Tech May Bring Them, But It’s You That Closes Them.

We live in a world of distractions. The media, news, entertainment, technology tools and social media are constantly bombarding us from all directions. It’s easy to get sucked in to all the cool, shiny new ways to attract leads. While tech is great for attracting leads, don’t become so distracted that you forget to practice the skills and habits that close them. In this highly connected world, it’s more important than ever to hone your relationships and your personal selling techniques.  Lots of people can use the same lead technology, but there is only one you. Use that to set yourself apart.

Use Technology To Stay Connected

Make sure you have a good CRM. This is the best way to keep your contacts organized and keep track of your communications with them so you don’t lose touch. If you stay out of touch too long, it opens the door for a client to become connected with someone else and call on them when they need something. A good CRM is the perfect example of a tech application that blends automation and good sales techniques. Use the automation and calendaring features to:

• Send personal notes celebrating birthdays or anniversaries or just to see how they are doing or if they or someone they know are ready to make a move.
• Disseminate useful information related to their home or friendly updates about your business.
• Invite guests to your Open Houses and keep track of your visitors.
• Keep track of your phone call outreach.
• Automatically receive leads from your lead gen source.
  
  

Successful business owners understand that it takes some effort to learn these tools, but they use them regularly and teach and encourage their agents to do the same. The use of these tools actually helps you automate your business and have more freedom to spend one-on-one time forging new connections. Use technology to replace functions of your business that give you and your team more time and opportunity to make great connections within the community.

Use Technology That Showcases Your Personality

It’s no secret. People want to do business with people they feel a connection with and can trust. That is especially true when it comes to one of their biggest assets – buying or selling their home. The best way to stand out is to utilize technology that allows your personality to shine. Use video to share real estate tips or your knowledge about the neighborhoods you work in. Post them on Facebook or use a video email service, such as BombBomb to communicate. This will help humanize you and make you more memorable than a static post or email.

Don’t Forget Your Hustle

Lead generation sources are focused on one thing…selling leads. And they are happy to sell the same lead to you and the 10 other agents in town if you are willing to buy them. Customers typically work with the first agent they speak with. So make sure that agent is you. This means picking up the phone when it rings and not waiting to respond to that email. Don’t be so busy that you don’t have time to be responsive. Yes, you may have to speak with a few frogs, but you never know when that awesome lead is going to come to you and you need to be ready.

Be Smart About Lead Gen Options

Make sure the lead gen options you choose are truly productive for your business. How qualified are the leads you are receiving? Do you have to pay for them up front? What is your close rate on the leads you do receive? If it’s not good or you don’t know, you may be spinning your wheels and wasting valuable time and money. This can distract you and make you unavailable when the quality leads do come to you. Make sure you are spending your time and money on the right things.

Always Keep It Personal

No matter what technology and lead sources you use, don’t lose sight of the personal touch. Don’t let the technology do all the work. Find ways to use it to reach your customers in personal ways or use those applications that allow your personality to shine through. You are your product and people can’t buy if they don’t know you. As Jim Weichert always says, “People buy people, before buying a product or service.”

Conviction & Consistency Are King

At Weichert, we believe that tech is critical, but must be complemented by proven and successful sales activities. From a technology and lead generation perspective, Weichert associates and affiliates are automatically provided with its proprietary CRM and can qualify to receive leads from its lead center. Weichert invests heavily to attract online leads that are then screened by its call center. This helps connect the most qualified prospects to its agents. Those leads feed automatically into the Weichert CRM. Additionally, Weichert provides a blueprint of best prospecting and sales practices, together with qualified suppliers to help its offices and agents stay connected with prospects.

When you approach tech with the right frame of mind, stay true to your mission statement and core values and deliver value to your community, you will never have to worry about how fast tech changes or its impact on the industry. Don’t be concerned with change, as much as you are maintaining consistency and staying connected with your clients.

For more information on how Weichert systems can set you up for technology and beyond, go to https://www.weichertfranchise.com or call 877-567-33350.

This content originally published at https://bit.ly/2J7VPzF

From Conversation to Conversion – Strategies that Work

Much of our energy as real estate professionals goes into figuring out how to get in front of more clients. How to be involved in more transactions in our markets, and how to get that first call when someone is looking to buy or sell.

Equally important, however, is what you do with that call or conversation once you manage to get it. In 2019 let’s remember, too, that many of those conversations aren’t on the phone. They occur through social media, email responses, text messages, LinkedIn connections, Facebook messenger, etc. And each comes with their own set of protocols, expectations, and best practices.

Here are some thoughts from the experts at Weichert Franchising on both old and new strategies for making the most out your opportunities, however they come to you.

In 2019, Consumer Attention Spans Continue to Shorten.

 

Most people will recognize that this has been going on for most of the last decade as the generation raised in all things digital has come of age. This phenomenon has set the bar for responsiveness in the real estate industry ever higher and expanded the number of ways in which effective brokers and agents must respond.

Response time is King – Studies by NAR and others have shown that conversion rates drop significantly  when lead response takes over 5 minutes.  With over 50% of new home buyers reaching out through online inquiries, systems for reaching an agent require a responsiveness that many brokerages are not prepared to handle.

One way to compete, is to team up with a resource that is equipped to receive and respond to leads in a way that meets today’s expectations. Weichert has always placed a value on consumer responsiveness. Even in 2002, when it set up its first national call center, it knew this was critical to the sales process. This service is an advantage to both its company-owned and affiliate offices. Today, this fully integrated lead system continues to attract leads through its online advertising strategy and web presence, respond quickly to inquiries and then qualify them before passing them to an agent. Our national call center responds to all calls, queries, emails and forms that come in through the Weichert.com website within 3 minutes. During this processes these leads are professionally screened and routed to a live agent. With our newest technology, lead information can be populated directly into the Weichert CRM for immediate access by agents to manage. Systems like this insure that no lead opportunity is lost in the journey from lead to client.

Leads Don’t Just Call or Email Anymore

In all kinds of sales there is an old adage, “think before you dial!” With so much opportunity coming in through social media and other digital and mobile sources, the adage certainly needs an update, but the idea is the same. Working leads through social or mobile sources can take some time to bring them to the point of committing to a phone call or even giving you’re their contact information. It could take 8 or more attempts, so persistence is important. On this journey, an agent’s ability and willingness to provide genuinely helpful advice and information will help establish credibility and trust. Agents should be mentally prepared for these interactions, just like a phone call, respecting both the channel of contact, as well as the nature of the outreach.

This means coaching your agents to have good social media profiles, response scripts if they need them, a CRM to record contact activity and mobile connectivity to respond and provide service promptly. A franchise partner like Weichert helps brokerages with the right systems, technology and coaching to compete.

Being prepared to handle both traditional phone and email requests, as well as social and digital leads puts your team on the path to a conversion strategy that leaves no lead behind. No matter where the lead comes from, your agents should always have one goal in mind – asking for the appointment. 

How Does Your Conversion Strategy Compete?

How much are you investing to attract leads? How quickly are your agents able to respond to leads? Do you offer them a way to track their contact activity? Do you have online content to help them nurture social and online leads? It can be daunting to try to pull it all together on your own, but a franchisor such as Weichert can offer your brokerage a one stop shop to help your agents compete. Bring your local expertise, plug into our systems and enjoy the results. If this sounds like something you would be interested in for your brokerage, contact Weichert Franchising today at 877-746-8807 or go to weichertfranchising.com for more information.

Original content posted on: https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/from-conversation-to-conversion-strategies-that-work/