April 14, 2021
Ginger Crosbie
4 simple tweaks that convert leads to appointments
So you finally made the leap into the world of entrepreneurship.
After countless hours of studying and preparing for your real estate exam, followed by the nail-biting moment you learned if your hard work paid off, you’ve finally made - you’re a real estate agent.
Armed with your cape, your phone, your computer and your know-how you are ready to help innocent home buyers and sellers navigate the real estate world and find the home of their dreams.
You’re no stranger to hard work. Look at all you’ve done just to make it to this point.
Now you’re here. You’re paying for the real estate leads and your inbox and phone are blowing up. It’s like drinking from a fire hose that’s on full blast.
The real estate leads are flooding in and in your eyes you can see the potential.
But, if you’re drinking from a fire hose, why do you still feel like you are as dry as the Sahara Desert? Someone just opened the floodgates, yet here you are sitting in the sun, sweating, not a drop of water in your canteen, ready to open the fire hose again.
Were all of those real estate leads just a mirage? Why aren’t any of the real estate leads converting into appointments? It’s confusing, you can see the inquiry, the missed call, the full inbox, but why aren’t your leads converting into appointments?
They weren’t a mirage. Your leads are real people who are interested in your services.
The problem? It’s not your lead source.
Here are 4 facts why your real estate leads aren’t converting to appointments.
One of the main reasons your real estate leads aren’t converting into appointments is because you’re too slow to respond.
And sure, you might be thinking to yourself “but I respond to my leads as soon as humanly possible”.
But, in today’s world ‘as soon as possible’ is just not fast enough.
Studies show that lead response rates drop by a factor of 10 after just 5 minutes.
That means that if you can’t respond within 5 minutes of that lead registering online that they are 10 times less likely to respond to you.
So even if you think 10, 15 or a 20 minute response time is fast, it is not fast enough to your leads.
You’re doing yourself a disservice by thinking you can be on 24/7.
Speaking of…
You might be thinking, “Well I don’t mind. I can respond to an inquiry within 5 minutes…”
And you’re right, you probably can respond to real estate leads within 5 minutes of them registering online. But for how long? How long can you sustain that response time? This business is busy.
Meaning you have showings, contracts to write, open houses to host, inquiries to respond to, contract disputes to respond to, closings, the list goes on.
We know you don’t shy away from doing the work. But, can you really respond to every inquiry within 5 minutes? Think about:
What if you get an inquiry while you’re showing a house to another real estate lead? Are you going to ignore the client right in front of you so you can send a quick response? No.
What if you’re out celebrating a friend’s milestone? Are you really going to be the person constantly checking their phone and not engaging with the people right in front of you? No.
What if you get a real estate lead inquiry at 2AM? Are you going to wake up, be coherent and be able to respond if you’re waking up from a deep sleep? No.
Your availability, or lack thereof, is hurting your business. It’s impacting your ability to be the real estate mogul you dream of being.
At Smart Alto we have ISA’s all around the world that are able to respond to new real estate leads within five minutes. That means, that while you’re working on the other important aspects of your business and living life, there is someone available 24/7/365 working in the background to help convert your incoming leads into appointments on your calendar.
Did you pass your real estate licensing exam on the first try? Possibly.
But, maybe it took you a couple of tries before you finally saw that “You Passed!” appear on the screen.
Did you give up after the first attempt? No. You’re here.
So why do you give up after you get ghosted by real estate leads after the first try?
Yeah, rejection stings.
But, why aren’t you applying the same vigor to your lead follow up attempts as you did to your real estate exam?
A recent study showed that the more contact attempts you make with a lead the greater your chances of connecting.
Over 50% of real estate leads are never followed up with. Only 40% of real estate leads respond on the first attempt, but by the 6th attempt over 80% of real estate leads respond.
Those dead leads may not really be dead after all. You’re just not following up enough.
“Huh?”, you’re thinking? “I call or email every lead that comes in. What else is there?”
Ahhh, we thought you’d never ask.
We all know email open rates are abysmal.
Phone calling seems like the most reliable way to respond to a real estate lead, but when was the last time you answered the phone for an unrecognized phone number. You probably screen those calls if your phone isn’t doing it for you already.
Texting/SMS is truly the most efficient and effective way to engage incoming real estate leads.
The numbers don’t lie, people prefer to text.
95% of texts are read within 3 minutes of being sent. That’s fast.
Not only that, but our Text/SMS inboxes are usually a lot less crowded than our email inboxes.
So why not try to reach them via a less crowded and less screened channel?
Still not sure why your real estate leads aren’t converting into eager appointments?
Maybe you’re thinking, “But I respond to my leads quickly, I’m always available, I never give up (unless they tell me to go away, of course) and I’ve been texting my real estate leads. But I’m still not converting my leads into appointments”
Well, here are some other helpful articles we’ve written on real estate lead conversion. Maybe the answer to your problem lies here:
If you’re still not sure where your lead conversion problem lies, Take Our Quiz To Find Out Why Your Real Estate Leads Aren’t Responding To You
All you need to do is answer a few questions about your current lead follow up and it will let you know the number 1 reason that you personally aren’t getting in touch with your leads.
The Smart Alto Appointment Setting System guarantees your team never misses another sales opportunity.