Between closings, showing properties, listing presentations, etc., it is too easy to neglect the lifeblood of your business - feeding your pipeline with new leads. This so often suffers, is placed on the back burner, or is not given the proper attention.  Many agents mistakenly miss the crucial step of following up with prospects effectively, thereby losing valuable leads. We have identified some of the most common mistakes agents make during the follow-up process, and have developed strategies to help you avoid them.  Some of the most frequent missteps include: failing to respond to new leads promptly, being unprepared to handle objections from prospects, and failing to qualify your leads.

Understanding the Importance of Response Time

When the phrase “timing is everything” was originally coined, it was probably not referring to Call Capture. However, according to a recent study by the Keller Institute at Baylor University, it very well could have been.

http://www.baylor.edu/business/kellercenter/index.php?id=55741

We highly recommend you take some time to look over the entire study.  It’s a stunning look at how agents chase traditional and obsolete methods of advertising without truly understanding their return on investment.  Take a look at their findings on response time and conversion:

At Arch, we have a Call Coordinator Service, which has enabled us to place tens of thousands of live phone calls to interested prospects only minutes after their initial inquiry. Not surprisingly, our results are right inline with the Baylor study.

This illustrates the importance of initiating contact with a prospect while your product or service is still fresh in their thoughts. Prospects will be more receptive to your call if they are in the mindset of real estate.

Using this information, we designed a follow-up template which greatly increases your ability to contact prospects while they are still in the maximum conversion period:

• 1^st Attempt- 7 to 10 minutes after access to the Powerline™ system
• 2^nd Attempt- 1 to 2 hours after the initial contact
• 3^rd Attempt- Same day between 5 and 7 pm
• 4^th Attempt- 24 Hours after initial call

If you stick with this schedule you will be able to consistently contact over 80% of the callers into your Powerline™.

We have also developed some follow-up schedules for after-hours calls and weekend/holiday leads, along with scripts to help ease your dialogue with prospects.  Just let us know if you are interested and we’ll get those out to you.  Next, we will explore how to properly qualify prospects once they are identified.

Arch Telecom  210 Barton Springs Road, Suite 275, Austin, TX 78704 

800-882-9155  www.archtelecom.com