dialing it once through again. And then the woohoo, right? I'm down to you. Because I promise you, out of 387, I've been doing this long enough; you are going to be able to easily eliminate 100 of these people out of this batch.
Anita: 34:33
Right.
Bev: 34:37
So, let's just dial a couple and see what happens. And these are fun leads to call because they've been engaged. They're looking, they know.
Hi, I was looking for Pankaj. This is Beverly; I am checking in. It looks like you've been online looking at some homes in Oakville and just wondered what your plans are or what you might be looking for.
Pankaj: 35:08
Yeah, no, actually, I'm in a meeting. But yes, I was just browsing. I'm still waiting for my PR to be processed. But I just started looking out.
Bev: 35:23
No problem. So in the future, when would it make sense for us to just touch base back with you again?
Pankaj: 35:29
If you can drop me a note, I'll let you know once I'm ready to take up lunch.
Bev: 35:35
Fantastic. We'll shoot you an email, and no hurry. Okay. Yeah. Thank you so much. Bye, bye.
Nobody answers the phone!
Anita: 35:47
Yeah, I'm so surprised. I have been trying to reach out to this guy.
Bev: 35:52
Now you can see, right? We didn't need to talk to him. But now what we do know is he's in no hurry. He's just waiting. But now, he said: Drop me a note.
Crystal: 36:06
He's waiting for his permanent residence to buy a house. That would be what a PR was standing for?
Anita: 36:13
Yeah, yeah.
Bev: 36:14
He's waiting for a permanent; I don't know how to spell that word.
Crystal: 36:18
Oh, yeah, probably. Yeah. We don't know, really, what that looks like, right? So, how long does that process take?
Anita: 36:31
I understand.
Bev: 36:34
But, he answered the phone. So now, you have a decision to make. This is somebody that you could potentially nurture because you know where he is in the process. So your next call, what I would look for is, if he's maintaining activity, and he's still logging in, and he's still looking, no need to blow him up. I would, maybe in two months, just say: Hey, I'm just checking in, how's that? How's that residence? Or how's that residency going?
Anita: 37:05
Also, you may not call him again for the next two months or so?
Bev: 37:09
He's not in a hurry. Because he said: Drop me a note, and I'll let you know. But we all know that isn't going to happen, right? As long as he is looking in your database and he's engaged, you have his attention. When he stops looking, or his patterns change, that's when it warrants the phone call. Because what do people do whenever they get closer to looking? They start increasing the amount of time that they're online looking, right? Because they're like: Now I gotta find a house. So, we don't know where he is in the process of getting his permanent residency. It could be another year. And that's why I always like to ask: So, when would it make sense for us to follow up with you again in the future? But if you just follow up with him with a phone call in two months and say: Hey, it's Anita, I'm just checking in. We spoke two months ago. He's not going to remember if it was you or me. Accent or no accent, he's not going to remember. I just wanted to check in on your residency. See how things are going. If you have any questions, give me a holler. I want to make sure you're getting emails. Let me know if there are any changes you want to make.
Anita: 38:20
Sure. Okay. Great. Thank you so much.
Bev: 38:23
So now, we talked to him. And this is where two decisions: you can set your task so that you don't forget him. Or one of my favorite tags is Monitoring activity. Because you can just monitor what he's looking at. Now, because it's blurred, I'm not able to confirm his email address, but we know the email address.
Anita: 38:51
Right, right. Yeah.
Bev: 38:55
So, what I would do right now. And an email because right now, he has no idea where I called from. So you want to send an email saying: Thanks for the update. And then whenever you save that email… Will it do it? It's going to be a date. It's going to show overdue because I didn't change the time. So now you have that task in there.
Anita: 39:31
Mm. Right.
Bev: 39:35
On your calendar, if you train yourself, it's always going to be on there. And if you're very specific with what you put that as, you know exactly what you need to do.
Anita: 39:48
Right. Right. Okay, that's great.
Bev: 40:01
Let's see if we can go 2 for 2.
Anita: 40:03
Right, sure.
Crystal: 40:09
I feel like, when you just could care less if they answer or not, they're more likely going to answer. Or if you think: Don't answer the phone, I don't want you to answer the phone, they're going to answer.
