Overcoming (possible) Objections

I’m going to state the obvious: not every agent you pitch is going to become a partner.

However, through the strategic prospecting outlined in this post, and knowing common hot buttons and pain points going into these conversations, you’re going to greatly increase your chances of converting agents you want to work with into a strategic partners and referral sources.

Preparing for questions and possible objections will further help you in your efforts to grow your agent base, so I’m including the top questions and objections along with scripts to help you overcome them.

As with all sales, these objection handlers won’t all work on everyone, but if you’re talking to the right agents, they definitely will help you flip those whose knee jerk reaction is to object or reject any new loan officer who tries to pitch them.

1) I already have loan officers I’m working with.

“Hey awesome. I understand. All of my agents have other LOs they’re working with. I totally expect that.”

“And that’s actually why I called you.”

“In my experience, most LOs want referrals from agents… but they hardly ever reciprocate. I think that’s outrageous.”

“I approach it the other way around.”

“I bring my agents good leads that I generate, and help them get more leads out of their marketing, so I’m really selective about who I partner with.”

“By the looks of it, you seem like the type of agent I like to work with, so I’m just looking to throw my hat in the ring and see if there’s a match.”

IF YOU HAVEN’T ASKED THIS YET—

“What are some of your current LOs doing to help you generate business?”

“How is that working out in terms of generating leads?”

IF YOU ALREADY ASKED THE QUESTIONS ABOVE, JUMP TO—

“As I mentioned, I’m generating leads in _________ (city or community) and I’d love to develop a relationship with a good, reliable agent in the area so that I can refer these leads out and know they’re getting taken care of.”

“You don’t have to change a thing.”

“I just need to know if you have the bandwidth to handle extra business at this point.”

“How does that sound?”

2) I don’t know how to plug these landing pages into my website.

“Not a problem. It’s super easy.”

“All we’re doing is basically copying and pasting links to the landing pages in strategic areas of your website to make sure that potential clients that are coming on here aren’t slipping through the cracks.”

“It’s a simple copy and paste to get them on there, and it’s just as easy to remove them at any point if you decide you want to go a different direction.”

“I can help you with it if you provide me with the login.”

“I’ve got a techy assistant that can plug these in for us in like 15-20 minutes tops.”

“If you like it and you see results, we’ll keep ‘em on there. If not, we’ll take ‘em off.”

“I do recommend trying it out for at least 60-90 days to give them a chance to start producing.”

“Some of my partners see results the day we go live, sometimes it takes a few weeks.”

“It depends on your marketing and current traffic.”

IF NEEDED—

“You can also have your assistant or web company do it.”

“I’ll supply the links, we just need to tell them where to plug them in. I can help with that too.”

3) What if I want to remove the landing pages?

“Great question.”

“I have a hunch that once you start seeing the leads come in, the last thing you’re going to want to do is remove these pages!”

“However, if you decide you want to remove them, taking them off is as easy as it is to add them.”

“Simply login and remove the links, or point the links somewhere else. I can help you with that too.”

“So far, none of my partner agents have asked me to do this, but if you do, I’ll be more than happy to comply, of course.”

4) Is this RESPA compliant?

“Definitely. First off, I’m sending you leads because these people need help from a real estate agent. I’m not a real estate agent.”

“You’re not obligated to send me referrals in return.”

“Whether or not you add me to your LO rotation is up to you. If you do decide to refer me clients, I’ll be honored and I’ll take great care of anyone you refer me.”

“Something else to consider in terms of RESPA compliance is that I’m paying for the landing pages and conversion optimization tools, but you’re still paying for your website and marketing.”

“If you want to take it a step further, I’ve broken it down to where each of these landing pages costs me $X per month.”

“I’m providing you with X number of pages, so how about this: we do a 90 day agreement.”

“For the 90 days, you pay me $X for the landing pages, and if at the end of 90 days, we decide it’s a good fit and want to continue, we do another 90 days.”

“Obviously the system costs me a lot more than I’m charging you for it, but you’re only going to pay for the portion you’re using.”

“If for some reason, at any point, we decide it’s not a good fit, we’ll go ahead and cancel the agreement and I’ll reimburse you the full amount.”

