Live Coaching Sessions with Tara Baylis, April 12, 2022
Revisit our coaching session with Tara Baylis! If you’re looking for ways to organize your CRM, turn to:
3:06 to learn all about the Tasks feature in the CRM and how Tara uses it
12:32 to learn why Lead Notifications are Tara’s secret conversion weapon and how to turn them on
BONUS: If you’re working with rental leads, skip to 57:01 to hear about Tara’s strategy for getting the most out of rental leads that are not qualified.
Transcript:
Crystal: 0:05
Don't forget to record it. And it looks like we've got a good crowd today. And everyone can hear us okay? You guys, your audios, everyone's sound is working? So, we do have our Q&A in here as well as to chat. So, if any of you guys, I know last time, we had very active participation in the last session, which is great.
Tara: 0:31
I loved it.
Crystal: 0:32
It's always great to have those questions because it's easier to, kind of, know where you guys are, your thought process, or you're having those questions that either Tara or myself is able to answer. So, that's great. So, the last time we touched, Tara, on, and of course, I put the email away. So, we touched a little bit on the daily organization and, kind of, managing your time and what that looks like. For those of you guys that were on here last week, have you made any, and you can use, there's, like, a little option there to raise your hand. Have any of you guys made an adjustment in any way, shape, or form with respect to your daily habits and how you're starting your day or how you're organizing your day, or what that day looks like to kind of keep you on a better track? So, Neeto has raised a hand, indicating that they have. So, that's great, Neeto. If we don't mind, if you don't mind asking, I'm going to give you the ability to talk. Where did you go? Here you go. You don't have to turn your camera on. Don't worry. It'll allow you. Good. Yeah, go for it.
Neeto: 1:48
Yeah, I just had a question. So, I'm fairly new with the team, and I'm just wondering, what is the daily, sort of, checklist or the daily thing that we should be doing with AgentLocator? Because I've never actually worked with it before.
Crystal: 2:02
Okay. Yeah, there are definitely all different things that you could be doing on a daily basis. How I like to put it, Tara can, kind of, put her point of view on, as long as you're in there every day, auctioning your leads in some way, shape, or form, that's really all you need to do. Whether you're calling them, you know, looking at their activity and shooting them off possible properties of interest, engaging with them, and ultimately, just keeping on top of that database, because it doesn't take a lot for it to get out of reach, all of a sudden, very quickly, become overwhelming. Tara, what would your insight be on that?
Tara: 2:44
This is a, it's a perfect question, you know, Neeto and Crystal, because I was just talking about this with somebody that I'm coaching about an hour ago. You know, it all goes down to mindset. It all goes down to having your days planned as best as we can as realtors. I mean, things are always going to pop up. But I take advantage, high advantage of the task option to create tasks so that it shows in my calendar every time I open the dashboard. So, as I'm going through early in the morning, my leads, I like to look and see if they're opening the emails. I like to see what they're opening and what they're not. It's only a few seconds that I spend on each lead. But when I'm in a lead, and I see a need to reach out to them, AL will send what I call a warm and fuzzy email, you know: How are you doing? How's your search? Or I will use the task ability to create a task that says: Two days from now, go in and email or call the lead. So, I find when you use the task portion of AgentLocator, then every morning, if that's your gig to open it up like it is mine, you've already got your duties set for yourself already. And then that keeps me on track.
Neeto: 4:13
Just a quick question. So, with respect to leads coming in. So, the person before me in this position was extremely busy and, unfortunately, didn't have the time to really reach out to the leads. So, I have like 123 pages of leads that I need to go through.
Tara: 4:34
I am having heart palpitations.
Neeto: 4:36
Trust me, I know. Yeah. So what I thought I would do to tackle this is approach the leads in the past one to three months to start with, and also, with respect to leads coming in, is it a good idea to contact them right away? Or do you want them to have a week or two weeks to look at your property listings, to familiarize themselves with you before you reach out to them?
Tara: 5:02
Okay, so, first of all, your pages of leads that you have, I think you're right on the money by saying: Let me deal with the first three months first. So, my experience in the last probably four to five years, yeah, has been the newer leads are the ones that I'm converting a little bit quicker than the older leads. So, in regards to making money, deal with the first three months, and don't set yourself a task so hard to reach. If I've got to do follow-up like that, I would do two pages a day and then work on your incoming leads, you know? You don't want to make yourself so heavy that you actually lose the focus that this is a big major pillar of your business, right?
Neeto: 5:55
Yep. Totally agree. Sorry, do you reach out pretty much right away? Or do you give them a breather for a week or two?
Tara: 6:03
Well, you know what, here's the interesting thing. And I don't want to sound like a broken record. But I used to call the leads right away. You know, from about 18 years ago, right until about the last seven years ago, they did get called immediately as they entered my phone. But I was finding over the last seven years that that doesn't work. People aren't responding, and they're not as happy to hear from me. So, I set them up to get listings. I put them on my drip campaign, and then I make the call, or I touch base with them a little further down the road. So, my way of doing leads, and my way of being a high converter, works for me because I try to adapt to whatever's happening in the world and the way people are responding, and then I sort of change. I do think so. My goal with the leads is I let them build trust in me first before I start making my phone calls or reaching them in a little bit of a different manner.
Neeto: 7:07
Okay, that makes sense. Thank you.
Tara: 7:10
You're welcome.
