Special offer

Real Estate Lead Follow-Up Tips: How to Convert More Leads

By
Real Estate Technology with Chime

There are a handful of sales statistics floating around that are designed to inspire persistence. Most sources will claim 70 to 80 percent of leads drop off after the first call or half of leads are never touched. Although leads abandon sales funnels at each stage and agents sometimes have too many leads to handle, these popular figures are a poor representation of actual sales data!

However, behind every myth lies the hidden truth — in reality, the secret is to know how frequently to call, text, and email your leads before overwhelming your prospects with spam. Read below for tips on following up with your real estate leads to get the most out of your pipeline.

Automate Timely Follow-ups

The key to making your lead generation efforts worthwhile is to make sure the first contact attempt to a new prospect is made in a timely manner. According to a National Association of REALTORS® study on home buyers and sellers, 70% of people will hire the first agent they talk to. Your lead conversion rate will be directly related to how quickly you can contact your leads. The simple act of placing a phone call to a new prospect within a minute can increase your likelihood of conversion.

One of the best ways to stay in front of leads is by automating your first touch. Without the right technology to automate the frontline work, you’re wasting time by manually contacting each lead while bleeding potential sales!

“Leads that are contacted within 5 minutes are 21 times more likely to convert,” MIT, Lead Response Management Study

The Science of Follow-up Frequently

When a lead first comes into your CRM, the probability for a successful connection rises with each following touch. From Leadsimple.com and Velocify, 48% of leads pick up the phone on the first call attempt, 81% pick up the phone by the third attempt, and 95% of leads will pick up the phone by the sixth attempt. However, not all lead follow-up strategies perform the same for every agent.

In order to see the actual health of your follow-up efforts (and your overall lead conversion strategy), you’ll need have a system to track engagement touch by touch. Make sure to track and measure your efforts in order to maximize growth and optimize pain points in your funnel by using the reporting features built into your CRM.

Here is a list of metrics you should track using your CRM:

  • Lead growth, including volume of leads by source and conversion rate
  • Sales volume, including the number of closings
  • Calls, including the number of dials, successful connections, call tagging based on results
  • Texts, including the number of texts sent and replies
  • Emails, including opens, clicks, and replies

It’s important to have a system which automatically monitors the performance of your follow-up strategies so you know which aspects of your lead conversion strategy are working and which need adjusting. Using the right CRM will help you measure your efforts, so make sure to schedule a free demo with a productivity expert to help you better understand how Chime will help you meet your lead conversion goals.

“Not all forms of marketing or prospecting yield the same results. This is where keeping close watch on your own success rates will help you determine exactly what amount of effort is required for each transaction,” excerpt from Nick Dreher in Mindset, Methods and Metrics

Know How and When to Use Your Tools

In addition to time and frequency, you have three primary touch tools to help you execute your lead conversion strategy: Calls, texts, and emails. Regardless of the lead source — whether the lead is from a networking event, a listing portal, or purchased from your franchised or independent broker — knowing how to properly use each of your three tools to convert more leads will be the backbone of your business.

Sign up for a free demo with a Chime productivity expert to learn how Chime’s suite of powerful sales tools will help you convert more leads into appointments.

Sandy Padula & Norm Padula, JD, GRI
HomeSmart Realty West & Florida Realty Investments - , CA
Presence, Persistence & Perseverance

Facts most here have known for a long time. The first to reach the prospect DOES stand the best chance for the business. Have a fun weekend!

Jun 16, 2017 05:19 AM
Richie Alan Naggar
people first...then business Ran Right Realty - Riverside, CA
agent & author

...the one who finds the nest hatches the eggs..."Nests" are all over the place planning to be built and building non-stop. Talk to anyone and they are either sitting on one or know of someone who is

Jun 16, 2017 06:05 AM
Sam Shueh
(408) 425-1601 - San Jose, CA
mba, cdpe, reopro, pe

1. Must quickly try to get hold of the inquiry. Most likely they are also contacting your comeptitors. Time is of essence.

2.  Can recycle leads with another agent after you feel there is a chemistry exposure.  Good leads are hard to come by. With another agent it may just work.

3. The leads that they are 6 months, 1 year away are hard for most agents to work with.  Most of the time it is a waste of time.