Bev: 40:22
Well, I always love to tell the story of my agent. That's now my head ISA for both teams. And she was the one that came on. And they all had to make 100 dials a day. She was always like: Done, done, but I'm like: How? And well, then I've come to realize, she would let it ring, hang up, let it ring, hang up, and then she wouldn't take the calls, and the people would call back. Because she was that afraid of talking to people on the phone. And that's kind of where we learned that 23-second rule, right? It's kind of where we learned, like, if you click ring it and hang up, you're going to get more callbacks.
Now we know it is a good number. That's Helen's number.
Anita: 41:09
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Bev: 41:12
So, I like to put that here. Because then you don't have to go searching for it. You know for a fact it's a good number because it's her name on the voicemail. So now, if that voicemail would have picked up and said: Hey, you've reached Jim, you could put Jim right here and then identify: Oh, hey, Jim. I was just wondering, and it looks like there was a Helen that was looking at Mississauga, just wondering. And he'd be like: I don't know Helen, or like: Oh, that's my wife. Now you have both names, Jim and Helen. You just made it super personal.
Anita: 41:48
Sure. This is the lady I was talking about?
Bev: 41:59
And what about her?
Anita: 42:01
She's the one. She never picks up the calls. And it just goes in our voicemail after a few rings. And she's the one I texted recently. But she has never picked up the calls.
Bev: 42:19
And did she respond to the text?
Anita: 42:21
No, she does not respond to anything at all. Anything you're doing.
Bev: 42:25
Guess what? Next, I'm not thinking about her. I got 387 people in here. I'm not thinking about her. And a lot of times, we do get hung up on that one, that one lead that comes in every single day but won't answer the phone. They're probably not going to convert anyway. So, don't even worry about it. And that's why I like to have my call filters. So I'm just like next, next, next. I just wanted this one to answer the phone. Look how old this lead is?
Anita: 43:14
Yeah. Yeah. You're not available now.
Bev: 43:16
That's a landline.
Anita: 43:18
Yeah, yeah.
Bev: 43:23
Wow.
Crystal: 43:24
She's only looked at ten listings, though. So, what is her activity? I wonder, five days ago, she was back.
Bev: 43:34
Well, and that's why I always say with older leads, right? It's really cool to watch the trends because people can be dormant for a very long time, then all of a sudden they're back, and you're like: Whoa, okay, now it's time. Game on.
Anita: 43:49
Right.
Rustam: 44:08
Hello?
Bev: 44:09
Hi, Rustam?
Rustam: 44:11
No.
Bev: 44:12
No? Have you been looking at condos online in Mississauga?
Rustam: 44:18
No, no, no.
Bev: 44:19
No, do I have the wrong number? Or maybe somebody in your household is looking for condos?
Rustam: 44:23
Yeah, Rustam is my husband, but no, we are not looking for condos.
Bev: 44:27
Are you looking for homes in general?
Rustam: 44:30
No, no, sorry. No, it was maybe a mistake.
Bev: 44:32
Oh, no worries. Are you thinking about making a move in the future?
Rustam: 44:36
So, you are a real estate agent?
Bev: 44:37
I work with Anita. You have been online looking for a while and just wondering if you plan on, if you have any plans or if it's…
Rustam: 44:46
Sorry, you are working with whom?
Bev: 44:47
With Anita. Yeah, you've been getting emails from her for quite a while, it looks like. Well, yeah, maybe your husband just likes looking at homes.
Rustam: 45:05
No, I'm not looking for a home right now.
Bev: 45:08
No worries, you have a great day. Bye.
Hey, she never hung up on me. I just kept asking questions. She did say her husband, though, but then she retracted, then she got a little all confused. And then I'm like: What's that conversation look like when he gets home tonight?
Crystal: 45:30
I think there are a lot of spouses that give their spouse's contact information.
Bev: 45:41
Oh, yeah.
Crystal: 45:44
Because they don't want to get the call, they're like: wife can take the call.
Bev: 45:49
This would prompt me to tag her as No Plans. So, this would be in my opinion... Oh, you have tags in here. Look at you.
Crystal: 46:04
Yeah. She has a new feature, Beverly, that automatically can pull all those tags in with a click of a button.
Bev: 46:13
How beautiful.
Crystal: 46:15
I know. It's great for a lot of people.
Bev: 46:18
Alright, so I don't see No Plans.
