Live Coaching Sessions with Tara Baylis, May 10, 2022
That’s a wrap on another coaching session with amazing Tara!
This week, Tara and Crystal covered several important topics:
the right mindset to have when reaching out to leads
all the different ways you can hunt for new leads besides online LeadGen
how replying ASAP to your leads sets you apart from other agents
and do’s and don’ts of drip campaigns.
Transcript:
Crystal: 0:06
If anyone in here, because again, yes, it goes down to your mindset, right? A lot of us walk into this with just needing a little bit of a shift in the way we're approaching our online potential business, right? It's not "For sure business", we have to earn that business and for a lot of individuals, and we get it, too, just through training, just about lead quality, everyone's just looking, no one's buying now. That's exactly what leads are, right? There's no promise or guarantee there. It's an offer to a potential opportunity for you, but you got to work to gain that opportunity, at the end of the day. And so, a lot of us, if you go in, and you start calling your leads, and you might, you know, have witnessed this in the past, where you're like: I don't really want to call people. You know, we all have those days, or like: Not today, we don't want to talk to anyone, or everyone is just going to be rude or hang up on me. You're basically, and it's funny because sometimes, just putting that out in the universe, it happens, right? So it's like, we're saying this is going to be the pitfall of a day, it's going to be horrible. I don't want to do this. And then, of course, those are the exact results you're going to get, right? It's you're going in with that mentality. Whereas if you go in and you're saying: You know what? I'm going to call. I'm going to have, you know, a couple of great conversations today. I'm going to learn and introduce myself to however many people and whatever happens, happens. I find that you end up having more success, or you find yourself feeling more successful, just with that approach, right? And not being connected to the outcome of your conversations. It's just having conversations.
Tara: 1:47
It's really important. And I've always said this about lead conversion is if you go in: a) thinking the leads are no good, they're going to be no good. Because your mind is already dictating your outcome, and I'd like to think that that can be wrong from time to time, but my experience is: Listen, if you wake up in the morning and you're in a really crappy mood, you know, and the day isn't really going your way, and you're really not feeling like making these calls and doing your follow up, then by God, do it the next day. Lost your picture again, Crystal.
Crystal: 2:24
It just says it's unable to detect my camera now, for some reason.
Tara: 2:28
Now, there's nothing wrong with going: This isn't a day that I should be following up with a lead, you know, or doing your random calls. I'm certainly okay with that, with you going: I'm going to reset tomorrow, and I'm going to redo it tomorrow, but you can still follow up by an email, you know? So I'm not saying, you know, take a step back and don't do anything at all. But by no means, do something where you're already in the mindset that today is not the day to do it. And everybody needs a day to regroup.
Crystal: 3:01
Absolutely, absolutely. And, I'd say it was a couple of years ago; now, I can't get my camera back on for whatever reason. It can't detect my camera exists anymore. So, I took a course a couple of years back, and it was a lot about, it was on business building, and a lot of it was having to do with your mindset and, you know, using your universe, essentially, and putting it out there, right? So it's always thinking to yourself and talking to yourself and putting out there what your ideal client actually looks like, right? Who is it that you would love to work with, and you keep saying, like, whether you're giving yourself and you're talking to yourself saying that, and you're just putting it out there. And it's funny enough because when I did this exercise, I can't even remember because it was a couple of years ago, but it was putting out who my ideal client was. And that person, the exact ideal client or customer landed by accidentally sending me a message on Facebook.
Tara: 4:03
You can't make this up.
Crystal: 4:06
It was, like, the most bizarre because we just started chatting, and I was doing something, and I was like: This is so bizarre. Like, he accidentally clicked a button that popped up the messenger thing, and we started a conversation. I was like: How bizarre is that? You know, I was putting it out there that this is who I'm looking for. This is what I want. This is what I want to attract, and that's what, kind of, came right to me by accident. So or, you know, not, it wasn't planned. It wasn't planned. So, it's yeah, it's just, like, looking at the mindset. There are so many different exercises you could all do, all different perspectives on everything and like, you know, holding your space and creating your space and who you want to be in that space. And, and it's all how you look at things, right? And that mindset.
Tara: 4:56
Yeah. So, first and foremost, I think we, you know, as much as; I think every time that we're together, we're going to continually be talking about mindset. And I can't stress enough how important that is, in order to do a successful lead conversion, and be a successful realtor. I'm always; you're always going to hear me say this: We're commission salespeople. So we always have to be on. We always have to be thinking about where's the deal coming from. How do I get the deal? Where's the next one coming from? So, I'm always saying to people: Leave that hat on. Don't take it off all the time. And then always have your systems in place. So we talked last time, too, about what is your day-to-day regimen. What is it that works for you and you saying: Okay, in the morning, or at this time of day, I'm going to open up AgentLocator. And I'm going to start working some of my leads. So. you know, have people. And we've got quite a few now have joined in. Have you guys started creating your systems? Because it's really easy to say: I'm going to buy the leads, and I'm going to work them when they hit my phone. But I have a strategic system in place that follows along my mindset. I know first thing in the morning, I know what time I get up, I know exactly when I'm going to be at my desk and it very seldom alters. And that's the time I devote to doing major follow up with my AgentLocator Pay Per Click leads. So, you know, it starts with the system. So. how are people finding their systems working for you? And you can certainly type in your comments. Because that is the key to successful conversion, hands down, is having your system in place.
Crystal: 6:52
No, absolutely. Now, do you have any, do you find when you're going, you know, it's a topic of mindset. And you're going, and maybe you're sending emails, you know, reflective of where you're currently at in those mindsets? Now, do you have certain communications that you send out, that you find perform really well as far as getting those individuals to engage with you at that moment? So, when you're, you know, I'm in the zone right now, and this is what I'm anticipating, you're sending out communications, what is effective? What type of communication or information are you sending that you find is the most effective in those scenarios?
