The hidden gold in estate agency

One of the most common questions agents ask us is ‘how do you think we could get more leads?’

And of course, this is an understandable question, as this is the key in most businesses not just estate agency. However, statistics from Lifesycle have thrown up some incredible insights into one of the best places to gather new instructions that most agents probably know about, but are missing out on.

Even as far back as when Joseph and Mary asked the inn keeper for somewhere to stay he had probably been taught to ask them if they required any mortgage advice or had a place to sell, so it is not news in itself that there are lots of potential opportunities for agents to get new listings or referral fees from their buyer enquiries, however up until now just how effective this could be has remained objectional.

Whilst as the owner of the business you may feel sure that your team are fully qualifying all enquiries, the reality is, that is just not possible unless you are receiving both very low numbers of enquiries and from very responsive people. So although the theory is that each portal enquiry will answer the phone when you call them and politely answer all of your registration questions, the reality is that even though they may have just made an enquiry, they often do not answer the phone when you call. But have you stopped for a second to think about why that might be?

Because they do not answer the phone, your enquiries to still be dealt with begin to build up and eventually they are either missed or rushed through without being fully qualified.

But let’s go back a second to the ‘why don’t they answer the phone’ question. In today’s world most people carry their phone with them EVERYWHERE they go. So it is safe to say that it was not that they did not answer because ‘they were out’. To get the answer we must put ourselves in their shoes. You are at home, and your phone begins to ring. It is an unknown number – what do you do?

Most people ignore it and think if it was someone, I knew their name would come up and if it is not someone I know then they can send me an email and I’ll reply later. Like it or not, that is just a fact in today’s world. So, your team send an email (maybe), and that email is written different each time. Some of your team might let the person know they tried to call and to call them back when they are free, some may send an email asking when they want to view, some may not even send the email and just keep trying to call.

All of this actually creates a few big problems in estate agency.

1.    Not all portal leads feel like they receive a response

2.    Your team have very disruptive days, having to jump off whatever they are doing to jump on portal leads at random times

3.    It is difficult to quantify the amount of opportunities and lost opportunities that portal leads bring.

This has all changed for agents using Lifesycle and the results are actually quite astonishing.

Within Lifesycle there is a section called ‘Leads’. The process is that Lifesycle connects up directly to Rightmove, Zoopla and *OTM, and then any enquiries from these portals get sucked directly into the Lifesycle system and straight onto a companywide ‘lead deck’.

But your staff do not need to do anything yet. Lifesycle will then automatically send that enquiry a response by email (and SMS if required) letting them know that their enquiry has been received but that you require some further information before it can go any further and directing them to your qualification form for which you can control the questions.

Once a portal enquiry has completed this information your team can see a green ‘verified’ button against those leads and can now not only see the details of the enquiry but all of the qualification information alongside it. For those leads that have not responded there is a ‘resend button’ allowing your team to just work with the leads who are serious and continue to remind the others that you are waiting on them.

BUT, here is the gold. Because Lifesycle is one big interconnected marketing system, Lifesycle automatically segments your data for you into different audiences based on their answers. So as an example one of our agents who have 10 offices have had 276 portal enquiries telling them that they have a property to sell that is not yet on the market and a further 199 that have told them they have a property to sell that is currently on the market and that is just in the last 10 weeks! They have also had 568 people tell them that they require a mortgage but have not yet arranged it.

Now unlike a stand alone tool that may respond to your portal enquiries, because Lifesycle has 19 different marketing tools inside the one system these people can be automatically receiving very different emails based on their responses. For example those with a property to sell but not yet on the market can receive a link to their online valuation system. Those already on the market can receive a questionnaire asking them how they are finding their current agent? Those looking for a mortgage can receive a link to a mortgage calculator and the chance to book in for a chat with someone.

Going beyond this, Lifesycle has a partnership with Facebook whereby audiences automatically sync with your Facebook ads manager in real time allowing you to ensure those people are seeing personalised ads in their Facebook feed based on their answers.

The revolutionary technology behind Lifesycle that allows for all of these actions to be interlinked by automatically qualifying leads and then capitalising on the results across email, phone and social media is actually changing the face of the answer to – where can I get more leads and freeing up your team to do so much more than just call people who do not even answer their phone.

If you are interested in learning more about how Lifesycle can help your Estate or Letting Agency to become more productive, you can book in for a call here