by Bernice Ross
Inman News Features
If you’re tired of losing leads to poorly trained agents who take floor time in your office or not getting good phone numbers from people who call to inquire about your listings, “call capture” may be just what you need to catapult your business to the next level.
Call capture technology is one of the most efficient ways to provide potential leads with what they want, when they want it.
The typical call capture system relies on an 800 number tied to a specific numerical code for each of your listings. When a caller dials your 800 number and the specific code from an ad or sign, the caller hears a detailed description of the property on which they called. The 800 number entitles you to the information about the caller, including their phone number and address.
Even if the caller has blocked their number with caller identification or if they’re calling from an unlisted number, the fact they called your 800 number entitles you to their information.
The best call capture systems immediately send you the caller’s contact information via your cell phone, through text messaging, fax or e-mail. This means you have access to the lead when their interest is the greatest—the moment they picked up the phone to listen to your pre-recorded message. It also gives you an opportunity to contact the lead immediately after they call.
According to a recent National Association of REALTORS® study, 62 percent of the people who actually closed transactions worked with the first person with whom they made contact. Furthermore, people often call after hours or on weekends when the agents aren’t available. When a lead doesn’t find the answer they’re looking for, they call the next phone number on their list. The first person to make the contact is the one who usually ends up with the closed business.
One of the biggest challenges we face when we receive a sign call or ad call is the caller’s desire to grab the information and then hang up. Potential leads are much more likely to call a pre-recorded message because they believe they will not have to talk to an agent.
Furthermore, the message is available 24/7 so they can call at their convenience. In addition, people are much more likely to call an 800 number, especially if they are from out of the area. Consequently, this approach overcomes much of the resistance potential leads may have about contacting an agent.
What’s especially surprising about this approach is the quality of leads generated. Gary Elwood, president of www.yourcompetitiveadvantage.com, shared a survey conducted with 200 of their agents from across the country.
The survey followed up on 25,000 leads to determine what percentage had listed or sold a piece of real estate in the last 60 days. The answer was a surprising 33 percent. This is the same conversion rate most agents experience with referrals and is 16 times higher than the 1-2 percent conversion rate from cold calling or door knocking.
Moreover, of those who did not purchase in the preceding 60 days, an additional one third had very clear buying criteria. What this means is that more than 50 percent of these leads are A or B+ leads—that is, “right now” business—people who intend to sell or buy in the next 60 days.
Elwood’s study also demonstrated that adding a toll free call capture number to your print advertising or on your just listed or just sold cards, dramatically improves the effectiveness of these campaigns.
For example, the agent who places an ad in their local grocery store giveaway magazine usually generates 5-15 calls from a typical ad. By adding the “free information hotline,” the number of calls typically increases to more than 75.
One final advantage of this technology is that it allows you to provide a separate identification number for each of your listings and ads.
The system tracks how many calls each number receives. This in turn gives you a basis for determining what’s working in your marketing and advertising campaigns as well as what is not working. As a result, you can trim advertising expenditures by identifying what publications and what ads are the most effective.
Like any other lead generation activity, call capture is only as effective as the agent using the system.
— Bernice Ross is an owner of Realestatecoach.com
and can be reached at [email protected].