Tara: 7:34
So, you know, I'm always tabbling, dabbling, whatever you want to say. I'm always dabbling in different things to see what works. I'm all about changing up the system every few months, or at the very minimum, when the market shifts and we see changes. So my drip campaign, that's always going to be in effect. As soon as the lead comes on, I revise their search criteria because I have a whole system that I do with that. And I put them on my drip campaign. So, that's first and foremost. On the weekend, not on Mother's Day, I'm very cognizant of holidays. I don't follow up with people on major holidays. Like, May 24, the weekend. That Monday. I don't do lead follow-ups that day. But on the weekend, I'm watching people come in through my re-login notifications. And you know what? I was taking a week off, which, by the way, I still worked. Who doesn't? But I'm watching the notifications come in, and I'm thinking: Okay, so, why don't we now start sending texts to everybody? So, as they came in, the re-login came in. I clicked, you know, from my phone, go into their CRM. Click on their phone number. Do a text. And I type, you know: Hey, it's Tara from begintosearch. You guys always hear me say this. Thank you so much for coming back on my site. I really appreciate it. And then I just simply said: Have you seen anything you want to take a look at? And I did that to probably about 20 people. Like, I don't do it all day. I kind of go in random. And I got back probably 10 replies right away, saying: I'm still looking, Tara, thank you so much. See, that is what conversion is all about. And this is where the mindset comes in. We really want the leads to do deals, but we forget that we need to get them to converse with us first, and then we can do what we do best. Get them in the car and start looking. So, that was a great way. I was so proud of myself. You should have seen me sitting on the couch. I'm like: See, Tara, right? Do something a little different. Things like that I do. I always, every month, I send everybody a copy of my newsletter, and I embed it into the email. I don't do a PDF. Whenever we've got new listings, I'm always sending everybody a new listing alert. We always do open house invitations as well. So, the leads are getting hit from a real estate point of view. They're not just getting listings, but they're hearing from Tara periodically throughout the month on different things, which also brings in them communicating with me. So, we've got Sam here. Okay.
Crystal: 10:35
Yeah, if you only have enough leads, so, one way to look at this, yes, you might only have a handful of leads, and you can only follow up with them every so often until you, you know, become a nuisance in their eyes. Work on building that list, right? There are a lot of resources out there. You can even just scour through Kijiji. Like, there's a lot of for-sale by owners, you know? Ask those FSBOs if they'd be okay with you advertising their listing. There's a lot of people that are searching for a property, you know? Offer, you know, go on here and register. You're going to get sent everything that comes up on the market that matches your criteria, right? There are different ways that you can leverage and work to generate yourself new business, right? So, if you don't have people in front of you, go knock on doors and get those people in front of you.
Tara: 11:24
You know, what I love about the AgentLocator system because this system, clearly, I buy the leads, right? That's my lead program. But it's also, in my mind, my whole lead program. So, if I've got a listing and I get realtor.ca leads, they get added into my AgentLocator. If we go door knocking, and I'm able to get a name, and an email at, you know, all I care about is email, really. At the end of the day, they get added into my AgentLocator. If I'm talking to somebody at the gas station, and I'm able to get a name and an email, they get added in. So, you can start building up your AgentLocator database. If your budget doesn't allow you to do a bigger budget on the Pay Per Click leads, add people to it because it has the ability to do the drip campaigns and send listings. It's a great avenue to use to build. And I think that we forget how many people we know outside of the Pay Per Click because we talk to people all the time. And there's nothing wrong with saying: Can I get your email so I can send you more info, right?
People are going to give you an email quicker than they're going to give you their phone number, that I can tell you for sure. And I'm not really so worrisome about a phone number nowadays. I can communicate and get people to talk to me with email as well, just that on its own. But I would say: Start creating your sphere of influence list again. If you really want to build and you don't have the budget to buy, write down, just like we say to the new people: Start writing that sphere list. Write down everybody you know: friends, their family, their neighbors, where you get your hair cut, where you get your clothes, your grocery shopping, the people that you go through, and just start creating that list. And I think you're going to be surprised how quickly you can build up your database. My buyer's agent Nick, he wanted to start bringing in extra people, and I think he's on; he might even be able to write something in the comments for everybody. But he started advertising just on the Facebook marketplace, just for renters. He was able to start taking people out, showing them, you know, for leases on the MLS system. And he started creating a really good amount of people that he could add to our AgentLocator database.
Crystal: 13:56
Rentals are low-hanging fruit, my friends. They are low-hanging.
Tara: 14:01
Listen, I'm telling you. A few years ago, when I was on a previous team, no word of a lie. Somebody came in that wanted to do a lease. And the agent on that team kind of went: I wonder if they could buy. She talked to them about it. They said we didn't think we could. She sent them to our mortgage broker at that time. Guess what? They ended up being a first-time buyer. So, I think the idea always is; Nick would attest to this, Nick came to me, and he said: This is what I'm doing, Tara. And I'm like: That's great. And he said: Eventually, down the road, they'll end up buying something from me and that's the honest to God truth, even if you're leasing something with them now.
Crystal: 14:43
Yeah, no, and I find sometimes those lease clients or the rental clients, they are the most appreciative of your effort and helping you find something because they're short. Like, they've only got 30 days or, you know, 15, and they're struggling. And all of a sudden, you swoop in, and you get them something. They turn into long-term customer compliance. A lot of them, more so than you'd find your buyer clients, or even sometimes your seller clients.
