Magic Bullet to More Deals

There is a magic bullet to more real estate deals! It's incredibly simple, absolutely free, insanely powerful and perhaps most shockingly, so few real estate professionals do it! And there has never been a better time to apply this magic bullet than, right now, in the midst of COVID, where real estate is booming and inventory levels are at all times lows. Are you ready for it?

Follow Up Is the Magic Bullet

Studies have shown that 48% of real estate professionals make one contact to a lead, 25% get up to two contacts to a lead, 12% get three contacts, 10% of all real estate professionals get four plus contacts.

Why does that matter?

Well, only 2% of deals get under contract on the first contact, 3% percent after the second, 5% after the third, 10% after the fourth. And get this, 80% of the deals get under contract the fifth or later contact attempts. As the late great sales trainer and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar was famous for saying, "The fortune is in the follow-up."  You need to follow up, and only 10% of the people are doing it. If you're not doing more deals, this is probably one of your main problems.

Now is the Time for Following Up

As inventory levels have plummeted the last couple of months, my apprentices and I have been hammering with the follow up and picking up all kinds of deals. We've made so much money during COVID. Despite what people are saying, the real estate market is stronger than ever.

Follow up with a lead you talked to six months ago, that maybe didn't seem all that motivated at the time. Give them a call or text. Maybe you made an offer on a deal a year ago; go look that deal up and then see if they ever sold, and then follow up with them.

Now is the time to be part of the 10%. You may resist this strategy because you don’t want to be the kind of person who pesters people. The truth is you're not bothering people, you could be saving them. I have a story that illustrates this perfectly.

Phil's Testimony

I was 22 years old and had just broken up with my girlfriend at the time. My ex-girlfriend had a friend named Crystal who was dating a guy named Matt. Matt worked for the Southern Baptist Convention, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission in Nashville. And so, when we were at social events, like a football game or something, occasionally Matt would invite me to church and I'd always decline.

Well, after I broke up with my girlfriend, Crystal encouraged Matt to call me and invite me to church again. And Matt said, "I've never even called Phil before. We see him at football games but I've never actually called him on the phone. Secondly, every time I’ve brought up the idea of him coming to church, he's always politely declined." And Crystal said, "Yeah, but now's different. I would call him but, first of all, I'm a girl and I'm friends with his now ex-girlfriend. I'm not the best ambassador for this. Can you just give him a call, invite him to church please?"

And so reluctantly, he gave me a call. He invited me to church and he was shocked when I accepted his invitation. He was even more shocked when I showed up. And well, the rest is history. I gave my heart to Christ and I've been on fire for Jesus ever since. Can you imagine if he didn't follow up? If he was being polite and he didn't call me? How many more years might I have gone without Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior? The point of the story is, follow up. You're not bothering people; you could be saving them.

The Key to Follow Up: No Automation

That's right. No automated email, automated texts, or automated phone calls. As a real estate investor, you're typically not bringing in that many seller leads in a monthly basis. Other businesses are different, but we have a relatively small number of leads.

Automation causes 2 problems:

1. Lower deliverability
2. It's less personal

With automation you're less likely to get that connection with the seller. On the other hand, when you go with manual text, phone call, or manually written email, you are able to get a much higher deliverability and you can personalize it.

Personalize the Property Details

You can do some basic research on the property before you call, no matter how old the lead is. I'm a huge fan of PropStream. I think it's the greatest tool for research that's available today for people in America on the subject of residential real estate. But you don't have to use that tool, you can get access to most of the data for free through the county websites.

Personalize the Message

By not automating, you can personalize the message. For example, "We talked six months ago. At the time you were looking for a buyer. It looks like you haven't sold it yet. Are you still looking to sell?" You can text them if you have a phone number, otherwise send an email. Texting is great because that text will sit there and even though they may not respond immediately, they see it and think, " That person remembered me and my situation." The key is you've personalized it, and that is so powerful.

Follow-Up Strategy

Our 6 Step Process:

1. Follow up immediately when a lead comes in.
2. Contact them four or five days in a row.
3. If we don't hear from them, we wait about a week, then try again.
4. Wait another week, then we reach out to them again.
5. Then wait two weeks before trying again.
6. After a month we go onto a monthly follow up process.

We have a systemized monthly process. First we quickly follow up with each of the leads on a specific day by pulling up Propstream and looking up each address to see if they've sold it yet. We also look to see if it's on the MLS and then reach out to them. It may take thirty to forty-five minutes per month, and gives you a way to instantly get in touch with these people on a personalized, non-automated way that connects directly with them.

Follow Up is the Magic Bullet to More Deals

An argument for automation is that it gives investors more freedom and time. I would argue that follow up takes up a relatively small amount of time. In fact, it's an incredibly potent use of time. Furthermore, if you don't have time to follow up, you don't have time to be a real estate investor. Follow up is real estate investing, so you need to make the time. This is a simple concept, but it is so powerful. Don't over-complicate this, it’s not difficult. You will find that follow up is the magic bullet to getting more deals.