Crystal: 7:10
And I'm just going to quickly share my screen here because I do, I believe, have the CRM for us today. I just wanted to show a couple of things. So, on this topic, you definitely have your filters for registration, right? So, if you wanted to pull up your leads based on when they registered, you can do, you know, all leads within the last number of days. So, whether it's everyone within the last 90 days. So, if you were to do that, or you can do everyone older than 90 days, right? So, you can add that in so it'll show you all those leads. Another that you can do, and it really depends on your dashboard, and, kind of, what you're looking at is the last activity. You can stack your filters, right? So, you can even say - Is not, so registration is not all leads within the last number of, let's say 30 days, so no one that registered in the last 30 days, and get that group of individuals. And then by activity, so the Last activity is everyone within 30 days. So, these are now your older leads, but essentially, they've been actively engaged with listings in the last 30 days. So, there are different ways that you can target when you are reaching out to those older audiences, it's to, kind of, start with the ones that we know are engaging in what we're sending them, and then, kind of, you know, peel it back. So, you can take these 30 ones. You get through that list. You can expand it to 60 days, right? So, then we're kind of looking at that list of individuals and kind of tackling them piece by piece.
Neeto: 8:50
Oh, sorry. Just a quick question regarding the tasks. When we complete a task, let's say, for example, it's to send a birthday digital card to somebody. So, we send it off to that person. If you don't check off complete, does that task stay there forever permanent?
Crystal: 9:07
Yeah, it'll show that the task is incomplete. So, when we are tasking our leads, and I'm just going to, kind of, show you this here, you do have your tasks. And you can see here, this was like a test task, right? So, even though it's overdue, I didn't mark it as complete. It's always going to show here as being an overdue task that I never actually completed. So, you can definitely push your task if you want to push those tasks to be a little bit further on. And so maybe you can't make it today, so you push it to tomorrow or a couple of days from now when you know you're going to have time. Of course, you complete or edit the task altogether. And then, of course, you do have your calendar at the top. So, I highly encourage that when you are tasking, you're definitely getting into the habit of checking that calendar because that's what's going to show you; so, for example, if we go, I think it was back in March that that one task, I think it was the 17th. The tasks will all show here. So, you get that visual of what you've got on your plate for the day or what's going to be coming up tomorrow or the following day, so you can mentally prepare yourself or know how much time you're going to need to block to be able to facilitate your tasks.
You also, as well, for anyone that is a Google user, up here in your user preferences, you do have an integrations option. So, when you use your integrations, you're just basically clicking Add Account, and you're logging into Google. What this will do is whatever your Google account is, it'll automatically add those tasks as calendar events in your Google Calendar. That way, if you're not at your desk, and you just, you know, get up in the morning and get up, you're out the door, you didn't have time to check your system, your phone is at least reminding you. Get those push notifications from your calendar, letting you know that you have this task. These tasks that show up in your calendar, and I'll just, kind of, show you. I'll bring this over here. These tasks that are in your calendar, there we go, they're going to come to, like, this here is a task. So, they show up in your calendar. And when you click on it, it gives you the title, whatever notes you left about that task, but it also provides you with the direct link right into that link. If you're not at your desk, you'll still be able to, you know, if you're sitting in the car, waiting for somebody to show up, you can still open up that task, and depending on what it is, you may be able to facilitate it at that point in action. So, that's something that it's just, kind of, staying on top of everything, the best you can.
Neeto: 11:47
Okay. Perfect. Thank you.
Tara: 11:49
But that's the best way to keep yourself organized. I really am a believer in using the tasks, using, you know, planning your day. And if you want to stay on top of leads and you want to be a good lead converter, I think using the system is one of the biggest ways to stay on top of who you need to contact, even if it's just simply an email that says: Hey, Bob, it's Tara from begintosearch. I just want to make sure your search is okay. Do you need anything? You know, it doesn't have to be very pre-planned.
Neeto: 12:27
Okay.
Tara: 12:28
All right. Thank you.
Crystal: 12:32
And another, and I know what you, as well, you have your lead alerts on, right Tara? So, you're going in, and you're getting the notifications when everyone's active. When they look up a listing, when they look at a listing more than three times, or three or more times, you guys, most of you should have this on. But again, it's in your user preferences. So, if you don't see a tab right here, if you guys are on the automated platform, so, this is for automated. So, if you don't see this tab here, all you need to do is go into your CRM settings and you turn on your lead alert, okay? And then just make sure you're saving that. If you just hit a little refresh, you'll notice that the tab appears, and this is where you get those notifications. So, Tara has this selected as yes. She gets it so that anytime a lead is actively engaged in listings, every four hours. So, it's like every day they're jumping in. She's aware that they're looking at listings daily or how frequently they are. And then these ones are also great. So, this is, like, your lead's potential interest in a property, right? So, if they're looking at it three or more times, that could indicate possible interest. Or if they like or, you know, favorite that listing, again, you're getting that notification. So, it gives you that opportunity, you know, something to actually reach out to them about specifically, whether it's, you know, are they wanting you to grab more information on their behalf? Or do they want to see more listings just like this one? I noticed that you really like or you liked this listing. Would you, are you wanting to receive more listings just like it, right? So, there are different ways that you can use the tools in your system to be able to engage those leads.
Neeto: 14:20
Okay, perfect.
Crystal: 14:21
Yeah. Tara, did you have anything you wanted to add to that?
Tara: 14:24
You know, the lead notification, those reminders, they are everything to me. They're just as important in my doing, the pillar of this business, lead gen, as when the lead comes in. That's how significant those notifications are. And I think when you have them turned on, what my experience has been helping other people with lead conversion is that once they get them turned on and they see the lead's activity, all of a sudden, they have a whole different opinion about what's happening behind the scenes in AgentLocator, right? The leads, you know, it motivates you to continue appreciating your money that's being spent in bringing these leads in because the leads are active. And I like to follow them. And as I just simply browse through the lead notifications, it takes me one second, you know what, I do it maybe 20 times a day. Like, if I'm in between houses, I just quickly open it up to see who's popped in. Then I get to know my leads, even by their name, a little more, right? And then I can kind of base somebody's activity on: Oh, shoot, maybe now I need to make a call to Bob because Bob's coming on a lot. And Bob's three times liking a lot of stuff. So, maybe now I need to introduce my voice a little bit more.
