Written Follow Up Systems

Most of us make lists of tasks to keep organized, so creating a task list to help you follow up with your leads just seems like common sense. A written follow up system is key to the success of our top-producing clients, so we made it the centerpiece of our best practices. Each of your leads is an investment, and you want to ensure that every lead gets the best possible follow up, because any lead that slips through the cracks is money that’s being left on the table.

Note: For the full best practices webinar, check the support menu in your dashboard!

Your written follow up system is more than just a task list to keep your follow up organized. The best written follow up systems lay out clear and totally unambiguous expectations for an agent. That means being very specific and anticipating common responses or problems and laying out how to deal with them.

For example, we recommend that leads receive 6 calls and 6 emails by the time they’ve been in the dashboard for 30 days, and we recommend following up each time a lead logs back into your search site. That seems clear enough, but when should those leads be called and emai

led? Should a call be immediately followed by an email or should the email be sent at a different time altogether? How quickly do you want to get a phone call out to the new lead? How long do you wait to follow up with a lead that’s recently returned to your site? These are some of the questions you want to make sure your written follow system is answering.

You also want to make sure you include how you’d like to approach these leads. Include some talking points or email scripts that you’d like to use and the best situations to use them in. Spelling out exactly how many minutes you have to follow up with a brand new lead and how many for a lead who has recently logged back into your site seems like a small detail, but it prevents confusion down the line.

 

Your written follow up system is also about creating accountability. Part of the system should lay out both consequences for falling short of the expectations you’ve set, and the rewards for exceeding them! For example, you may want to take away leads from a team member who’s falling behind or reward a star performer with some leads with higher price points for a certain period of time. You’ll also want to consider how you’re going to evaluate whether your goals are being met and describe the evaluation process in your system as well.

A crucial part of your system should be how to log follow up activities in the Paws dashboard. The dashboard has several tools to help you check your performance, including the performance dashboard, our suite of reports and the activity log. But none of these will be of use if the follow up that you’ve been doing isn’t at your fingertips. You can also use this data to set daily, weekly, or monthly quantifiable goals and create metrics to match against them.

Need help creating a written follow up system for yourself or your team? Just contact Client Services and we’d be thrilled to answer your questions and provide some helpful resources. We’d also be more than happy to use our expertise to make suggestions or give feedback on your existing system!

– Danielle Carne, Client Services Team

The Sweet Science of Suggestive Selling

You know the drill. You log into Paws and check your leads. Then you see it: A new lead with a price point a few hundred bucks shy of your weekly dry cleaning bill. Even worse, she is searching listings in a town that Stephen King probably used as the inspiration for “Salem’s Lot.”

Bad price point. Bad area. Your first instinct is ignore the lead. Too much work for too little pay-off.

But what if you embrace the sweet science of suggestive selling?

A British writer nicknamed boxing the “Sweet Science” because although it is a violent sport, its most skillful practitioners followed the disciplines of controlled aggression, strategy, and planning.

Selling real estate is (hopefully!) less painful than a right cross to the kidney, but it can be just as confrontational as a boxing match, especially when the lead’s desires seem at odds with the Realtor’s.

The lead may think they want the cheapest possible home, which often means those located in the least desirable neighborhoods. The Realtor wants to service the lead and turn them into a client, but also to maximize their return on investment.

That’s where the sweet science of suggestive selling comes in to play.

Suggestive selling is integral to the Realtor/ Client relationship. Buying a home is a complex and stressful transaction for the client. A dizzying deluge of data floods the Web, which overflows with information about listings, market trends, home prices, mortgage rates, school district ratings, etc.

Suggestive selling means helping the client cut through the chaos.

Remember: You know more about home prices and neighborhood quality than the lead does. Most leads that enter Paws through your search site are not sure what they are looking for or where to look. Make their experience better by suggesting to them homes and neighborhoods that are not only in line with reality, but will ultimately land them in the home of their dreams, not their nightmares.

The goal is to cultivate the lead. To use the tracking and reporting features in Paws to uncover the lead’s long-term needs and desires. To focus her attention and goals on finding not the house she thinks she wants but the home she actually needs.

A great example of the sweet science of suggestive selling came to us from Jane Ford, a TigerLead client for over 3 ½ years in Outer Banks, North Carolina.

Jane recently closed a $1.3M deal in Pirates Cove, a community so small that we do not even advertise it for her. Pirates Cove is in the town of Manteo, one of Jane’s keywords. However, the lead came in off the “Corolla” keyword: a town that is an hour north of Manteo.

