Sales as Service

Hello Tigers!

My name is James Pippin, Director of Business Development at TigerLead.  If I haven’t met you before, I look forward to the opportunity at this year’s upcoming TigerLead Success Summit, our annual customer event (April 23 & 24 in Las Vegas).  I work in the Business Development Department helping new TigerLead customers purchase licenses for lead generation, and always welcome the chance to assist you however I can.

This week, I wanted to cover a concept that is likely very familiar to many of you–the idea that sales is a service profession, and specifically, how you can use Service Based Selling to engage your “dead” leads and turn them into active clients.

So, let’s look at things from the client point of view.  There are two things you can assume about your potential customers:

• They have not gotten all their needs met in the real estate world, and they have decided that you, someone like you, or something like your webpage can help them.

• They don’t know anything about you.  You’re a stranger.  In fact, you’re a stranger they met via the internet who is calling and emailing them.  Scary stuff.

So, your follow ups have to build trust, becoming less “stranger-like” and more friendly. You also have to constantly remind your customers that they have needs, problems, issues that you can help them with, that you can make easier, and that you can resolve.

These follow ups should demonstrate value without any sales pitch, but with an offer to help further that builds trust and asks them to engage with you.  Following are three different examples of follow up emails.

This first example email “helps” by giving information about upcoming open houses, but also reminds the customer that you are paying close attention to the market.

Good afternoon David,

I wanted to let you know that the Mount Washington neighborhood has had an unusually large number of homes coming on the market this month–around 45–and several of those are in the $400,000-$450,000 price range.  

In fact, there are 6 open houses scheduled this weekend in a 1 mile radius.  Would you like me to send you the addresses of those properties, and the times they are open?

Hope you and your family are well!

James

The next email “helps” by making the customer aware of an easier way to search for homes (a feature that is, indeed, coming soon!), while reminding them that there are probably homes they would miss if they didn’t use your webpage.

Hi Ann,

You may have seen this already, but on my search website, you can now search for homes on the mapping feature itself.  In fact, you can draw a shape around the neighborhoods in which you want to search, and the system will display all the homes for sale on the map itself, in that area.

Have you had a chance to try this out?  Let me know if you need your password reset or any help logging back on to the search site.

Have a terrific weekend,

James

This final example “helps” by providing an article about a topic in which the customer likely has an interest, while reminding them that you are a source of knowledge about pricing in the market.

Good morning Ashley,

I hope you’re having a good start to the year!  I wanted to ask if you would like a copy of the 2013 “Renovations That Pay Off” report?  Our office received them specifically for the Los Angeles market this week.  It details the updates to homes in our area that pay off the most in terms of return on investment.  There are some surprises in the report, so I wanted to offer to pass it on.

Just let me know what email address to send that to, if it’s of interest.  Please let me know if you have any questions!

Best regards,

James

How long should you continue coming up with new email follow ups that are professionally persistent and helpful?  As long as it takes.  This means follow up with your leads until they buy from you!  Or, until they ask you not to contact them anymore.  Remember, your leads needed you at one point, and every time they get a new, helpful email in their inbox, it makes you more and more like a friend and less like a stranger.

Finally, to ensure that your messaging comes across as service oriented and not sales oriented, I recommend that you try this type of follow up using a simple plain-text email, just as if you sat down at your computer and typed it up specifically for that person. These days, everyone is so used to formatted “fancy” emails that a simple plain-text email with no odd formatting can be the digital equivalent of sending someone a personal letter.  It’s a simple, meaningful human contact that subtly begs a response–and with that response, an opportunity for you to engage them in their real estate search.

– James Pippin, Business Development

Monitor Your Team’s Follow Up with the Performance Dashboard

TigerLead’s goal is to help you grow your business, and that includes growing and challenging yourself and your team, the heart of that business. We have some fantastic tools on the Paws Dashboard that give you the power to set concrete goals for yourself or your team, strive for continuous improvement and maintain accountability, none more so than our Performance Dashboard.

The focus of the Performance Dashboard is making sure that every lead is receiving prompt and persistent phone follow up, and tracking that follow up over time. The dashboard calculates metrics on a weekly and monthly basis for each Paws user and tracks how quickly leads are called and how many calls have been logged per lead in the given time frame. These two metrics in particular give you insight into the immediacy and persistence of your follow up, both crucial for success with internet leads.

The Performance Dashboard also gives you a quantitative basis for setting goals for your own or your team’s follow up and for seeing how you are meeting or exceeding those goals. Seeing that you have called your leads 25% more quickly than last week is more satisfying and more motivating than “I think I’ve been quicker about calling my leads this week.”

