If you want success in real estate, you need to be constantly nurturing your leads. But you already knew that.
How to perfect lead follow-up? That's the million dollar question...
Calling, emailing, meeting face-to-face—these are all vital parts of the lead nurturing process, but what other tools and strategies are there to add to your arsenal? What new, cutting-edge technology is next on the horizon?
How about...texting?
That's right. If you've already been texting your leads, keep it up. If you haven't been, now's the time to start.
The Benefits of Texting Your Leads
Here's why you should adopt texting your leads as part of your follow-up strategy:
Texting is direct.
People carry their phones around with them all the time. When they receive a text, they'll know about it right away.
Texting is a fast and efficient way to put yourself right where your lead is.
Texting is engaging.
People ignore calls and delete emails, but nearly everyone actually reads their texts, and they do so almost immediately.
A recent Dynmark report found that SMS messages have a whopping 98% open rate (compared to 20-30% for emails), with 90% of texts being read within 3 seconds!
You can't beat numbers like that.
Texting is convenient.
Texting allows you to send information in a way that doesn't feel pushy or overly intrusive.
It's also easier to send engaging content. People tend to trust texted links - so they get a much higher click-through rate.
Texting is personal.
An increasing number of people prefer to text as their primary way of communication, and it's how they choose to communicate with friends and family.
Having access to a channel that's direct and familiar is a great way to build rapport with your leads.
Texting is different.
Your clients are used to being "marketed to" on other channels, while texting has remained a somewhat untouched space.
As a real estate agent, you have the opportunity to connect with your leads in a way that most other businesses can't.
Texting is efficient.
Compared to calling, or emailing, it's much easier to text a lot of people in a short timeframe.
This is especially true if you have built-in texting capabilities in your CRM. REW Text for example, an add-on to REW CRM, allows you to text any of your leads directly from your website backend.
So, by integrating texting into your lead nurturing process, you have the potential to boost engagement AND save time. It's not often that you actually get more for less.
8 Keys to an Effective Texting Strategy
Now that you're sold on the value of texting your leads, there's still the question of how to craft a winning texting strategy.
Here are some quick tips on how to make it happen...
- Keep it simple: Texting isn't quite a conversation, and it's not like a letter campaign. So, keep it short, keep it simple, keep it direct.
- Have a clear purpose in mind: Are you following up on an email? Looking for a click-through to a listing? Gear your texting strategy towards achieving that specific goal.
- Include a question: For maximized engagement, a good text will prompt some kind of reply. Including a question is a great way to do this... isn't it?
- Avoid spam: Blanket, impersonal, unsolicited, or redundant texts that don't add value are less likely to work, and are more likely to drive leads away. So this bears repeating: Always add value.
- Be prompt: Because that's what people tend to expect with texting. But not too prompt - that might seem suspiciously automated or pushy.
- Adapt your tone: Adapt your language and style to the rapport you have with the lead. This'll probably correspond to where you have them in your sales process and on your preceding interactions.
- Integrate texting into a complete strategy: Keep up with your calls, emails, and meetings. The high rate of reply on texts means that no reply is probably a good signal that the lead isn't interested right now - or does it mean you should just try a different approach? A dynamic, responsive strategy is key.
- Get the right tools: To maximize speed and efficiency, invest in a CRM that lets you text your leads directly from your workspace.
Trust your instincts.
If this is all new to you, or you'd feel more comfortable with a good-ol'-fashioned telephone call, you may still have some questions about how to text your leads.
After all, each lead is different, and "best practices" can give way to guesswork pretty quickly.
For example, when preparing to send a text, what's the right timing? Or tone? What kind of text messages "offer value" and create engagement?
Ultimately, if you're new to texting leads, you're going to have to trust your sales instincts, or learn what works as you go.
We didn't say it would all be easy. But what you should be certain of is that texting is a proven method for generating high engagement numbers in a cost-effective and flexible way, and modern technologies are making this process even quicker and easier.
About REW Text
Bouncing back and forth between your CRM and your phone can be clunky. That's why we built REW Text.
REW Text is an REW CRM add-on that lets you text leads directly from the backend of your website.
With this helpful add-on, you can text message your leads straight from the lead details screen in one click. This makes it incredibly convenient to text clients as part of your follow-up process without ever leaving REW CRM.
To add REW Text to your website, contact us now or speak to your Product Consultant.