48% of salespeople never follow up with a prospect.
25% of salespeople never make a second contact.
Only 2% of sales are made on the first contact.
3% of sales are made on the second contact.
80% of sales are made between 5th-12th contact That means you need to have a follow up system that is at least 5 steps and preferably more than 12! Don’t fret-I’ve got you covered.
79% of leads never convert due to lack of follow up.
Nobody likes to follow up. It’s time consuming, we feel like we’re pestering our prospects, what do we say beyond the typical “just checking in”?
First off, never say “just checking in”. You need to have a clear purpose for contacting them and add value with every single interaction. Godfather of sales Grant Cardone defines a difference between a contact and a contract as a letter R which stand for a relationship. You need to nurture your prospects to build that relationship by continuing to provide value and educate them every step of the way.
Homebuying process is confusing to most buyers, so don’t assume that they know everything. Even the most sophisticated buyers need guidance and education to help them make best decision possible and the more information you provide to them the more valuable you’ll become. When your prospects trust you because you really know your stuff they’ll want to do business with you. So knowing that, there should be no shortage of follow up material. Your follow up topics can range from Q&A on new construction financing to total price comparison for new vs used homes, to how your product stacks up against other new construction in the area.
You can also address some of the most common objections that you hear for your community. Come up with a list of top 3 objections that you always hear as a feedback and address them in your follow up. You know that your prospects are thinking about these objections either way and may be making them a much bigger deal than they actually are. Provide solutions to their concerns and talk about other buyers who had similar concerns and were able to move past it.
Including social proof in your follow up is another great idea. It may be a link to your online reviews and customer testimonials. Avoid sending anything that was put together by your company, most people are suspicious of these reviews, instead use public sources like Google or Zillow. People want to see that others bought from you and had a good experience-they want to feel reassured that they’re making a right choice. Reviews from past customers-especially if it contains their names and pictures is the most powerful source of social proof.
Beyond having a good reason to reach out, you need to reach out as soon as possible. Speed of follow up matters-reach them while they’re still engaged, 35-50% of all sales goes to the first company who does the first follow up.
Key to successful follow up is consistency. Come up with a plan and stick to it. That means you don’t need to reinvent the wheel with each and every prospect. Write out your follow up emails and text messages and either use automation or at least save them for an easy copy and paste, to save yourself some valuable time. If you’re not automating your email follow up, then you need to schedule a specific time each week on your calendar to make sure that the follow up gets done. If you don’t schedule-it’s not going to happen. Remember riches are in the follow up.
To learn my follow up system that includes email and text message automation, so you have the time to spend on activities that move the dial forward, check out the New Construction Marketing Academy.
