6 Lead Management Tips for Real Estate Teams

Generating and converting leads into relationships is a key part of our business, and for many of us, we aren't in this alone – we are working with a team. As the great Babe Ruth said, "The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime.

This is true in sports, as well as in real estate. Creating lead systems that work takes practice. As you know, leads come from everywhere, and they all bring their own unique needs and circumstances. It's all about having scalable systems that the entire team can use. Let's look at some simple systems your team can benefit from.

1. Define the ideal lead

Have you created a persona for your ideal customers? Identify what their problems and interests are, what content will attract them, where they spend their time online/offline, which channels they prefer for communication, and what their role is in the buying process. Determine which behavioral traits indicate that they're ready to be passed to the team. Everyone on the team should understand the persona and the process – no matter at which point they enter the transaction.

2. Attract with the right content, reply with the right message

Did you know that companies that blog generate 67 percent more leads than companies that don't blog? (source: FactBrowser, 2016) Having really good, educational content is an opportunity to influence the buyer's decision and showcase your team's expertise.

Segment your audience and deliver targeted content with clear calls to action. This language should be consistent, no matter which member of the team or which type of communication it's coming from.

3. Align your team

Consistency of message requires your team to all be on the same page. Each member of the team should know the plays before the game even begins. Your customer should feel like they are working with a cohesive team of people who are similarly aligned in terms of response time, tone, and expectations. Work off a centralized database of customer contacts and marketing activities. The more visibility and insight each teammate can provide, the better your chances are of turning a lead into a customer.

4. Plan the funnel

In order for a team to work cohesively together, you need to plan the funnel together. The funnel, or the customer journey, is critical to both building relationships with prospects, and retaining lesser qualified leads for the future. This is arguably the most neglected part of lead management.

Only pass leads to the sales teams once that lead reaches a lead-score threshold. If that threshold hasn't been reached and they haven't qualified as the ideal lead stage, keep them in the nurture process. This keeps everyone on track.

5. Feedback is key

You're not actually done after the deal closes or when you lose a lead. Valuable insights have been gathered by various team members at this point. What were the initial needs, and and how were they met? Which issues were deal breakers? How many interactions were there before the lead turned into a buyer or seller? Establish a system where feedback can be provided by every member of the team, so you can learn and improve your processes.

6. Use automation to scale

If you want your team to grow, you'll need to seek out ways that technology can help you scale, delegate and automate tasks. Save yourself the trouble of fixing a broken process, and start off with the right tools. This will help you make smarter decisions about where to invest your time, money, and manpower.

Not all of these systems can be developed overnight. It will take both time and trial and error to get them right. But taking the time to put these simple systems in place will ensure that your team will work in synch to turn more leads into loyal customers.

To view the original article, visit the Contactually blog.