Lead Follow Up is Critical in Real Estate

Mike: Hey, it’s Mike Hambright from FlipNerd.com and we have a quick Expert Tip to share with you from Danny Johnson who’s going to share some advice on the importance of lead follow-up.

This Expert Tip is sponsored by RealtyMogul.com, B2R Finance, and AceBusinessFunding.com.

Danny: Hey Mike. Thanks for having me on. Lead follow-up is super important. Especially in this day and age where there are a lot of real estate investors going after deals and you might find yourself talking to a seller of a house that is also talking to some other investors. That’s always happened in the past, will happen always in the future.

But the people that follow up are the ones that get most of the deals. When you go and look at a house and you do some analysis and make an offer on it to buy the house, a lot of times the seller isn’t going to want to sign a contract with you right away. Right? Except for the super motivated ones. Those are always the great ones because you walk away from there victorious and head to the title company and take your wife to dinner that night and everything.

But most of the time a seller is not going to want to sign right away. They need to think about it or they have some other investors coming. And you can try to close the deal then and put some pressure on. But that’s just not my style. I feel that sort of puts some negative on me from the seller’s point of view, that I was kind of pushy or something like that. And there’s ways to do a little bit of pushing without seeming that way.

It’s definitely not by telling somebody, “Well this contract is only good for two hours.” That’s just bad. I’ve seen people say and do things like that and it’s just crazy to me.

So the important thing is follow up because if they’re not going to sign with you right away, most likely the other investor that’s coming later, they’re not going to sign with them either. So you’ve got to have a system for following up.

So what I typically do is I’ll call them later the same day and just ask if they’ve thought more about my offer, if there are any questions. And then the next day I’ll call again. And then from there you spread it out a little bit more if they haven’t made the decision yet. But you have to continuously call them over time. So you can make it spaced out a little bit more. But typically real motivated sellers are going to make the decision within a day or two.

So if they’re not super motivated it doesn’t mean to stop calling them, just put it spaced out longer. Really you want to continue to do that until they tell you, “Stop calling me” or that they’ve “already sold it” or “yes come buy my house.” The thing is they might be busy. They might be thinking of other things they want to look at doing. Maybe they have an uncle that wants to move into the house. All these things that they might like your offer but they have some other things they want to think through.

And if you’re not top of mind when they do decide to go ahead and sell for cash quickly you’re not going to get the call. But if you’re calling them all the time they’re going to say, “I’m going to call Danny now. He’s been calling me.” It’s awesome. It really works.

Mike: We’d like to thank Specialized IRA Services, National Real Estate Insurance Group, and VirtualStaffNow.com.

Please note, the views and opinions expressed by the individuals on this program do not necessarily reflect those of FlipNerd.com or any of its partners, advertisers, or affiliates. Please consult professionals before making any investment or tax decisions, as real estate investing can be risky.