Special offer

Fast Responses are the Quickest Way to Closing More Transactions

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with HouseHunt.com DRE# 01297932

Add first responder to the tasks required of successful real estate agents. Relax. There’s no need to rush out and get CPR training or learn the Heimlich maneuver. You just have to have a quick trigger finger when it comes to responding to leads.

A recent study by a company called Lead Response Management broke down response times into hours and minutes with surprising results. Agents who respond to leads within five minutes have a 93% chance for follow-up success, with the figure plummeting to 3% for someone who waited half an hour. Even the difference between five and 10 minutes was significant, with the success rate dropping from 93% to 23% during that five-minute span.

The reason an agent’s chance of making contact with a lead is better in the first five minutes is because the potential client is thinking about real estate and likely still on the computer searching for homes. This means they’re in a good frame of mind for a contact and likely have the time to respond to your message or answer the phone.

Also, when you call a lead quickly, the potential client isn’t going to forget that they registered on your website and will know who you are on first contact. If the phone number on the registration form is legitimate, they’re essentially saying that they’re open to being called and serious about looking for a home.

Continue Reading on The HouseHunt Agent Blog

 

Read more best practices for Realtors
Posted by

 

 

Curtis Van Carter
Better Homes & Gardens Wine Country Group - Yountville, CA
Your Napa Valley Broker Extraordinaire

Jaime

Based upon what you have included in your post, it is something to think about. Still, five minutes for a response seems like an awful short time amount and is often hard, if not impossible, to do. thanks for the interesting post and cheers cvc

Feb 20, 2012 03:02 AM
Patrick White
Home Driven Realty, Inc - Baldwin, NY
Driven to bring New Yorkers home

Good Afternoon Jaime

Thanks for the post and information. Have a great day

Feb 20, 2012 03:16 AM
House Hunt
HouseHunt.com - Huntington Beach, CA

 

Hi Curtis,

 

You are right in that it is hard at times to respond as quick as 5 minutes. What the survey showed was by responding that quickly you have more of a chance to actually reach the person in the first call. I personally have many agents that work our leads and call them within 30 minutes and still do very well closing good business.

 

 Given most agents do not call back at all, your odds are still good. The hardest part with internet buyers is trying to get them on the phone to build  a personal relationship.The probability is higher that they will still be on your site if you call within 5 minutes. If you call them back 30 min to an hour later., they will have moved on to other things and you will have to call them multiple times to reach them.

 

 All you can do is your personal best and challenge yourself to make new habits when working with internet leads. They are a different animal than traditional buyer’s and when you are investing good money to get lead opportunities, the most important thing is conversion.And to get high conversion, response time is 100% key.

 

Feb 21, 2012 01:58 AM