Tara: 15:18
Absolutely, yeah, it's smart. Think outside the box a little bit and just start adding to your AgentLocator database. And I just think sometimes we rely a little bit too much on: Okay, that's only for the Pay Per Click, and you're forgetting about all the other people you knew. The very first listing I ever got; now, see, I'm going, you know, brain dead right now because I hope I haven't told this story. But if I have, you know, bear with me. The very first listing I got when I finally got my license after years of being a realtor administrator, I was sitting in my nail place, and he had a cork board behind him. And, you know, he had his prices pinned up there. And I said to him: Alan, you know, I want you to put my business card up because I just got them. You know, it takes a couple of weeks for them to come in. And he said to me: No, no. If I put yours up, I've got to put everybody else's up. And I'm telling you, I'm a really nice person. Don't get me wrong, but I don't take no very easy. I'm a commission salesperson, right? And so I said to him: Well, how many people have I sent you? Because my friends were going to him to get their nails done. You know what it's like? Oh, I really love your nails. Where do you get them done? Like, so many people had gone to him because I referred him. So he said: Oh, lots, lots. And I said to him: I think you can put my card up. And if you put up other agents' cards, that's fine. That's, I know I'm not the only agent here. The long and short of it, he puts the card, puts it up. I'm in there three weeks later, getting another fill. The next lady comes in and sits because she's the one behind me. And she looks at my card. And she looks at me. And she goes: You're Tara. And I went: Yep. And she goes: You're a realtor. And I said: I am, I am. And she goes: Well, my husband and I just decided to, we needed a bigger home and we don't have a realtor. Would you come in and give us a price on our home? And that was my very first listing. So, truth be told, I'm sitting there getting my nails done. And I'm like: You can put my card up. It's just a card. And you never know where the deal is coming from, right?
Crystal: 17:41
Yeah, absolutely. It's telling people what to do. It doesn't have to be aggressive, or invasive, or anything like that. It's just making people aware. And it's like your personality that goes with it. One of my really good friends, she just got her license in July, but she's in BC, so the whole process is a little bit different. It's, you get your license, but then you still have like a few months of courses before you can actually do anything. And she tells everyone she runs into that she's a realtor, right, everyone. She's got her, like; we go to the same nail place. She's got them, they're going to be like, they're going to be using her because she's just friendly, but she talks to them. She lets people know and be aware of what she does. So, and she's already gotten, she just got herself, I think, a one point whatever million dollar waterfront listing, just because she's just really personal, talks to people. She's like: This was a tough lady. She's like: It's a German lady. She was so, like, she was so firm with her, and she just stood her ground, you know? But it's like: I'll be around, she is like: I'm a realtor, guys. Thinking about moving or anything? Here's like, here's my card, if you know anyone, right? You know, that's all she does. But she's got several deals under her belt. And, you know, a couple of listings already. And it's just because she talks to people, and she's not, she has our system, but she's too busy to actually generate leads for herself because she's already got so many people in her pipeline just from talking.
Tara: 19:22
You know, here's the thing, because at the brokerage being the manager here, I'm teaching a lot of our brand new realtors, fresh out of Humber. We've got special courses for them. And here's the one thing that I say, and honestly, it's applicable to, I don't care how long you've been in the business. They're not going to use you as a realtor if they don't know you're a realtor, right? There were a couple of sisters that just got their licenses. They're fresh out of Humber. I think they joined us about six months ago, and they took one of my first courses, you know, to introduce you to the business, and that's the one thing I said. They're not going to use you if they don't know. And they actually have a gas station that they run in Northumberland. So, once they took this course, I'm telling you, these ladies, every time somebody would come in and pump gas and go in and buy, you know, chocolate bars or whatever, they gave out their card. Did you know we're realtors? Did you know we're realtors? Well, let me tell you something. Six weeks ago, they show up at one of my classes, and they're like: We just got our first listing. And it was somebody that came in, and he said, he grabbed their card. He goes: Oh, I didn't know you're realtors, too. He lived down the street, and he goes: I want to sell my house, right? So perfect, perfect example, that you've got to step outside your comfort zone a little bit and just sort of let everybody know, right?
Crystal: 20:51
And if you're not comfortable talking to people, one thing I've suggested to many people in any business industry is: You all go through the drive-through coffees. Guess who's coffee you're buying behind you, and asking the person: Can you give them my card and just let them know I paid for their morning coffee?
Tara: 21:10
I love that.
Crystal: 21:12
It's like a couple of dollars. Like, it's a kind gesture. And you never know. They may be like: Oh my God, what a nice, nice person, right? And maybe they're not moving. But it could come up in a conversation somewhere. It's like: Hey, you know, this place? Right? You never know. But it's a cheap way. It's not expensive. And you're doing something nice for somebody while you're doing it, right?
Tara: 21:36
Yeah, I agree. And I think being a successful realtor is about, and here we're going on a topic about everything. And I hope you guys don't mind. But being a successful realtor is this. It's about stepping outside the box. You've got to be where the people are, right? We know that they do Google searches. So we know we should be buying Pay Per Click leads. That's a no-brainer. But I know realtors that have set up in a coffee shop. Now, this was before COVID. But coffee shops are open now. They've put their laptop open, they've had their cards out. And as people are waiting for coffees, they literally give them their card and say: If you have any questions about the market, I'm sitting here doing some work, please don't be afraid to ask. And they have gotten additional clients, as I call them leads, right, to start working with. So, you know, think about that. I think that what I really want to stress, too, Crystal, is when you are getting leads, when you are creating this database, however you are doing it, please, please keep checking your email because these leads are responding. Sorry, I'm getting; my phone is ringing like it always rings.