You can start by setting high expectations in your written follow up system. If you’re following our 10 Steps to High Conversion and looking at your Performance Dashboard for the previous month, you should be seeing time-to-call ratios around 15-20 minutes or less and at least 6 calls logged per lead. If that’s not the case, it’s time to take a deeper look. You can click on the name of a month or a specific week and see exactly which leads haven’t been called and use the notes in the lead’s file to find out why. Of course, your written system should be outlining the standard response. From there, it’s time to set more ambitious and challenging goals and look for continuing improvement. This can take the form of friendly office competition to see who can follow up fastest, for example.

However, any analysis is only as good as the data that goes into it, so here are some simple ways to make sure your Performance Dashboard is accurate:

1. Call your leads as soon as you can and log every call. If it wasn’t logged, it didn’t happen.

2. Not in the office when you get a new lead? Log the call in Paws Mobile to reduce your time to call.

3. Make sure to select the “Phone” activity when logging a call. If you accidentally logged the call as a note, the dashboard will not count it.

4. Log a call for discarded leads. Even if the phone number is wrong, log a phone activity with a note that the number is incorrect to ensure that all of your leads are marked as called.

If you’ve got questions on how your Performance Dashboard works, or would like some ideas on how to use it for goal-setting and motivation, just contact Tiger Support!

Using a Personal Email Account through Paws

Using the Email From My Account Function

 

Everyone has a particular email account that they’ve been using for years. It’s a comfortable, familiar tool where you can keep all your saved templates and your automatic signatures set up just how you like them. It’s where your emails can be organized neatly into folders, where the important emails can be marked with stars, and the unimportant ones can be assigned to the trashcan. It’s where you can have everything just the way you like it. And we want to make sure that you can bring all of those benefits with you to your Paws Dashboard when it comes to working your leads.

The Email From My Account function is one of the methods we provide for communicating with leads and logging the information on the dashboard, while at the same time letting you use your own email account.

The first step is to set up the Email From My Account function so that it opens up to the email provider you use. This is based on the settings of your computer, tablet or smartphone. The option you would need to change is called the “mailto”. So, for example if the email you use is Gmail and the internet browser you use is Internet Explorer you can find out how to set it up by doing a Google search for “mail to gmail internet explorer”. If you’re not sure about how to make the change please let TigerLead’s Client Services team know and we’ll be happy to help!

 

Once you have it set up, you can go to any lead’s page on your Paws Dashboard, click the Email From My Account link, and your own email account will open right up. While the sheer value of customized emails can’t be overstated, having your own templates saved can be a great framework to build on! You can also add attachments, such as contracts. You can include links, such as videos. You can use saved, customized signatures with any logos, photos or e-cards you want to include. And even though you’re sending it from your own inbox, any text in the email will be saved in Paws so that you have a record of it.

Using your own email account together with Paws’ logging system gives you the best of both worlds when it comes to communicating with leads. As usual if you have any questions our Client Services team is always ready and happy to help.

-Dave Martin, Client Services

Get More Leads in Your PAWS Dashboard

Each TigerLead license comes with an IDX website that allows your leads to search for homes, but did you know that we also offer options to integrate these search capabilities into your own branded website and are even able to set up subdomains so that you can track the source of your leads? Using these tools will allow you to really get creative with the ways you can attract additional leads that you can then cultivate in your Paws dashboard.

Branded Site Integration
Many realtors have a branded website that allows potential clients to find out more information about them and their company. Why not give your non-Tiger leads an option to search for homes there as well? By using your TigerLead search as your IDX solution on your branded site, you’re opening up another great way to capture leads. Robin Sherman in Pensacola is integrating her full Tiger search site within her branded site, pensacolaforyou.com. Whenever a new lead comes to her site to learn more about her and her team, they also have the option to search for homes. Now when a lead registers on her branded site, they are added to Robin’s
Paws dashboard where she can see that they originated from that site.

In addition to the full site integration shown above, we also offer the ability to integrate a simple search form or featured listings for your office.

Subdomains
Another great way to stretch the reach of your TigerLead website is by using subdomains. Are you planning a postcard mailing or a Craigslist ad? Ask us to create a subdomain like “postcard.yourdomain.com” or “cl.yourdomain.com.” This will give you a site that is specific to your project and you will be able to track which leads are signing up through each campaign in your Paws dashboard. Every lead in your dashboard has a domain code listed in the domain column. If you hover your mouse over that code, you will see the domain or subdomain on which your lead registered. In the example below, this lead registered on the salesdemo.searchforsarasotahomes.com subdomain which has a Paws code of ‘SD’.

George Tallabas, a Tiger licensee in Idaho, has been very successful with using subdomains for Craigslist advertising. He likes to link his Craigslist ad to a select group of properties on his subdomain, for example foreclosed homes in a specific neighborhood, along with creative text that will really catch a potential lead’s attention. Once a lead registers through that subdomain, he’s able to see when and how many of his leads are signing up through the Craigslist ad. He says that “the sky is the limit” when it comes to what you can do with subdomains. It just takes the willingness to think outside of the box a bit.