Crystal: 16:00
Yeah. Now, Tara, when you jump into your system. So, I really briefly just, like, kind of showed a couple of filters that can be utilized to pull up a couple of different audiences. Do you use any saved filters in your system or predefined filters to pull up specific audiences based on, you know, various factors for you to be reaching out to them and why?
Tara: 16:23
No.
Crystal: 16:24
No?
Tara: 16:25
You know, I'm not IT. You know, when you're showing turning the lead notifications on yourself, I only just discovered this, right? My goal is: Hey, guys, can you do this for me, by email. I am so used to staying on top of the system. I use the filters to search, you know, who's my newest, who's been on the longest, I use those types of things. But I certainly don't get as involved as you can get. I think everybody's got to do it based on how they're comfortable. And I think that if you know the system inside and out, do it. It'll make conversion a whole lot easier. But when I got AgentLocator, three-quarters of this stuff wasn't even available. I mean, the leads weren't even assigned automatically, like, to get listings. It was all manual. So, I just sort of stick to what I know. Don't hate me, AgentLocator.
Crystal: 17:22
There's nothing wrong with that, as long as it's working. It works for you, and everyone's different. And you're definitely going to have individuals on here that are just like you. They're, you know, they're not super tech-savvy, but they're comfortable with knowing what they know. And then we definitely have those people that learn this system inside and out and can, you know, maneuver in and out and create all these different audiences and what have you. So, everyone is different. It's whatever works best for you. Ultimately, at the end of the day, we show you different tools and encourage different tools. But if that's not going to work for you, then don't do it because you've got to do what's going to be best for you at the end of the day.
Tara: 18:06
Yeah. I mean, the beautiful thing about AgentLocator, which is why, you know, I've been on it since 2016. And I've used other paperclip companies long before that; many, many others. It's a good system. It's easy to use if you want to use it very simply. It's easy to use if you want to go high into the IT part of it, you know, as I like to call it. The bottom line is this is if you view this as a very legitimate pillar of your business and you work it as such, there are millions of dollars sitting in here that, based on my experience, are very easy to convert. You're not going to get all of them. I don't get all of them. But I do get a lot.
Crystal: 18:58
Yes, yes. And so on that topic, you know, last week I had a conversation with a gentleman, and we were running through his training. He had tried other programs in the past and didn't succeed, and he came in with, I kind of made a joke about it, I am sure if he's on here, made a joke about it: Do you watch a lot of HGTV? And the reason why I, kind of, you know, made this little joke was he's expecting all his leads to call him, which happens sometimes. But the majority of the time, a lot of the time, it's us making our introduction, right? It's our business. We're looking to build our business. It's not up to them to make that business for us. And so he; and then also is the fact that, you know, kind of getting over the whole: We're just looking, or we're just browsing, and being okay with that process. It was a little bit of a struggle because he's at the point where he's definitely spent money trying to get himself established, getting leads. No one's moving now. He wants them all to be moving sooner rather than later. And again, I reinforced your viewpoint on it that these leads are moving on their timelines. They're not moving on our timelines, right?
So, some of you guys may have systems where you have 1000s of leads in there. Some of you may have five leads in your system, but every lead that comes in, we have to keep in mind that they have their own story. And they have their own reason as to why they're in here looking at listings in the first place. And they often already have, not always, a potential timeline that fits their needs and their requirements. And so, as long as it can be, as much as it can be frustrating for all of us, I can 100% concur, the waiting game on it, it does happen. And Tara is a good example of that, is you've got leads that have been in there, I imagine for years, that it takes them years to get to the point where now they're actually ready to, kind of, pull that trigger and take the next step. But we have to be okay with that. And it kind of falls back on to the: Every lead is going to transact. It's just a matter of when and with who, right? So, regardless of when they transact, whether it's tomorrow or in five years from now, we want that who to be ourselves, naturally. And so it's that patience, and that waiting game, and that nurturing, and the following up. Now, did you want to add anything to that, Tara?
Tara: 21:45
You know, I think it's really important and, you know, the reason people feel this way and don't get me wrong, so do I, you know? If you want business right away, we like to have results immediately. The thing is this, is when you want to be a good top converter of Pay-Per-Click leads or any lead that comes in, whether it's realtor.ca, whether it's an open house lead, whatever it is, you have to understand, and I'm quoting myself again, this is not your show. This is their show. So, you know, when I say this, when I wrote in my book, every lead has their own time. So, once I realized about 18 years ago when I started doing this conversion, if I treat people that, I'll be here when the time is right for you. They will remember Tara. So, when the leads come in, I look at the leads this way: I'm going to make sure that when the time is right, they're going to know that it's me they want to use, and number two: My leads refer me to people that they know. So, it's not always about, you know, the Austin app user that I'm looking at right now. But it sure as heck could be about who he knows.
So, you know, always keep an open mind that when you're doing the leads the right way, all the leads are signing up for us to get new listings. Never forget that. So, I'm going to give them exactly what they want. They want listings. I'm going to make sure I'm giving them a lot of listings, and I'm giving them every day. And then I treat them with that small follow-up drip campaign. So, that now they're getting what they want, but they're also hearing from me in a very gentle and soft manner. Simply just saying: I'll be here when the time is right. Do you have any questions? Can I revise your search for you? One of the emails is: Do you want to go out and see a couple of properties? You're not wasting my time if you're not ready. I'm okay to show you some houses. Do you know what I'm saying? So, have that mindset, no-obligation, they're going to go a lot further in conversion.
Crystal: 24:07
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And then last time, we actually, kind of, touched base, and I'm going to actually bring this up again with respect to your emails. So, the sample emails that you have from a couple of your campaigns, and I know we touched on this a couple of times, but short, and sweet, and to the point. We're not sending people big, long, you know, massive emails, you know, to the point, right? So, these are just a couple. So, this is her buyer day seven. Again, she's always; Tara takes, you know, she's mindful of always thanking the leads, thanking them that they're there. I think a lot of your communication is always just thanking them. I want to thank you for doing this, right?
