97% of Cold Calling is a Waste of Time

Let's warm up those cold tactics with some new insights into increasing your lead generation abilities. A good start is the idea of a hiring a person that is dedicated to making those outbound efforts. Inside Sales Agents, or ISAs, have long been considered a crucial role on successful real estate teams.

Hiring an Inside Sales Agent in Real Estate

As your business grows, you can quickly begin to feel stretched. You and your team may have difficulties finding time to prospect or responding fast enough to leads, so your pipeline and conversion rates can suffer. Hiring an ISA ensures a dedicated person is generating and converting leads in the office while you and your agents are running the rest of your business.

This hire allows you and your team members to focus on your core roles, and they are typically charged with uploading all of the contact information and conversation notes into your database. This frees your team up from most admin tasks, so for example, buyer's agents don't have to worry with anything administrative other than writing up a contract.

The ISA role can vary with experience and job expectations. There are countless pay structures and compensation models to match each unique ISA role. However, the first thing you need to do before hiring is calculate the ROI. It doesn't make sense to hire an ISA for cold-calling purposes if you aren't generating more deals (i.e., money). Here's a handy cost breakdown guide for your real estate business:

Again, this is just a model. Lots of real estate businesses employ and pay ISAs differently. The main objective of this is to ensure positive revenue from hiring an Inside Sales Agent.

Turn Cold Calling into Smart Prospecting

Let's flip that terrible stat. Here's how to turn 97% wastefulness into 80% productivity. Taking a good look at your communication strategies can do some real good for your success rate. It's critical to be informed about your leads, their interests, and to hit them with timely and relevant information. Imagine the following message from a real estate agent:

Hi, my name is Chad and I'm calling to see if you're interested in buying a house.

How likely are you to respond with anything else than, "No, I'm not interested," or with "I'm just looking." Not only are success rates of cold calls low, but they typically cost your business 60% more. Now, let's examine a more tailored approach:

Hi Susie! I noticed you were looking at homes in downtown Charleston, and if you have a free moment this week, I can show you a couple houses of interest. What do you say?

Two things changed in this scenario. First, the real estate agent is addressing the lead by name. He knows who he is calling. Second, he knows what Susie is looking for. By tailoring your message to the interests and behavior of your leads, you increase your chances of a positive sale. In fact, you're 51% more likely to achieve your sales numbers and 80% more productive.

Using a Real Estate CRM for Smart Prospecting

It's critical to have information about your leads at your fingertips. This means utilizing powerful software and the latest technology to make your prospecting so much more effective.

By compiling a list of who the leads are, what areas/price points they're looking at and their timeline, you immediately have a "warm" list of leads to call. You know where to start the conversation and your sales effectiveness rises. This means you can easily create tailored messages to large groups of leads for smarter outreach.

Talk about productivity! 

The Power of Texting vs. Calling

Just a few years ago, InsideSales.com did a study revealing agents who called newly registered leads within five minutes were more likely to turn them into a closed deal. However, a troubling statistic shows that only 5-10% of people pick up the phone. Even with email, you can only expect a 20% open rate. However, with texting, 90% of people both open and respond to texts within five minutes. That is a serious game-changer!

A Multi-Channel Strategy for Prospecting

Using multiple forms of outreach in your marketing efforts can generate much more success in prospecting. The right CRM will let you implement plans that incorporate calls, texts, and emails, and every interaction will be automatically logged in the system so you can stay on top of to-dos and know exactly where each leads stands in the process.

Here's a sample template for a basic smart prospecting plan:

• Call within the first five minutes if possible. This is important since you or your customer team could potentially speak with them while they are still on your site and explain further valuable search tools on the website.
• Answer: Ask the most important question.
• Doesn't Answer: Leave a voicemail (scroll down for suggestions).
• If the lead does not answer, you can send a text message (scroll down for suggestions) and continue to call at a steady, but subtle, rate over the next few weeks.
• If you have an email address, your lead also needs to be on a drip email plan.

Touch Phone Call Example Scripts:

This situation would occur if a lead registered on your site or a third-party site with at least their name and contact information. This example assumes you have basic information about what they are looking for.

Questions:

Hi, may I speak with [First Name]? How are you today?

I received your contact info from your recent registration on my site, and I wanted to follow up with you quickly in case you had any questions about any of the homes you were browsing through.

When are you looking to buy? I can set you up for eAlerts so you are the first to find out about new listings that fit your preferences. Even if you don't want to buy now, it's always good to see what's out there in your price range.

Are you still interested in the [area name] around [price point of the home they were looking at]? If so, are you working with an agent already?

I actually have an area expert for the neighborhood you are looking in. He/She can fill you in on the market for that area, can they give you a quick call later?

Answers:

Yes: Sounds good! Is this the best number to reach you?

No: Is there a better time for me to reach you?

No, don't call: Would you prefer email? I can arrange them so they only come as often as you like with the listings in your price range and area.

No, don't contact me: I completely understand. Definitely take advantage of the site's search tools and if you see anything you want more information on in the future, we are here to help!

First-touch Voicemail Script:

Hi [first name], this is [your name] calling from [your company name]. I wanted to quickly check in and make sure you didn't have any further questions about the properties on our website. If so, I would love to help you get a temp of the area you are looking in. My number is [your number here], and I look forward to speaking with you soon.

First-touch Text Script:

If you don't receive an answer to the first phone call, it's always a good idea to send a follow-up text.

Hey [first name]! Wanted to quickly follow-up with your visit to [your website name here] to see if you would be interested in chatting with our agent who has worked in that area for awhile. When are you looking to buy?

Next Steps: Continue conversation with more qualifying questions and attempts to schedule a call.

Alternative Tactic: Social Selling

Hands down, people spend the majority of their time on social media — whether it be Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. These channels are windows into who your leads are, what they're interested in, and even what they're complaining about. This gives you an unfiltered view into what they need, and an easy opportunity to place yourself at the front of their consideration.

With a quick message or response, you can easily spark a conversation that turns into a $300k home deal.

Being Effective at Real Estate Lead Generation

Cold calling is a waste of time. Personalized messages are king when it comes to selling. Keep in mind, the homebuyer (or seller) already has a ton of information at their disposal. They don't need to be sold on what they want — they already know what they want! They want to know that you're going to provide personalized service for them. Hence, smart prospecting.

To view the original article, visit the BoomTown blog.