Coaching Archives

5 things your team CAN’T stop doing no matter what

by craig | May 23, 2020 | Coaching

In a time where shifts and changes are inevitable or necessary, it’s important to come back to the foundation of what’s important in order to keep your business running and growing. Consumers are intuitive in the buying process and desire a comfortable experience with your sales teams.

With that being said, there are five things you cannot stop doing no matter what, unless you want to see leads and potential customers fall through the cracks:

Can’t stop responding to your inbound leads.

Your leads, whether they come in during the work week or in the middle of the night, should always have a timely response. Why? Not only do 50% of leads end up purchasing from the business who responds first, but you are 21x more likely to close a deal when you answer within the first five minutes after a lead fills out an inquiry.

Is it likely your sales team will be ready to answer that 3AM lead? No. But there are options. Hiring a lead conversion platform, like Verse, will ensure every lead is accounted for, including the ones coming in after-hours, on weekends, and during holidays.

of leads purchase from the first business to respond

times more likely to close if you respond in 5 minutes

chance of talking to a lead with 6 or more attempts

Hiring a lead conversion platform, like Verse, will ensure every lead is accounted for, including the ones coming in after-hours, on weekends, and during holidays.

Request a demo

Can’t stop following up.

So a lead hasn’t converted to an appointment yet? The fortune is in the follow up. Contacting a lead three times gives you an 81% chance of getting a hold of your leads and six times gives you an even better chance at 93%.

You can use lead data to help gauge the consistency of follow-up, give insight as to when might be the best time to contact, and effectively help you create an effective schedule for following up with your leads. Make sure you’re being realistic with your bandwidth and ability to capitalize on said schedule.

Every lead is an opportunity which means you can’t neglect to follow up with them– even the seemingly stale ones!

Can’t stop answering people.

Your potential customers are calling and yet, 75% of them say it’s difficult to get a hold of an agent or salesperson. Even more so 67% of them will give up on them out of frustration.

Your customers are trying to do business with you. Part of the struggles around communicating with high-intent leads come from a lack of bandwidth of your sales team. There’s an inability to be there for consumers because of other tasks at hand.

Your leads want to talk. Make sure you’re not dropping the ball (and the opportunity for business and relationships).

Can’t let levels of service drop.

While much of the world around us is changing, consumers are not. In a world of Amazon Prime 2-Day shipping, people are still the same consumers who not only appreciate but want instant gratification, excellent service, and comfort.

In fact, a lack of service or the inability to meet consumers on their terms can often deter a consumer from ever purchasing at all. 33% of consumers say it only takes one bad customer service incident to switch to another competitor. And once your customer service reputation is damaged, you’ll find it very difficult to win an opportunity to prove them wrong again.

Can’t stop caring!

Have you ever been on the phone with a salesperson or agent and realized how clear it is they don’t care about your business? Have you ever felt treated like any other customer?

Business and even selling are way less about money and “what can you do for me” and much more about relationships and connection. Your consumers are paying attention. They are intuitive and can tell by tone, language, and body language how much you care about them and their needs.

33% of customers who abandoned a business relationship last year did so because personalization was lacking. –Accenture

So be there for your prospects, go the extra mile, and research ways to connect with your demographic on a personal level. But more importantly, don’t stop caring about them or they will certainly stop caring about your business.

To learn more about how you can turn every lead into an opportunity, book a demo and see how our lead conversion platform works!

Talk to a Verse Lead Conversion Specialist to see how Verse can help.

Convert more leads with instant response and follow up powered by Verse.io.

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9 takeaways from Inman Connect 2019

by craig | Aug 7, 2019 | Coaching

We’ve compiled a list of takeaways from our time at Inman Connect Las Vegas – including personal insights and crucial lessons from the biggest presentations! The event was a blast! 🚀- marked by good times, big names, scorching heat, new relationships, and phenomenal sessions and panels.

So for those who weren’t able to attend or who are looking to relive the experience, we have you covered! Read on to see our highlights – both from the standpoint as exhibitors and from the perspective of attendees!

9: Present yourself as a subject matter expert

This one is a bit biased here.

