Here is why:

1. Making voice contact humanizes the process and begins the rapport building. Prior to the lead hearing your voice, you are a faceless email address or a headshot on a website.
2. Making voice contact gives you a better shot at qualifying the lead. A better understanding of a lead’s needs are communicated via voice.
3. Lastly, the most important reason to make voice contact is so that it creates a better opportunity for you to demonstrate your sales skills. Good emails are one thing, but a good sales call has a much better impact.

If phone calls are so great then why email?

Sometimes the web lead info contains bad numbers or we end up getting voicemail. In addition, too many phone calls may seem overly aggressive and set a bad tone. Using email keeps a lead in contact with you and provides a form of communication that is received at a time that the lead is ready to receive it (opposed to a phone call during dinner).

What you should say in your email

I used to send out 100% unique custom emails to every lead. After doing a lot of follow up, I found that I was sending the same 10-12 emails over and over and it was taking a ton of time. As I went back over these emails, I discovered that there were really only about 12 different types and that regardless of the situation, I could choose one of these 12 types and have them match the current sales situation almost perfectly. So I searched back through all the emails I sent to my customers and found 12 of the best emails and rewrote them as perfectly as I could. I dissected each email word for word creating what I thought to be the 12 best sales email templates possible.

Don’t send out templates as is

Even though I have what I thought to be the 12 of the best email templates around, I merely use them as a starting point. I find it very important to still right a 100% custom subject line and opening paragraph PER LEAD. In the subject line and opening paragraph I try to use some information from the submitted lead information to make it look even more custom and unique.

The subject line

The subject line is arguably the most important part of the email. If the prospect doesn’t open the email your efforts are in vain. The key to a good subject line is to keep it short and unique. Try to stay away from subject lines that are look like spam or are vague. Use language that speaks to their specific needs as a real estate consumer e.g. “The farmhouse information you requested” or “New Paltz Farmhouse”. A subject line that uses words like “Great Deal” or “Low Price” will be flagged for spam in a lot of cases and may never reach the prospect.

The opening paragraph

The opening sentence of your first paragraph should never be about you rather it should be about addressing the needs of the prospect. Use your opening sentence to confirm that you understand the needs of the customer by repeating the request back to them in your own words. The following sentence should be a full and complete answer to the customer’s inquiry. If you can, incorporate a personal experience in effort to create a connection with the prospect while demonstrating expertise and knowledge.
Here is an example of a good opening paragraph in response to a customer that inquired about a listing that is in a certain area:
Opening Paragraph: I received your inquiry about the farmhouse in New Paltz and wanted to get back to you as soon as possible.  To answer your question, The median home price in New Paltz is $265,000 and has a New York State Thruway exit making commuting to NYC easy.  New Paltz is a great little village, me and my family often hike there.

The second paragraph

This is where the template mumbo jumbo comes in. If the email is in response to a land customer I have a couple of quick (previously written) sentences about our land sales expertise as a company and my qualifications specifically. I also have templates for new construction, investment property, luxury, first time home buyer, foreclosures, short sales, etc. As I used them I found that I sometimes needed variations in for each of my original 12 expanding my library even more.

The third and last paragraph

The last paragraph is designed to create a call to action. Always use language focused on setting up a meeting or asking when would be a good time to call. I sometimes used the phrase that “I can show you any Ulster County listing usually within 24 hours”.

The signature

The signature should contain as much information as you are willing to give, including name, desk phone, office phone and website. Try to stay away from extra formatting like bold, italics and hyperlinks. Some email programs interpret formatting differently and can sometimes show up as gibberish on the receiving end. If you spell out full website names, good email programs will sometimes convert them to hyperlinks automatically.

More email tips

• Focus more on the need of the prospect and less on how good you are as a REALTOR
• Keep it short and simple.
• Even though we are dealing with the most sophisticated real estate consumers in history, avoid using industry terms and acronyms like MLS, DOM or Pending.
• Use a relaxed but professional tone
• Double check it for spelling
• Try not to use images or graphics in the body of the email (spam blockers/junk mail filters sometimes mistake them for malicious content).  Attachments usually work best.

Here are a few ways to analyze your leads to better prepare you for follow up.

1. Start with the easy stuff, look at how complete the inquiry/registration form is. Leads that take their time to fill out the form with full names, valid email addresses and phone numbers are generally more serious and better qualified.  This isn’t to say that the lead is no good if these elements don’t exist, but it helps to categorize the lead and make a better follow up plan.
2. Secondly, see if the email from a good ISP? In some cases, users will setup a free email address with hotmail or gmail to avoid being identified (which isn’t always a bad thing). Not always the case, but emails from a well known company or organization is usually a better qualified lead. i.e. matt.cutts@google.com vs ihaterealtors@hotmail.com.
3. How does the phone number look? Is it clearly a bogus number i.e 555-555-5555? Is it from an area code I recognize?  We do a lot of work with people from New York City, so 212 numbers are usually hot.
4. Are there user comment? Things like don’t contact me are a dead give away (although I have seen these converted too). On the other hand, specific comments made about the customer’s requirements are very important. I use them in my initial response later in the process.
5. Look at the leads user activity. A user tracking feature shows us every log in, every search and every page visited by the lead. From this, we can get a pretty good idea about what the lead is looking for (price range, area, etc.) and again I use this information in our follow up to develop rapport.

Now that I have analyzed the lead data, what do I do with it?

Better categorize the lead.

In my opinion, no lead is a bad lead unless the ALL the contact info is bad.  If I have a good email address, phone number or both . . . game on.  Understanding that every lead deserves a certain amount of attention, it is best to categorize the lead so I know where best to focus my attention as time allows. I have a follow up plan for every lead that comes in regardless of how serious they seem to be, as it is my idea that every lead will eventually buy (may not be true, but that is my mindset).

Setup a Drip Email Campaign.

Although this is the least effective of all follow up techniques, it is worth a try.  As long as you have a good unsubscribe feature it behooves you to set your leads up on a drip email campaign.  I usually have a different campaign for every category of lead that comes in.  After I analyze the lead, I set them up on the campaign that I think is most suited to the lead.  If by chance the lead stays subscribed, the branding and name recognition achieved by drip email will pay dividends in the end.

Setup a saved search (listing alert).

With a full lead analysis done and your user tracking feature in full gear, it is easy to set up a saved search that will send your lead new listings as they come on the market.  You know what the lead is looking for . . . now give it to them.  In my opinion this is the most effective way to get return visits.  If your lead isn’t ready to see homes now, they will be at one point, be sure to have your name in front of them when they become ready.

Make the call.

This is the most important part of the process.  Until human contact is made, the salesperson is regarded as just an email address and not much more.  The good news is that because of the great job you did analyzing the lead, you are armed and ready to make the call.  Before you make the call, try to pick out a piece of personal information from the lead profile like where they work (from the email address) or where they live (area code).  Try to make a connection with the lead using the information you have.  By the end of the call you will almost always know the full intention of the lead and can best place them in the correct category for follow up.