In Paws Jane noticed the lead was searching only in Corolla. When she called the lead he said he had friends in Corolla and that is where they recommended he search. Moreover, his average price point of $500,000 would not get him much value in high-end Corolla. Since the Outer Banks is a second home market with very particular communities, Jane realized she needed to educate the lead about the area. She began to push listings from other towns on the Outer Banks but the lead was not interested: too far away from his friends in Corolla. Besides, Corolla was supposed to have the best sport fishing in the area.

Sport fishing? That caught Jane’s attention. The Outer Banks is renowned for fishing, but the listings the lead was searching were not right for an avid fisherman. Jane began to push listings from marina communities, regardless of location. When she showed him the listing in Pirates Cove the fisherman was, well, “hooked.”

With suggestive selling Jane focused what was really important to the lead.  He bought outside his initial area of interest, an hour from his friends, and at a price 2.5 times greater than what he was initially going to pay.

Another powerful example of suggestive selling comes to us from Michael Thornes, a TigerLead client for over 2 ½ years in Seattle, Washington.

Michael was excited to license TigerLead in King County, WA. The area is one of our most requested and there is a long wait list.  He went “live” on 3/26/2011, ready to start making money in one of the hotter real estate markets in America.

On 4/11/2011 a lead registered on his TigerLead site after searching for vacant land properties at – wait for it — $3,500, $7,500, $15,000, and $20,000.

Vacant land? In Seattle? At that point a lot of Realtors might send out a perfunctory email, give a courtesy call, then chase down Microsoft, Boeing, and Amazon heirs looking to buy a little 6-bedroom love nest for $3 million on Lake Washington.

Not Michael. He called the lead. Left a message. Called again. Left a message. Called again and got through. He discovered the lead was a first-time buyer with no clue what properties were going for or what price range of home she could qualify for.

Unless you’re a feral cat or a clump of ragweed chances are you are not going to find your dream home in a vacant lot in Seattle.  But Michael was persistent and practiced the sweet science of suggestive selling.

Michael put the lead in touch with his preferred lender, got her pre-approved, and together they started looking at homes. He pushed listings from Paws.  She was not happy with any homes in the $100,000 range so he slowly bumped up her listing criteria until he got her to a maximum comfort level of $200,000.

At that price point they quickly found a home the lead loved. It was bank owned. They looked at it the first day it was on the market, wrote an offer that night, and the bank accepted their offer. They closed on 6/11/2011.  So in less than 2 ½ months after signing up for TigerLead Michael had his first closing and a $7,000 commission.

Jane’s and Michael’s success stems from their adherence to suggestive selling best practices. They are assertive without being pushy, persistent without being obnoxious. They incorporate a diligent strategy of guiding the lead towards a sale through their use of technological tools and old-fashioned communication.

To excel at suggestive selling you must be patient. Don’t get caught up in the lead’s initial search criteria. Call all leads no matter what your pre-judgment might be based on limited information available to you before you talk to them.

Finally, have a positive attitude. Suggesting with a friendly personality and humor will power sales while winning client loyalty for years to come.

A fantastic example of a positive attitude coupled with suggestive selling comes to us from Diane and Rich Lucas, TigerLead clients in western Washington. Their buyer agent, Robert Dummitt, recently replied to a lead that had registered on their site under the name ‘Snow White.’

“Hey Snow!

Just checking in to see how everything is going out in fantasy land! I hear you’ve had a stalker that keeps coming by the house trying to pawn off their rotten apples so I can completely understand you looking for a different hovel! Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you find the right place! Also, keep in mind that if you plan on bring all 7 dwarves with you to look at any houses you’re interested in there’s going to be a few ground rules. You’re going to have to hold Dopey’s hand the whole time, can’t let him crash in to things and breaking them. Try to keep Grumpy’s negative attitude at a minimum, it can really bring down the whole crowd. Sneezy’s probably going to have to stay in the car, or at least bring tissues with him so we don’t get any homeowners sick. Also, is Doc going to be on the loan? If so you’re probably going to be able to see some really awesome homes!”

Well done, Robert. Tough to top that!

Please share with us your suggestive selling success stories. They inspire us all.

-Seth Gross, TigerLead Business Development

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

What to Say to Leads

Nicki Conway has been using TigerLead for nearly six years in Sarasota, Florida. In that time, she’s shared her phone and email scripts with hundreds of TigerLead clients – you can find them on our Facebook group – and at this year’s Success Summit, she gave an excellent breakdown of the key points for communicating with a lead. You can download her presentation at this link!