Leads when they respond; if you are delayed in getting back to them, you are going to lose that lead. So, I think what I'd like to hear from people is as you're getting the Get-In-Touch forms, as you're getting the book of showing as it is in some of the landing pages. If you're getting the Ask a question, how long are you realistically waiting until you reply? Because I hear stories here at the brokerage, plus I know my own experience as well, is if you are delayed in replying, that lead can be lost. So, one of the things in our systems is we're working on doing a high level of conversion, is I don't care where I am. I don't care who I'm with. If I'm showing a property, my phone is in the car, clearly, if I know the people and I trust them. But as soon as I'm in that vehicle, I open up my email. If there's a request from a lead, I'm immediately answering them, saying: Hi, I just was with a client. I'm going to get you that info as soon as possible. So, how many of you are finding it difficult replying back quickly? Because I want to stress that time is of the essence when it comes to replying to the requests of leads. And how are you feeling about that?
You find it difficult getting replies. Yeah, yeah. So, how many are finding the Get-In-Touch forms, the request to showing, are you getting them? And, Crystal, with AgentLocator, the replies, is it strictly for people that have unbranded landing pages?
Crystal: 25:15
They have, yeah, so all of the websites, you know, whether they have the automated system or they're on our legacy platform, there's always, like, a Get-In-Touch form of some sort, right? Or a book of showing on those listings. So, it's either way; they would get the notification, regardless of what platform they're using. And we did now, recently, add that inbound email feature. Okay, so you guys in your CRM system, I don't have it open, or I'd quickly share you; in your CRM system, in the top right-hand corner, you have that envelope, right next to where your SMS is. That envelope will now indicate with a green dot if you have an inbound email that needs your attention. Because sometimes you get it, it might go into, you know, Google loves to filter things for us, for its own, whatever. And sometimes it's nonsense the way that they do it. But there you're able to find it easily. It's right there. You log in, there's a little dot there. You know you have something inbound that you need, that needs to be addressed by you. But it is mind-boggling, like, I log into systems a lot. And I see, I'm like: You've got, like, six unresponded messages, you know? It's like, even if, and, like, and this could be coming down to personality type. But if somebody even was to respond to me, I'm not interested, sorry. I noticed a lot of people out there ignore those responses. They don't even acknowledge that the person responded to them. Take the two seconds and acknowledge that, right? They took the time out of their day to be responsive to you, at least acknowledge that they did that. It's, you know, you might not get somewhere with that person. But you also might just get somewhere with that person eventually, right? So, it goes both ways. We're so anxious to get these leads to respond to us, but we need to also work on ourselves at the same time, a lot of time.
Tara: 27:18
Yeah. And I; listen. I never lose sight of the fact, no matter how long they've been on my system, that if they're on mine, they're on another agent's system, too. I know what; listen, you know? I coach other realtors for leads, and I'm, they share their screen, and I can see my leads on there as well. It's the name of the game. But I will tell you, for the most part, I'm certainly not a perfect person. But I can tell you that if my leads respond, and they reply, I am answering them. That is very important to me.
And I go back to saying this again. This is our money we're spending. So, I'm certainly not going to lose any more of my income because it's my fault. And I didn't, and I waited too long, or I responded two days later, or, you know, two hours later. That can make or break a lead, you know? And, of course, when the leads send us stuff, of course, they want to hear back from us right away because some of them send them out at ungodly times, too. But, you know, never forget, guys, that it's not just about Bob the lead, but it's about who they know. Because I've done numerous deals, numerous, numerous deals from my leads because they've referred me to people they know. And to this day, I've still never met the actual lead personally, right? So, as we are communicating with our leads, which is how we get them in the car, which is what I call getting them on the road to doing a deal. It's about talking. And if we're not replying back, shame, shame, shame, shame, right? You literally just lost $8, $10, $15 for wherever the area is that you're buying your leads, and more. And I think that if I could just stress anything, just always be checking your re-login notification. And it's not the end of the world if you're on holiday, and you're sitting on a beach to just reply back and say: I'll get you the info in two hours. I'm on the road with clients. Or, forward it to somebody at your office that can reply back right away, right? So, that's really super, super, super important for lead conversion.
Crystal: 29:42
Yeah, well, you got to think of, like, fulfilling offers right away and think about yourself, right? If you're interested in something, and maybe it's just to get a quote for insurance, but you need to renew your insurance. You're looking for the fast; like, you're looking for a quick response. I need to know this number now. I can't wait three days until you decide to get back to me. I've moved along, and I've gone to someone else, right? Your leads are going to do the same if you don't respond to them. They've gone on. They've asked somebody else now.
Tara: 30:12
Yeah. And they will, I mean, here's the deal. If they're asking us about a property, chances are they're asking another realtor. So many of my leads, when I have met them, they've always said: You've responded right away when other people haven't. When I show realtor.ca leads, you know, my listings, I always say: Do you want to see something else? When I'm out showing them or when I'm calling them back, they're saying to me: Thank you so much for returning my call. And I'm like: What do you mean? Like, and I always say this: Are you calling other realtors? And they're like: You're the only one that's returned the call. And it baffles my mind. So, if you really want to be a successful realtor, just know that we have to respond. It's part of our job, right? My opinion, and that's what my success has always been, is that I've always been available. Now, Christmas day. I've yet to have a Christmas Day where a lead or a client has not reached out to me wanting something to do with business. I have said this past Christmas Day: Sorry, I'm not working today. I will answer you tomorrow. So, there are small exceptions to the rule.
