If you’re reading this, you’ve probably invested in your property management company’s marketing. Your investment might have even started to generate some leads from an internet campaign.
Amazing.
Your business is about to explode with rental owner leads… Right?
Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.
You’ll quickly find that not all of the contact information that you’ve acquired is being converted into sales appointments for your company.
So what are you supposed to do?
Should you just accept that these leads are ‘poor quality’ and move on?
That’s the exact problem I’m going to help you solve in this article.
Being a property management marketing company, we feel it’s our responsibility to help you figure out how to convert these online leads to appointments.
This article is a tool that will give you an exact follow-up framework for rental owner leads that come through the internet. Keep on reading to become the master of your marketing efforts.
Speed and Persistence Win The Battle
When it comes to online leads, speed and persistence are the two most important ingredients to closing a sale.
1. Time Kills All Deals
The longer you wait to reach out to the lead, the less likely you are to land them as a client.
You should be following up with a phone call the second you receive their contact information.
In order to do that you need to set up your CRM to notify you the second a new lead comes in.
Most paid CRMs have a feature that enables you to be notified when you receive a new lead. But for those of you who use a CRM that doesn’t have this feature don’t worry.
You can solve that problem with a simple Zapier integration.
To do this, set up a dedicated email address where your internet leads are sent. You can use a free Gmail account to do this.
Once you set up your email account, create an email + SMS Integration with Zapier. If you’re not sure how to set this up, you can find the instructions here.
Once this is properly set up, you’ll receive a text message to your cell phone (or your Business Development Manager’s cell phone) the minute you receive a new lead.
Once you receive the new lead, don’t wait. Call them right away.
If you don’t think speed is important, consider this stat:
“78% of Customers Buy From the First Responder” – Lead Connect
Now that we’re clear about how important it is to follow up with leads quickly, let’s take a look at the next important component of closing more online leads.
2. Persistence.
Not only do you need to follow up quickly, but you also need to be persistent in the number of times you follow up.
You can drastically increase the number of leads you get in contact with from 48% to 93% by calling them up to six times.
Not only do I recommend following up six times, but you also shouldn’t wait 3 weeks to follow up with them 6 times.
You should call them twice on Day 1, twice on Day 2, once on Day 3, once on Day 4. At this point, if they still don’t answer then you can be less aggressive with your follow up approach.
You should put the lead in an ‘old leads’ category and be following up with these people once a week for the first month.
I know this might sound a bit aggressive but you need to remember, they’ve reached out to YOU at this point. You’re simply trying to get in touch with them to see how you may be able to help.
Be Tactical About The Time of Day You Follow Up
The time of day and day of the week you follow up with leads also plays a factor.
You need to remember who your target audience is. Most people who own investment properties have a full-time job. This means they’re likely occupied during the working hours of the week.
Since you know they’re likely working between 9 am-12 pm and 1 pm-5 pm, you should factor that into your follow up approach.
Rather than calling them during working hours, try reaching them on their way to work in the morning (8 am-9 am), on their lunchtime (12 pm-1 pm), or after work (5 pm-8 pm).
If you can get someone on the phone BEFORE they get their day started or as it’s winding down you have a higher likelihood of reaching them.
Adapt with the Times
We live in a digital age. Unfortunately, most people have a resistance to getting on the phone and speaking with someone. If you’re relying solely on reaching them via phone call you’re missing out.
1. SMS
You’ve probably noticed most people have their eyes glued to their cell phones. Not only are their eyes peering through their mobile devices, but their thumbs are also in constant motion making sure they have a minimum of 35 conversations going on at the same time. (I’m exaggerating but I think you get the point 😉 )
Texting has become the most convenient and most used platform for communication.
“78% of US consumers say receiving a text message is the fastest way to reach them for important service updates and purchases.” Vibes.com
When you receive a new lead through your website, send the lead a text message right away.
Within the first 5 minutes of sending in their contact information, they should get a text saying
“Hi [lead name],
This is [your name] from [your property management company name]. I received your information on our website. Can you talk now? Or is there a good time for me to call you?”
Often text has a better response rate than email and phone calls. This makes sense when you consider the fact that the average email inbox has 199 unread or unopened emails (source: Workfront).
2. Email
At this point, you’ve already called them and texted them. The last missing piece is to email them. You should also be sending the lead an email as soon as they reach out to you.
Don’t reply with a template “Thanks for reaching out. We’ll be in touch within 24 hours.”
This is a huge waste.
All of your competitors are sending the same template email.
You need to differentiate yourself from the competition (and make no mistake, they likely will reach out to your competitors as well).
Rather than a boring email, craft an email that’s personable.
Remember, you’re not trying to sell via email, you’re simply trying to open the door to a conversation, which is ultimately how sales happen.
Your first email can be something similar to this:
“Hi {lead’s name},
I just received your contact information from our website. Thanks for reaching out to us at [your Property management company’s name].
Is now a good time for a call?
If not, how does Tuesday at 3 pm work for you?”
If they don’t respond to that email you should have a sequence of emails you slowly drip out over the course of the next week. For example, you can send a follow up email on day 2, day 4, and day 6.
You’ve now sent 4 follow up emails within the first week in comparison to your competition who have only tried to follow up with them once.
In a perfect world, every lead that reached out to your company would pick up the phone the second you call. You would then close them on the first call, and they’d become a new client.
But this isn’t a perfect world.
This is a world with an overwhelming amount of distractions.
So, your follow up strategy is more important now than ever.
Make sure you focus on speed and persistence while using a multi-channel follow up strategy (phone calls, text message, and email).
It’s important that you look at phone calls, text messaging, and email follow-ups as a team.
If you call the lead, make sure you text them if they don’t answer. Or if you send them an email, make sure you also text them letting them know it is in their inbox.
You can even track who has opened the follow-up email (most CRMs have this feature. Look into Pipedrive if yours doesn’t) and then call them as soon as they open the email.
Have questions? Leave them in the comment!
Now go implement a follow-up strategy that suits your business and close some sales!