If you don’t know why, it’s because our very own David Tal joined an illustrious panel of industry veterans to discuss the importance of presenting yourself as a subject matter expert. In this capacity, being a subject matter expert not only does wonders for elevating your brand/optics, but the pursuit of being an expert is the surest path to improvement and innovation.

“Out innovate yourself. Conduct yourself and your business like the company you want to be in 12 months from now. Create a niche for yourself.”

Being a “subject matter expert” forces you in a position of constant and never-ending improvement, something that will pay off in every way.

8: $2/day is a great way to build awareness

All Inman sessions were phenomenal – complete with their fair share of Star Power and Industry Expertise. Particularly, we found the Marketing Track (sponsored by Shred Media) to be particularly valuable – a full day spent on equipping real estate professionals with all of the tips, tricks, and techniques necessary to conquer the industry.

One such tip involved building awareness cheaply and effectively through a low-risk/high-reward tactic (the best kind).

“Building awareness first means better conversions later” – Jason Frazier

The full scope of their strategy includes 6 simples steps

Step 1: Record 4 vertical videos from your phone (1-3 minutes each)
Step 2: Post the 1st video to your business page
Step 3: Wait 24 hours, then run an ad or boost for video views
Step 4: Target a radius of 25-35 miles around where you conduct business
Step 5: Run video ad for $1-$2 per day over a week
Step 6: Rinse, Repeat for all videos
Bonus Step: Profit

The returns on this paltry investment translated into reaching as many as 2300 people – all for as little as $7. And as we know, the name of the game is getting in front of as many potential prospects as possible.

7: Commenting is just as important as Contenting

This little gem came to us courtesy of a panel with Michele Bellisari and Sue Pinky Benson – both of whom host their own respective suites of fantastic tips and resources (so be sure to check them out).

However, this tip is as simple as it gets: comment, comment, and comment some more. As your probably aware already, most social media platforms prioritize content with the highest amount of engagement – such as likes, comments, and shares. The more you have, the more “reach” you will achieve with your posts.

But a better reason than just trying to crack some algorithm – taking the time to comment back has the chance to make an instant connection with a potential client.

In the words of the remarkable Gary Vee:

“When you care about the end consumer, good things happen… because there’s a bigger emotional connection… If you want to change the world, you need to dhange it person-by-person-by-person to show that you give a [duck].”

So get quacking on those replies.

6: Flash Briefings are the new way to go

Another Shred Media/Industry Syndicate presentation. Another highlight. Jason Frazier AND Dustin Brohm took the stage at separate junctions to speak about the rise and importance of Flash Briefings.

What is a Flash Briefing, you might ask? Well, gather ‘round and listen up…

Flash Briefings are essentially mini-podcasts – up to 10 minutes of pre-recorded audio that can be listened to via Amazon Alexa devices/apps.

Why would this matter to you? Excitingly, ownership of smart speakers have blossomed to 66 million people – a number that is rapidly rising. And in terms of consumer engagement, Voice content is quickly gaining traction at a rate that is faster than video. Lastly, 65% of users between the ages of 25-49 use voice search daily.

Yes, we know – music to your ears (literally). As a real estate expert, you can utilize this platform to connect with your community by creating relevant content. At 2-3 minutes a pop, it’s easy to spin up some sustainable content that will provide you yet another way to get found.

Learn more about it here.

5: Watch time is important

Switching gears from voice to video, the next takeaway is all about how Youtube and Instagram measures video engagement. In much the same way that was mentioned earlier – comments, likes and shares play a pivotal role in the organic success of your video content. The difference here, however, is that watch time also has a significant impact on your performance. It’s not just about capturing eyeballs, but how long you can hold their attention.

This is a concept that was broached by a number of experts during the Marketing Track – including the likes of Kyle Whissel, aforementioned Michelle B and Pinky, and even Karin Carr. The latter, of Keller Williams and YoutubeForAgents.com, delved into how to achieve this. Taking it a step further, Karin stressed the importance of capturing their attention quickly – kicking off videos with interesting visuals or getting straight to the point.

Basically, for any hope of long watch times, you only have about 5-6 seconds to capture someone’s attention or else you’ll lose them. 5-6 seconds: around the same length as a Youtube bumper ad. Coincidence?

