Atlanta Real Estate | Atlanta Housing News for Real Estate

A lot do commit. It is still making the numbers work for you. There is much more to homes and condos just seeing the stats. The internet buyer has made me more successful. You have to know how to work them and how to attract them to you. You do have to work at it. 

85% of my business comes from the Internet each year since the late 90's.  I am  very good at converting leads, but I just don't waste time.  You have ot understand every market is going to be different.  In Atlanta 44000 agents and 65000-90000 active listings.  If you how up very high in the Internet searches you can wste a lot of your time and knowledge.

Also, if you do give out a lot of information you may be losing more business than you imagine.  You need to experiment and see when the leads and closed business increase!

Jim Crawford - http://www.atlantabesthomes.com/

It is my policy to meet all buyers I don't already know at my office. I explain that we as agents have certain requirements to discuse with them first .. ie Broker disclosure form. I also Explain that only clients that I am working for get to look at houses. The serious buyers are in with in a few days others take longer but finnaly come around.

Circumventing the 'tirekickers' is an art to an extent and experience plays a huge role in how the time spent with people unfolds.  I will say though, even though the conversion rate will probably never be where we'd like it, there are a lot of individuals who appreciate not only our time, but our insight and willingness to educate.  This may be the best time to hint at asking for referrals in that 'selling but not selling' subtle manner.

Agree and disagree with your post.  Agree that various leads will be wastes of time.  That being said - if you are putting yourself out there (I know I am) then you have to be willing to deal with the folks in the public who choose to contact you.  Agreed that in some cases there are telltale signs that a particular lead won't work out, but in general I try and be receptive.

Very easy to be on either side of the equation of this one. And I certainly have been very polarized on the issue over the years. But for the past several years I work it like this. I have become ( what I hope is accurate ) a very intuitive listener. Able to weed out the tire kickers during the phone call. I generally take the position that I will show anyone 1 house unless the phone call has weeded them out. At that showing I make a decision if I want to work with them or not. It is never based on price. It is always based on personality match and their motivation and ability. In other words if I don't like them or they can't or won't perform then it is good by.

In all phone calls from potential clients the very 1st real estate related question to ask is..are you working with any other realtor's? If they are explain they need to be calling their agent for the information because of the Client/Agent relationship. 

I don't hold back on information, and I don't feel at all the buyers don't need us if they have lots of information - they need us for our interpretation, our wisdom, our ability to get from offer to contract to closing.

That being said, of course we want to qualify the buyer before leaving the office to show property, or spend lots of time on specific research. There are lots of pop-tart agents out there, but we're not among them. 

Interesting post, Jim.  My site ranks pretty highly in the search engines for my area, so I get a lot of IDX leads.  I always ask for phone number, although it is optional.  I have found that most of the time, if they don't leave a phone number, they usually aren't worth a whole lot of time.  Those that do call me and are simply looking for an address, etc. always get my thoughts on buyer agency.  I feel like once it is explained to them in an understandable manner, they can be receptive.  However, once it becomes apparent that they have no intentions of utilizing a buyer's agent, for whatever strange reason, I have found it easier to just move on.

My job is different than yours.  My buyers need all the information they can get.  They do much of their research before they contact me so I don't have to explain as much or show them as many houses.  80% of my buyers and sellers come to me through the internet.  They find me because of all the information I give them.  They ask me if I will sign a contract with them.  They figure that if they are under contract with me I will give them even more information.  I love the internet and the fact that people don't have to bother me with phone calls asking me how much  a home costs or how many bedrooms it has, instead they call me with the tough questions and I can really add value becuase of my experience and knowledge of the market.  the hardest clients for me are the folks who do not have internet acess.  i have to work much harder when I work with them

The one type of call that I always love is when a potential buyer calls for information only to tell you halfway through the conversation that they already have a Realtor who is not available to help them.  Don't you just love those?

The more I develop my site the warmer and hotter the leads get. After they do all of that research they have two choices. 1. Pick an agent they trust 2. Look at each house with a different agent. If you give them all of the information that they could possibly use right up front on your site then you are answering all of their questions before they even talk to you. Then you have a better chance of being the agent they trust. It really is amazing how strangers show up all warm and fuzzy and act like we have known each other for a long time. It takes some getting used to but ya gotta love it.

I get a lot of calls from folks that want addresses so they can "just drive by and. . . . "  My answer is usually.  Gee, you don't want to go poking around a house without an appointment, you might get shot.  You'd better contact your agent."

They either get off the phone quickly or say they want an appointment.  At that time I ask "Who's your agent?".  They either have one or not. 

With variations, it works.  But, Jim is right.  The glut of information on the Internet as made home buyers think that they know a lot more than they do.