Crystal: 31:36
Yeah. But as long as you're communicating, you're not just ignoring them, right? You're saying: Hey, not today. I can do this for you tomorrow, though, right? So, it's also setting boundaries as well, right? But you're just also not ignoring them at the same time.
Tara: 31:55
Exactly. Exactly. So, we've got some; I can't. Can you read some of the questions there? My glasses are…
Crystal: 32:01
Yeah. Does the CRM work on an Android phone? Yes, it does. So, you do have; it's a website, really, the CRM, so you can open up in any browser and work your leads on the go if you really wanted to, or at least jump in there while you're waiting for a client or what have you. Nido sends his messages right away from his personal phone.
Tara: 32:26
That's fine. I think that's fine. I use; well, we all have to use Twilio, as you know, but embedded in my drip campaign is my cell number. Eventually, not on the first email, but they do get it. Of course, it's on my website anyways, if they were to go on that. But I do eventually start texting from my own cell, for sure. It's easier. But I like that you send a message to them right away, you know? That's the wonderful thing about AgentLocator. Don't forget. It is, even though they have the automatic SMS that can attach to your drip campaign, you can change it. I changed mine to my basic thank you message. Hey, it's Tara. Thank you so much for coming on the site. Enjoy it. I'm here if you need me, you know? And I get a great response back through the first Twilio message that goes back.
Crystal: 33:21
Yeah, no, it's, yeah. So, Mary is saying she responds to those, I respond to those messages on a separate message, but they don't seem to go away. I must be doing something wrong.
Tara: 33:34
What does she mean by they don't seem to?
Crystal: 33:36
I don't know.
Tara: 33:39
Okay. Yeah. I don't know what that means. So, if you can clarify, maybe we can help you.
Crystal: 33:44
Yeah. Sometimes it's confusing for leads as well. Like, everyone's different, right? So, we all do things. And we all operate differently. And it really comes down to what's going to be most effective for you. I personally use my Twilio number in all of my signatures, especially coming from the CRM system. That's my Twilio number because it's always a lead in my system that's receiving that message. So, if they're calling or texting me, it's all documented, right? So, if I'm busy on showings, and they call, I know that it's been recorded. I can go back and listen to that recording if I had to. If we, and you could always try it and see. Like, you can take somebody and do a test to see: Okay, I'm going to respond to all these people only through SMS via Twilio. On the system, everything is documented in there. And these ones I'm going to separate and do responses from my cell phone number, my personal number. Sometimes people are like, they send a message, and then they get a response from a different phone number, right? So, for someone, like, they get caught off guard or confused by it. Remember, like, not everyone's very technical, right? So, they're, all of a sudden, like: Who is this person? Where did this come from? Right? They can't necessarily connect the dots, to piece together, and maybe that's where they fall off, is if you are, if that's what you are doing, and responding from a different number that they often disappear.
Tara: 35:12
Okay. Yeah. That could be. Yeah.
Crystal: 35:20
Yes. So, Mary is here. So, what she's saying is she's replying to the email from her Google account, not from the CRM system. So, it's still showing as if she's got a new email. So, for any of you guys, you can definitely respond to inbound communications from your primary email account. Just know that none of that communication is being documented in your CRM system. So, that's why we introduced that little envelope there, so you can open up the message, see what it is and reply to the lead right from this system, so all of that back and forth email communication stays with the lead indefinitely. You're not having to go into your phone or your Google account after and try to find that thread and copy-paste or what have you. It's all there, all resources. Everyone to their own again, right? What works best for you. But those messages…
Tara: 36:17
I'm old school. I still print the email because I'm all about; I like to have, if somebody's replied back to me, I like to have it sitting right beside my laptop because it's all visual, or if I want to touch base with so and so again. But don't forget, too, as you're replying back, whether you're using the internal envelope or you're doing it through your primary, always make sure that you do go in when you can and make the notes on your system. I think the notes are really important because they're the first thing that you can see when you open up your leads, and always book a To-do or a task for you to follow up again because you'll get that on your calendar every day. I mean, using this system, it sounds like a lot of work. But remember, this is what you're investing your money into. So, use it the way it can benefit your business the most. And it's impossible for us to remember everybody. So, I think the tasks, booking a task. Hey, listen, I just talked to Sue today. I want to follow up with her again in two weeks. Put it in there. And that way, you'll be reminded, right? Okay, that's good. Does anybody else have any questions? Anything that they're having issues with?
Crystal: 37:40
How do you handle clients who want to go see rental homes but they do not want to sign any kind of representation agreement?
Tara: 37:47
Yeah, we talked about this a lot.
Crystal: 37:50
Yeah. Rentals are tricky, too, right? Because, again, they are so anxious but also, I found back when I first got into real estate. That's who I went after all, the rentals, and I'd get them to sign contracts. But at the end of the day, you can't trace them if they do a deal off-market, right? So, if they go and they find a landlord, and they find a place, all they do is they just start ghosting you. You'll never hear from them again, right? So, it's a little; it's not like a buyer representative where it's easily, you know, you can trace if they signed a contract that was a listed property. And that could be the hesitation. They don't want to be bound to a property that they ended up finding for themselves and obligated to pay you for it, is likely what it is because there's nothing they have nothing to lose by signing it when you're representing them as a tenant, right? It's, if anything, that's your sales pitch. I use that all the time. It's not going to cost you anything, right? The landlord pays for us to do all this. And so that's where it was easy to, kind of, swoop in a lot of these lease leads, is because they thought they had to pay for my services. Like: No, no, you don't pay for the services. This is the only scenario where you would essentially be obligated to, but we're looking at properties that the landlord is hovering over my feet.