4: Booth Crawls

Loosening up leads and colleagues through liquid libations is always a recipe for a good conversion/conversation. But that’s only if they stick around long enough to chat…That’s all we’ll say about that. #GrabNGo #YouKnowWhoYouAre

3: Swipe Up hack

This one was particularly mind-blowing for us! Jason Cassity from Compass just broke the Instagram matrix – McGuyvering a way to take advantage of the “Swipe Up” feature of Instagram stories…. Without needing 10k followers

We’ve covered before the importance using Instagram for you Real Estate marketing efforts. Practically everyone is ‘Gramming – making it the ideal place to build awareness and engagement while ultimately locating your next lead. If you’re really looking to take advantage, you should be using Instagram Stories! For typical instagram posts, you can’t insert any links. Only the single link you’re allowed to place within your profile bio. So if you’re looking to get sign ups from that new Listing your just shared, you have to encourage people to “check out bio for link to learn more”, and then cross your fingers in hope that they actually do it.

Instagram Stories, on the other hand, allows you to insert a link per story, prompting your audience to ‘Swipe Up’ if they’re interested in what they see. Unfortunately, this is a feature that’s only reserved for profiles with over 10k followers.
But fret not, because Jason Cassity has just cracked the code for the betterment of all of us! You can take advantage of advertising on Instagram stories by simply running that story as an ad – for as little as $1/day.

Additionally, utilizing this method opens up your audience – getting your content in front of the eyeballs of those who aren’t currently following you (and therefore, possible new sources of business). Given that you can define these audiences, the ball is in your court.

2: Teamwork honestly makes the dreamwork

Don’t short change the amount of impact you could have by bringing your whole team. It proves to be a learning experience for everyone involved, builds team camaraderie, expedites all types of set up and logistics, and ultimately presents a much more significant presence at the tradeshow. Lastly, the variety of Verse seniority and roles that made a showing at Inman translated into a full scope presentation of our product throughout every meeting. From Directors of Success to Account Executives – if there’s a question or concern, there was a representative on site that could answer it.

TL;DR Bring your whole squad. Everyone gets to level up together, and your team looks great while doing it.

1: Keep it cool… The space suit is too hot

Believe it or not, Kevlar isn’t the most comfortable in 110 degree weather.

Ok, in the full spirit of transparency, we may have skimped on some of the space suit materials used by NASA. Ours is less polymer and more polyester.

And according to Bob, the bladder layer is certainly a portion we shouldn’t have cut corners on. Along with the sweltering confines, the get up definitely made for some…sticky situation.

But ohhhh so worth it

10 Ways To Generate Mortgage Leads In The Current Economic Landscape

by kelsey | Jun 5, 2019 | Coaching

Housing experts predict that quarter four of 2018 has paved the way for a more affordable housing market in 2019. This is especially true for entry-level home buyers who experienced mortgage rates rising to 5% at the end of 2018 and the 86 straight months of price gains in the average home.

Now in 2019, things are looking quite different. According to Lawrence Yun, The NAR’s Chief Economist,

“We are seeing historically low mortgage rates combined with a pent-up demand to buy, so buyers will look to take advantage of these conditions […] also, job creation is improving, causing wage growth to align with home price growth, which helps affordability and will help spur more home sales.”

All of this bodes well for mortgage lenders looking to capitalize on this pent up demand to purchase real estate. In order to come out on the successful side of this increase in sales, it’s important to equip yourself with the best lead generation strategies available today. We’ve compiled the 10 strategies you can employ with your business that will help lead you to market dominance. With these strategies you will see your lending business improve, and they will offer tips in how you can connect with more leads and convert more sales.

1. Nurture leads based on their place in the buying cycle

The sales cycle of real estate is long. Studies indicate that 50% of potential homebuyers begin their formal search process anywhere between 6 and 12 months before actually purchasing their home. Knowing this, utilize your CRM and focus on a long, drawn out process. The industry standard for number of times responding to a lead is 1.3 times. If a lead is potentially going to lay dormant for months, it’s important to utilize tools that keep the lead qualified over the long haul.