As every realtor knows, it’s important to demonstrate value to the lead. Nicki recommends sending links to local websites (ideally your own) that go into detail about the area. If you’re linking the lead to your blog, make sure it includes a link back to your TigerLead site as well!

The most successful emails are the ones that are personalized, not drip campaigns or copy-pasted mass mailings. You can also offer things they might not have ready access to (like a list of foreclosures or distressed sales), or mention a house they looked at on your site and talk about how wonderful it looks.

If you haven’t been getting responses from a lead, Nicki recommends two advanced tactics: “make them feel guilty” and “scare them”! This can be as simple as sending an email asking if you did something wrong to lose their interest, or telling them in a friendly tone that if they aren’t interested you can cancel their membership for them.

Once you’ve got someone on the phone or in the office, don’t forget to listen to what the lead says, and to use their name in conversation. Dragging things out can seem disrespectful of the lead’s time, so be quick and to the point, making sure to give the lead ample opportunity to speak. In face-to-face meetings, Nicki recommends not sitting with physical objects like desks in-between yourself and the lead, and don’t forget to keep a close eye on both their body language and your own.

For the full presentation, click here to download the PowerPoint file. Thanks for all your hard work, Nicki!

– The TigerLead 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

Personalizing Communication with Leads

The importance of personalized communication can’t be emphasized enough. Taking a little extra time and personalizing an email, or making sure to have great talking points that are tailored to the lead when making a phone call, can make all the difference.  Our most successful clients demonstrate the success of the “concierge approach” – you are your lead’s ambassador to their new home.  Don’t try to sell the lead on the first call – instead, help them learn to really use your TigerLead search site to find that perfect home, and show them why they should choose you as their Realtor.

Fortunately, your TigerLead dashboard provides you with a wealth of information about each of your leads and ways to track information that you gather during your communications.  Take a look at leads’ saved searches and properties they’ve marked as favorites before reaching out. This puts you in the position to discuss their search criteria and any features that pop from those favorited listings – “So Joe, you seem really interested in a property with a pool; do your kids like to swim?”  “Katie, I noticed that you’ve looked at a number of homes in this zip code – what is it about that neighborhood that you like?”

Get your leads talking.  Ask them questions that are easy to answer.  Share your knowledge,  and don’t forget to record what you’ve learned in Paws as a note. You can make it sticky to keep it on top so that it’s the first thing you see on a lead’s page before you reach out to them again.

Dominic Labriola (a client who works out of both West Los Angeles, CA and Lake Havasu, AZ) belongs to The Concierge Service Team, and he asserts the importance of service when reaching out to your leads: “When we phone our leads, we try to approach them from a position of care.  It’s the centered, calm space that we come from that we have found resonates best with them.  If you approach them from a true position of service, expressing to them that you are there to support them and that you aren’t attached to an outcome from them but that you just want to help them, they’ll recognize that and give you their loyalty.”

Listing alerts will bring your leads back to your Tiger search site, but building a relationship with your leads will bring them back to YOU.  Give them a reason to respond to an email, or answer a text, or pick up the phone when you call.  Make sure to smile when you call – your leads can hear it in your voice, and it sets the tone for the entire conversation.  Show some personality and make them feel that you are interested in their search for a new home!

– Renee LeClaire, 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

Responding to Leads Who have Inquired on a Listing that is No Longer Available

It’s a quick turnover market out there these days, and in some areas, homes are listed today, contracted tomorrow.  Because of this, Realtors work quickly to make sure that buyer leads don’t miss out on their dream homes. Your buyer leads have the ability to request a showing or more information on their favorite homes among the most up-to-date listings on your Tiger search site. But, whether it’s a Tiger lead, a lead from an outside source, or a lead that you’ve personally imported, it’s possible that the home a lead requested information on may no longer be on the market by the time you’re able to reach out to them.

It may seem like you’re about to deliver bad news to a lead, but it’s exactly the opposite. This is a great opportunity to turn that around and present a lead with dozens of homes that match their dream home search criteria. Here are a few steps that you should take in order to achieve the greatest success with these leads:

1.       Contact the lead immediately, even if their dream home is no longer available. These leads are waiting to hear back from a realtor for details on the home they request information on. Leads tend to work with the first point of contact, and we want that contact to be you.