Tara: 39:17
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, we could talk about the BRA to death. I think that everybody has to do what's best for them. I think that our gut feeling with some people has to be a huge indicator that we want to get one signed right away. I've been in this business since 1991. I started in this business before the BRA was even in existence, and it was basically who showed the property first. Tell me who showed the property first. That's who got paid. But, you know, talk to other realtors around you in your brokerage. Talk to your manager. Talk to your broker of record. Humber, right now, for those that are brand new, and I'm teaching a lot of these ones, once they get into our brokerage. Humber right now is pounding: get the BRA signed, get it signed before you get them out in the car. They're really, really stressing it. I don't do that right away. But there are times where, now, I go with my gut. And I say to Nick, and I'll be saying to Austin, my son, who's also getting his license: If your gut tells you these people are a little, you know, they're working with me and other people, then we're going to get that signed right away.
The bottom line is, this is going to sound familiar to those that were on our program two weeks ago, we work so hard, and the public doesn't understand how hard we work. We are working seven days a week. We are answering their questions. We're looking up listings for them. We're finding information. It's not just us going to the property and spending five minutes in a house. So, we deserve to be paid. And please, please, please get as much information about BRA and what's best for you. But if you feel you got to get it done even with the lease, get it done because we deserve what we make. Plain and simple. Does that sound like an old lady? I don't like what I'm hearing, you know, agents know when, you know, because it's not an easy thing. And I came from a period where we never had it. So, when we, as realtors, had to introduce the BRA, all of a sudden, to people that had never heard of it before, it was not an easy thing for us to get people to sign.
Crystal: 41:43
It's uncomfortable. It is so uncomfortable.
Tara: 41:45
It was so hard. And then we had realtors that were signing people up for a year. We had other realtors that were signing people for 30 days. So, word starts to spread, right? And it became a real big mess. And I think that it's gotten much smoother throughout the years. And I think to protect yourself, you know, get as many people on it as soon as you feel comfortable, and they're comfortable getting it signed. Yeah, so that's my preaching for the day.
Crystal: 42:27
Now, Priyanka is asking if you send articles when you're, I guess, communicating with your leads through email. Do you send them articles about home buying, the market, interest rates? Or do you embed it into a newsletter? Like, how do you standardly send them information? Is it newsletter format, email format, a combination of the two?
Tara: 42:48
I'm all about email. Please, please, please remember, I'm a little bit old school. Some of you who I talked to and who I've coached, I've seen some of the really, really fancy stuff you guys come up with, and I love it. I love it. What I can tell you about lead conversion and success, and my success is - please don't be lengthy. Whatever you're sending, make it short and sweet. So, when we have a change with interest rates, we've just experienced it in 2022, two increases. All go to my mortgage broker, my preferred partner, and I'll say to him: Can you write me just a quick teaser about: Here's what you need to know. I don't want it longer than a paragraph or two. And then at the end of it, I'll put: For more information, please feel free to contact myself or Rich Lucas at these numbers. And Rich, of course, is my mortgage broker. And then I'll send that out as a mass email.
For those of you that have been on the coaching system, you'll know the first lockdown when, you know, the world was going crazy. I decided to formulate an email that talked about COVID. And the fact that we're all scared and I'm scared, too, and questions about the market. And I ended it: Because I am a very relationship agent, I'm not transactional, meaning I think you guys know the difference between the two. Where, you know, after the deal is done, they never hear from you again. I'm a relationship one. I build relationships, and they stay in my bubble until they don't want to be in there anymore. But during the first lockdown, I ended this email by basically acknowledging that the world is going through something crazy, and I just said at the end of it: I have a lot of preferred partners that can help you with groceries on your doorstep. Anything that you need, please feel free to reach out to me. I'm more than just a realtor, is exactly how I ended that email. That email, when I sent it out to, I think it was about 2700 people. I got nothing less than 100 replies back. You know? Thank you, Tara. This means everything. I got another reply that said: You've just set yourself apart from every other agent that is sending me listings. So, don't be afraid to reach out to them on another level without being, you know, preachy or salesmany, but, you know, they're hearing from you every single day in their inbox. And there's something in me that always has said, always: If I were the lead, how would I respond at this time to this? So, and I felt like during the first lockdown, when we'd never experienced nothing being opened, every business was, except for essentials, closed. And then I'm still getting listings every day from Tara. I felt like I needed to tell them: I'm scared, too. I don't know what's going on. And it was one of the best things I've ever done in my entire, entire years of converting leads. It showed a different Tara, and it was important for them at that time.
Crystal: 46:24
Absolutely. Yeah. It's, you know, we're all human at the end of the day, right?
Tara: 46:31
And I think once you sit back and say to yourself, for those that do a lot of phone calls, and you're not getting anybody answering, or you're not getting people that want to talk, I always say to myself, first, how would I react if I was being on the receiving end. And that's how I've always been successful at converting leads and done such a high number because I treat those as I want to be treated. And if the calling isn't working, if it's not working, and for some it does, then back off and do it another way, find a different niche at that time. And that's your key. Always be willing to change, right? I've had to change, for sure.
Crystal: 47:16
I'm putting a link in the chat for everyone. So, just to go along with your emails, is to create GIFs in your emails. Send moving pictures, right? People love things that move. We're like cats, in a weird way. So, whether you're sending market stats, and it says click here, and it links them over to wherever you have those stats, or it could be, you know, just sold, you know, watch, it could be a video testimonial, it could be anything. But it adds a little bit of creativity, and it will increase your click rate. People will click. The more things, you know, it's weird. It is, as much as it moves, people want to click it to see what it is. The idea of bom bom, right? But you can do it through GIFs and in your YouTube account, right? So, it's a little bit of a creative way. And think about, even, yourself. And some of this is more work. It's a commitment. But I know when; I have family, so they range in age. But a lot of families are always constantly out there looking for things to do. What can we do? What's going on this week in this city for my family to do?