But, hope springs eternal.  Fact is, they also know that finding the house is the ONLY thing they know.

I like the callers who start off with "I'm looking for a buyer's agent".  Makes my day. 

Thanks for all the comments!  I know for a fact that less is better.  I remove MLS, addresses and maps to properties last year when I thought business has totally collapsed...I went back to the way I used to do it.  The results in our last quarter?  Our income jumped another 100K plus.  We ended up finishing up having a normal year!  So sometimes unless you try something different, you'll never know how much business you could be losing. 

The biggest mistake  we can make in Internet marketing is to think that what worked last year will work this year.  I've made that assumption early on, and I was dead wrong.  Internet business is being totally proactive, not wasting time and getting more deals closed.   When your wasting time giving out information to a loser lead that is using you, the call waiting on the other line is the 600K buyer that does not have an agent and is in town to buy.

Jim Crawford - http://www.atlantabesthomes.com/

I couldn't disagree with this blog post more. I don't feel the poster understands the nature of internet buyers and Gen X/Y buyers in particular.

If you don't give Gen X/Y Internet Buyers the information, they will get it from someone else. Not only do they want information, they want a professional to interpret information. In fact, I would say that Gen X/Y Internet buyers are more likely to work with a BUYER'S AGENT than older generations. Older generations still have the call the listing agent mentality.

My last closing and last offer came from buyers I never spoke on the phone with before meeting with them. We set up the showing appointments via email and met at the property. There was no grilling on the phone about pre-approval letters, how long they been looking, meet me at the office etc. These questions are best asked in person after a rapport is built and you actually understand the client's needs.

When you have a buyer that wants to see a property don't grill them on the phone. Don't tell them they need to meet at your office. Don't ask them about their finances (you can get them pre-approved with your mortgage broker after you meet them). Frankly it is none of your business because you have not EARNED the right to ask these questions yet. Meet the buyer in person (AT THE PROPERTY) and prove to them that you are the best buyer's agent in town and they absolutely NEED you if they are going to buy a house. Show them you are an EXPERT who is on their side.

You don't even have to be good. you just need to be a little bit good. If you simply do your job you will stand head and shoulders above the average agent they meet with. Know the comps, know the neighorhood, inspect the property like you are a home inspector, discuss the pros and cons of the property, suggest comparables, and discuss the client's needs. Until you have done all that you haven't earned the right to make any demands of the buyer. If you are just there to open the door you don't deserve the customer's loyalty.

I did 53% of my business from internet buyers last year.  It takes a lot of filtering and qualifying.  My basic, front-end criteria is that they can search all they want, but if they want details on listings, they have to provide valid information.  Many just move on, but that actually is a big time saver for me.  I give calls like the ones noted in the post to the floor duty person, if they even wish to take them.  My most interesting internet buyer was one that was referred to my idx site by her agent-after she had found some listings she liked, her agent called me for the details, because her client could not get to the addresses.  So, if you are going to put it out there, you are going to get lots garbage responses.  If I can't convert them i delete them, so at least they have to go through the hassle of re-registering.

We are totally enmeshed in the Internet and we probably only get burned as often as the average agent does.  We ask all the qualifying questions and try to be selective with whom we work with but Buyer Agency Agreements are not used all that frequently in our area.  Personally I believe there are too many ways to slip through that agreement if your buyer is a dishonest person anyway.   But this is definitely a good post as it reminds everyone that we are not just tour guides and the relationships we build with our customers is as important as we want to make it.

 

 

Jim, 

The biggest time wasters to me are the calls that you create by withholding simple information.  If you don't have the price or the address, you'll get the calls but then it  turns into a contest of who needs who most.  I'd rather just get the calls from the ones who are ready to do business with a buyer's agent.

I got a nice call from a young lady yesterday.  She liked what she read on the Internet and wanted to start using me as her agent.  No back and forth confrontation for information.  Those are the best and my  goal is to generate more of those calls.

The next best ones are the ones who want to see a home, haven't seen any homes in person yet, and are ready to start looking.  I'll take the chance of meeting them at the property so I can do exactly what Don Paradis mentions above.  Before I leave to meet them, I'll print out the comps for the neighborhood, the tax records and any other information I can quickly access.  With very little effort you can come across as a valuable expert.  You go through the home with them and bring up things like LP siding, stucco, polybutylene pipes, and any negative things about the home that they might not notice. You have a sample seven page contract with you to impress upon them the complexity of the transaction.  You look over the property disclosure statement with them and point out little things that they probably would have overlooked.  You get to find out things about their situation through a natural conversation while you tour the home with them.  Sometimes it's a waste.  Many times they see your value and become a client.  It's never a total waste to me because it gives me an opportunity to see another home, learn about another neighborhod, and practice my sales skills in person.  I find it a lot easier doing this out in the field than explaining things at the office.  The house is my stage  with all the props necessary to showcase my value.