2.       Find out more about the lead’s home search. When you call a lead to let them know that the listing may no longer be available, take the opportunity to find out what aspects they really loved about the house and what they are looking for in a home. Chances are that if a lead requested specific information on a home, they are a motivated home buyer. One of our Pennsylvania Tigers, Colt Solliday, lets leads know that being a realtor “does come with the down side of sometimes having to tell someone that a home that caught their eye isn’t available anymore. In these times, though, I like to take the proactive role and search out something that makes you say WOW just as much [as that unavailable listing], so how about you give me some more details as to what it is that catches your eye, and I’ll work my magic to find you something.”

3.       Send leads to your Tiger search site. Your Tiger search site, unlike other search sites out there, updates with data as frequently as possible –every 15 minutes for most MLS boards. Your leads will rarely encounter an inactive listing. Not to mention, both you and your leads will get all of the details on the homes they are viewing and selecting as favorites.

4.       Set the lead up on automated listing alerts. As Rhonda Gailey, a Tiger in Georgia, points out, if a lead inquires on a listing that is already sold or is no longer available, it causes a sense of urgency. The Paws system sends leads updated listing email alerts for new and price reduced homes on a weekly or daily basis. Update the search criteria on the saved search so that you send leads desired listings and get them in the car quick!

-Samantha LaPointe, Client Services Team

Text Your Leads!

Do you ever screen your phone calls? Many of us do, from time to time. But what about your text messages? Most people will check their texts even if they won’t pick up the phone, so texting is a quick and effective way to contact your leads! This is especially true if you haven’t been able to reach your leads through phone calls or emails, or if you’re on the go and don’t have time to spare.

If you want to try texting your leads, start with your email or text notification from Paws. We run each lead you receive through a reverse phone look-up, and can sometimes determine that a lead’s contact number is wireless. When this happens you’ll see (WIRELESS) in parentheses next to the phone number in your email or text notification. That’s your green light to go ahead and start texting that lead.

If you’re worried about running up your phone bill, you might try getting a Google Voice number. With a phone number from Google Voice, you can text all you want for free. Google Voice will also keep a written record of all replies and will forward them to your email if you’d like. They have a mobile app for IPhone, Blackberry, and Android as well. Those text records will make it even easier for you to log your text in PAWSMobile, where you have access to the SMS activity to help keep you organized.

What makes a good text? The most important elements are a concierge approach and a call to action, just like a phone call or an email. You want the lead to feel as though you’re there to help them with their search and give them a reason to want to talk with you. You can ask a question or just ask them to reply to your text to get an offer or additional information from you.

It might seem like a challenge to created a personalized message with only 160 characters, but it’s not as difficult as you might think. Just including a favorite property from their searches or even a specific area where your lead is looking can add a more personal touch. For example, if your lead is relocating and your area is new to them, texting something like, “There’s lots to do in (area), text me back if you’d like more information,” can show them that you have their personal circumstances in mind.

I’d like to end with an anecdote that Susie Hall shared with us about the potential power in texting. She organized a “Tacos and Texting Tuesday with Tiger” event with her team and got these results:

“We sent 144 texts (would have been higher but some of the agents had to stop to talk to leads that responded!) had 17 leads respond, 9 of those are now identified as true buyers that do not have an agent (all had previously not responded to any attempts) and 2 buyer presentation appointments were set. One of our agents connected with a million dollar buyer and they had great communication tonight, another agent connected with a 1.2 million dollar buyer!”

Contact Client Services if you’d like help setting up your own texting night!
-Danielle Carne, Client Services Team

Featuring Search Criteria to Attract Leads

Every market has something special about it; be it a particularly desirable lakefront, an historic downtown, condos with great ocean views, or the best school district in the area. Whatever that defining criteria may be, TigerLead clients can easily feature it and use it to generate additional leads.

Your Apex search site can feature very specific criteria. Do you live in a community where people come from far and wide to retire by the bay? We on the Client Services team will work closely with you to add the search options you need so that you can easily show off those homes.

After you select your desired criteria on the Apex site, you will have a dynamic landing page to share on your blog, in emails, or on Facebook, Craigslist, and Pinterest.

Click here to see a live example

When the lead clicks on your custom “jump” link, they will land directly on the specific search that you had set up, and they will be able to see several homes before they are prompted to register. Your link is updated every fifteen minutes with the most recent listings, so your leads will never miss a beat! The process is quick and easy and can help you to generate free leads.

Reach out to TigerLead Client Services today and we’ll help you to get started!

– Ann Strucke, Client Services Team