So, that's something where you can even; and again, it's a commitment because you got to do it enough. But going, and like, you can see where people are searching, as far as their home searches in the CRM system. Like, if they're looking to move into Whitby, you know, pull up that database. You have an email. Like, this week's events in Whitby. Or, you know, this month's events so far in Whitby, right? It's simple things like that where they start to look forward to that because they know that you're going to send it to them. It has nothing to do with real estate. It's just: I know you want to move to Whitby. Here are all the great things that are happening in Whitby this month, right? So, it's, and going to local businesses, right? And doing spotlights in that area. Whitby, here's this whatever business, right? This is why I go here. You got to go, guys. Like, you know, you got to eat here. Whatever it is, people, you know, they engage, and they like that you're promoting their business. You're probably building a relationship now with that business. So, if they want to go move with their family, they're going to potentially refer you. So, there's a lot of; again, it goes back to just thinking outside the box. Do something a little bit different to get recognized and noticed. We can all just call people or send them emails or do what have you. It's being a little bit different and creative with how we're doing.
Tara: 49:44
Absolutely. And I think what we're really talking about as we're narrowing down to the last 10 minutes, it goes back to saying to all of you: This is a pillar of our business. So, treat it as such. Don't treat it as a part-time thing. This is about systems. So, you know, we're talking about showing the beauties of Whitby or the beauties of, you know, the downtown waterfront Toronto. Those are things that you need to be working on because this is a pillar of your business. So, create the email. Create the touch, and make it happen. And as you start treating AgentLocator Pay Per Click leads as that, what is it, leg to your chair, right? You're going to see success, and all of you, and tell me what works. If you guys have created something where you get a lot of responses from, let me know because I think that it's really important for us to share some of the little different things that we've done to get the leads to communicate with us. I'm very well aware that these leads, when we first start entering their inbox every day, just think that we're another realtor that wants their money. And I'm all about showing them that I'm different, which is why I do a little bit of other touches throughout the month, very, very calmly, to gain their trust. So, whatever you're doing, tell me what's working. Maybe the next time we go together, you know, in a couple of weeks, maybe some of them can share some of their insights on different little bits and pieces. But you're not going to get anywhere if you don't treat this as an actual leg to your chair of your business, which is a pillar. And I think this is just as important a pillar as your past clients in your sphere of influence pillars. Yeah.
Crystal: 51:47
Absolutely. Maz is asking: How many drip campaigns do you actually use? Like, first-time buyer, seller, buyer, response, no responses?
Tara: 51:57
I have one drip campaign. Yeah, I'm all about they're all generated into one on my CRM. And as soon as they come on, I assigned my drip campaign. I mentioned to people, I think this was about a month ago, that everybody can, kind of, do their own, or they can tweak the AgentLocator one to make it sound more like it's from them. In mine, there's, it goes up to 55 days, sporadic. It's very sporadic. But the key, and the first and foremost, is making sure that they're getting those listings every day because that's really what everybody is signing up for. They just want to see houses. I do have a seller drip that I've just created as well because I only just started buying seller leads with AgentLocator. I'm still, and I keep saying this, I've now been doing it, I think six weeks, maybe. I'm still in the intro stages. And I'm still thinking about this seller drip, going: Is it working? Is it not working? And I'm perfectly able to tweak it. I'm just not so sure about it. I think sometimes, maybe I'm wrong. And Crystal, you might see this because you see the back end much differently than, of course, I have no access. Sometimes I think you can get confused in the system when you're doing first-time buyer drips, you're doing all of these extra drips, and then you're really not remembering who's who. So, if you're seeing, Crystal, much success from realtors that are changing the drips based on the leads, you know, maybe you can let them know a little bit better than I do.
Crystal: 53:40
Yeah. Most of them aren't, to be honest with you, everyone wants to, but no one actually does it. It's one of those: I want to do this. I want to do this. And then, we can help them set it all up. And then it's; actioning it is a total other story. The good news is that you could, easily so, with your campaigns, let's say the first-time buyer campaign, you would definitely want to mark that and use your tag that they're a first-time buyer. And you would have to know that, you know what, anyone that goes, that has the tag first-time buyer, I know they are on my first-time buyer drip, right? But it comes down to everyone runs and operates and has an understanding of their system differently, right? So it's, I could, you know, sit there and, like, create all this stuff for people and know how to action it. It's a matter of are they going to keep that up. Or are they going into action in the first place? A lot of people, I find, even when it comes to building the websites, everyone's thinking how to be creative and get things going. And then once it's going, it's like they disappear. Now they have a system that just sits there because they had such pride and they were so eager to, you know, get it going and the creativity of it was what was the driving factor for them, not the actual implementation of it, right? So, they, we like to create things sometimes but not actually use what we've created.
Tara: 55:07
So, that's, I mean, that's a big thing. For me, it's much easier because I, you know, for those that are new, I started creating, or I started converting leads right about 18 years ago when realtor.ca first came into fruition because we didn't have anything like that before. And we had to figure out when people were pressing on a listing, you know, we want more information, as realtors then, we were used to people paging us. We weren't used to getting these emails going; you know, Sue wants more information on 123 Main Street. So, that's when I started creating this drip to very softly try to get people to start corresponding with me because sometimes we didn't have a phone number with those. So, I've always been a very simplified person because that's what's always worked with the leads. If you're going to do all of these things, making it happen and assigning the drip to the leads has to, you have to do it. You cannot create all this stuff and just not do it. You know, you're literally just throwing your money away. Absolutely throwing.