Tara: 24:53
Even when I make phone calls, when I introduce my voice, I don't do it because I want to ask them for a survey. I don't do it because I want them to see houses right away. I do it to say: Hey, it's Tara from begintosearch. Again, I wanted to thank you for coming on the site. And then, the lead will direct the phone call. If the lead wants to get off, I'm cool. I'm cool. If a lead wants to tell me everything more, I'm cool with that, too. But thank you is a great way to immediately take the opposition that they might have, right?
Crystal: 25:29
Yeah, yeah. You kill them with kindness, and they have nothing to say, they can't really do too much after that. It's harder; anyone with some sort of conscience out there is like: Oh, yeah, can't be rude to this lady. She's thanking me. You still get the odd ones. I can imagine that, you know, had a bad day, and you just happen to call, right? And then, you know, right in the middle of it. And so, it happens. And we can't judge our leads based on that, though, because we've all had a bad day, and somebody reaching out or contacting us and the total, just the timing, just, was, you know, they can't control that. So, it's, you know, keep at it.
Tara: 26:13
Or they're just not nice people.
Crystal: 26:17
Yeah. Some people are like that. You're just like: Oh, you dodged the bullet.
Tara: 26:21
I've learned to let it go, you know, I don't want to work with you. Like, in my head, I'm like: Okay, move on. Move on. We're good. But keep the emails very short. Keep them non-salesmen. That's a big, big, big thing. Again, I can't stress enough, I treat a lead as I want to be treated. So, if somebody is trying to get my business, and they start hounding me, and they start calling me all the time, like, you know, once a day until I, like, I'm out.
Crystal: 26:53
It is aggressive, right? So, it's very aggressive.
Tara: 26:59
If you send one that, like, has ten paragraphs in it, I'm not going to read it.
Crystal: 27:05
You'd read this one. And then you kind of backed it, right? You're just like, Okay, what is this about? And then we decide based off, often enough, based off of this first paragraph, if we're going to continue to read the email or not. And I can, you can almost attest to that, with when I'm sending emails out. And I actually had an older gentleman, one of my first jobs in real estate, he would get mad at me, he's like: You didn't answer all the questions. You didn't read the whole email. They asked you multiple questions, and you only replied to one of them. He's like: You need to stop and stop being so rushed with what you're doing and take the time because it's nothing more. This is the business, you know? It's more frustrating than obviously if you're working with a buyer client or what have you, but it's like: I asked you like five questions, and you answered one of them. So, now you have to create more work for yourself trying to get the other answers for yourself, right? So, but a lot of them, so, as you can see here in this email, she's just, you know, again, thanking them, asking how they're enjoying those listings, and have they seen anything of interest. And again, there's no obligation, but she's happy to add to the newsletter, as well, right? Just let us know. There's, it's not intrusive, she's not trying to push for anything. She's asking a couple of questions trying to generate some level of a response from this person, regardless, you know, of what that might be.
Tara: 28:32
Yeah, yeah.
Crystal: 28:34
We do have the seller. So, the seller day 1. Again, she's thanking them with respect to that. And then, just more or less, just as a quick time, too, that she can quickly pop by, right? There's nothing. There's no obligation. There's no nothing. And again, you're just happy to help. Here, I'm happy to help.
Tara: 28:53
Yep. All of the emails are designed very similarly. They all end the same way, you know? I'll be here when you're ready, you know? And I think that, again, having that daily planner, where you say to yourself: I'm investing in AgentLocator. I'm going to treat it. It's part of my business. In the mornings, if that's when your go time is, sit down, open it up, and have that as your daily routine. You're going to see results a lot more, a lot more. So, when you let it go because you get busy, I mean, I'm super, super, super busy. Like, it's insane how busy I am between all the hats that I wear. But I don't forget to have a shower in the morning, you know? That's how important the pillars of my business are. I would never forget to devote the time, even if it was just 30 minutes to going into AgentLocator and doing some follow-up. That's what I'm trying to express to everybody is this is just as important as making sure you're on time at a listing appointment. Showing up to a buyer appointment, this is what leads to it. So, devote as much appreciation to AgentLocator and your Pay-Per-Click leads as you would to all the other aspects of your business. When you do that, I guarantee you're going to see much more results. Because now you're going to know these leads so much better.
Crystal: 30:29
Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And it's more of, like, your quality of time, not necessarily the quantity of time as well, right? So, if you can take 15 minutes and put it to good use, rather than scrambling for 30 minutes to get as much done as possible. Anything you're doing is rushed, there's no quality behind it, for the most part, right? Yeah. Now with those emails, and I'm just going to touch base again in here. What I'm going to do is you guys always at the end of these webinars, the day after, you guys are all getting recordings sent through the Zoom link or from Zoom, I'm also going to include this in here. I can't recall if I included it after. It's the training.agentlocator.ca. This is where you're going to find your resources and how-tos. So, if you're going into all your courses here, this one right here is going to give you a tutorial based on topics. So, your administrative tools, things like that. So, it's a great place for any of you that want to expand your knowledge and understand a little bit in greater detail because I'm going to show you some things, but I'm not going to walk you through the whole thing. So, there's this here, as well as many of you guys have an assigned trainer already, if you know who that is, reach out to them if you want more direct one-on-one assistance with this, or just reach out to our Support Team, and they'll direct you, and we send you invites and all that fun stuff.