2. Build trust with social proof

Studies suggest that 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Furthermore, the same study says that 72% of consumers say positive reviews make them trust businesses more. Lead conversion (and any type of financial exchange for that matter) relies on trust, and trust is partly built by social proof. If you are able to provide social proof on landing pages, sales pages, email promotions, and other related marketing material you will see an increase in conversion rates.

3. Identify and promote your unique value proposition

What makes you unique? It’s a serious question that not many businesses take into consideration. Legendary marketer, Seth Godin, has a great quote that exemplifies the need for a value proposition, “Everyone is not your customer.” In other words, if you sell to everyone– you’ll sell to no one. What makes your company of unique value? What is the ideal customer you are looking for? When you answer the first question you’ll be able to answer the second.

4. Build your own content-based lead generation

Why are so many companies building their own blogs, creating videos, and generating other forms of content? Because it works! Generating content helps promote your website’s SEO. More importantly, it gets your name in front of potential customers. What types of industry related content can you provide your potential customers that help build trust in their eyes?

Awesome Example of Content-Based Lead Generation
Sean Cahan a.k.a. The Mortgage Geek

The president of Cornerstone Mortgage group, Sean Cahan, wanted a way to help educate the real estate community in a more engaging way. Instead of conforming to the somewhat stuffy nature of traditional mortgage education, he and his friend/business partner created a character called The Mortgage Geek. As the Mortgage Geek he uses his big personality, high energy, and hilarious antics as a way to not only educate his audience, but to grab (and keep) their attention, and in turn grow his customer base. Click here to check out his awesome videos.

5. Create an incentive-based referral system

Like we’ve already discussed, people buy from people they trust. Referrals have been a staple marketing strategy for decades. Your past customers can be your greatest lead generation asset. The important thing to take away here is incentivizing your past customers to make referrals. People don’t just do things out of the goodness of their heart. Make sure you create an incentive that pushes your past customer to share your business.

6. Be part of the community

It seems almost too obvious to include, however many forget that getting your face in front of people, shaking the community’s hands, and exchanging business cards will go a long way in generating leads and ultimately building trust with the potential home buyers [literally] right next door.

Awesome Example of Community
Bill Jawitz & Fairway Mortgage

Bill Jawitz and the folks over at Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation know a thing or two about what it means to give back to the community. Through their partnership with the American Warrior Initiative they have been able to positively impact many U.S. veterans across the country by providing donations that go on to fund things such as service dogs, home repairs, small business grants, and more.

7. Build a conversion-based website

According to survey conducted by NAR, 9 out of 10 home buyers rely on the internet as their top research tool. When home buyers are on the internet researching homes, it’s a matter of time before they come across your site (especially if you are optimizing your SEO, Google My Business, and other online tools). Once the customer reaches your site, it’s important to incentivize them to stay there. What type of social proof are you providing? Do you clearly state your unique value proposition? Are you using opt-ins to collect a potential customer’s email information? This will help you generate and nurture potential leads.

8. Utilize social media

If utilized correctly, social media can be some of your most cost effective marketing channels. It’s even more effective when you pair your outreach with an optimal landing page. According to Hubspot, LinkedIn generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%, almost 3 times higher than both Twitter (.69%) and Facebook (.77%). While Linkedin can provide the highest conversion with your leads, we recommend utilizing all the sites if you have the bandwidth.

9. Network with divorce attorneys

It’s a simple truth that when couples divorce, they are more than likely to sell the house they shared during their marriage and purchase new homes for themselves after the sale. You can meet divorce lawyers in your local Chamber of Commerce.

10. Outsource your lead qualification efforts

Your lead strategy is taxing on your resources. You wear many different hats when it comes to your business and it’s hard to stay on top of contacting and qualifying your leads. Sometimes it’s hard for your own ISAs to do the same. Sometimes you need to outsource the work on your behalf. Hiring a professional team to qualify leads who contact the leads first are 68% more likely to convert a lead over their competition.

2019 is a year that is going to see an increase in home buying. It’s important for you to utilize all the tools at your disposal in order to come out ahead of your competition and secure all the mortgage deals that come your way. We get it, you don’t always have the bandwidth to constantly be reaching out to leads over the course of 6 months. So why not let someone else do it for you?

