Focusing on the wrong buyer leads can be taking time away from ones that will actually net you a commission check. Make sure to ask these five questions to every buyer lead before jumping on a phone call with them.
As a real estate agent, you know that converting internet real estate leads is all about speed. So you might find it tempting to simply rush right to scheduling a call with your leads. If I can get them on the phone, I have a strong chance and closing them right? Maybe.
If you’re jumping right into the call without first qualifying the lead, you might be hurting your chances at converting them. These are five tried and tested questions you should be asking your buyer leads BEFORE deciding whether to engage them further.
What type of properties are your buyer leads looking for?
Duh! Of course, you know to ask your leads the type of properties they are looking for. But it’s easy to forget to ask your leads this question especially after all the blocking and tackling you need to do to get a lead on the phone.
A lot of leads don’t know how to describe the type of properties they are looking for. They have this ideal house in their mind and your job is to figure that out and match them up with a listing that closely resembles that ideal.
In order to maximize your chances of collecting that information, make sure to ask this question in several different forms to get the most complete picture:
- What is your ideal neighborhood for your new home?
- What type of features are important to you in your new home?
- How many beds and baths do you need in your home?
- Do you have any special or unique requirements for your new home?
How long have your buyer leads been looking? Do they have a timeline in mind?
This is a very important qualifying question because it helps you determine where in the sales cycle this lead currently is and craft your sales strategy accordingly.
Have they just started thinking about buying a home? If so they could take 6-12 months to close and might need a lender referral in addition to a quick education on the home-buying process.
Are they tired of looking because they can’t find the right fit? If you can identify where the mismatch has been with this lead, then you might be able to close them quick. But it also might mean they are or were working with another real estate agent in the past.
Are they unsure? These leads may not be very serious, it might be worth just passively following up with them over the next 1-2 years to see when their situation changes.
No matter what their answer is, you will be able to understand where in the sales cycle this lead is and how patient you might have to be before collecting your commission check.
Is your buyer lead currently working with an agent already?
It sucks to talk to a highly qualified lead who is ready to make an offer, but then find out that she already has an agent she’s working with. Hey, real estate agents don’t work for free!
It’s important to ask this question early on in the qualification process before getting too far with a buyer lead. It’s also worth noting that not all leads know how to answer this question correctly or they might lie in the hopes of hearing your sales pitch. To get a more candid response, you can also ask more pointed questions like:
- Have you signed any agreements with a real estate agent to represent you?
- What’s the name of your real estate agent?
Has your buyer lead been pre-approved or pre-qualified by a lender?
No point having a conversation with a lead who wants to put in an offer, is not going to pay full cash, and does not know that they need to show proof of funds for their offer to be taken seriously.
It’s important to ask if the lead has already spoken to a lender and know about the home purchase financing process. so you can determine how serious the lead is. Thankfully, it’s not the end of the world if they have not spoken to a lender yet, you can always refer them to your preferred lenders to be pre-approved pretty quickly.
At this point, it’s also appropriate to ask the lead for their budget so you have this on file as well.
When is your buyer lead free to view some listings?
If you’ve gotten this far with a lead, you have someone pretty qualified already. By now you know enough about this lead’s situation to help you determine how likely you are to convert them into a client.
Now it’s time is to SELL SELL SELL so go ahead and ask them when they’re free to view some homes with you and get the viewing appointments on the calendar.
Remember that it’s easy to rush the lead right to the viewing appointment, but unless you have a clear picture of the lead’s situation you might be wasting your time or worse yet, hurting your chances at converting them. So take a few minutes to qualify your buyer leads first and then decide to engage with them appropriately.
