You can spend thousands of dollars and hours of your time perfecting your lead generation methods, but if you do not have a system in place to deal with incoming leads it will all be for naught. It is all too common that investors get overwhelmed by the leads generated from the marketing strategies. An inability to handle those income leads is detrimental to any business and should be seen as a very dangerous scenario. Yes leads are good, but they mean nothing if you can’t follow up. Those missed calls should be considered missed opportunities and have to be retained and worked. If you are spending money to get your phone to ring, you need to spend an equal amount of time working every lead to the fullest. If not, any marketing work will be in vein.
It wasn’t too long ago that the best lead management systems were either sticky notes or a yellow legal pad. If those are the methods that you still use and work for you, than by all means stick with it. The Internet has made lead retention much easier and offers a wide array of programs for dealing with new leads. Anything from apps on phones to email reminders can be utilized and benefited from. It really doesn’t matter which system you use, as long as you have something in place that will help you deal with multiple leads. Getting the phone to ring is nice, but converting those calls into actual deals is the goal.
One of the common mistakes that investors make in lead generation is thinking that if a homeowner doesn’t want to sell in the first conversation that they are not interested. It is the exception rather than the norm. Someone will want to move forward in the first call or two. In most cases, you will have to work the lead for months before you can get a commitment. This is where you can use your lead retention and systems to follow up with them before they forget about you and before you forget about them. These homeowners are constantly getting inundated with mailings, postcards and even phone calls trying to get them to sell. If you don’t keep in contact with them, they will quickly move on and when they are ready work with someone else.
There is a fine line between hounding a homeowner and following up at the right time. You want to let your seller know you are still in the picture, but you don’t want to badger them and at some point become annoying. A solid lead management system will guide you, as to when the best times are to follow up. If you are just hammering out phone calls in the car or in your down time, it can be easy to forget who you talked to and when. If you have a set follow up plan in place, you will know exactly who you spoke with and already determine when you will speak again. Knowing how and when to work with leads can make all the difference between an average marketing campaign and an exceptional one.
Like everything else you do in business, you want to get the most out of your dollar and every expense you make. This means protecting your investment and spending the money on a good lead management system. All it takes is a few extra deals a year to have a huge impact on your bottom line.
