Convert Leads with Action Plans
Actions Plans are an awesome way to get organized and stay on top of lead follow up. They are essentially quick reminders to get in touch or perform a specific action, and can keep Realtors connected even when things get busy.
In today's post, we're going to outline some example campaigns based on marketing and sales best practices. But it's absolutely critical that you test and revise these campaigns as needed. What works for one business won't resonate with another, so it's important you use these Action Plans as a starting point to build your own tried and true strategies.
An Action Plan should mimic the overall lead follow up strategy you've defined for your agents or yourself, and serve as a series of reminders. If you've already put together a series of actions, take some time to write those actions down, and then built your Action Plan upon it.
Don't worry for a second if you don't already have your follow-up plan intact. We'll tackle that today. Let's start with the basic lead follow-up strategy we recommend all real estate agents use as their starting point:
1. Phone all new leads within 12 hours
2. Create a saved search
3. Send a personal email
4. Subscribe to a drip campaign or Action Plan
Once you've followed up with your brand new lead and you're ready to move onto the next step, which is where Action Plans come into play...
Strategizing with Action Plans
Most people who register on a real estate site are curious about a specific property or looking to buy within the next 90 days. With that in mind, we're going to create an example campaign that's heavy-loaded for the first month to try to engage the lead when they're most likely to transition from "just looking" to "completely intrigued."
The goal of this campaign is to position yourself as the best possible person to help in the lead's real estate search, and then convince them to meet up.
The meet up request should come after the lead has responded to one (or more) of your Action Plan items, and therefore isn't explicitly included in this campaign. In other words, Action Plans are conversation prompts and it's still up to you to naturally guide the conversation towards your meet up goal.
Without further ado, let's take a look at an Action Plan you can start using right now:
Example Buyer's Action Plan
Day 0 - Phone call #1
Reach out to the new lead to introduce yourself.
"Hello Josh! Thanks for registering on thevisionsite.com. I saw you were looking at {INSERT DETAILS} and just wanted to reach out and see if there's anything I can do to help you out. In the meantime, I'm going to set you up on a saved search on my site so you'll see new listings the day they hit the market."
You can also use this call to get a feel for what the person is looking for and essentially qualify them as a lead. When you're done the call, record detailed notes for future reference.
Day 0 - Create a saved search
Regardless of whether you get through to your client on the phone, the very next step is to set them up on a saved search with daily updates. A saved search is the simplest and most natural way to continually engage your leads, and it takes zero effort. That's a beautiful thing.
Day 1 - Send a personal email (or text)
Now it's time to send a personalize email or text message to the lead. There's two basic scripts you're going to want to follow, depending on whether you reached the client by phone:
"Hey, thanks again for checking out thevisionsite.com. I left a voicemail a couple days ago and wanted to follow up. I would still love to help you out if I can. What was it you were looking for on the site?"
"Hi Josh, thanks again for talking to me a couple days ago. I was thinking about our conversation and just wanted to ensure you saw our advanced search: http://www.thevisionsite.com/idx/
Day 7 - Send a recommended listing
One week after registration is a great time to try to re-engage the lead and get them back to your site. Review the existing browsing history, identify a similar listing to share, and send it their way in a personalized message:
"Hey Josh, I saw this listing today and immediately thought of you. What do you think?"
Day 10 - Phone call #2
Regardless of whether you've heard back, a second follow up phone call is due around now. Try to hook the lead with the prospect of looking at new properties. Remember, you're here to help the lead first and foremost, so this isn't the time for a sales pitch.
"Hello Josh, this is Erica from Concoct Realty, and I'm just calling to see if you want to take a peek at any homes? There are a couple right up your alley that I think you'd like to see."
Day 21 - Email #2
This email is just a quick and simple check in. Keep it short, casual, and end with a question to improve reply rates.
"Hey Josh, just checking in. How's the real estate search going?"
Day 28 - Phone call #3 / Judgement time...
It's time to call the lead again! Come up with any excuse to reach out and say hello--even if your excuse is just that you wanted to reach out and say hello. If you haven't heard back from the lead at all, you may want to let them know that this is the last time you'll be reaching out by phone, but will continue to share properties and helpful information to their email, through the website.
Day 28 - Email / Text #3
If the lead didn't answer the phone, follow up your phone message with an email or text that reiterates the same messages. Feel free to also remind the client that you've reached out a few times over the course of the month to reinforce the notion that you did genuinely attempt to help them.
Day 28 - Assign to continuation Action Plan
See below...
Next steps for your Action Plans
After the first month, it's time to gauge how things are going and consider the future you see yourself having with the lead.
If you have heard back from the lead, you should assign them to a new Action Plan that reflects their likely buying timeframe. For example, if the client is going to buy within the next couple months, the Action Plan should include phone calls and email touch points every week. Leads browsing the market with less urgency can be put on an Action Plan with required follow ups every 30 to 45 days.
Let the lead's previous interactions guide what form these communications take. If the lead replied by email, send email. If they replied by phone, use the phone, and so forth. Run these continuation Action Plans for a year and then decide at the end of that year whether you add the lead to another round of Action Plan follow up or set them free.
If you haven't heard back from the person at all, this is a good time to take them off Action Plans, switch them over to a long-term drip campaign, and let the saved search emails do most of the heavy lifting. Alternatively, you can put these leads on a very long-term Action Plan, with follow ups every 90 to 120 days, if you want to take a more proactive approach.