Why Brokers Are Destined to Fail… Unless They Adapt

by craig | Jan 23, 2019 | Coaching

Due to advancements in tech, the real estate landscape has changed dramatically over the last two decades – forcing brokers to choose to either adapt or fail altogether. Studies indicate that 90% of real estate leads are coming from the web. This expansion of web-based real estate commerce represents an industry that has evolved into a 24/7/365 business. Gone are the days where an agent would schedule a time to meet with a prospective buyer during “business hours” to lay out any potential homes. The abundance of information that is being shared over the internet has dramatically shifted the bargaining power away from the agent. Of course, this shift in bargaining power denotes more than just a change to the typical work day. For some brokers and agents, the ongoing advancements in real estate technologies are an outright threat their livelihood! For instance, according to CNBC, some buyers are skipping foregoing the help of expert real estate agents, choosing instead to search and purchase with the help of AI. This is to say nothing of existing search engines and apps that further mislead buyers/sellers into underselling the importance of having a real estate agent at their disposal.

However, the savvier real estate professionals refuse to fail and lose out to some nuts and bolts. Rather, they are using these same technological tools to turn the tides and satisfy their needs. Virtual Reality tours, drone footage for listings, and chatbots are just some of the resources being used by top agents to help capture, captivate, and convert prospective clients.

Most importantly, the best teams adapt by using the best of both worlds – using human based technologies like Verse for all of their lead follow up and engagement. You know as well as anyone that lead qualification and follow up is the Achilles Heel to any real estate team’s lead strategy–especially when you’re the team lead.

Try as you will, you cannot be micromanaging every lead to ensure they are followed up with and scrubbed. There just isn’t enough time in the day. Below are the 3 most common pain points that Verse addresses with your lead strategy (and how Verse helps remedy it): When you or your team don’t respond to leads, mistakes are made and someone else wins. This can happen in a multitude of ways:

You were too late to the “lead party.” Studies show that 72% of customers will choose the first agent they speak with. A problem with leads is most of them are not exclusive. You will be competing with the vast pool of agents looking to follow up on the same leads you’re presented with.
You were too slow in responding to the lead. Leads are being generated at an astounding rate. If you don’t have the right systems in place, you will miss out on being the first agent to respond. According to InsideSales, a lead will convert at a rate 21X higher if they are contacted within the first 5 minutes versus just 30 minutes.
You aren’t working with a customer’s modern schedule. Like stated above, there isn’t a time constraint for when a customer can submit a lead and look to do business. With access to the internet and various listings, the customer can submit an opportunity for contact at anytime.
You’re prioritizing the wrong leads. In the end, quality always outweighs quantity. Often times, when you are generating countless leads, you are getting leads that carry little to no value. There are many reasons for this: The lead isn’t a real person, the customer already has a trusted agent, their loan status is less than ideal, or their area of interest doesn’t match your expertise.

Verse gives you the power to respond to any given lead within the first 5 minutes of being live. Like stated above, if you are to contact the lead within the first 5 minutes of receipt, you have a 21X higher chance of converting the lead (vs the first 30 minutes). On the flip side, Verse keeps responding to these leads when other real estate teams may have given up. Often times, buyers are conducting the initial stages of their search 12 months before they are going to sign their name of the dotted line. The buyer, in this stage of the buying process, isn’t as qualified as someone who is a couple of months away from purchase. This is another pain point plaguing real estate teams–they just don’t have the bandwidth to keep in contact with a lead for 12 months and beyond.

With Verse’s new Nurture feature, however, this pain is erased. The industry average for lead response attempts is a lousy 1.3 attempts. This number is far too low. Verse’s Nurture keeps your team in contact with the lead for 6 months.Regardless of the industry, a lack-of-personal-touch experience has probably become more familiar to you than you’d prefer. Whether it be the experience of getting an email that still has the *|FNAME|* field or an automated phone call that greets you with your mother’s name, something needs to give.

With Verse, you are equipped with your very own personal ISA human concierge that will help scrub and qualify the leads on your behalf.