We can also create a subdomain for each of your team members that can be set up to automatically assign any leads who register there to that specific agent. This is a great way for each agent to promote himself or herself and reap the rewards of additional registered leads.

Please contact Client Services at 888-844-3744 or support@tigerlead.com if you would like more information about branded site integration or if you would like us to set up any subdomains for your team.

-Chrissi Burnett, Client Services Team

Send Your Leads the Listings THEY Want to See

Choosing a home can be a long path fraught with many options and it’s a path that every single one of your leads is walking. Can they stretch their budget to get the man-cave of their dreams? Do they really want a pool or a deck? Is their family going to get any bigger? All of these things affect the listings your leads want to see. And as their Realtor you have the ability to control which listings your leads are automatically being sent on a weekly or daily basis.

While the key points of contact between you and your leads are going to be phone calls, texts and personalized emails, the automatic listings emails are the perfect supplement to keep your leads coming back to the site. Here at TigerLead, we automatically compile and send listing emails based on each saved search for each lead, and on the Paws dashboard we offer a range of options for editing those saved searches.

Straight away, by clicking the plus sign to the left of any saved search you can see not only what the search criteria are but also the frequency of the emails (daily or weekly) and the alert types (Do they want emails when there are new listings, or when prices have been reduced in their area?).

More importantly, if they are a longer-term client you can also see when they were sent previous automatic listing emails, which emails they opened and if and when they clicked on any of the listings that were sent to them. By clicking on the blue text you can see which listings were in each email so you have a great idea of what really catches the eye of that particular lead.

You can edit the frequency of the alerts by clicking the Edit Email Alerts link. Not every lead will want to get daily emails but if you’ve spoken to a lead and you know that lead is keen to see the latest listings as soon as they appear, it’s time to make that change. You can also adjust the search criteria by clicking the Run Search icon, making the changes and saving. This goes hand in hand with the concierge-style approach of contacting leads and asking questions. You know a lead who is thinking of having a child? Time to add an extra bedroom to the search criteria. The lead got a new job? Hike up the maximum price for the listings a little. Just by making small changes like these you will not only send leads listings that really catch their attention but you will also give those leads the impression that you are hunting down listings every day just to suit their needs. You will feel the difference every time you sort your leads by Last Login and see older leads swarming back to the site.

If you have any questions about editing those saved searches reach out to us here at Client Services and we’ll be happy to help!

– David Martin, Client Services Team

Tips and Advice on the Top Reports to Run in your Dashboard

Reports are a fantastic tool to collect information from your dashboard quickly and efficiently. You have all this information at your fingertips, but do you know how to gather that information?

The very first and probably the most important aspect to running a great report is to make sure you have information to report off of. This means you are logging every single interaction between leads including but not limited to logging phone calls, emails, notes, face-to-face meetings, offers, and closings.

Paws includes a series of reports to make sure you are right on track with persistent and consistent follow up. The “Reports” section of the dashboard will provide you with some of the most commonly used reports, and the “Customize” section will give you the freedom to create a more detailed or date-oriented report.

What Reports Should I be Running?

It is a great idea to remember your “Invalid” leads when running a report. Some people tend to forget about their Invalid leads but including them is just one of many ways to ensure that you are properly following up with each and every lead. Here are a few highly recommended reports you can run in your dashboard to guarantee the correct follow-up protocol has been executed.

“No Double-Contacts (Email & Call)”

You don’t want any lead left behind. Every single lead should have a minimum of one phone call and one email logged in the dashboard. You can quickly run a report to verify that everyone in your system has been contacted by both phone and email.  This is located in the “Reports” section titled “No Double-Contact (Email & Call).”

“No Phone Calls Made” & “No Emails Sent”

These are two additional reports that are great to run to ensure proper follow up. You have the freedom to break up your report by “No Phone Calls Made” or “No Emails Sent”. These reports are also located in the “Reports” section of your Dashboard.

“Last Login”

Do you want to see which leads have logged into your site the past couple of days? This is a fantastic report to see what leads are being proactive in your system and ultimately may be a little further along in their home search. You don’t want to forget about any of your leads when creating this search and so be sure to check your inactive and active leads. If you see an inactive lead has recently logged into your site, this is a fantastic indicator that maybe they are a little further along in their home search than expected and it’s the perfect time to reach back out to them.  In order to run this report make sure both the active and inactive lead boxes are checked. From your Dashboard you will just need to click the Column “Last Login” This report takes about 2 seconds and is one of the most valuable reports in the dashboard.