Jun 16, 2017 09:24 AM
Lisa @ Chime Technologies

Those are some great points! Though I agree, those long incubation times can be frustrating for an agent. But by proving to those leads so early on in their home buying process that you will be there when they need them, with your prompt responses, you have a better chance at being the agent that comes to mind when they move to the next step.

Jun 20, 2017 07:54 AM
Kimo Jarrett
Cyber Properties - Huntington Beach, CA
Pro Lifestyle Solutions

When does persistence become an annoyance? Dripping by following-up more than 3 times takes away your value as a professional IMO and identifies you as simply a salesperson.

If your lead hasn't responded to your third contact, is it because they don't like you? Continue to annoy them with more follow-up messages and I guarantee they won't like you, yet, we all know that people do business with people they don't like, right? 

Jun 16, 2017 06:21 PM
Lisa @ Chime Technologies

Hey Kimo, 

I agree, you have to test and choose and know your audience. However, Dripping a follow-up doesn't neccesarily mean "Hey, This is Kimo, and I'm checking in on you." Rather, the best drips I've seen work in the industry, is where you provide some value to your prospects: link them an article that could help them ease their fears. Set up property alerts in. Share them some tips and insights that many first-time home buyers may have. 


 


vary up your contacting ways too. Call, text, email, property alerts. Utilize what you have, but a balance is certainly important!


 


The ideal is also to have drip campaigns that automatically stop when the lead responds, and/or a call has been logged.

Jun 16, 2017 08:26 PM
Ron Aguilar

agreed

Jun 30, 2017 07:04 AM
Melissa Spittel
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Westminster, MD
"Achieving Results Together "

There's a fine balance for sure, although prompt follow-up is crucial. We are in a "I want it now society", and the early bird has the best chance of catching the worm. 

Jun 16, 2017 08:26 PM
Lisa @ Chime Technologies

You're right, Melissa! And within that prompt follow-up, the value has to be there. That's where the benefits of having a CRM that can help you track your performance come in – you can see what's working and what isn't. Such an important tool for growth!

Jun 20, 2017 07:53 AM
John Wiley
Fort Myers, FL
Lee County, FL, ECO Broker, GRI, SRES,GREEN,PSA

Thanks for your list of suggestions to improve lead conversion.

I like your ending statement: Know How and When to Use Your Tools

Jun 17, 2017 04:14 AM
Chris Lima
Turtle Reef Realty - Port St Lucie, FL
Local or Global-Allow me to open doors for you.

Great post. I agree that rapid response is key. We live in a world of expected, immediate satisfaction and if we can't provide that, some of those leads will go somewhere else.

Jun 17, 2017 05:35 AM
Carolyn Roland- In Delaware and S. Chester County PA
Independent architectural histor'n - Wilmington, DE
Carolyn Roland, GRI, CRS

This is great advice, but for many agents, it is a goal for service not always one that is followed through.

Jun 17, 2017 10:22 AM
John Juarez
The Medford Real Estate Team - Fremont, CA
ePRO, SRES, GRI, PMN

You have got to love the lead who, when contacted, says: “You are the fourth person who has contacted me. How did everyone get my number?”  Duh! They went on a real estate web site looking for some information and volunteered their contact information. Are they really so naïve as to think that information will not be put to use to contact them…perhaps by more person than one?

Jun 29, 2017 05:01 PM
Dorte Engel
RE/MAX Leading Edge - Bowie, MD
ABC - Annapolis, Bowie, Crofton & rest of Maryland

Dear April,

You win some & lose some. I try to keep contacting people until they tell me to quit doing so.

Jun 29, 2017 07:17 PM
Lisa @ Chime Technologies

Yes, Dörte! It's all about staying on their radar and being consistent on your promise to them, which is to stay in touch.

Jul 03, 2017 03:46 PM
Jeremy Marquez
On to the Next Door 🚪 - Sacramento, CA
ON TO THE NEXT DOOR 🚪

Well put April
Most sources will claim 70 to 80 percent of leads drop off after the first call or half of leads are never touched.

According to a National Association of REALTORS® study on home buyers and sellers, 70% of people will hire the first agent they talk to.