I agree with what Don paradis said. Maybe because I'm a GEN X .

The great thing about America, and being an independent sub contractor is you can run your business anyway you want. A lot of it also depends an your market, the inventory saturation, and what you consider closing more business.  I know agents that tell me they are extremely successful, and swamped with business all the time. However they only close about 35K a year.  Some people dislike change, but change in real estate is a given! Some agents cannot close a lead.  End of story.  They view dialogue as confrontation, and avoid it.  Dialogue is a means to an end. The belief that not to have dialogue is the belief that passive marketing works. We all can fall into that trap of thinking... if they are really interested they'll call me back.  If that thinking it true, then for them to not call you back is also true.  Many times it is still an opprtunity to convert a lead.  We've done that many times also.

If you never experiment or tweak your business you'll never know what works better.  You are just comfortable in your position that you have all the answers.  Did Edison stop improving the light bulb after all those unsuccessful attempts.  Perhaps he needed a rest after he finally found something that worked?  I know better!  He did not!  His life was not fear driven, it was solutions based.    Real estate is an industry that constant forces you to re-think your marketing.  It is like the guy that invented the steam engine!  What an invention!  It doesn't get any better than this!  You can patent the idea, and collect on the gravy train of royalties, and watch all the other inventions come by and think we have an edge on them!  The same can be true of the pager...hey that did a lot of work for us in the early 90's.   I think that everything that has been shared here works, and sometimes it does not work as well as it used to!  I like to be on the side that can acknolwedge there is always room for an open mind, and always room for improvement.  Sometimes maintaining the status quo is fear based.

 

Jim Crawford - http://www.atlantabesthomes.com/

Don Paradis - I am assuming that you are new to the business or just stubborn.  You should be asking lots of questions before you meet with someone.  You should NEVER met someone at a property before you have even laid eyes on them.  That is how you end up dead.

I warn anyone with Don's attitude to not continue.  You must ask questions.  It is your duty to ask questions.  How else can you find out how to help them?  If you jump in a car and show houses without knowing what the buyer can afford, what their situation is, etc. then you are wasting gas and your time.  In this business, you have to be picky with who you work with.

Thanksfor your comments!  Personal safety always comes first!

 

Jim Crawford - http://www.atlantabesthomes.com/

hi Richard,

I close 8 out of every 10 internet buyers I show a house to and I average showing them 3 - 5 houses before they buy one of them (I am very good at assessing their needs and I know my market). It is hardly a waste of time and gas to show someone a house when I have an 80% chance of closing a transaction with them. Internet buyers are much different from the traditional home buyer you may have dealt with in the past. I think they are the best type of buyers one could possibly have.

Questions should and need to be asked but I feel the best time to ask the big questions is in person after a rapport has been built up. On the phone you are just a salesman, face to face you are a real person. You can't read your client's body language over the phone.There are many buyers who are not pre-approved before they start looking. I'll show those buyers one, two houses max then I'll get them on the phone with my mortgage broker. I would have lost a lot of sales if I turned away every buyer that didn't have a pre-approval letter when I first met them.

Shouldn't the goal of any salesperson be to get an in person meeting with their prospect? If someone is calling asking to meet with you why would you turn them away? Even if they don't meet your qualifications over the phone, it is often very easy to turn them into a qualifed buyer.

Safety is a whole other discussion but In my area of the country, buyers do not generally meet agents at their office. Buyers want to look at property. They rightfully don't want to go to a real estate agent's office for what they preceive as the hard sell. They want to look at properties.

My philosophy is to give the customer the information they want and need. If you are upfront, honest, and do a good job for your customer they will most likely be loyal to you and a source of future referrals. Internet buyers follow different rules.

Thanks Don for sharing your view points.  I still don't think it is wise to meet persons at a property instead of  a place of business the first time.

I've found just asking them if they are working with an agent isn't enough. In some cases I ask them if they have a relative that is an agent and surprisingly a lot do. I tell them that I don't want to step on any toes and to please contact their brother, sister, sister-in-law or whoever else they know in real estate because they are ultimately going to write the contract up with them. I think a some agents tell them to shop around and use other Realtors to show them homes. We should never get caught up in that!

I know!  They lie!  Sometimes we ask tehm who will be the agent that will write the offer for them?  Another way to trap them, is ti say real quick..."Oh, before I forget...what's your agents name?