Following Up!

Anytime real estate investors get together the question immediately asked is, “How is your buying/contracting going?” What they are asking is do you have a good amount of leads coming in, where are those leads coming from and are those leads any good. Of course, mostly everyone says they are doing great. Personally, I like to “keep it real.” If leads are low I admit it because I know that they will eventually come in. Meanwhile, I continue working and following up with all the leads in the pipeline. The follow up is what keeps a real estate business, or any business, consistently profitable.

In real estate, you are not going to crush it week after week, month after month. Real estate fluctuates and what works one day may not work the next. The key is consistency. If zero seller leads are generated one month from mailers, it does not mean I stop sending letters, it just means mailers did not generate leads this month. The same can be said for internet marketing, bandit signs, networking, flyers, etc. As a real estate investor you must always market through as many avenues that provide the greatest returns. In some markets bandit signs may generate lead after lead while in other markets you get zero calls. I usually test out new marketing strategies for about six months. During those six months I keep records of the cost, leads coming in, appointments set, contracts signed, number of closings, and of course profit. This lets me know if the marketing is working or not. It also lets me know if the lack of closings is due to the marketing or the people receiving the leads. If people are clogging the deal pipeline it may mean they need more training. In other words, make the adjustments where they are needed to convert more leads. Marketing will always require tweaking and more tweaking just when you think it is “perfect.” While all this is helpful and profitable the number one cause of profit is in the FOLLOW UP.

If you give two similar people with similar experiences, with similar knowledge and fed both of them leads, I guarantee that the person with the best follow up closes the most leads. Time and time again I see good real estate investors miss out on super profitable deals because they do not follow up. Think about it this way, if a seller was distressed and needed to sell his/her home today how much more distressed do you think he/she will be in a month or two. They may have had a contract fall apart, bills piling up, vacant house issues, etc. and are now twice as motivated. If you follow up to discover that the property is still available you can purchase a sweet deal and help the owner get rid of his/her headache, the property. Then again, you may still not be the buyer for his/her property but you won’t know unless you follow up. I have followed up on a house for as long as two years only to discover that it was sold for much more. However, the seller and I got to know each other and now recommends me as a real estate agent all the time. I guess she respected my work ethic and persistency. Even after you get a deal under contract follow up is key. I have been working on a closing for close to 9 months. We are close to closing because of a ton of following up with the listing agent, title company, attorney, and 25+ heirs. Another buyer backed out of the deal because they just could not keep the closing on track. I went into the transaction knowing it was going to be awhile, and although it has not been easy I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Continue doing what you have been doing to generate leads but do not stop tweaking. Make sure you measure your results and most importantly FOLLOW UP!!