But just building out your email. So, you have your, over here in your settings, you have your ability to create email templates or even edit your email signature. Now when you are creating templates, and so you see even from the example of how there's, like, little shortcode in there, the little things in brackets, they're all here, okay? So, you don't have to worry about what they are. They're just drag and drop, right on here. Another cool feature is, once you're on this email section, you're going to have tutorials on how to do all of this stuff. So, if you want to edit your signature, create templates, those are going to be there. Now your campaign, I know Tara, you manually assign your campaign. You don't auto-assign anything. And you guys can create your own campaigns here. So, you can create those here. Again, you're going to have videos based on campaigns here. Of course, they're also going to be in that training site. But this is when you can essentially start to build out campaigns. Now some of you will want to, kind of, follow the Tara approach where you're manually assigning it, which is great. Others may want to build on another existing campaign to kind of have these emails or actions go out automatically for you. And you can definitely do that. When you're in your campaigns list, where you see the auto-assign typically means that this is auto assigning this campaign when this lead comes in from this specific source. So, whether it's your lead gen URL or what have you, that's how you know it's being auto-assigned. So, if you wanted to edit that specific campaign that's currently being assigned to your leads, that's how you would do it, and then you just start building it out that way. Again, this website will show you instructions on how to do that. Or if you feel like you need a little bit more direct hands-on training approach to understanding this in greater detail, then just reach out to your trainer, you request that training, or reach out to Support and kind of go from there.
So, I just wanted to, I don't know why I keep closing things, but I just wanted to bring that to everyone's attention so that they know that it is possible because we talk about a lot of these things. But it's, you know, talking about things, and how do we now put that to action are two totally different things, right? So, I'm, kind of, going from there. Now we are about at the 25-minute mark, and I can see we have a lot of questions in here. So, we'll kind of go through and answer some of those. So, Elena is asking: What time do you wake up in the morning in order for you to get through your list of clients? Like, how do you start your day? What does that look like?
Tara: 34:44
Listen, you know, am I allowed to keep saying I'm a freak? I know I'm a freak. I know I'm a freak. I have the world's biggest work ethic. But I wake up early. Even if I want to sleep in, I can't. So, I get up; today was at like 4:40 am. However, I have a lot of hats that I wear. As we all know, I'm a super busy realtor. I'm the manager of my brokerage, and I have a coaching company. And I'm a mom. Well, they're two grown boys. Hi, Austin. I see you're on here. However, that morning time is everything to me. So, I get up. I go down. I have my coffee, and anywhere between 4:30 and about 6:30, I'm simply just, you know, watching Netflix or the news. That's what I call Tara time. Like, I just, that's my time. So, I get up. I have my shower after that. And I'm always in my office between 7:30 and 8 am. So, at least at the day, because we all know as realtors, we really are on the fly, like my datebook is booked solid every minute of the day. So, I allow that to be that kind of quiet time, and then I just go off and running. So, the first thing I do is always, when I get behind my desk, is AgentLcator is opened up. I'm looking at my tasks. In the meantime, I'm always looking at my email notifications because it takes me one second, right, just to see who's popping their head in. And that's basically how my day starts. Even on Saturdays and Sundays, even if I were to be home, I'm still up that early. I know it's not easy, trust me.
Crystal: 36:33
It's easier. It's getting into the habit, though, right? So, it's like, I don't get up that early. But I, you know, I get up early. I start work here at six in the morning. But on the weekends now, as much as I want to sleep in, I can never sleep in. I'm always all, like, up. It's almost like your internal clock starts adjusting to your day-to-day behavior regardless of, often, what time you go to bed. Sabrina is saying her email notification has been turned on. Now she's constantly getting those emails showing how many times leads are active, you know? What's the best way to organize these active leads? So, is there anything that you're doing in your system specifically?
Tara: 37:19
No. So, I don't bother with the organizing part. But I think, Sabrina, what I think you're saying is they're coming on, and you just want to make sure you're not missing anything. And, you know, for me, with the email notifications, it really is for my eyes just to get familiar with the names of each of the leads as they're coming back on and back on and back on. Because I'm so devoted to AgentLocator, and this is what I said before, when I start seeing that one person come on a lot more and liking a lot more, three properties, then, you know, with email notifications, you have the ability to go right into the CRM. And I can make notes even though I might be sitting on the couch on my phone and go in, put a task in that I might want to call Bob. So, I think looking at the email notifications and getting satisfaction from them without having to feel like: Oh my Goodness, I need to organize them all because that's going to be super overwhelming.
Crystal: 38:25
And you do, and I've just, kind of, popped up this activity as well. So, it kind of goes in coordination with those email notifications. If it's easier for you to just pop in and go: I want to see everyone that was active today, anyone that you've gotten that alert for that they're active is going to be showing in this list right here. So, if this is an easier way for you to navigate it, then by all means. You do have, as well, so, the, you know, I think it's the Viewed Property Three or More Times, you do have the ability to do that in connection. So, this would show you everyone that's liked the property at least three or more times. If you notice, like, in the past week, there's a couple or even today, that's when you can toss in as well the last activity and kind of specify when that was as well. You also have the Lead Liked Listing, as well, as a filter in here. So, there are filters in here that coordinate with those emails as well. So, some people just like going off the email like Tara. She likes to recognize the leads' names and see how often they are coming in. And if there's, you know, again, your actions might differ if they've liked the listing versus just coming on for the first time. But everyone's different, right? It comes down to the system and the approach that's most effective for yourself, right? Everyone's going to be different on that.
So, Dina is asking, is there an automated system to be sent out to your leads after the lead signed in and looked at the property three times. No, there is not. I know that that is something that we have talked about. Where that would be in our development queue, I don't know. But it has been definitely something where, and we would likely anticipate. I don't know how, based on anything, but is to give you guys that option of - how do you want, what would you want to happen in that, not taking control and saying: Hey, this is what's going to happen. It's like, you can configure your settings. So, in some settings, we like to allow you guys to be able to adjust based on how you want to be actioning your leads in those situations.
Mario is asking: Do you leave your voice message? So, when you're calling those leads, and just checking in and saying: Hey. They're not answering. Are you leaving a message, Tara?
