In the world of real estate, one deal can be worth an 8-figure sum, but if you don’t answer the phone to that lead, then you can wave goodbye to any chance of closing the deal. While your sales team might be considered the most important cog in the wheel, have you stopped to consider if you are supplying your sales execs with enough deals to close?
In this article, we’ll look at where real estate leads are lost, and how real estate companies can prevent this from happening.
Where Do Real Estate Agents Lose Leads?
Phone
Doing business over the phone could be considered a dying art in most industries, but real estate companies can still expect to receive a number of their enquiries over the phone, so it’s important to consider if you are missing out on any phone call leads. If all your team are busy when the phone rings or a lead rings outside of office hours, it’s easy to see how the missed phone enquiries can add up.
Website
The majority of real estate companies will see the bulk of their leads come through their website, so it’s imperative that websites are optimised for user experience. Don’t just assume that because leads are coming through your website, there couldn’t be more leads. Issues preventing more enquiries can include things like slow load speed and a lack of call to action buttons.
Social Media
The modern way to enquire is through a social media DM. But while most real estate agents are active on social media, ask yourself if you are responding to enquiries within hours. If not, there’s a good chance that you’re losing the lead to a competitor.
How To Prevent Lost Leads
CRM
CRM or customer relationship management systems help businesses to track interactions with their customers and leads. It tracks contact details and interactions, which can then help to separate customers into different segments. If you have a marketing department, this will all be extremely useful information and can be integrated into a bespoke marketing strategy for each different segment.
For example, you might decide that individuals who are current clients receive priority emails about upcoming properties. Those who are yet to become clients might be better served by hearing about the latest award you won or how much money you’ve made for other property investors.
Phone answering service
The next investment you should consider is outsourcing your phone calls to a phone answering service. Companies like Posh can ensure that your company has a dedicated call handler to answer every call, including calls during peak periods and those that come in outside of office hours.
Even if none of your staff are available, a virtual receptionist can take details and even answer commonly asked questions. This can often be enough to satisfy leads before one of your team conducts a more thorough follow-up the next day.
Nurture, don’t abandon
If a lead doesn’t turn into a closed deal, there can be a tendency to abandon that particular lead and move on to chasing the next. The truth is that particular lead may not be ready to convert at that point in time, but that’s not to suggest it could be a different story a few months down the line.
With real estate deals being such high value, you can’t expect investors to jump into deals. Instead, you may need to be prepared to track leads over the course of months if not years. Instead of abandoning them altogether, find ways to retarget them so you can stay fresh in their mind ready for when the time comes for them to convert. This doesn’t have to be digital either; inviting lost leads to physical networking events is a great way to keep in contact and discuss any concerns that prevented them from becoming a client the first time round.
Final Thoughts
With so many channels these days, it’s easy for leads to slip through the cracks. But whether you’re missing out on social media enquiries or phone calls, putting a stop to this could be the quickest way to improve business performance and unlock new levels of growth. When thinking about ways to prevent leads being lost, see it as an investment rather than an expense: an investment that could pay you back ten times over.
