Are you providing a good service to all your leads? Think again!

Let's start with the revelations... If you are a traditional real estate agency, there is a high probability that you are neglecting a relevant percentage of your customers. Sounds harsh but I'm pretty sure that's the case. Why? Let's check the classic sales funnel:

We have three main phases: Lead generation, lead nurturing and sales. Real estate agencies invest a lot of money in the first one. Once they get a lead, it goes straight to the sales agent and usually, the agency barely knows anything about what's going on with that lead, unless there is a sale. So the lead nurturing phase is like a black hole where many leads fall with uncertain results. Funny after all that money spend, right?

Lead nurturing is probably the most complex work since we have buyers coming in different stages of the funnel: Awareness, interest, consideration... And often only a low % of them are actually ready to buy now. That high % of earlier stage leads need to be treated with patience and care, providing what they precisely need at their stage, which is not about blasting them with random properties.

And in many cases, all the lead nurturing is left alone in the agent's hands. While agents are usually good at dealing with ready-to-buy-now leads, but not so good with nurturing. So some of them will do a good job, some others just won't. Doesn't it sound too random for a serious business?

So, how can we ensure we are providing an excellent service all along the funnel? I don't have the perfect answer, but we can surely try this: Tracking, measuring and training.

1. Track the communication

We don't want to be the Big Brother, but we need to be sure the communication is done properly for every single lead, no matter what. Use a call tracking service and the right CRM to track the emails as well. Have someone check those, work with the agents to create scripts and communication flows based on the buyer's profile, and tackle faulty communications.

2. Measure the quality of service

Don't hesitate to ask clients about the service you are providing, ask them about the first contact speed, expertise level and so on. You can do it by email with a set of feedback questions, and also have someone else giving them a call. Don't leave everything in agent's hands, add a customer service professional to the communication.

3. Train your agents constantly

After you've tracked and measured everything, you are in a position to identify the individual flaws. So tackle those and train your agents because the better they are, the better your service will be. And not just the classic sales training, help them become a real industry, area, and product experts.

Conclusions

Buying a property is usually the most important investment people do in their lives. It's an often difficult and long decision that needs to be assisted properly. While sales agents are not so good at dealing with early stage buyers. And certainly that leads to losing sales.

And it's a bigger problem after the irruption of online marketing and the insane amount of leads that marketeers can generate. It's just impossible for a single agent to nurture properly 50+ leads a month, and that accumulated month after month.

I believe excelling in lead nurturing is still rare among real estate agencies. So whoever does it, should get an interesting advantage over competitors.