Tara: 40:55
Yeah, for sure. So, my message is super simple, just like if I get them on the phone. Hey, it's Tara from begintosearch. I just wanted to thank you for coming on the site. If there's anything you need real estate-wise, don't hesitate to give me a call. It's super simple. Now, and let me tell you this, I have so many stories to share, and they all pop up. One time, this was about ten years ago, when I used to call the leads as soon as they hit the phone because the reaction was phenomenal back then. I left a message for one girl, and then I put it in the task to call back again. And of course, you know, I would touch base about every couple of weeks. And I got a call back from her. Her name was Lindsay. Then she said to me: Hi, Tara. It's Lindsay, and I recognize the name. I'm like: Oh, hi, how are you doing? She said: I'm good. She goes: Listen, I just gotta tell you, you're one of the nicest messages I've ever had on my phone. And I want you to know, because of what you said, I will use you as my realtor. And I thought to myself how interesting that was because all I did was just say: I just wanted to thank you for coming on the site, and I just wanted to say if there's anything you need, please don't hesitate to let me know. So, you know, that hasn't happened a lot to me, but there's the one. So, always, I believe, always leave a voice message if you're able to, but just make it a thanking them and then get off the phone. I would never say: I just wanted to know do you want to see houses, or I just wanted to clarify what your search is, you know? I've also one time, and I will never do this again, one time, years and years ago, this might have been about 15 years ago, I left a message because a lead had come in with the company I was using, and I called, left a message, and said: I just wanted to clarify that, you know, you were looking in, you know, Toronto for this much. She called me back blazing me, maybe about 30 minutes later, and she said I came on your site because I'm trying to leave my abusive husband, and you just left a message on the phone. And I thought to myself: Never again.
Crystal: 43:13
It's happened to a lot of people that you don't realize.
Tara: 43:17
Ever. So, you'd have to be, that's why I just say: It's Tara calling from, you know, begintosearch. I just want to thank you for coming on the site. That's it, period.
Crystal: 43:27
I've heard many stories similar to that because again, you don't, you know, maybe not in the same circumstances, but very similar, right, where the other person or somebody that is thinking about their options or moving on or whatever it is, and it's not, it's just going to, when you think; because you never know, right? And if it's a home, a landline; now a lot of people have their own direct number, but different, like if it was a landline and that's also where I think a lot of even, you know, a lot of stores, like jewelry stores and things like that, are also very cautious about leaving those voice messages, right? So, because they're like: Hey, that ring you ordered is here for pickup, right? And then the girlfriend is listening to the message, right? So, I think everyone's kind of adapted to the point where it's like some things you have to not share completely why we're calling and what we're, you know, fully calling about but rather that soft thank you and that you're here if they have any questions. You never know what's happening on the other end of things.
Tara: 44:35
No, I never did it again.
Crystal: 44:40
Nevena is asking: Do you keep leads who have unsubscribed from email, or do you delete them?
Tara: 44:47
So, we've talked about this a couple of times. If they unsubscribe, I delete, and I hate the word delete because I don't use it very, very often. However, as I help people convert leads, I'm getting a strong sense that if you were to reach out to them, whether or not it's a by a call or by, you know, an email if you're able to, and double-check and make sure that that's what they wanted, I'm hearing that there's a good number of people that unsubscribe that never really intended to. So, I feel like, in this topic, I think everybody has to do what they think is best for them. You've already paid for the lead. So, you know, the money's already out the window if they unsubscribe, but maybe it's worth just making sure. I think if you're going to make sure, you really got to word it the right way.
Crystal: 45:45
It's customer service, right? Again, this is an area where if somebody is just unsubscribing from a bunch of things, it could be other realtors they are also unsubscribing from, the chances of the other realtor actually reaching out and saying: Hey, I just noticed that you've unsubscribed, and offering that phenomenal customer service, that's where you, you know, you discover like in Tara's case, like, sometimes they didn't mean to do that.
Tara: 46:09
And I think it's worth playing around with, Crystal. You know, my biggest reason why I think that I'm such a high converter is I'm always open to change. Because we've done something the same way for five years does not mean that it's going to work next year. Look at what COVID did. I mean, everybody that we're helping is saying these people, you know, our Pay-Per-Click leads, they're not converting as quickly. Well, why would they? Who wants to buy a house in a market that we've seen, you know? So, you have no choice but to adjust to what is happening now. And I think that, definitely, I know that I have to look at the unsubscribes differently when I'm hearing that there's a lot of people that didn't mean to press that button because, you know, I want to salvage that.
Crystal: 47:04
Yes, no. And sometimes their plans just change, right? They don't need emails every day because they've now put it on the back burner for a couple of years. But you have that ability to scale back listings. You can, kind of, bring them in, or you can task to follow up with them in, you know, however many months, six months, what have you, just checking in, saying: Hi, how are you? That sort of thing, right? So, there are always different ways you can go about it. But, you know, great customer service definitely goes a long way for a lot of these individuals out there. Mario is, I think this is more of a comment, just saying he has some leads that just keep looking at properties, and there's no answer when he calls. And it's like a roller coaster ride which it definitely can be with the leads. Sometimes it's like everything's happening the way you want it to, and then sometimes you're just like: What is going on?
Tara: 47:55
And I think what he's saying here is: I have some leads who keep looking at properties or looking for properties. So, he doesn't have them in the car. He's just seeing them come on and looking. So, he's calling them, and there is no answer. Here's; I don't know if Mario's still with us, but Mario, stop calling them, right? Now you need to reach them in a different way because they're not responding to the calls. So, what I would do is I would open up their search criteria, so they get a little bit, a nice wide range of properties. And I would start just gently emailing them, even if it was just once every other week. And just said: It's just me checking in from, you know, homesearch.com, whatever your site is. Do you want me to revise your search for you? I just want to make sure you're getting everything that you want. And then see if you don't get them to reply that way.
