Even the real estate agents who seem like they are doing everything right and have everything dialed in are aware of an area of their business they could manage more effectively.
If asked, they will typically identify one of the following as the biggest hole in their sales funnel:
Nurturing leads
Maintaining relationships
Requesting referrals
You know your business. Does this sound true for you?
We get it. You aren’t neglecting an entire segment of your business because it is unimportant. You are neglecting (sorry, but you are!) a segment of your business because you simply don’t have enough time or the right system in place to provide excellent service to your existing clients while nurturing prospects. And staying in front of your past clients. And requesting referrals. Oh, and having some kind of life outside of work.
Excellent Client Service
+ Prospecting
+ Maintaining Relationships with Past Clients
+ Developing a Referral Request Program
≠ Work Life Balance
Nurturing Leads
You may have a sense of the lead quality based on the source but statistically, 50% of sales leads are not ready to buy and almost 80% of sales leads don’t ever convert. Low conversion is what makes lead nurturing a frustrating and expensive process.
In the US, nearly 5.5 million existing homes were sold last year and that number is projected to increase for 2020. A percentage of your leads are buying and selling which makes follow up (that sometimes feel like a complete waste of time) critical.
If you aren’t using a system to nurture leads, we want to talk to you.
Maintaining Relationships
A common reason agents neglect past client follow up is because they believe in the service they provided and are confident their client would use them again. That confidence actually aligns with the data.
88% of buyers and 82% of sellers would recommend and use their agent again
Good agents (we are going to assume you are a good agent…) should be able to count on past clients for repeat business. But, not so much.
88% of home buyers say they would use their real estate agent again but only 11% actually do
11%. Somewhere between “would recommend and use their agent again” and actually needing an agent for their next real estate transaction, they met another agent who wasn’t afraid to ask for their business.
You have to stay in touch with your past clients. You have to make sure they remember your name, they know you are still working in real estate and they know how to contact you.
Requesting Referrals
Agents typically make a similar mistake in assuming their past clients will send them business. You have happy past clients. Of course you do! But if you aren’t staying in front of them, they probably aren’t thinking about you or your business.
91% of customers said they’d give referrals if asked but only 11% are asked
Are you asking? Agents looking for referrals need to communicate that they are building their referral business and provide a simple method for referral submission.
Think about your business and how well you are prospecting, communicating with clients through their transactions and staying in front of your past clients. It is difficult to manage each area of your business well without using a Customer Relationship Manager.
If you are ready to use automation to improve your communication, sGrow can help!