Successful Tactics for Following Up with Real Estate Leads

As long as you stay consistent and tenacious with your lead generation tactics, sooner or later, you will receive a phone call, text, email, or direct message inquiring about your real estate services.

When that moment occurs, congratulations! However, the celebration should be short-lived, as there is still a ton of work to do before you are able to convert the lead into a client, and then into a closed transaction.

In this post, we wanted to delve into the tactics and strategies top-producing real estate agents use when following up with leads. If they work for the best in the business, chances are, they will work for you too!

Be Prepared and Practice

Instead of anxiously waiting for the phone to ring or the laptop to ping with a lead, use your downtime to practice your approach and polish your email and text scripts. 

Out of all the different follow-up mediums, the phone call is what gives agents and teams the most anxiety. After all, a stumbling, mumbling agent who lacks confidence can be a deterrent for prospective clients. This is why practicing your “elevator pitch” will benefit you the most, even if most of your leads prefer non-vocal communication methods.

Ask your lead agent, a colleague, or a friend to call you as if they were a prospective client. Provide them with questions ahead of time, but also ask them to create questions of their own that may throw you off balance or make you feel uncomfortable. 

Examples of uncomfortable questions include:

  • Would you be willing to lower your commission for me?
  • What has your experience been? If I’m planning on selling my luxury home, how do I know you’ll do a good job?
  • My [friend/neighbor/child] is a real estate agent. Why should I choose you over them?

Every time you practice, focus on just a couple key things, such as:

  1. Speak slowly. When people get nervous, they usually try to get as many words out in the shortest amount of time. Take a deep breath, and take it one word at a time.
  2. Smile. Believe it or not, people can hear it in your tone. If you smile during the phone call, you will demonstrate a sense of relaxation and confidence
  3. Be Honest. Nobody likes a liar, and the moment you get caught in a lie, you’re cooked. If you don’t know the answer to something, simply say, “That’s a great question. I’ve taken a note, and will get an answer to you as soon as possible”.

The more you practice, the better prepared you will be when the leads start rolling in.

Click Here to Get Started and Sign Up for a Free Wise Pelican Account (No Credit Card Required)!

Utilize a System

Depending on the real estate team or brokerage, you might already have a follow-up system in place. If you don’t, now is the time to find or create one! Systems are great for a variety of reasons, but the most important reasons are consistency and reliability. 

The more leads you generate, the more beneficial a systematic approach to lead follow-up will be, as it ensures that nothing falls through the cracks, and every agent can stay accountable for their leads.

We won’t delve into any type of specific follow-up system, but we do want to share some of the guidelines that the best systems utilize.

Quick Turnaround

There is zero reason a lead should go more than 24 hours without that vital initial contact. Even if it’s a simple “Hello, how are you doing?”, followed by a couple questions and setting a future date to meet, initializing contact in a timely manner is absolutely crucial.

Use a Multi-Medium Approach

Phone calls and texts are great, but so are email and social media outreach. Regardless of how you received the lead, don’t be afraid to include them in every medium you utilize.

Be Persistent

Chances are, initial contact won’t be enough to convert the lead into a client, and that is to be expected. It may take four, five, or six contacts before they even agree to a listing or buyer’s presentation.

To be clear, when we say “persistent”, we don’t mean “pushy” or “cajoling”. Simply asking if they have any questions, or how their day is going, can pay huge dividends down the road.

One thing to be wary of is going beyond six contact attempts. At this point, if they haven’t shown interest in engaging with you, chances are the 7th, 8th, and even 10th attempt won’t be noticed either.

Leads can go cold for a variety of reasons: lost interest in buying/selling, chose a different realtor and didn’t want to hurt your feelings, etc. Instead of trying to force your will upon every lead, it is better to simply engage with fresh leads and the ones who are genuinely engaging with you.

Click Here to Get Started and Sign Up for a Free Wise Pelican Account (No Credit Card Required)!

Be Helpful

One of the biggest reasons salespeople as a whole are seen in a negative light is that some people assume they are only interested in what’s best for themselves as opposed to the client. While this may be true for some, it is in your long-term interest to avoid these sales tactics and truly focus on providing information that will benefit your clients.

For example, if a prospective lead is interested in a home that you know has been declining in value (with no signs of improvement in the long-run), don’t be afraid to show them data. Sure, this may result in them buying a home that has a lower price point, which means a smaller commission for you, but those seeds of helpfulness can blossom in more ways than you can imagine.

Share With Us!

How did you handle your very first lead follow-up? What would you have done differently, and how did you improve? Let us know in the comments below.

Generating quality leads start with a solid marketing strategy. You can create a free account with no credit card to see how Wise Pelican works by clicking here.

Our Latest Blogs

Ready To Get Started?

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut
1

Sign Up For Free

Wise Pelican is completely free to sign up and start designing. No commitment!
Sign Up For Free
2

Customize Template

Customize hundreds of templates with your name, image and brand.
Customize Template
3

Start Mailing!

Just 89¢ each, including printing, posting, and mailing. Prints and mails in just days.
Start Mailing