Crystal: 48:53
It makes exact sense to me. And sometimes, again, they're just not ready to talk to you yet. And we have to be okay with that because we've all done it, right? It's just not ready to talk to us yet. Or, you know, we're calling you guys because you're our leads, essentially, at some point, and you're not answering. You're just not ready to talk to us. And we're okay, we just move on, next, right? Eventually, it all kind of falls into place. We want all of you over. It happens. Some of them are quick, and some, you know what, I've had people that I've been pursuing, and they'll be like: Oh man, your follow-up, I, you know, appreciate your patience. And I'm like: Hey, and I'll make a joke about it. I'll be like it only took 1765 days and 35 phone calls, 62 emails, and five SMSs, but here you are, right? So, it's pretty good to see all that activity. So, it's kind of, you know, they start laughing at the same time, but I'm like: Yeah, I'm just impressed I sold that. So, we're able to see it all, right? So, you know, some of you, just, it's kind of like all of you that may have jumped into lead gen, and maybe you've been in real estate for five years, and you finally took that plunge when the time was right for you, right? So, again, it's kind of going back on your buyers or your sellers; it's when the time is right for them. And it's just being there to facilitate it when they are.
Leslie is asking: We only see lead activities if they are registered on the website? Yes. So, not registered on your website, sending them listings. So, if they're opening up listings, that is going to trigger their activity. Now, we have been discussing, and again, it may be in one of our future, and, like, the near future releases, where we're going to potentially open up two different options for filtering on lead activity, one being lead activity just through the listings, for looking and engaging in listings. And the other one being, are they opening our emails. So, for sending campaigns and things like that, or just even sending off a single email to someone, being able to filter and pull up the leads that have opened and/or clicked on your email in the last X amount of days. So, that's something that we are working on. But for now, it's just based on if they're looking at the listings that you're sending them.
Tara: 51:15
That's good.
Crystal: 51:17
Yeah, so what is most asked? Yes: lead registers, opens all emails and checks properties, but when I'm calling them, they don't take calls or say: I got the property, or just looking. That's normal. That's all part of the game. So yes, some people will buy or go onto your website, and they're registered, they've already bought something, or by the time you're talking to them, they've already bought something. And we have to be okay with that. You are building a database at the end of the day. And guess what, they're probably going to move again at some point. So, it's just keeping them, you know, whether it's a drip, or newsletter, or what have you, if you're part of a board that offers sold listings, so if you're part of TRREB, Vancouver, we're working on Edmonton right now, there's, I think those are the main ones, there might be one or two in the States. Offer them sold listings. Congratulate them. Be happy for them, that, you know, they were able to find a house in such a tough market and then offer if they want those sold listings, but you want to receive regular, you know, updates of the homes that sell in your neighborhood so you can see what they're actually selling for, you can keep an eye on on the values that are going to affect the value of your home, right? So, there are different ways to continue to offer that customer service and potentially win them over for the next time or gain referrals from them.
Navita is just asking about lead alerts. So, lead alerts, Navita, is just up here, under your user preferences. If you go to your CRM settings, just toggle it on and then make sure you save it. Once you've done that, just hit refresh, and you should see the tab pop open if it's not already there.
Tara: 53:12
Perfect.
Crystal: 53:16
So, we have a couple of questions. Yes: Does Tara do personal coaching? If yes, what is the best way to reach out to Tara? Tara does it run That Crazy Thing Called Lead Gen. I believe that's what your domain name is, too, isn't it? Like, Crazy Thing Called Lead Gen.
Tara: 53:35
ThisCrazyThingCalledLeadGen.com, yeah, I do. I do have a coaching program. I will be honest with you. We have a waiting list. And I'm not on this webinar to promote it by any means. I'm here to help all of you convert. But yeah, I do. I do. So, you get access to some of the drips that I do, as well as one on, one time with this old lady to help you be just as big a freak as I am about Pay-Per-Click leads. There is a website they can go on, you know? But I think the biggest thing is, as I'm looking at some of these questions, you know, wow, Tara, how do you do that? It, you know, understand, you know, we're all realtors, and we're all commissioned salespeople. So, you know, I've said this before, I'll say it again, my commission sales hat is always on, you know? We have to be proactive. And I look at this system, and I want to re-emphasize: the Pay-Per-Click leads are really important today because that's where people are, you know? When I first started in real estate, you know, you advertised in the local paper, and that's how you sold your houses because that's where people went. They'd open up the paper, and, you know, the open house section was really big back then. So, you know, when you're investing your own money into each of these leads, then what I want everybody to do is I want them to value their own money that they're spending, you know? Treat this as one of the biggest parts of your real estate business. You've spent $10 on a lead or $8 or $9. Why would you not spend 30 seconds going in and taking a look at Sue, or Bob, or Tracy, or whoever it is, to see what they're doing. And when you start looking at it this way, you will be a better converter. And it doesn't matter how busy you get. There are always 10 minutes that you can open up your dashboard and take a look or browse through the notifications on your phone, right? That's where it stems for me. This is my money. So, I'm going to work it so that I am maximizing my return. And it works.
Crystal: 56:17
I'm going to cover two things before we go here. One is a great question because we are a lot of individuals that I'm noticing right now that I'm having an intro session with them. A lot of individuals that are brand new to real estate are, you know, within the last 24 or 12 months, essentially, some of them are like last month, a lot of those individuals, however, are running rental campaigns, right? So, those are, your cost per lead is lower, low hanging fruit, of course. And it gives them work. It gets them, you know, hitting the pavement, running, talking to people, working transactions, kind of getting their feet a little bit, or toes, wet. Now, Priyanka is asking; she's, you know, she's a month in with AgentLocator. And she's doing both rental and buyer leads. And now, a lot of the rental leads are not qualified, which is hands down normal. When you understand that there are a lot of people you can't help. But how would you, like in a situation where let's say you've generated a rental lead, and you can identify that they're not qualified? How would you handle that situation with somebody that you, just, there's nothing you can really do to help them as much as they want you to help them?