Our technology will integrate with any CRM, ensuring a first contact with your leads that is quick and customized. While text messaging has taken over– especially with the younger generations (text messages far outweigh any other means of communication with an open rate at 98%) — we marry technological efficiency with the human touch via call, text, and email. They are living with yesterday’s strategy in mind and aren’t utilizing the game changing technology that is right in front of them. Sure there are going to be the teams that are unaware of this technology. And then there are going to be the teams that just don’t care. But what excuse do you have? What’s been holding you back from taking the leap and seeing how a lead strategy that does the work for you can benefit you?

Give us a shout and see.

The Importance Of An Online Sales Counselor

by craig | Dec 26, 2018 | Coaching

If you cannot keep up with the rapid pace of online marketing, your business will suffer…

According to a joint study by Google and the National Association of Realtors®, 90% of all real estate transactions start with an online search. When a customer contacts you, you must respond as quick as possible, regardless of the time. If a customer doesn’t hear from you right away, they’ll end up doing business with someone who wants their business. It’s the nature of real estate.

Sure you can delegate lead management to an administrative assistant who has perhaps a couple of hours extra they can squeeze out of their day. However, is that really how you want to deal with arguably the most important facet of your business–leads? Lead nurturing is a full time job. So much of the success of your business is contingent on the emphasis, care, quality, and maintenance of the individual or team you entrust this responsibility upon.

It’s recommended that every successful agency team employ an online sales counselor (OSC) to cultivate and manage the plethora of leads that may be coming your way through the digital landscape of online marketing. With an OSC, your team can focus on what they do best– turning those leads into closed sales.

Below are the main points that will help lead to your team’s success with an OSC in place.

You’ve spent hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars building a business and brand that instills quality and trust with the customers who are constantly exposed to you. With this, you staff your business with a team of full-time employees who help evoke the same message of quality and trust.

Your website should parallel this idea. If a customer manages to find themself on your site, they should be guided,not left to their own devices to aimlessly wander through the various pages. This is where your OSC holds the baton.

Respond quickly with a personal touch. Studies indicate that a lead is 21X more likely to convert if it is responded to within the first 5 minutes vs the first 30 minutes.
Provide the information they are seeking.
Establish the relationship by asking the right questions.
Offer suggestions and additional insight to maintain the conversation.
Update your CRM with detailed notes for each prospect.
Follow up personally after the initial contact to secure an appointment with a top agent.

A fast reply gives buyers a good idea about how you’ll respond after they decide to work with you. A joint Keller Williams / Baylor University study found the average response time to an inbound phone call is 1hr 45 mins. Since 49% of consumers expect an instant response this is totally unacceptable, which is why consumers will inquire with multiple real estate agents.Think of it this way: If you take a long time to reply to a customer’s initial inquiry, they’ll probably assume you’ll offer no expediency in getting back to them even after the sale closes– a time where they really might have lingering questions.

This can yield a drastically negative effect on the relationship you’re trying to build, not to mention your referral and repeat buyer rates after the sale. Like stated earlier, responding to leads within the first 5 minutes of receipt will yield drastic implications to the success of converting the lead. While this might seem unreasonable to you, think about how technology has changed how we conduct everyday commerce:

The prevalence of overnight shipping
The ability to split any cost between friends in real-time.

Buyers expect the same instant response when they’re shopping for a home, and delaying your reply widens the gap between the inquiry and the sale. An OSC knows their job is to respond quickly, monitor the buyer from the moment of their first inquiry, and work with them until they’re ready to meet your on-site salesperson.

With an all-star OSC, you’ll see incremental sales that you didn’t have before. Gone will be the days of scratching your head contemplating how you justify spending so much money on leads only to have them drift into aimless obscurity.Your OSC is the customer’s first interaction with your brand. Their job is selling and prepping the buyer so the on-site sales professionals can carry on the conversion.

Here’s how you might describe the job to an OSC candidate:

“As a part of my digital marketing strategy, I need a real salesperson — someone who can take inbound leads, respond fast, stick to a specific sales process, respond fast, follow up, make calls, respond fast, follow up again, sell the company and themselves via email and phone, respond fast, follow up, send videos, follow up — and do all of these things without actually meeting the customer in person. Did I mention they need to respond fast?”

