!! Follow Up or Go Home !!

In addition to selling a lot of real estate over my career and brokered thousands of homes + hours of my time invested into this industry, I also get the pleasure to speak to and hang out with Realtors from all over… And I can tell you from my experience one HUGE thing that kills a real estate careers is the inability to take enough action to follow up like crazy and non-stop !!!!

Ever hear the saying “The Bank Is In The Follow Up”? Well it is one of the most truest saying in sales that exists. Yes, us Realtors are in sales, be proud of that! You are selling your services and you MUST become relentless on your follow up.

Here is my what i think…. A lead, potential client does not owe me anything !!! I am trying to earn their business, they owe me nothing!!! So I email, call and text an I expect, I assume that I will get nothing in return and they didn’t get my message. So the next day I email, call and text assuming they did not receive my message. Then repeat and repeat and repeat and so on…. I followed up so hardcore that a few leads have heard from me over 50 of times from me actually me picking up the phone before the first contact !!!! (on average 25 phone calls), of course this is in the days of way back, when i was a youngster:), nowadays you can follow up in many other easier ways thousand of times. This is where having a CRM system in place helps.

Now, I am very aggressive with follow up, but of course there is no need to be aggressive with people/client, on the contrary. I am just following up, letting the know I am available, seeing if they have any questions or need anything at that time… Nothing special, nothing revolutionary… just staying in front of their mind…. Out of site out of mind, right? Here is a sample of what I will send them: “Hi Mr Smith, Your Realtor Ulysses Lepe here, just wanted to check in to see how your searches are going, see if you have any questions or need anything? As always, I am always available to show you any homes and answer any questions you may have, please do not hesitate to call, email or text me (whichever is easiest for you) anytime. Have a wonderful day! Your Realtor Ulysses Lepe”…. See, nothing fancy, just a basic follow up and I am relentless with this until they become a client…

Check these numbers out by CAR:

Sales Statistics:
*48 Percent of leads generated never get followed up on by agent. ( this is Crazy !! )
*25 percent of salespeople make a second call.
*12 percent of salespeople make a third call.
*Only 10 percent of salespeople ever make more than 3 calls !!! (!!!! are you kidding me !!!!!!!!!
wow this is ridiculous and embarassing !!!!!)
Here is what we know:
*2 percent of sales are made on the first contact.
*3 percent of sales are made on second contact.
*5 percent of sales are made on the third contact.
*10 percent of sales are made on fourth contact.
*80 percent of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact !!!

Follow up like crazy! if you dont then another agent will !!!! The ones who ATTACK in this business are the ones that take the most amount of action. Take action, follow up and go DOMINATE! Have an amazing day and go and ATTACK the Market !!

Ulysses