It's about time

[MikeNY]

I am trying to fine tune this myself, I am not the best on the phone's (hence why i just picked up a good BA who is great on the phones). The majority of my leads are just sign ins to view MLS listings, not the "contact me" sign-ins or listing inquiries as I always call/email those ASAP.

I had probably 1200-1300 sign ins in 2007 and as I said my follow up is bad and I want to change that in 2008. What I usually do is email them within 24-72 hrs a generic response (they receive an immediate automated response thanking them and giving them their log in info for their records) that I find works okay. What I do is go to my web site back office and find how the visitor found my web site, what they searched and on what web site, I make the subject of the email something like this:


Subject: "Hi Bob - Townhouses in (town name) NY.

So that usually sparks their interest as they are interested in townhouses (or houses, etc) in that particular town.

I then basically tell them I would be happy to sign them up in my automated email updates.I get a small % of people who respond with their criteria. I actually give them a link to a form that they can fill out and it gets sent to me.

Now since I just got a buyers agent, I sent him 130+ leads from the past 45 days and he got maybe 20 people on the phone and got 10 solid clients and is making appointments. so at that rate he is doing a heck of a lot better than my emails, so calls are essential and I would say within 12-24 hours calls should be made.

I like what Susan said about the Leads Coordinator, I need one desperately as I need to free up my time and my BA's time to deal with the buyers and not spend hours each day on the phones. Would love to know how to go about getting one and how to pay them.

I also like Russell's idea of sending them some MLS listings that fit the search criteria they used. I have done that in the past, I have even gone as far as set them up on the MLS automated emails without even talking to them but not sure that is the smartest thing to do.

[hicrc]

I like what Susan said about the Leads Coordinator, I need one desperately as I need to free up my time and my BA's time to deal with the buyers and not spend hours each day on the phones. Would love to know how to go about getting one and how to pay them.

Your Leads Coordinator should be licensed in real estate to understand legalities, and be very familiar with the local market. This person is often the first contact made on the phone or email with your potential client and it's an absolute must that he or she be very personable, patient, articulate and above all resourceful - able to come up with alternatives when one thing or another doesn't work out. I honestly don't know if our coordinator gets any kind of commission or incentive but I think that would be a great way to motivate someone in this job. There are definitely some knowledgeable real estate people out there that would rather have a salaried position with benefits and security for one reason or another.

Since we have around 125 agents and 7 offices, it's easier for us to have an in-house Leads Coordinator. I realize this isn't always possible, so perhaps you could set someone up with the right equipment... Blackberry or some PDA, laptop with roaming wireless, and let them work wherever they want to on whatever terms you set up. Flexibility is one of the best job benefits around!

[metaylor9]

This section is a great addition to the forum. I have vowed to get much better at follow up in 2008. Hopefully, we can share some great ideas here.

[brandonre]

I'm happy to see this section added to the forum and curious to see what opinions on how everyone follows up their leads. Usually your not going to have too much information but from the information you do have such as the phone number,sometimes I will make it semi personal and say I see you are relocating from "so and so" and look up the area code.Makes it a little more personal and shows it is not just an autoresponse. I have tried several different scripts and don't believe there really is one right magic email and if there is whoever has it please post it.

It is difficult because every person is different and without having enough info it is tough to know exactly how to approach it.