One of the things every agent learns very quickly while working with clients is that they are all on their own timeline. Most people you meet will not be ready to buy or sell immediately. Even if they contact you about a specific home or selling, they may be months away from an actual transaction! Keeping in touch along their path is crucial to a successful business, no matter where they are on the way to a sale.
Many CRM’s come with sample followup plans, and Keller Williams has quite a few setup in eEdge as well. You can get a quick start by using them and change them as you see fit. Followups can include phone calls, newsletters, emails, texts, postcards, pop-bys, event invitations and more. Following up will be even more important if you are getting leads from the Internet, Facebook or other social media, or buying leads. When you don’t know someone or have not met them in person, follow ups become even more important.
Types of Followups
Buyers – Depending on how you plan to get clients you may have buyers that fall into specific categories such as first time buyers, buyers that need credit repair, luxury buyers, investors, or buyers looking in specific communities. Each of these may need different information along the way. For example if you are farming in a community and get a lot of buyers, your followups could include community specific information. Whereas followups for first time buyers might focus more on types of loans, down payment help that is available, etc.
Sellers – Of course sellers need something completely different than buyers! If you are marketing to expired listings that may look different than if you are trying to connect with for sale by owners, and the followup materials will probably be different as well. Add in potential clients in different areas, at different price points, or with different problems and you can focus your followups on what will keep each of them engaged.
Past Clients – Once you have worked with a client you will need a followup plan as well. Last I heard, less than 20% of people use the same agent that helped them buy the home when it is time to sell. I would venture to guess that is because most agents are very bad at followup.
How often should I followup?
There are many different opinions on how often you should contact a lead once you have their information. I have seen plans referred to as the 10 days of pain, with daily contact attempts the first 10 days, to 7 days and then each week after that, to just monthly or quarterly touches depending on the type of lead. An Internet lead you haven’t spoken with yet will require more consistent followup in the beginning to try to get them to respond, versus a friend who is doing some work on their house before listing it who will need fewer followups probably more spaced apart.
As you can see, one followup plan doesn’t fit everyone! Your CRM can help you have the templates done and in the likely order you want them, but you may need to adjust for specific leads.
Misty Weaver
Misty Weaver is an agent in Virginia currently growing the Dream Weaver Team with Keller Williams all over the country. During her years of dreaming about becoming an agent she spent her time working in Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing as an affiliate marketer. She loves talking to people that want to become real estate agents!
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