Welcome back to Brilliant Talks, our free coaching program for real estate agents. In this session, we will discuss your database, specifically how to use the information you see on the backend of your CRMs to improve your lead follow-up.

There are a lot of opportunities there that we sometimes miss because they are “invisible” to us. Or we just don’t dive deep enough to fully understand it.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about this topic, so Mark and I go through the process of what we do with our CRMs, namely Follow Up Boss and Chime, when we follow up with the leads that come into our database.

Information is crucial in business, and sometimes we already have that information in our hands. It is just a matter of how we dissect that information to get a better understanding of our consumers so that we can better optimize and personalize the service we give them.

Watch the full video here if you want to follow along with how we break it down from our system’s backend.

Your CRM

Whatever CRM you use for your database, you probably have it linked with all of your websites and landing pages, as well as your automated processes and action plans.

The main systems we use are Follow Up Boss and Chime, and we are partnered with Ylopo for Google PPC lead generation and retargeting, so that is integrated into our CRMs as well.

When a lead comes in through Google AdWords, they are directed to one of our websites and made to answer a questionnaire. This allows us to get a better understanding of our lead: what type of property are they looking for? When are they planning to buy? Are they planning to sell their homes before buying a new property? 

It is set up in a way that they have to answer a specific percentage of the whole questionnaire (around more than half) in order for that lead to enter our database. If they opt out of the questionnaire before they answer the targeted number of questions, that means they aren’t as serious about buying yet, and that lead’s information is filtered out of our system. That is how Ylopo ensures we can get better-quality leads through that dynamic registration process.

When a lead comes in, we look at the information they provided.

Understanding your lead

You can get a better understanding of who your lead is, what they might be thinking, and what they need based on a handful of details you were able to get from them. It all boils down to the kinds of questions you ask and diving deep into what the answers to those questions will reveal about the psyche of your consumers.

The more information you have and, depending on the quality of your questions, the more you can understand the person you’ll be reaching out to. And understanding your customer is crucial to building a great business relationship and providing an excellent customer experience.

The first thing we look at is their name, and then their email. Sometimes, their email alone contains specific details about the lead. For example, many people put their birthdays and full names on their emails. Or if they are using AOL as an email platform, for example, it is highly likely that the lead is within an older demographic.

It is critical to understand these details because they will help you determine how to approach your lead once you contact them via phone, text, or email.

We also take a look at their phone numbers, area codes, and addresses, if they are provided.

The tags, which give us an overview of the lead, such as what specific area they are looking to buy a house in, as well as other information that we designated as important: did they provide a valid address, and if they came in through the dynamic registration, are the next thing we look at. We also look at whether they are planning to sell before they buy.

Once we’ve looked at the tags, we take a look at the leads' answers to the questionnaire. This part is often rich in information. 

• What type of property are they looking for? 
• How many bedrooms? How many bathrooms? 
• How big of a house do they want? 
• Are they looking for a home with a specific view? 
• If they plan to sell before they buy, what area is that property located in? 
• How do they plan to pay for the home?

This helps us know how to better serve the customer, have a better understanding of their financial status and how serious they are in making the purchase, as well as spot other business opportunities, such as if they are planning to sell.

We also take a look at their activity on our website. What properties did they look at? Did they save any properties? How long were they on our site? What are the price points of the homes they checked out on our page? At what point did they check out?

If they looked at two properties and got off our site after seeing $7 million homes, then that might mean that the price had turned them off. Or if they saved a property and stayed on our site for a considerable amount of time, that is a good indication that they are pretty serious about purchasing in the near future.

Once I have taken a look at the relevant information and understood my lead a lot better, I am now more prepared when I reach out to them.

There are a hundred different ways our conversations can play out, but the more information I have, the faster I can think on my feet and see opportunities I might have otherwise missed. Are they set on that specific area, or would they be interested in a good adjacent city with lower price points but similar views? Do they want a condo or a family home? What other ways can I serve this person? What action plans do we have in place that would work best for this lead?

We can better identify their needs and offer a solution for them if we have a deeper understanding of the consumer.

Some final thoughts…

A lot of us think that online leads suck, but they don’t. In fact, the leads that we buy from companies like Zillow and Redfin are also generated through Google PPC. We just need to step up our game in terms of getting relevant information that will help us understand the leads better and come up with a system to filter out the good-quality leads from the meh ones.

If we can do that, then we can skip the expensive middleman and invest in generating our own online leads for a cheaper price.

This is one way we can push our prospecting online to a higher level. Of course, getting the sale depends a lot on how you communicate, follow up, and nurture your leads. But when we can get better-quality leads and understand them better, we can see more opportunities and be more effective with the approach we use.

I hope that helps, and if you are interested in going deeper into our processes of generating leads and following up with them, we do have individual and group coaching services. You can message me if you are interested or if you have any questions. I always love hearing from you.

We also do this weekly for free, so sign up below if you want to join us next week! 

Have an awesome day.