10 tips for following up with real estate leads
Admit it. You spend a lot of time and money marketing your property management agency.
As such, you don’t want these resources to go to waste. It could be detrimental to your profitability.
Whether you focus your lead-generation efforts on or offline (through a mix of web-based and traditional strategies), successfully converting your hard-earned traffic into leases or sales isn’t easy.
First, you need to create a strong brand reputation by managing tenant satisfaction. Then you need to conduct consistent, quality real estate follow-ups across your entire portfolio.
How to follow up with real estate leads
Over the last few years, the standard approach to follow-up real estate leads has changed significantly… much like the rest of the industry.
Rather than inviting someone to your office to share a cup of tea while you talk, property managers across the world are making use of the comprehensive digital tools available to them.
Why? Well, through a range of automated software, you can not only attract and retain quality tenants but also earn business by converting leads and delivering the best sales experience possible.
Tip 1. Have a follow-up schedule
It’s obvious enough to make a follow-up phone call to a real estate lead. However, the work doesn’t stop there.
You need to be regularly and consistently reminding your prospective resident of the value you have to offer.
A good rule of thumb would be to:
- Reach out straight away after the first point of contact.
- Check back in at the end of the week.
- Touch base after another fortnight.
- Send them helpful content at least once a month for the next year.
Tip 2. try to follow up as quickly as possible
In 2022, online leads expect immediate answers to their questions.
Therefore, it’s critical that you deliver on that expectation. Why? It’s highly likely that your competitors already are, and you don’t want to lose business over something so simple.
Even though it’s tempting, don’t settle for the “throw everything at the wall and hope it sticks” auto-reply email or an automated chatbot.
While there is a place for such communications, it doesn’t replace the strength of one-to-one, direct follow-up from a living, breathing, and smiling representative of your business.
Tip 3. Follow-up more than once on multiple platforms
Just because an initial conversation starts through the query form on your website doesn’t mean you can’t use the email and phone number they provided to your advantage.
Follow up with real-estate leads until you have a clear answer (or until you’ve reached out more than 4-5 times).
Beyond that, try to get their attention passively. Use targeted social media and blog content to capture their attention and restimulate their interest.
Tip 4. Track all follow-up attempts
It’s critically important that you don’t overstep the boundary that is unique to each buyer or renter.
If it feels like you are pressuring someone to take action, their confidence in working with you is going to fall dramatically. This could turn a well-intended real estate follow-up into a loss for your business, so you need to be careful.
Make sure to take note of every interaction you’ve had with an individual and respect that they just might not be interested. It’s better you find that out sooner rather than later.
Tip 5. Always provide value
It’s intimidating to follow up with a real estate lead. You so desperately want them to convert.
If you “touch base” with someone too many times, with no purpose, too quickly… you’re bound to ruin any chance of successfully converting them.
As such, you should always be looking for a way to add value to every interaction – making sure you aren’t wasting the time of your buyer or renter. Ultimately, you want to prove yourself to be a useful asset to them when it comes to making their decision (not an annoyance).
An excellent way to achieve this goal is through real estate CRM automation, which can potentially save you many hours nurturing leads and handling the repetitive tasks that come with it.
This way, you can remind them your property is still available, helpfully answer questions, and provide advice… without ending up on their blacklist.
Tip 6. Solve pain points
One of the easiest ways to maximise your sales process is to always look to solve the pain points that your buyers and renters are facing.
Talk to some of your existing clients or conduct a survey to find out the major issues they are facing. For example, consider whether they:
- Are worried about making a bad decision.
- Don’t trust you to provide truthful and factual information.
- Feel pressured into making a choice before they’re ready.
- Are unsure of the market conditions in a particular area or suburb.
In these instances, you might consider extending an offer for them to come and take a look at a property themselves with no expectations.
After all, it can be difficult to make a choice when you have someone hovering over your shoulder. Recognise the challenges your real estate leads face and provide the solutions.
Tip 7. Utilise follow-up templates
Following up with real estate leads can be a time-consuming (and sometimes frustrating) process.
After all, you have no guarantee of success. As such, every element of automation you can add to your standard course of operations will allow you to be more efficient, creating a smoother experience for yourself and your team.
Doesn’t that sound ideal?
Where possible, try to design an extensive collection of templates that can be used to quickly respond to all manner of frequently asked questions.
Tip 8. Increase personalisation
When it comes to real estate lead follow-up, you have to walk a fine line.
You need to find the balance between:
- Introducing technology to your processes to speed up response rates.
- Making the journey feel impersonal for your prospective buyer or renter.
Before sending any communications, spend a few extra minutes personalising your response and modifying the language appropriately.
Tip 9. Focus on the call to action
As you work with your prospective customers to move them through the sales pipeline to a new lease, remember the power of a clear and informative CTA.
If you’re using an online leasing system, provide a portal for your prospects to view currently available apartments or search for a specific apartment to reserve at their convenience.
Tip 10. Know when to step away
No matter how hard you try, not every lead is going to convert.
Some may already be leaning towards a property elsewhere, or their financial situation could change.
Recognise the signs of disinterest and be prepared to move on.
- Short and curt responses.
- No responses.
- Long waits between responses.
At the end of the day, if you are putting in all of the effort and getting nothing in return, presume the lead has gone cold.
It’s your prerogative to decide whether another real estate follow-up is actually worth your time and money or not.
Step back with your head held high. You’ll get the next one.
How to follow up with real estate leads – FAQs
To secure the success of your business, you absolutely need to follow up on your real estate leads. This can take time and effort, requiring you to slowly build trust with your prospective renters or buyers. If you still have questions on whether or not to check back in with a lead, perhaps these FAQs can help:
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