Real Estate : How to Prospect Well by Phone?

Prospecting is unquestionably an important aspect of the real estate agent’s job. The initial impression a prospective customer has of you will define how they see you for the remainder of the business relationship, therefore it’s critical to pay attention to your approach and use smart techniques. While there are a variety of techniques to prospect, such as handing out brochures or networking, telephone prospecting remains a necessary foundation and must be practiced on a regular basis.

If you currently practice, you almost definitely have a list of contacts to relaunch, as well as new prospects given to you via other sources. During your calls, your motive constantly causes you to hope that the person you’re speaking with would be delighted to speak with you. However, he is often frigid and hesitant in reality. When it comes to the investment of time and energy required to conduct a telephone prospecting campaign, you should set the chances in your favor to optimize the efficacy of your call. When you pick up the phone, how do you prospect effectively? Here are some things to consider.

Focus on the challenges of telephone prospecting

First and foremost, it’s a good idea to ask yourself a few questions about your prospecting goals. The holy grail is, of course, to come across someone who is trying to sell their house or, on the other hand, who is looking to buy a home soon. Outside of ad sites, this will seldom be the case, and you’ll need to discover the correct method to make your prospecting efforts pay off. Let’s look at what objectives you should set for your company in the long run.

Establish the friendliest contact possible

First and foremost, make the person who answers the phone your ally. This may seem self-evident, yet it is the most delicate process due to the inherent uncertainty. You are unfamiliar with the interlocutor, who has his own personality, environment, and expectations. Each call that ends on a good note will therefore be a display of your adaptability, without the need for a failure to interrupt you.

This phase, which combines the presentation of the call’s object with initiating contact with the individual, requires a step back. The speech must be individualized from the first words said in order to elicit compassion from your interlocutor and support the attainment of your subsequent goals.

Get as much information as possible about the person

Although each contact does not result in a scheduled meeting, it should be utilized to gather as much information as possible about the prospect. Family situation, professional status, comprehensive contact information, even leisure preferences: do not hesitate to assemble everything that will be delivered to you in case you need it in the future. For example, you may wish a prospect a happy birthday, which is a great reason to check in on the status of a project.

A second level of data may be on the prospect’s entourage, in order to spot a possible project inside his family or friendly ties. Finally, since he logically lives in the industry where you want to work, he’ll be able to tell you about possibilities to expand your network, such as having after-work meetings or the presence of numerous clubs centered on sports or business that you should attend.

Detect long-term projects

All of this should enable you to create a prospect recovery plan for each successful exchange that does not need an appointment. When you hang up, double-check that you can schedule the next reminder in your calendar or on a specialized platform, increasing your chances of assisting the individual with an impending real estate project. If you agree with her on this reminder, you’ll feel even more welcome and won’t have to go through the trouble of making contact again.

Fix an appointment

This is the most evident issue: being able to commence the process leading to a potential commercial conclusion and converting your prospects into new clients. In real estate, this is setting up an appointment to view at a house for sale and sign a contract, or determining what purchasers want in a new home.

Preparation: a key to telephone prospecting

Let’s take a look at which prospecting strategies will help you boost the efficacy of your phone calls by using cautious planning. Without it, there’s a chance of too many failures, which may lead to demotivation.

Prospect in a personalized way

Nothing beats demonstrating that you grasp your interlocutor’s background to break the ice and capture their attention. The search for prospect information, which is now substantially aided by social media and other databases, might help you to qualify your call even before picking up the phone and so target the prospect’s expectations. Because you will have had time to assimilate the knowledge and its repercussions, you will be able to bounce back more successfully throughout the discussion.

The family’s composition, as well as the professional status, is intriguing. Birth, the departure of a kid for studies, a professional move, and other life events may all provide hints. There are so many opportunities to start a real estate enterprise that you may take advantage of.

An argument prepared for any eventuality

Your roadmap is a prospecting tool that should help you achieve all of your goals in a logical and fluid sequence. Any knowledge you obtain ahead of time may lead you to choose one axis over the other, but you must be ready to respond to any conversation opening.

Then, in order to build on your response, get into the habit of noticing the arguments that are raised against you. Whatever the possibility tells you, experience paired with long-term planning will guarantee that you are not powerless.

Known prospects: remember!

Finally, make advantage of your previous activities to help you in your present prospecting. A calendar of reminders should be kept, each with a specific aim to achieve. You’ll have the highest chance of discovering conversion levers and a speedy transaction if you follow up on these leads.