EXAMPLE OF HOW THIS WORKS—

Most landing page systems cost under $200/month.

Let’s say for $200/month, you get up to 100 landing pages.

That’s $2 per landing page/month.If you give each Realtor 5 landing pages, that’s $10 per month.

Over 90 days, that’s $30 they owe you.

Ask for a check. Take them out to dinner to discuss the marketing plan and pay for the meal.

Note the opinions above do not constitute legal advice and I recommend that you consult with an attorney if you have questions about how to comply with RESPA.

5) I don’t like the idea of plugging your links into my website.

“Thanks for being candid with me about that. No problem.”

“What are some of your concerns?”

“Anything else?”

SEE IF ANY OF THEIR CONCERNS ARE COVERED IN THIS
SECTION, THEN ADDRESS THEM ONE BY ONE—

“There are a lot of other ways you can use these pages besides plugging them into your website, but keep in mind: your website is the hub of all your marketing, so if that’s not optimized to convert leads, everything else will suffer.”

“A few other ways my agents are using these pages is in email marketing, social media, listing signs—you can plug them in anywhere!”

6) I’m busy enough as is.

“I love it. That’s usually a great problem to have!”

“A lot of my best agents told me the exact same thing when we first started working together.”

“Let me ask you this: does that mean if I send you pre-approved buyers and serious sellers, you’d have to turn them away?”

“If I could help automate some of the follow up on buyer leads so that you’re not wasting time with tire-kickers and people that aren’t qualified, would that be of interest?”

“Is it an issue with lead quality—wasting time with too many leads that aren’t qualified?”

“A lot of my best agents have found that they’re getting bogged down by crappy leads… quantity isn’t a problem, it’s the quality…”

“I’m not going to be wasting your time with people that aren’t serious.”

“How are you getting your leads currently?”

7) Will you pay for some marketing?

“That’s not typically something I do since I’m paying for the landing pages and lead conversion tools, but we can discuss it, definitely. It also, of course, depends on the marketing.”

“And the ONLY way I’d do that is if we plug the holes in your website and other areas that are missing lead conversion tools.”

“Without that, it’s pointless for either of us to pay for marketing.”

“Right now, you’ve got a website that has very little chance of converting qualified leads.”

“It looks nice, but it’s not optimized for lead generation.”

“If I’m going to do any co-marketing with you, we need to fix that ASAP.”

“Otherwise, it’s like me coming over to hang out at your house and you asking me to pay for half of the A/C bill, but when I look around, you’ve got all the windows and doors open.”

“Sure, if I’m going to hang out for a while, I’ll help you pay for the A/C bill… but FIRST we’re going to need to go around and close the windows and doors to make sure we’re both getting something out of it. Make sense?”

8) Where else can I use these landing pages?

“I’m glad you asked! Anywhere and everywhere!”

“What’s your next marketing campaign?”

“Are you doing any email blasts or social media posts in the near future?”

“Besides your website, I recommend we plug them into blog posts, single property websites, listing signs and open house signs, email blasts, email newsletters, direct mail, social media ads, Craigslist, TV and Radio ads, webinars, events, door hangers, your email signature, your voicemail message—you name it!”

“I recommend we start with your website, since that’s the hub of all
your marketing, but then we look at plugging them into some of the
other things you’re doing to make sure it’s all optimized to convert
leads and you’re not missing out on clients.”

9) Who gets the leads?

“We both do.”

“They’re exclusive to us. I set it up so that as soon as a lead comes through, we’re both notified instantly via email.”

“I can also set up a text message alert to your cell phone if you want.”

10) Who follows up with the leads?

“We can do it either way.”

“Most of my agents want me to follow up with the buyer leads, that
way you’re not wasting time with people that aren’t qualified.”

“I get them pre-approved and send them back to you as soon as they’re ready.”

“Keep in mind: we’ll both get the notifications as soon as a lead comes through, so you know about every single lead, but typically I follow up and make sure they’re serious before handing them off to you.”

“For the seller leads, I’d recommend you follow up, and I can step into the picture when it comes time to getting them pre-approved for their next home.”

“One thing you’ll also find about me is I ANSWER THE PHONE. Communication between my agents, clients, and I is definitely one of my strong suits.”