How convenient would it be for any real estate professional if every prospect that came your way was referred to you by someone who says, “Hey, hire <your name here>. That agent is super awesome!” Reality, however, is quite different; and for the most part, agents should allocate a good amount of time and energy in prospecting for real estate leads. With that, it is crucial to make every call count; and understanding a prospect’s motivation will greatly help real estate leads prospectors make the most out of their calls and get that appointment set with the right kind of leads. Motivation is the key driver for anyone to do… well… just about anything. So, understanding a prospect’s motivation is one of the best practices that agents should do since it serves as a barometer to gauge whether or not a home buyer is ready to take the next steps in the home buying process. Often, when an agent gets push-back from a lead, it is because there is something about the prospect’s motivation that the agent did not fully understand. Here are 5 questions that leads prospectors should ask their real estate leads to help understand their level of motivation: What is the motivation for your home search?This is the very first thing that agents should understand. Often, there is an important reason driving the home search—a job transfer, someone who wants to be nearer to family, an elderly couple downsizing, et cetera. Buyers with a real need to buy have a sense of urgency to get things going. Keeping your lead focused on their motivation during your conversation will help make your prospecting calls as meaningful as it is as personal. The last thing you want is to waste your time setting an appointment with a lead who just wants you to bring them around town to view a couple of homes without any real intention of purchasing. How have you been doing your home search?The amount of time and effort that a prospect goes through in their home search will give you a good idea on how motivated they are. Those who would take the effort to go to open houses on top of performing multiple home searches—whether through the internet portals or other whatever means are available—are most likely more motivated to buy. How soon do you need to be in your new home? Timing is another important aspect that agents should know and appreciate. Leads who need to be in their new home within the next 30 days are definitely more motivated to go to the next step in the buying process than those who are 6 months out and beyond. Of course, just because a lead is a few months out does not mean that they are not ready to buy. A follow up question you can ask is if they found a home that perfectly fits their criteria, will they be ready to write an offer. If the answer to that is yes, then you are talking to a very motivated lead. Are you currently renting or do you own your home?The home ownership situation of a buyer is another huge factor that real estate leads prospectors should consider. Renting, for instance, can be double-edge. On one end, renters would have a monthly budget set to pay for their rent, ergo, if an agent can find a home and setup a mortgage plan that equals the buyer’s monthly rent, then we have a lead that has the capacity to pay for a home. On the other hand, a renter can be on a long-term lease and may be unable to buy until the lease expires (unless there’s a clause in the contract that can allow the renter to get off the lease sooner). For homeowners, there are a number of things that a leads prospector should take into consideration as well. Do they need to sell before they buy? How much do they still owe on their home? These questions will determine how ready your prospect is to make that home purchase. Have you spoken with a lending professional?When you go out shopping, it is almost instinctive for you to check if you have your wallet with you—when you find what you want to buy, you got to have enough to pay for it. The same goes for real estate, a truly motivated buyer make sure to get pre-approved by a lender to know how much he/she can afford. If a lead is not yet pre-approved, if they are willing to talk to a lending a professional and get that pre-approval, that is another good sign of a motivated buyer. What is a realistic budget for you every month to pay for your home?Here is a question that not every agent asks—what budget is realistic for you? Even if a buyer lead got pre-approved, the pre-approval is usually based on the numbers that the lender is privy to. However, this does not take into consideration the lifestyle that the prospect may want to maintain. Although the numbers might say a lead can “ideally” afford x-amount for their home, it may entail them to make sacrifices to their current lifestyle—sacrifices that they may not be willing to make in the long run. Every agent should dedicate enough time and effort in understanding the motivation of your real estate leads. The level of motivation of a prospect will determine what kind of service we can provide to our leads: whether to give them the most updated listings to aid them in their home search or set that appointment now to help them fulfill their real estate needs. For more prospecting tips, visit www.RealEstateLeadsProspector.com. Need help managing your leads? Call 407-401-9225 to find out how we can make prospecting easy for you.
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So, it’s been two months since you’ve purchased Infusionsoft, you have a ton of real estate leads in your system, you’ve used it to send a couple of emails here and there, and guess what—you still have no conversions! It can be really frustrating to think that you have spent good money for a glorified filing cabinet-slash-carrier pigeon, but the reality of it is that you have not tapped the full potential of the tool. Infusionsoft has a plethora of features that empower real estate professionals and teams to engage their buyer or seller prospects. One of its key strengths is its versatility in creating and executing powerful email campaigns that can be tailored to fit your business. It’s just a matter of knowing how to get this done.
“No” is not Forever
While having a referral-based business presents a higher chance of getting quality leads on the get-go, having referrals may not be as frequent as you hope it would be. Real estate leads prospecting is the best way to greatly scale your business, but the sad truth is that not everyone you talk to is motivated to buy or sell a home… well, at least for now. Having a well-planned email notification system is a great way to keep in touch with your leads. Engaging with your prospects at the right time and the right frequency lets your lead know that you care enough to remember them, that you haven’t forgotten their interests and/or concerns from your last conversation, and that you’re very much available to help them in their real estate needs all without being too intrusive (and remotely annoying). With this in mind, Infusionsoft allows you to create detailed campaign sequences and map out every phase of your email strategy to reach out to your real estate prospects. This feature makes planning and executing very visual and easy to understand. You can easily create and connect objects much like a flow chart and even set timers to indicate when an event will occur. Remember, “no” is not forever; and you surely want to be the first in mind when your prospect says “yes, I’m ready to buy a home!”
The Two-Pronged Approach
For the most part, when we talk about real estate lead conversion, there is a great focus on the prospect’s motivation. Agreeably, this is an important factor in classifying a lead’s likelihood to convert and help us determine how far out the prospect is in his/her home search. But have you ever thought of looking at the other side of the coin? How about the agent’s motivation? Yes. You read it right. The agent. On this day and age where social media is king—where every successful business thrive on understanding and building relationships with their clients—it comes as a surprise that there are agents out there who do not see the value of prospecting for real estate leads on a regular basis. With Infusionsoft, it is very easy to create workflows that synchronize the events related to lead engagement and the related notifications to the agent in charge. This ensures that all leads are touched on a timely manner and that all parties responsible for the engagement take full ownership of the task.
A Small Investment of Time
This may all seem very complex, but if you and your team allot some time to learn how the tool works, you have a leads prospecting beast ready to be unleashed! Infusionsoft’s knowledge base has everything you need to know to maximize the potential of this email marketing super tool. Furthermore, Infusionsoft’s awesome technical support staff is always available to address any challenges you may have with the platform. Everything can be learned with a small amount of time and effort. Don’t have the time? RealEstateLeadsProspector.com has years of experience and success with Infusionsoft and other real estate marketing platforms. Know how our team can help seamlessly integrate Infusionsoft into your business. Call us at 407-401-9225 or visit www.RealEstateLeadsProspector.com and we will show you how we can make it simple for you to convert your real estate leads to clients and sold homes. |