Anita: 46:22
Yeah, I don't think there's something like that. No Plans.
Crystal: 46:25
Yeah, there should be.
Bev: 46:32
Yeah, I only see the Future Opportunity tags in here.
Crystal: 46:33
You've got to scroll down, Bev.
Bev: 46:35
Oh, sorry. That's new too.
Crystal: 46:42
Yeah.
Anita: 46:46
Maybe Not Buying Now.
Bev: 46:51
There's really no wrong tag.
Crystal: 46:54
That's just a matter of which one you're using.
Bev: 46:58
But, alright, so we've just called about 5, and we've already eliminated 2. So, talk to 1, then we got one that's eliminated, right? So as we're going through here, yeah, we have to look at 386 people, as you're going to have a percentage of a bad phone number. You're going to have a percentage that doesn't answer the phone. You're going to have a percentage that might be in the process. You're going to have a percentage just like her that has no plans. We don't know until we get curious. So, I look at making these phone calls as how can I get my number down? How can I get as many of these people moved out of the bucket and called and talked to? Out of the 386? Instead of: I need to make a deal. Where's my next best friend? You've been in real estate a while, right, Anita?
Anita: 48:03
Yes, I have been.
Bev: 48:05
Out of your clients, have you ever been to a wedding, a baby shower, or a housewarming party? Have you ever attended?
Anita: 48:11
Yeah, baby showers and housewarming parties.
Bev: 48:14
Hello, this is Beverly. I just wanted a quick touch base. You've been online looking at some homes in Mississauga. I was just wondering if you have plans.
Maricar: 48:21
Hello?
Bev: 48:22
Can you hear me?
Maricar: 48:24
Yeah, but I don't know who's calling.
Bev: 48:27
I'm sorry. I'm calling through my computer. That might be why. I was just checking in to see you were online looking at some condos in the Mississauga area.
Maricar: 48:37
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm not interested anymore.
Bev: 48:40
Any plans in the future? Or did you find something?
Maricar: 48:48
Oh, yeah. I actually moved. And I'm not interested in buying.
Bev: 48:49
Alrighty. Bye-bye. I didn't really quite hear what she said.
Anita: 48:55
Even I couldn't understand what she said.
Bev: 49:00
Because that's how you find out. Did you find something? Are the prices too high? That's what I'm probably thinking. But she's not interested anymore, is what I took away from that.
Anita: 49:19
So then, for a person like this, Beverley, a person who's saying they're not interested, I should stop calling them obviously, but no texting, should I at least email them or not even that?
Bev: 49:30
No, we got what we needed. And that's why we put them in a tag situation. Because we have a good phone number. We have a good email. We have good name data. She's just not interested now. So, she probably is renting, was thinking about making a purchase, wasn't able to make it happen. So she resigned a new lease, and now she's out for another year. But if you tag her as Not Interested, and we go back to all of our Not Interested in the dashboard, you can see when the last call was made. So you know, when you tag them. So, if next year you look at your Not Interested, because if you would have put somebody back in Not Interested in 2015, and you pull those 20 people, and they're actively looking right now. So, now… I don't know where we're Not Interested is. Because to me, that was my buyer lots, Not Interested, and I don't see it.
Anita: 50:54
Maybe it's not there. We can just create it, I think.
Bev: 50:57
Yeah, I think it is a BL there. Right, now, we're good. So honestly, now you can't say nobody answers the phone.
Anita: 51:22
Yeah, I know. I'm so surprised today.
Bev: 51:28
This may be the game.
Anita: 51:30
He's the seller lead who has not picked up my calls at all. And let's see. Hopefully, he'll pick up with you.
Voicemail: 51:44
Your call has been forwarded to a voicemail.
Bev: 51:48
And that's okay. Guess what? I'm moving more through. I don't worry about the one that doesn't answer. I really, truly don't. I'm just looking to get through the masses. I'm just looking to get that person who's going to pick up the phone so that I can have the conversation. Right, we're just moving on. I mean, look, that's why I said you're going to have buckets of not good phone numbers, people that aren't interested, people you talk to you're going to nurture. So, just remember, a lot of the averages, that every situation is going to be different.
Anita: 52:31
Right? I understand.
Bev: 52:36
But just focus on becoming really good at asking questions because he who asks the questions controls the conversation.