Pick up that phone.
Keep calling.
Make it happen!

This gets me motivated!
I call you close
Let me know if any rainmakers here need callers!

Jun 29, 2017 08:27 PM
Lisa @ Chime Technologies

Thanks, Jeremy! Those statistics are really good to keep in mind and get motivated by! Just 1 more call already puts an agent well ahead of others. We've also seen big returns on drip campaigns - texts/emails. Have you tried those yet?

Jul 03, 2017 03:46 PM
David Wright
Benchmark Realty, LLC - Brentwood, TN
Real Estate Refined

I love calling my leads and when I have solid phone numbers I can convert at a higher rate than most. My dilemma is most of my website generated leads give me wrong phone numbers, bad numbers or no phone numbers at all. I have heard different views on mandatory phone numbers vs volunteer phone numbers when registering with a website. What do you all do, require or not?

Jun 29, 2017 08:52 PM
Laura Cerrano
Feng Shui Manhattan Long Island - Locust Valley, NY
Certified Feng Shui Expert, Speaker & Researcher

Those follow-ups or for all of this works and I love it that it's so effective! Keep striving and keep doing what you do!

Jun 29, 2017 10:46 PM
Lisa @ Chime Technologies

Thank you for the kind words, Laura!

Jul 03, 2017 03:45 PM
Mega Team Real Estate
Realty ONE Group Alliance - San Mateo, CA
San Francisco and Peninsula Real Estate Concierge

Love this. Thanks for sharing. 

Jun 29, 2017 11:42 PM
John Wiley
Fort Myers, FL
Lee County, FL, ECO Broker, GRI, SRES,GREEN,PSA

I believe in the need for a quick response to a lead.

I also think we can become so automated that we lose the personal side of our business.

I try to manage that balance.

Jun 30, 2017 05:50 AM
Lisa @ Chime Technologies

That's a very important balance, John! What tools do you use to automate the less personal tasks?

Jul 03, 2017 03:45 PM
Steve Loynd
Alpine Lakes Real Estate Inc., - Lincoln, NH
800-926-5653, White Mountains NH

So True... my only failure in this relm, is I followed up on every lead as is came in every-day...I would have no time to actually sell real estate and that is the paycheck.

Jun 30, 2017 07:47 AM
Lisa @ Chime Technologies

I can understand how frustrating that must be! TIme is a precious commodity. But you don't have to give up on following up with everyone to get your time back. Have you considered automation? With Chime you can use drip campaigns to automate customized touches, so you can focus more on actually selling real estate while getting those leads warmed up and through your pipeline.

Jul 03, 2017 03:45 PM
Kasey & John Boles
Jon Gosche Real Estate, LLC - BoiseMeridianRealEstate.com - Boise, ID
Boise & Meridian, ID Ada/Canyon/Gem/Boise Counties

Good tips.  I am going to bookmark this an read through it more thoroughly again. _Kasey

Jun 30, 2017 07:50 PM
Lisa @ Chime Technologies

Thank you, Kasey! I hope you find the post useful!

Jul 03, 2017 03:45 PM
Stavrula "Sam" Crafa, RNC,GRI, CDPE, PSA
Future Home Realty - Seminole, FL
Providing the integrity and service you deserve.

I track my lead conversions but not to the extent and detail that you recommend. Good information and thanks for the tips. I need to do a better job of tracking. Happy 4th! 

Jul 03, 2017 07:32 AM
Lisa @ Chime Technologies

Thanks, Sam! I can't wait to hear how the tips help your business!

Jul 03, 2017 03:45 PM
Lanre-"THE REAL ESTATE FARMER" Folayan
Samson Properties - Bowie, MD
I don't make promises.I deliver results.SOLD HOMES

Lead Nurturing is something that I want to be much better at. But Im sldo need the right tool and staff/company that will help me utilize this tool.

Jul 10, 2017 06:57 PM
Inna Ivchenko
Barcode Properties - Encino, CA
Realtor® • GRI • HAFA • PSC Calabasas CA

I agree. Numbers don’t matter as much as results. Focus on conversion strategies over building volume. Because if you’re not setup to convert, the volume won’t help you one bit.

Oct 16, 2017 10:21 AM