A great OSC is enthusiastic, knowledgeable, empathetic, responsive, and diligent about achieving goals. They’re likable, well-spoken, genuine, and their skill sets include:

Customer service experience
Strong communication — especially over phone and email
An appreciation for speed
A dedication targeting prospects with finesse and cultivating leads with patience and tenacity
Motivation to succeed
A sales mindset

It’s important to remember that your OSC is not an on-site sales representative. This person never actually meets with the potential customers face-to-face. This person is more like a qualifying dispatcher that scrubs the leads that come in and hands them off to the optimal closer. The two are working harmoniously for the same goal — closing the sale.

Proper implementation of an OSC can have an immediate positive impact on the success and growth of your business. All of that considered, if you are in a spot where you don’t have the means or the resources to bring on a full time employee that is responsible for the aforementioned role, Verse is here to help. We have the means to implement an optimal lead scrubbing and qualifying strategy that connects to your lead strategy/CRM, that engages every lead within the first 5 minutes on behalf of your team, and once qualified sends you an immediate notification via SMS and email.

Strive for 5: Why Your Slow Response Time is Ruining Your ROI

by craig | Dec 19, 2018 | Coaching

Like a lot of agents in your situation, I’m sure you are frustrated with the amount of leads that are falling by the wayside. You train your team, you have a viable strategy in place and come month’s end, you see how much money is being wasted on dead leads.

What if there was something so simple all along that you were overlooking?

Did you know that your lead response time can make or break your success with capitalizing on said lead? Studies indicate that when a real estate agent responds to a lead within the first 5 minutes they are 21X more likely to convert the lead than if they respond within the first 30 minutes. When it comes to your overall lead strategy, response time should be number one priority.

It’s like the great modern day philosopher, a Mr. Ricky Bobby once said,

“If you’re not first, you’re last.”

What is going to follow below are the top 3 reasons speed is the number one factor in the success of your team’s lead strategy. In the past, when meeting with a customer, you were charged with setting up an appointment in which to meet this customer. You generally slotted the appointment within the 9am to 5pm hours. Once you met, you went over the available options with this potential customer.

Things have changed since then…

We’ve now entered a era that is more like the wild, wild west when it comes to dealing with customers. Gone are the days where the agent was in control. With the advent of modern day technology, a buyer has the ability to search for their new home from the comfort of their couch. They can do this at any hour during the day, and they can seek assistance from an agent whenever they want. 90% of all real estate leads are now coming from the web.

With no scheduling bottleneck on the side of the customer being present, it is imperative that you respond to the lead as soon as it comes in–regardless of when.

Which brings up the next reason… As alluded to above, when a lead is responded to within the first 5 minutes there is a 21X better chance of converting the lead than in the first 30 minutes.

But that’s not the entire story. What if there are two or more agents that respond to the lead within that first 5 minutes? Who is going to be the lucky winner of that lead?

Recently, an online MIT study revealed some amazing results regarding lead generation and response time with 74% of all buyers and 76% of all sellers will work with the first agent / brokerage they speak with.

The plot yet thickens again and speed becomes ever so important–you’re not the only person that’s working on qualifying and pursuing that lead. When you respond within the first 5 minutes of a lead being generated, you are ahead of 90% of other agents/brokers according to a study conducted by roof.ai. In this study, they found that 9% of the top real estate agents responded to leads within the first 5 minutes, 50% responded within the first 5 minutes to 3 days, and 41% of the surveyed agents didn’t respond at all!

Of the top 9% of the study who was able to respond to the lead within the 5 minute mark (who expose themselves to a 21X higher conversion rate) used direct chat widgets on their site in order to make the connection in conjunction with their ISA’s. These agents were being active in their lead response.

You might often hear, “It’s lonely at the top.” In this case, consider the loneliness a Godsend. Now that you understand how imperative speed is in the success of your lead strategy, what first steps must you take in order to see your business flourish?

Luckily for you, Verse is here to help. Verse can equip you with your very own concierge team that responds to and qualifies generated leads so you don’t have to. Our tools work at all hours of the day so you don’t have to. We guarantee an instant response. If at a certain point, you are unable to work with the lead, you can still benefit through our referral program of 30,000 installed agents.

Call us at (888) 373-9942 or visit us here to schedule a demo.

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