Tip for success: Meet new leads ASAP
Once you’ve won a connection and you’re live on the line with the consumer, your first goal is to get an in-person meeting on the calendar. A whopping 75% of buyers and sellers work with the first agent they meet,1 so this is a critical move.
We strongly recommend meeting new connections within two weeks of your introductory call, if not sooner. In 90% of the deals closed on our platform, the agent and consumer met face-to-face within 14 days of their live transfer introduction.2
Take it from Jinnie Riley, one of the top-performing agents on our platform. Like most top closers, Jinnie is a big proponent of meeting ASAP:
“Ninety percent of the time, once I’ve met a referral, I close a deal with them,” she told us. “If I haven’t closed a deal with them, I probably haven’t met them in person.”
How to use your intro call to book a meeting
Your introductory call is the perfect opportunity to schedule a time to meet in person (showings count!).
Here are a few tips to help you successfully transition your call into a face-to-face meeting:
• Empathize with the consumer. Acknowledge they’ve been on the phone for quite some time already. Let them know you plan to keep the remainder of the call brief, and that you’re here to help them.
• Let them know they don’t have to repeat their info. The realtor.com® concierge rep has already noted key information about the consumer—including their property of interest, buying/selling preferences, timeline, budget, and more—and passed that information on to you.
• Avoid overwhelming the consumer. They may not have expected a call so quickly, and just went through a lot of information with the concierge. Avoid asking the same questions they just answered. Instead, focus on setting up a time to meet in person, where you can get into more details.
• Build credibility. There are a lot of agents out there. Take a moment to reassure the consumer that you are a top agent in their area and that you are here as a resource to them.
Not quite sure how to approach the call? Not to worry! Here’s some language to try:
“I can tell you everything about myself over the phone, but meeting me is the best way to determine if you like me enough to want to work together.”
“Let’s meet so I can walk you through how your home preferences line up with the local market conditions. Then, we can go visit some neighborhoods and homes.”
“As a first-time homebuyer, you’ve already taken a great first step in getting to know the local inventory. I can walk you through the next steps, including what costs to anticipate when you do find your dream home.”
“I’ll email you a list of interview questions I recommend you cover with any agent you’re speaking to. I’d love to meet you for coffee so I can answer these questions and any others for you.”
If the consumer’s desired listing is unavailable, frame it as an opportunity to meet:
If the consumer’s property of interest is unavailable, don’t be discouraged. Ninety percent of the buyers who close with our agents end up purchasing a home that’s different than the one they initially inquired about.3
Instead, use the opportunity to share your expertise and build a rapport with the consumer. Ask open-ended questions to find out what attracted them to the home, and then recommend alternative properties to tour based on those insights.
First, ask: “What attracted you to this particular property?”
Listen to their response, and note insights like price, location, and reason for move.
Then, use these insights to guide the next steps: “It looks like this home is no longer available, so I don’t think we’ll be able to see this particular property. But based on what you’ve shared with me , I have a home in mind that we can see instead.”
Measuring your success
Meeting early is one of the five success metrics factored into your Agent Score.
The meeting metric measures how successful you’ve been in meeting new referrals face-to-face within the first two weeks of assignment.
To calculate this, we look at all the active referrals assigned to you over the past 90 days and determine what percentage of those referrals you moved to ‘Met’ within the first 14 days of assignment.
Thanks to realtor.com
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