“Customize”

Any report you create in the “Reports” section can be customized to your needs in the “Customize” reporting section. You have the ability to run a report on particular agents, a date range, your lead’s price range, buyer time frame, or a combination of different search criteria.   You can even filter out the leads that you do not want to appear in your report.

“Dates of Last Activity”

This is in the “Customize” reporting section and it gives you the ability to run a report on your lead’s activity with any date range. Want to know who called you this week, or even who has responded to your emails in the last month? This is the perfect place to look at just that.

These are just a few reports that we hear at TigerLead would recommend to ensure that persistent and consistent follow up is executed. The support team is always available to help you configure the right report! Call Client Services at 888-844-3744 or email us at support@tigerlead.com. Which reports do you use on a regular basis? We would love to hear your responses!

– Erica Carter, Client Services Team

Staying Organized in Paws

Do you ever feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done? Well, the Paws dashboard has some great features that allow you to organize your leads’ information and increase your follow-up productivity.

1. Create a written follow-up system. The best thing you can do to help yourself stay organized in Paws is create a written follow-up system for your team. Knowing when and how you’re supposed to contact your leads will help you stay organized and help you more effectively work those leads. If you’d like some help or advice on creating a written follow up system, contact support@tigerlms.com and we can provide you with some tools.

2. Use follow-up dates. You’ll be able to make sure you’re hitting all of those points of contact that are outlined in your written system by using the follow-up date built into your dashboard. You have the option to receive an email from TigerLead each day with a list of your new leads to contact and your priority leads. If you use the follow-up date function in Paws, those leads with that day’s date will be included in that email as well.

3. Update your lead’s status. Do you have someone who is a strong prospect? Mark them as such. This will allow you to sort your leads with one click to identify who is where in the home buying or selling process, from the initial contact to the closed sale. Is someone’s buying timeframe 12+ months? Mark them ‘Ignore – Not Ready’. Changing your lead’s status to any status option in the drop-down menu from ‘Closed Sale’ down to ‘Discard – Duplicate’ will move them to your inactive dashboard, allowing you to concentrate on those leads who need your attention right now. Don’t forget to periodically check your inactive leads to see if anyone is ready to be moved back to your active dashboard.

4. Mark contact info as valid or invalid. Marking a valid phone number or email address with a green check mark or an invalid one with a red X allows you to see at a glance the best way to contact a lead when you revisit them in the future. Simply click on the gray question mark once to validate and twice to invalidate.

5. Utilize a star system. This is where you can get creative. TigerLead doesn’t assign any predetermined values to the star system in Paws, so find what works best for your team. Maybe one star means the lead just started looking and five stars means they’re about to complete a purchase. Or maybe each star designates a different geographical location within your area. Talk to your team leader about how your team can best use this feature.

Remember that doing a little bit of work to organize up front can really save you time in the future. These can all be great time savers that will allow you to concentrate on what really matters – your leads and their real estate needs.

-Chrissi Burnett, Client Services Team

Do You Know What PAWSmobile Can Do?

PAWSmobile was released eight weeks ago and we’ve been thrilled to see all the lead follow-up that is now taking place more expeditiously and conveniently by our clients on the go.  If you’re not yet using PAWSmobile, what are you waiting for?!  And even if you consider yourself a power user, there’s always more to learn.  Did you know that PAWSmobile has a useful option that is not yet available in full PAWS?  Check it out:

Let’s say you’ve just received your daily “Leads Requiring Action” email from Tiger.

And, as you should, you’ve clicked through on a link in the email and arrived in PAWSmobile.

If you have New Leads then of course you’ll always want to start with those first, but let’s say you’re caught up with New Leads and you decide to dive into your Priority Leads. Remember that Priority Leads are identified by an algorithm that pulls in leads with recent and meaningful activity on your Tiger site.

Now, in a perfect world, you would review and follow-up with all of your Priority Leads each day.  Many agents and teams can’t quite meet that standard, so even within Priority Leads we have to prioritize!

Within a big batch of Priority Leads, what are the best ways to prioritize which leads you should contact?  The sorting options are shown at the top of the screen, and the default sort is “Last Login” i.e. the leads most recently active on your site.  But if your site gets a ton of repeat visitors, some of whom are just window-shoppers, then maybe there is an even better way to prioritize.

Click on the sort option down-arrow at the top of the screen to reveal all the other options.

And here’s the secret: Try sorting by Last Contact – Oldest to Recent.  In essence, you are saying “Within the Priority Leads – those most active, highest quality leads – show me the ones who have been waiting the longest since they last heard from me!”

Give it a try and see if you can uncover leads with whom you might have a lot to talk about (their recent search activity) but who you haven’t reached out to in a long time!

By the way, this sort capability will be coming to full PAWS soon too.  Thanks for listening Tigers and Happy Hunting!

– The TigerLead Team