One of your most precious resources is time and, as a busy real estate professional, you need to make the most of it. Luckily, you are a smart real estate pro, so you know that you can automate various aspects of your lead / client communication to save valuable time throughout the day and spare yourself redundant tasks on a daily or weekly basis.
Wait...you haven't automated your lead outreach yet? And you're not sure where to start? No worries, we're here to help! Here's four easy time-saving steps to put into place:
1. Identify your lead sources & contact types & their needs
Start by sorting your leads into groups & lists that make sense based on their needs (ie. Active Buyers, Active Sellers, Past Clients, etc.). This is an important 1st step because nothing reeks of an impersonal touch like sending someone communication that doesn't connect with them.
2. Create one-shot auto responders for past, present & future clients
Start off small with simple, thoughtful annual email auto-responders like 'Happy Birthday' or 'Move-In Anniversary'. These are easy to implement inside of your Elevate marketing platform and make past clients feel special.
Next, set up emails designed to engage new, incoming leads. Every time a new lead enters your Elevate marketing account, you should have a 'Welcome' or 'Introduction' email and / or text that is sent to the lead.
One of our favorite, easy auto-responders is a 'Referral Ask' that can be automatically sent to past clients at a specified date post transaction. Remember - referrals are a top lead source, so putting an outreach plan in place that you don't have to worry about is a big bonus (to your bank account!).
3. Think BIGGER with a campaign and / or workflow
Once the quick & easy auto-responders are in place, think bigger by creating a multi-drip campaign with content designed to move your leads through the conversion process for you. Each level of outreach you automate should serve a different purpose, but ultimately work toward the same goal - creating a happy customer.
How do you do this? Think about the resources that you can provide to each of your groups / lists and what their immediate and longer term needs are and then develop a 'workflow' with content that can be automated to help each step of the way.
Next, think through each piece of communication in your workflow and what should happen next: IF a person takes this action, THEN send this follow-up. This may be triggering a follow-up email for people who click through to your website listings, perhaps linking to an online market snapshot; or perhaps you want to provide some helpful staging resources for active sellers once they are ready to list.
The process may sound a little overwhelming, but chances are you have a manual process in place already, so just tap into it and think about the parts & pieces that can easily be moved into a, automated, digital medium.
4. Do NOT "set-and-forget"
One of the most common misconceptions about automating your outreach is that once you start it, you never have to pay attention to it again. While this is true for more general outreach like anniversaries or welcome emails, it is not the case for your more involved campaigns / workflows. These require paying attention to how users are engaging with the campaign and what kind of follow-up you are receiving. By logging into your Reports, you can get a good idea of how the campaign is performing by looking at opens, clicks, unsubscribes, etc. and then adjust timelines, content, etc. Make sure to regularly evaluate your campaigns for performance, and pay attention to the evolving needs of your clients.