And I think that's why I don't do anything automatic. I don't. We assign my drip ourselves to each lead. Because when Sue comes in, I want to have my eyes on Sue. I want to see what she's looking at. I want to see what's been set up for her in regards to the listings. I want to change that because I like to do my own search criteria. And I add the drip to Sue myself. I've said this before. It takes 10 seconds per lead. But now I've invested myself into Sue, right? Rather than just letting it all happen automatically. And another lead comes on the phone, and I don't bother opening it up or doing anything with it. So, if you can take a step back and just say: Okay, maybe I do need to do this manually. Keep it simple right now because that's where I'm at. Then I think you're going to see your results get a little bit better because you're actually investing your own physical time, as opposed to letting everything be set up automatically for you.
Crystal: 57:32
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. You're making a mental note of what you're doing, right, at that moment and why you're doing it.
Tara: 57:40
Yeah. Yeah.
Crystal: 57:42
Are drip campaigns sending listings? No, that's not a drip campaign. The listings are automatic. Those, that's the one thing Tara likely does automatically. The drip campaigns are email communications in addition to those listings. Those, when she's assigning personally, she's personally assigning and manually assigning that campaign to her leads. She's not letting the system automatically apply that email drip.
Tara: 58:13
Yeah. And those are the three key things, remember. They've got to be sent listings. And sometimes, when AgentLocator sets them up automatically, it's a very small search criteria. I x that right out. I do a really large search because I want the leads to respond to me when I'm sending out the emails on my drip campaign. So, you know, you know that they've got to have a lot of listings to see in order for them to respond to the emails that we're sending, saying, you know, as simple of as, you know: Hey, it's Sally. Thanks for, you know, looking at listings. Have you seen anything you like, right? So, I want them to respond. The other biggest important thing is I invest my own personal time into each of the leads when they come on. Now, I'm not setting these leads up, you know, when I get 20 a day. I do them first thing in the morning. That's our system. We open up our AgentLocator anywhere between 7:30 am and 8 am. And the leads start getting set up. Listings are revised. They get added to the drip campaign, which also, in my drip campaign, I've also incorporated, you know, an email for them to get the Home Locator app. And then we also reply back right away. Right away. Every time somebody responds, even if they just simply say: Hey, Tara, I'm still looking. Thanks for sending the listings. I reply back and go: Thank you so much for the update. I really appreciate it. I'll be here when the time is right for you. And this is why I do such a high volume of conversion. I believe that. It works. It works for me.
Crystal: 1:00:07
Yeah, that's how I tell everyone. It's, like, when I'm going through, and I'm doing training, and we go through all the different, you know, webinars we have. There are three, like, there's yours, there's Beverly's, and there's Nick's, all of which are effective, but all are very different. Right? So, it comes down to what works best for that person and your personality. And so, just because how you approach your business doesn't mean it's going to, if I was to copy it, and, like, mirror it to a T, doesn't mean that that's going to work for me, right? So, it may get me on a path to figure out: Okay, this works. But this I'm going to make a little adjustment to because I like how this works instead, right? It's tweaking things and making them our own.
Tara: 1:00:52
Absolutely. It has to sound like it's coming from you. When I end up conversing with these leads, they know that they're talking to Tara when I'm actually introducing my voice to them, which is when I decide to make the phone call. They know it's me because I sound the same all across, right? Everything is coming from here, from my heart, and from my real estate brain. And I think for those of you that are on the other live webinars, take all of our stuff and incorporate it together because you've got really incredible realtors that have had incredible success. And I think there's a little bit of all of our stuff that if we were all to put it together, which by the way we should really do, it would be a phenomenal way to also convert such a high level from AgentLocator.
Crystal: 1:01:44
Yep, absolutely. Absolutely. But that's about it for today. I know that we always cover a lot of questions, which is good to see. And, yeah, any last bits of advice? Yeah, no, we're good.
Tara: 1:02:07
Yeah. And thank you to those that have reached out to me. You know, I have heard from you. And that's wonderful. And I'm always open. I love hearing what works for people. So, you know, when we come on board in another couple of weeks, if you guys are going to come back on, share some of your tips as well. You know, the beautiful thing about real estate is we all have something that we can learn from each other. And I'm all about learning and sharing. And I really appreciate everybody's loyalty to these things.
Crystal: 1:02:42
Yeah. And even if each of you picks something where you're thinking outside the box, right? To either generate business or initiate a conversation, you know, think of something different. What could you do differently? And then bring it to the table next time and let everyone know how it worked. I went, and I did this. This is what I did. And this is, these are the results I got from it, right? Because we're all going to learn, right? And if we have 50 People trying 50 different things, we're going to, kind of, see: Okay, so they tried this thing, and it was a complete flop. So, maybe that's not the first thing I'm going to try. So, right? We can all learn from each other and grow from each other.
Tara: 1:03:22
Yeah. All right, guys.
Crystal: 1:03:24
Perfect. Thanks, Tara. Thank you, everyone, for jumping on today. And it'll be up on YouTube. I know I get a lot of emails. Every time we do these, they are up on YouTube tomorrow on the AgentLocator channel. The Zoom email should be going out. So, it'll go out basically right now, tomorrow. So, if you're not getting it, check your spam folders because it might be throwing it in there. But there's always a recording. Well, thanks, everyone. Thanks, Tara. We'll see you in a couple of weeks.
Tara: 1:03:59
Okay. Bye guys. Thank you so much. Bye bye.