Anita: 52:49
Sure.
Bev: 53:04
That's 3 seconds, next. Alright, what was your biggest aha today? What's your takeaway from today? That was worth your time.
Anita: 53:10
I think first of all that I definitely need to call and also that I should not be expecting. That's what I got. I am just there to help them and to see their situation. And act then accordingly. As the very first call you were able to make, and it went through.
Bev: 53:31
Yes. And it's not like that every time, you know? I can sit down on Sundays and not get ahold of anybody, and on some days, I can't get through 10 dials because everybody's answering the phone. But the one thing I can tell you is on federal holidays, on heavy snow days, on evenings and weekends, you're definitely going to get more people answering the phone. So, if you're not getting a lot of answers, always be changing up the timeframes that you are calling people to increase that conversation. Because the one thing that this industry has done really, really well, is they've drilled into our heads - speed delete.
Ro: 54:18
Hello?
Bev: 54: 54:20
Hello, Ro. Hello, can you hear me?
Ro: 54:27
Yes, yes.
Bev: 54:28
This is Beverly. Doing a quick check-in, and it looks like you've been online looking at some homes in the Mississauga area.
Ro: 54:29
Okay, I can hear you.
Bev: 54:40
You were online looking at some homes in the Mississauga area. Can you hear me?
Ro: 54:46
Yep. Yes, I can.
Bev: 54:49
Yeah. Just wondering do you have plans on a purchase in the future? Or what are you looking for?
Ro: 54:56
Oh, I don't think this was me. No.
Bev: 55:00
No, you're not looking for a home?
Ro: 55:01
No, no, I'm not.
Bev: 55:03
Alrighty, well, I will make a note in here that it's the wrong phone number. And thank you so much. Bye. Bye.
So when I said Ro, it may be a good number, may not be, but I would change this to a bad phone number because whenever they come back in, it's going to force them to put in a different phone number.
Anita: 55:22
Oh, okay.
Crystal: 55:24
Or they'll put the same number in, and you'll see that you've got the right number because it'll always show you. So, if it changes from one number to another number, it'll show you in the system. It is basically the same number but validated. It doesn't show you. And so you know you've got the right number, it was the original, right? Because some people will try to, you know, pull out. Oh, you've got the wrong number.
Bev: 55:53
What I would do, I'm a little blind right now, haha, because it's blurred. I would take that Ro and I would look at the email and see if there's a correlation of her name and the email address. And then I know if she's lying to me or not. I can't tell that right now. When I said: Hey, Ro, and she's like: No, and then I'm like: Well, are you looking? No, I don't. That's not me. I'm just going to leave it as Called (No message left).
Crystal: 56:34
I would have marked her phone number as invalid, though.
Bev: 56:37
I didn't mark it as bad. Or I'll go back and do it. You're right. I can't chew bubble gum and walk at the same time.
Crystal: 56:43
Oh, it's going to call her. Yeah, there you go.
Bev: 56:51
Yeah, I know, because I already changed it.
Crystal: 56:59
I just wanted to, go ahead. I don't know if we got a delay. I think my internet's been weird. Um, one thing, Anita, with respect to your seller leads that you can consider. To help you nurture them, essentially. Because once they're on the site there, they're not really doing anything. They give you their information. They're not coming back. There's no activity. There's no nothing. You're given their address when they're filling out that home evaluation form. And you're one of our lucky clients that actually has full listings that they can send to people. So, set her up on a full search. Take that address, set them up on a full search, but then, you know, X amount of radius around that address, and then they'll become active. They'll start seeing, like, newly sold listings, and then that will also, you know, bring your activity up in the system as well, so that they become a priority.
Anita: 57:50
Sure, okay. Yeah, sure. Great idea. Yeah. Thanks.
Bev: 57:56
Wonderful. Well, it has been a pleasure, Anita. Thank you so much for trusting me this week.
Anita: 58:02
Yeah, no, this was great. Thank you so much.
Bev: 58:07
I love that it worked out this way because we completely thought that nobody answered the phone.
Crystal: 58:15
Like, what are you talking about?
Bev: 58:19
I'm like: I make a lot of phone calls, and people do answer. Alright. Well, thank you again so much. And I'll see you all in a couple of weeks.
Crystal: 58:31
Sounds great. Thanks, everyone. Bye.