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8 Qualifying Questions for the Internet Prospect

Tire kicker

If you have been working internet leads for any amount of time you are probably well aware of the importance of pre-qualification. Quite honestly, there are whole lot of people out there willing to waste your time with little chance of a sale. Here are a few pre-qualifying questions that I have found useful.

1) Are you interested in a home or condo?

I like to start off with a question about the type of property that they are looking for? If they mentioned in their inquiry that they want a home then I will change it up and ask something about the home they want. I think it sets the right tone that you want to help them find the right property. If you start off grilling them with questions about financing, when are they going to buy, do they need sell etc. it could be a turn off.

2) When are you looking to purchase?

No need to drop everything for a prospect that is looking to buy in 6 months. I've seen it happen.

3) What is a comfortable price range?

Quite often people will email me about the type of home they are looking for but won't say how much they want to spend. Perhaps, they are embarrased or something. Not sure why. There is no point in sending $1 million dollar homes for sale if their price range is $250k.

4) Have you arranged financing or will you be paying cash?

Pretty important question these days. Strangely enough some Realtors don't ask it.

5) Is this an exploratory trip or are you ready to buy?

Sarasota, Florida is a popular second home destination. So people like to come down for a weeks vacation and grab a Realtor to look at property. Even if they are not really looking to buy. If they are buyers quite often they purchase the second trip after the initial exploratory trip.

6) Are you working with a Realtor yet?

It is not uncommon for someone to make appointments with more than one Realtor. This is good to know ahead of time. You still may work with this prospect but you might not give them 100%.

7) Have you been to Sarasota before?

If they have not been to my city before there is a pretty good chance this trip is more about exploring the city. Do you really need to show 20 properties to someone who is just learning the area and not really ready to buy? Probably not.

8) Do you need to sell a home prior to buying?

Have you ever shown a bunch of home to a prospect only to have them say, "We like 1234 Siesta Drive & 4321 Osprey Lane. Now we just need to get back home and put our house on the market."

This is just a few of the questions I might ask. What do you guys ask?

Marc Rasmussen selling Sarasota real estate. Visit www.LuxurySarasotaRealEstate.com.

Posted by Marc Rasmussen - Sarasota Real Estate on 10/19/2009 09:54 AM

Comments (41)

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41 Comments on 8 Qualifying Questions for the Internet Prospect

OCT

Very good advice! Internet leads can be a hit or miss. Nice tips!

Marc,

Those are pretty much all of the questions I ask right up front. It does save me alot of time and money to screen the calls carefully before filling my gas tank and spending the weekend with non-buyers. A frustrated "tire kicker weary" collegue and I were discussing this very subject recently! Thanks for the refresher!

Barbara

Newport, Oregon

Good post.

Internet leads have driven me up the wall and I've found that they are more time consuming then their return is worth.

Great tips Marc. Internet leads can really waste time if they are not "actual" buyers. Unfortunately, we all learn this the hard way! Spending too much time for them to disappear into the great world wide web....

Love you qualifying questions!

Marc - As a mortgage gal who works mostly with buyers, I HAVE to ask a lot of questions, especially if the lead has made a reference to one of the programs that I offer. I can usually tell in 10 minutes of talking with someone whether or not there is a chance in hell of me helping them.

With some very specific questions, I can also determine if the lead is even someone I want to work with. I get a lot of calls and I don't have a team of minions running my business, it's just me and my processor (who is an absolute GODDESS). I have to weed out the ones I can't help or the ones who don't want my help.

OCT

And for the out of state relocating buyer, 'do you know what a buyer's agency agreement is'. There seems to be a trend of some californina based buyers relocating who like to have multiple brokers working for them bringing them properties. They then contact the listing agent directly and negotiate the commission down since the listing agent will be getting both sides.

Time Is Money.

My business model is home buyer's, your questions are right on. These days I really push for pre-approval before I start showing homes. Some buyer's will say that will not be a problem getting pre-approved, my come back is I require that they be pre-approved. I let them know I do it for my saftey (since we have not meet face to face) and that they need to understand what they qualify for or what their house payment will be. If they are not willing to speak with a lender at that point then I don't waste my time.

These are all great questions and I ask them too! I ask them in different order depending on the prospect and how it is "feeling". If we ask all of these in the first conversation we can cut out a lot of time wasted and help our clients more effectively. Thanks for the post!

I think you are on the right track with those points. interenet leads can be very trick to work with at times

Thanks for the questions.

Whenever possible we encourage an office visit prior to showing. I think it increases efficiency and decreases risk.