Maximize the chances of establishing a sympathetic contact

The importance of attitude, speech and rhythm

As previously said, gaining your interlocutor’s compassion is a necessary condition for a productive conversation. Let us illustrate this idea with three factors that help you make a strong first impression on the phone:

• Your overall attitude: no matter what the prospect says, have a good attitude and a smile on your face. As an established agent in a region, it is critical to cultivate an image that promotes your long-term interests in all circumstances: your reputation is on the line! Even from a prospect who is closed to communication, you will be able to collect “extra” information.

• Your speech: if you have a tendency to talk hastily or, even worse, to mince your words, you should focus on improving your communication skills immediately. A calm voice, clear phrases uttered at a fair pace, and a calm voice are the ingredients for a well-received telephone prospection.

• The dialogue’s rhythm: all of your preparation must allow you to keep the contact flowing and connect the arguments and appointment offers. Hesitations or silences will be seen as defects that bring your earnestness or abilities into doubt. Maintain the tempo and lead the prospect where you want!

Know how to bounce back

It’s not only a matter of overcoming the opposition’s conceivable objections. To figure out how to persuade your prospect to trust you and why he shouldn’t, jot down any facts that may slip his mind within the first few minutes of the talk. These factors will enable you to modify your speech to the circumstances and personality of the audience in order to steer the conversation in the proper path. When presented with the myriad scenarios you will face, sticking to your script is an approach that will rapidly reveal its limitations. The key to success is quick adaptability!

In addition, think of each piece of information you capture as a future asset. Is the individual anticipating a joyous occasion? She could be compelled to purchase a bigger house.

Stay attentive to the reactions of the prospect

All of the interlocutor’s responses give cues on how to interact with him. If he is short on time but still wants to talk, or if no project warrants his initiating the conversation, he will let you know. However, when confronted with a high volume of prospecting calls, a prospect may contact you even if he is not interested in speaking with you. Learning to distinguish between these two scenarios will undoubtedly help you succeed in initiating a conversation or, on the contrary, avoid wasting your time.

Use it with relevance for the remainder of the conversation and beyond the course of your argument: the interlocutor’s responses will tell you what detail he is sensitive to, which you can then stress. For example, a free property valuation will appeal more to a seller of a property, but the reasoning of the diagnosis presented would appeal to another. People must stay at the center of the real estate company plan if it is to flourish!

Transform the test, from the first contact

Finally, let’s return to the call’s goals to see how we can wrap things off in the most beneficial manner possible. In real estate, a phone call is first and foremost a human conversation that might stray from its original objective. It’s crucial to understand how to go back to what’s anticipated.

Have a constructive conversation

To determine if a call was effective, get into the habit of asking yourself – for a few seconds – which goals you ticked off. Appointment, evocation of a future project, business-related information, planned reminder, and so on. You will escape the major problem of telephone prospecting: tiredness, if you are pleased and do not feel like you have spent your time.

Plan future steps, in agreement with the prospect

The business connection that develops during this first conversation does not always result in a speedy sale. Make sure to dive into the agenda of your exchanges with the prospect with each call to make prospecting activities meaningful and plan the company for the long run. On the one hand, to avoid calling him for no reason, which would be inconvenient for everyone, and on the other hand, to start a commercial process in the mind of the interlocutor, who would automatically think of you if a future project arises. The distinction is tiny but crucial: if you know how to do it, a chance encounter may blossom into a long-term connection.

Develop your prospecting network

Finally, prospecting successfully might imply acquiring leads with the potential to generate revenue. Part of the argument must be directed in this direction in order to persuade the prospect to disclose information without turning the conversation into an interrogation. The information gathered on the networks may be put to good use: a kid who has just left home, for example, might be contacted as a first-time buyer. Adapt your speech so that the interlocutor believes he is doing his loved ones a favor by giving you their contact information.

Preparation, calls, and closing: prospecting for real estate by phone is frequently a challenging task, but it should not deter any agent. It is still the quickest option to make direct contact with a big number of prospects and should not be overlooked in this regard. Even the most seasoned agents have a vested interest in keeping a consistent phone habit in order to simply refresh their contact list. The more exact the preparation, the better the prospecting results: the time spent researching and refining the sales presentation will not be squandered. Good salesmanship and prospecting!