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Are You an Easy Agent to Reach?

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Real Estate Technology
 
Real estate agents are in the people business, so it's important that you are reachable to your leads and clients. Nothing is more frustrating to a potential seller or buyer or even a current client than to wait on your response. It's one of the top ways to keep great referrals at bay.
 
What agent wouldn't want to be as reachable as possible? You never know what a client will need and how timely your response will be to your benefit.
 
We were inspired, in fact, to touch on this topic because of a recent complaint from a current home seller. This couple from Austin has an agent whom they were referred to, which gave them initial confidence. However, as the days wore on, the agent became less and less available. The challenge for this couple is that they needed to act quickly on a home to align with their personal timeline of selling their current property.
 
The agent would sometimes take two whole business days to get back in touch. The couple would try text, email and even went so far as to contact the agent via Facebook Messenger and their website contact page. They came to find out after asking the agent why he was so unresponsive that he never checked Facebook Messenger nor his website contact page email (it was a different email from his main one to boot).
 
The lesson? However a lead or client has to reach you - respond!
 
With this in mind, here are a few tips for all of the possible ways leads and clients can reach you.

Website Menu Bar

You know that area on every page on your website that includes your logo and navigation? That's a really good spot for you to include your contact information. Many businesses use this primo space so that no matter where a lead goes on your site, your contact information is always there. Be sure that your phone and email are clear and bold enough (but not too bold) so people can find it. Be sure to update it as needed, too. You'd be surprised how many people forget to update this info after it changes!

Contact Us Page

We're sure you have your Contact Us page down pat, but, just to be sure, let's break down what goes into a good Contact Us page.

  • All basic contact information in their own easy-t0-fill fields (name, phone, email, message).
  • Bonus if you include checkboxes for specific inquiries (selling, buying, general, etc.).
  • Ensure that the "Submit" button goes to your
  • If you have specific hours when your office is physically open, then include those as well. However, you can also include verbiage denoting how long it will take you to respond (for example, one business day - but definitely try to get to the sooner than this!).

This is also another great spot to include all of your other communication options. Social media as well as a live chat option will ensure that anyone can reach you.

Live Chat

Live chat is a great way for real estate agents to engage with leads that come to their website right away. It may look complicated at first, but a number of software companies have emerged or improved their services to make it easy for even the most tech-unsavvy agents to use. Live chat may not be for everyone, though. If you have a team agents or an assistant or two who can dive into chats, then this could work well. Some of the benefits of live chat:

  • If you aren't at the office or on the road, you can quickly engage with a lead.
  • Some web visitors may be hesitant to call or email but feel "less committal" just chatting online.
  • You can easily integrate your phone with most live chat software through an easy-to-use-app.
  • You can keep track of where visitors have been coming with solid reports.

Facebook Messenger

With messaging apps out there becoming the preferred method of contact for many people, especially Millennials, it is a good idea to embed them into your website. In particular, Facebook Messenger is a great way to give your leads quick, personable access to you without feeling like they need to pick up the phone – at first. Facebook added the ability to include a Messenger widget into business’ websites to communicate more easily with clients and leads. They send the first message, and from there on out, you can both send messages through your mobile app or on your desktop.
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Comments (1)

Joan Cox
House to Home, Inc. - Denver Real Estate - 720-231-6373 - Denver, CO
Denver Real Estate - Selling One Home at a Time

I have done business when many agents that will not answer their phone, and responses to emails take days.   

Dec 15, 2017 02:23 PM