Perfect list of things we need to know.....I am not as direct in my questioning, doesn't fit my personality. But I can see a purpose in asking these questions in the internet form itself.

Excellent list. We are a second home and retirement destination - I always ask how much time they will be spending in the home and at what time of year. And do they golf or swim - recreation is a big selling point here.

All are very good points and I especially agree with Stuart " Buyers Agency" or "Buyer Broker " Agreements are a great tool, I have seen a lot of this and it lets you know if your client is willing to make a committment to you before you spend you time.

Qualifying leads is crucial in saving one's time...

All good questions that can save you a lot of time when trying to sell a home.

handled properly, Internet leads can be a wonderful addition to yoru company revenue stream... but knowing how to convert them to real vs. virtual people is the key... an inquisition will rarely work, so while clarifying these questions, and then some, is a good thing to do in order to avoid wasting time, a bit of care should be taken, as you could scare awway the few good leads you get.

We convert about 10% of our leads to clients, and close business on almost all we convert... that now totals about 80% of our closed transactions... so I have to say to some that think they are a waste of time, if you drop them, you are likely reducing your business by 80%...

That said, the first contact(s) are key to the transformation from virtual to real. Clear up these issues, but do it in a way that does not make the buyer think you are an ass... ;-)

One qualification: we do not get so many listing leads from the Internet... but a huge number of buyer leads... as many Realtors think that dealing with Buyers is a dull prospect at best (the old phrase "Buyers are Liars comes to mind) we find that this is a more profitable enterprise than listings... although it does take some road time to deal with...

All good questions; Internet leads are the same as any other lead - we need to respond quickly and qualify all buyers and sellers. And yes, some buyers are liars but so are lots of other people; all we can do is ask the questions and use our best judgement. I still hear agents ssy "you never know" but we do...

All important and pertinent quesitons, Marc. It is so important to qualify buyers, especially ones you've never met in person. I have a website where I get plenty of leads but the percentage that qualify and actually buy a home is miniscule. I don't know how others feel but I have found a lot of internet users to be disloyal -- they are searching other sites, don't put down their phone numbers or give you a bum phone number, find a cheap home they like but you find out they have awful credit scores, no money for a downpayment and as you alluded to -- are time wasters. On the other had, the ones who have followed through have been responsible, reilable and loyal to work with. So it seems to me either they are very serious or they aren't, doesn't seem to be much in-between.

We must always remember an internet lead is a 5 star prospect until they prove otherwise.

Marc - these are great questions to ask upfront. Pre-qualifying buyers is so important to avoid wasted time.

Those questions are not just apropriate for internet leads, but every buyer lead, great post!

Marc,

Great Post. This definitely a great list of questions to qualify prospects.

Thanks for sharing,

Matt Naumann

Marc, these are all great reminders of what to ask web leads. It is always frustrating trying to help someone who doesn't fit into all three of ready, willing, and able. Our time is so valuable!

Hi Marc, Great list. Striking a balance between engaging them and converting them to a serious prospect is the key. Well done !

How to go Mark, great advice

Nice post Mark, great advice and qualifying questions for prospect. thanks for sharing!

I like that -What is a comfortable price range?

Mine's always been - What price range are you considering?

I was happy to see I am on the same page for the rest of the questions as well. Joy

Marc, I love the way you ask the Pre-Qual question. I'm going to be passing these questions along to our Buyer's Agents.

I agree. I sometimes in my excitement forget to ask all of the questions and it often comes back to bite me.

OCT

Those questions are very similar to what I ask rental prospects and web inquiries from Craigslist aqnd my web site...all VERY important and the answers allow us to better serve their needs even if they do not know what their needs are specifically!

Marc, that's a great set of questions and I love tire kicker picture....lol! Now I would love to hook them up to a lie detector test while they are answering...unfortunately for me, even with the best qualifying questions I wasted plenty of my time believing lies! Great post!

Great advice and suggestion questions. Time is money.

We're a resort/second home market, too. "Are you looking at other areas" is a key one because it lets you know if you should be focusing on the good points of the area or if you should be focusing on specific properties.

OCT

Great prequal questions Marc. I think this has saved me lots of time and gas.

OCT

Great questions. I especially like the order, very important. You aren't getting to the financing until question 4 that is pretty awesome.

Marc - It is amazing to me that agents attempt to "work" without asking these questions. Thanks for the list.

OCT

Great questions and I like the order.

NOV

Yes, it amazes how irritated "buyers" get when you ask these questions sometimes. this is a sure signal that they aren't serious. they don't want us to treat this like a job. it's our business.

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