Tara: 57:36
Wow, that's great. That's a great question. So, putting your commission sales hat back on. We don't want to lose these people, right? So, with somebody when it comes to a rental that isn't qualified. First of all, when you're working with rental people, and I say this to my team as well, please don't show them houses unless they have all of the paperwork that they need. We need a job letter. We need pay stubs. We need the rental app filled out. We need a recent credit report. So, make sure you've got all of those things in your hand before you get out, right? If they're not qualified, this is what I do, is I work very closely with my mortgage broker, who has been the same broker that I've referred most of my clients, if not all of them to, for the last 20 years. I will then say: I want you to talk to, you know, Rich, and here's what he's going to help you do. He's going to help you put you on a path to being a homeowner and to being able in the meantime to get into a rental unit sooner than later. Because really, if they're not qualified, this is all about their credit report. So, I'm not here to give them advice. I am not a mortgage broker, nor do I ever give advice that way. But I certainly want to put them to somebody that can help them build a credit report to get them where we need them to be. When you take the time to say: I want to help you, and this will help you, these people will always remember you. And then what I do, Crystal, is then, because probably I've got their home address, now they get treated like all my other people. They get the pop by's with the nice little Easter baskets or whatever. They get the newsletter. They get the Christmas card. So, even though I haven't done business with them, they're still part of Tara Lea real estate, right? And then, when they're ready, they're going to use Tara.
Crystal: 59:41
No, absolutely. And there's, the rental leads are definitely the most rewarding long term. I find that the best relationships that you can gain are out of those rental leads, you know, 100%. It's definitely feasible. A lot of those individuals, yes, it's credit. Sometimes they're trying to look into renting a place that is beyond their means. Like, let's say they only make, let's say, hypothetically $2,000 a month, and rent is, obviously these are not realistic numbers. I say they make 2000 a month and rent is 1500. That's a red flag. That would be a red flag for you if you were a landlord, right? They've only got $500 extra every month to live off of. Like, that's not feasible, right? So, how, one way to kind of look at it is just put your problem-solving hat on, right? Everyone has a problem in one way, shape, or form. In many cases, it's figuring out the solution with them and what resources you can offer them to get them the results that they're looking for.
Tara: 1:00:49
Yeah, yeah. Good. Listen, years ago, on the team that I was on, one of the team members did an ad for, you know, I don't know, maybe just on Kijiji or something for if anybody's looking for rental, let me know. And she actually was able to turn some of them into buyers because a lot of the people that were applying for rentals didn't even realize that they could actually get a mortgage, you know? So, I think there are a lot of opportunities there, but you just want to be careful before you start showing that you've got the paperwork they need.
Crystal: 1:01:29
No, absolutely. And that's where I've instructed anyone I'm doing their intro sessions, and they're, kind of, their intro to the system is if you're doing rentals, talk to your broker because if they're brand new, they're not necessarily going to understand everything. Talk to your broker, but create a template that you can, once you have that conversation, that you can just easily send it off to them, that is outlining what they're going to need to provide you with, some hyperlinks to like Equifax, things like that, making it easier to select, and you're getting that information now before you're out going to look at any properties. And or evaluate and be like: Whoa, I don't think this is going to work, right?
Tara: 1:02:10
It's really important. Yes.
Crystal: 1:02:12
Yes, it is. And then just one quick thing before we go, guys. I know we didn't get to, probably, all the questions. But there was a discussion on the Delete option, okay? So, there's no garbage anymore in your pipeline. So, this just actually released yesterday. You should be all getting a video on all of this within, I'm going to say, the next 48 hours on the recent update. Your deleted leads are now classified as archives. So, we've archived your leads. What this does, and the reason why we did this, is many, many people will delete a lead for their own reason, or mark them as garbage for their own reason, or delete them, and the lead ultimately becomes active. If they're looking at listings and then like: I can't find my lead. So, we can restore them, they were never actually fully deleted, and now they're archived. So, when you archive a lead, what it does is we mentally, we don't want to see that lead, right? We're like: Hey, we're done. I don't want to see them. I don't want them convoluting my dashboard. So, what that actually does is if you go into your pipeline, you'll actually be able to search and pull up all those archived leads. They're just not going to fill up your other filters or dashboard because you've marked them as archives. So, you're always able to find them if they become active again.
The other is the, you have the different nurturing, right? You also have the non-responsive. You can set this, okay? So, again, you're going to have this in your user preferences if you go to your CRM settings. So, if you go down, you now have different tools. So, you can actually have it so that now if somebody responds to your email, do you consider that made contact? Would you want your pipeline to move to make contact if a lead responds to your email? Some of you will, some of you won't. Same idea with the SMS. Some people consider I've made contact with the lead once I've only spoken with them, not just texted them. So, again, you have, we have that kept on yes because that's how it is now, but you do have the ability to change it. And then the non-responses. So, if you don't want the automatic pipeline status changing, you can turn it off. However, you can basically indicate how many attempts before that pipeline would automatically switch and whether it's ten attempts of both calls and SMSs, or just calls or SMS. So, those are some of the more recent updates in there with respect to those new pipeline statuses. But, yeah, you should all be getting an email about that. I just created the videos yesterday on what they exactly were, so it's just now the team formulating everything and blasting it out to you guys because I know you've all likely, anyone that's been in the system has noticed that, I can imagine. And, yes. No one's ever deleted. You can also change the made contact with those inbound emails, which I know a lot of people have been asking about that one specifically. So, perfect. Well, thank you, Tara. Thanks, everyone, for popping in today. And thank you for your questions.
Tara: 1:05:39
I like the Q&A. It's good. Yes.
Crystal: 1:05:43
Yes. Yeah, no, it's definitely, definitely good. Somebody that gives you a bad number and a bad email, just archive those people. Okay, so just mark it as invalid and archived. And that way, if they end up on your website again, then it's going to prompt them for a good phone number. Awesome. Thanks, everyone. We'll see you. Thank you, Tara. And we'll see you all in a couple of weeks.
Tara: 1:06:05
In two weeks. Thank you.
Crystal: 1:06:06
Have a good day. Bye, guys