To enter the lead generation game strong, you must understand one key concept:  Not all leads are created equal. And because of this key principle you have to approach your leads in tactical ways.

Consumer direct leads that you gain from your online marketing may be the toughest to connect with but certainly are the leads you need to close to increase your monthly production. Let’s dive into some core concepts and strategies of effective follow up.

You Can’t Do This Alone

What you are about to read is conceptual, and only achievable under the right capacity to do work. None of the strategic elements of follow up can be accomplished by one person using excel sheets, pencil and paper etc. The skill set of your CRM and Follow Up systems are the tools that allow you to orchestrate follow up that leads you to the ROI you are looking for. Choose your CRM carefully and get to work.

Focusing on The Right Metrics

Lead generation is step one of a courting process with your leads, there are many factors to consider to help you get to the closed deal you are looking for. Because this is your end goal, most people will focus here.

Leads Generated In 1 Month: 15

Deals Closed from Those leads: 0

Natural Reaction: “This isn’t working”

It’s very easy to fall victim to the knee-jerk reaction above. However the more strategic place to focus is on a different metric: Contact Rate. A respectable contact rate with online leads is around 50%, these are leads you are connecting with, conversing with and gaining more information about their needs and goals. If your contact rate is high, this allows you to play the numbers game and establish yourself for more and more deals.  So how do you increase the contact rate?

Speed to Lead

Quickness to reaching out is a huge fundamental component of healthy follow up. A lead just submitted their information and they are expecting something in return. Should you leave them in the dark too long, then this lead could be lost for life, or worse they could go to a competitor in your area instead.

In order to maximize your speed to lead, take advantage of your leadPops Autoresponder in your funnels Dashboard. This is an automatic email that can go out immediately as a lead comes through your form. You can edit what this email says as well to customize the messaging based on the avenue of lead entry. Your first contact attempt should happen with in the first minute.

Additionally , your CRM should function as a speed to lead aide as well, should your CRM be sending out a quick email, text, or voicemail be sure to toggle the leadPops autoresponder off to avoid a duplicate message.

The First Impression

Remember, the consumer direct leads you generate do not know you, yet. Knowing these leads are meeting you for the first time there are a few ways to increase the likelihood that they feel comfortable responding to who is reaching out out to them.

Editing your Thank You Page of your funnels is a great way to increase the ease of the customer journey. Taking time to film a short 30-second video introducing yourself and detailing who you are and what steps are next is a great way to keep your leads aware of what is happening. Most people will not be willing to pick up a phone call from a number they don’t know, so make reference to this in your video of who is calling.

Additionally you can drop a calendar link in your thank you page to let your leads schedule a quick 15 minutes consultation with you. The sky is the limit here with what you can provide to your leads in the thank you page, however the intent should always be to increase the warmth of the connection.

Timing and Focus

Even with speed to lead and increasing the welcome provided there will be a good amount of leads who do not respond to you that first time. This is normal, this is also where your cadence, timing and focus come into play.

Cadence:

How often and what methods you use to follow up are very important factors to solidify. Texting should be your main priority out of the choices of email, phone call and text. With the prevalence of spam callers and the sheer amount of emails everyone gets, texting proves the most effective means of communication with online leads. In fact, texting prior can lead to a more solidified route to getting into a scheduled call or conversation.

Don’t give up as well. Should your leads not respond to any of your material in the first month of time it doesn’t mean its over. This is where you would want to focus on sending your leads relevant content to keep them engaged. It’s not always the time to buy or refinance, or sell your home, but allowing your leads to stay on top of the market and strike when ready is the goal for some of your long term closes

Sending material through your CRM that you can track activity off of such as articles to read, webinars to watch or quick surveys to take can allow you to know when to ramp up your follow up cadence once more.

As long as the lead doesn’t tell you to take them off your list, you must keep them in your follow up practices.

Timing:

When you reach out matters quite a bit. Some leads may be filling out your lead capture while on the go, on their break at work, or right before they go to bed. They may not be able to respond back right away to your initial outreach for a very valid reason. So your proceeding follow up should take into account the time of day and day of the weeks you reach out.

Most people tend not to respond on Mondays and Fridays and it makes a lot of sense. With a nationwide case of the Mondays, who really wants to talk to someone they never met before? And with Friday being the cusp of the weekend most people are checked out and ready to get into their weekend plans.

With this social trend data at hand, consider making your outbound calls in the middle of the week eying the time of day and varying your attempts should your contact rate be lacking.

Focus

Finally, what you say to the leads will often be the solution you are lacking in follow up. Your initial outreach to leads should simply be about making an introduction and aligning with their preferred method of conversation. If your focus is jumping right into overly salesy matters, your leads will ghost you pretty instantly. In the mortgage world, while filling out an application is a necessary step in closing a loan, it should not be the main focus of your follow up tactics. You must build relationships with your leads first, establish authority as a consultant and gain trust. Only then will you be able to get your leads into application and further.

There are a couple follow up campaigns attached to this article too for Purchase and Refinance. Be sure to download them and utilize them as needed as you develop your follow up systems. 

Reach out to your Marketing Advisor at leadPops and be sure to focus in  with them on increasing your follow up strength!