3 Tips for Converting More Real Estate Leads

July 25, 2017

As a real estate agent, generating leads is essential for your success. With a strong pipeline of leads, you can direct them through your sales funnel to eventually make them a client. But that’s often easier said than done. Real estate lead conversion can take a lot of time and effort upfront. However, once you master the art of converting real estate leads, it’ll become second nature.

Today I’m going to talk to you about three primary skills everyone needs if they want to convert more of those leads into appointments and ultimately contracts. In this post, you’ll learn how to close a deal as a real estate agent by building rapport with your clients, asking qualifying questions, and always closing.

If you’re having trouble closing, explore our three tips on how to convert leads in real estate below.

Tip #1: Build Rapport

Three primary skills you need to improve your lead conversion are building rapport, quality for motivation, and closing.

The #1 and probably the most important thing that I see more and more people missing is the art of building rapport. Rapport is the harmonious relationship between you and another person. In real estate, it’s essential to make connections wherever you go and to establish rapport, as this can help with your real estate lead conversion rates.

Imagine a time in your life when you were not in rapport with someone.

That awkward moment where you’re sitting across the table and you’re looking at your phone and they’re looking at their phone and you are not saying anything.

Imagine if you knew exactly what to do to break the ice to really get to what matters most.

The most basic thing I follow and do every single time I want to build rapport is to mirror them.

We know that people prefer to do business with people just like them.

If I want to be in rapport, I’m going to use the same language they use.

I’m going to speak at the same pace and the same tempo.

If you want to convert more leads, you have to get out of yourself and get in the moment with the client.

I’m listening to their pace and tempo because it’s going to give me insight into whether they are visual, auditory, or kinesthetic in their communication.

I listen for the words that they use, their pace, their volume, and their tonality.

You can take just a little bit of their cadence; pay attention to their volume, use their language, by mirroring them.

And what happens, my friends, is that we build rapport within the first 60 seconds.

The moment we break rapport, we break trust.

In addition to mirroring leads and potential clients, there are several additional strategies that can help you build rapport and start converting real estate leads. Other ways to establish rapport include:

Active listening: Your leads have a dilemma. They’re either looking to buy a house, sell a house, or both. This means they need someone who listens to their concerns and provides help. Actively listening will show clients you care about them and their struggles. To actively listen, repeat phrases they’ve said to ensure you’re on the same page and ask guided questions to get more information out of them. This will help build trust, which can lead to a conversion.
Provide help: As stated, your leads are in a situation where they need help. During your conversations, naturally integrate how you can offer them a solution, such as marketing their home to a wide range of qualified buyers to get their home sold faster or how quickly you can meet deadlines if they’re in a pinch. Asking them how you can help and showcasing your solutions will instill confidence and convert leads.
Show gratitude: No matter how a conversation goes, it’s always important to show gratitude and thanks. Ending on a positive note boosts the likelihood of repeat customers and that you value their decision in choosing you as a realtor.

With these tips on building rapport with leads, you’ll be able to improve your real estate lead conversion and close more deals.

Tip #2: Ask Qualifying Questions

The next step if you want to up your conversions is to ask more qualifying questions. Asking qualifying questions goes hand in hand with building rapport, as this allows you to showcase your abilities and knowledge, as well as get a better understanding of your lead’s goals.

If you want to ultimately convert and book an appointment, you need to know their motive for action.

You need to know what’s important to them, what their timing is, what’s their financial situation, etc.

The next step is to find out if they qualify for motivation.

Asking them certain questions can help you find out just how motivated they are to sell their home. Through open-ended questions, you’ll be able to get a better understanding of their timeline, any hesitations they may have, the “wants” and “needs” they’re looking for in a property, their desired listing price, and more.

During this portion of connecting with leads, it’s essential to do more listening and less talking. Asking these open-ended questions and actively listening will help you build rapport and use that information to create an action plan to get them the help they need.

10 Great Qualifying Questions You Could Ask

If you’re wondering how to close deals in real estate, you need to ask qualifying questions. During your next conversation with a lead or prospect, ask these questions to build trust and get the information you need to convert a lead to a client:

Tell me what you’d like to do.
Where are you looking?
Why are you selling (x)?
What’s the why behind it, what’s the motivation?
What’s your timing?
Who else is involved in the process?
What’s your Plan B, in case it doesn’t happen in (time frame)?
Have you met with a lender?
What price range would you like?
What’s important to you in the agent you choose to represent you?

This list of questions can uncover useful information that you can use in your sales pitch to convert a lead to a customer. For example, if a lead says they’re hoping to sell within three months with a price point of $500,000, you can use that information to show them the tools you use to market properties to attract more buyers, along with the tactics you use, such as staging and promotional materials, that can help achieve their asking price or higher.

Tip #3: Always Be Closing

The bottom line is no transactions happen until we get an appointment.

So we need to have multiple different closes to handle objections. Real estate lead conversions happen when you close correctly. From leads who are interested in your services to those who may have expressed disinterest, there are different ways you can prepare your closing statement to close the deal. At the end of the day, it comes down to booking an appointment. Once an appointment is set up, you can fully display your offerings and how you can help buyers and sellers.

Closing Statements

Before you let a lead go, close the conversation with a booked appointment. Here’s how to close a deal as a real estate agent with various closing statements for different types of leads:

Let’s go ahead and schedule an appointment.
Are mornings or afternoons better for you?
You told me (X,Y,Z) and in order to achieve your goals, let’s schedule an appointment on (date & time).
All I need is 15 minutes. If I can show you the obvious advantages of both your time & money, could it be worth 15 min of your time?

The Bottom Line: Real Estate Lead Conversion

The bottom line is this, my friends.

It’s not leads. It’s YOU, it’s YOUR ability to convert and YOUR ability to build rapport with a wide variety of people.

If you found these tips to generate more leads helpful, check out our free tools and resources for agents. At Tom Ferry, our real estate coaching program helps realtors like you set goals, learn marketing strategies, and grow their businesses. If you’re ready to learn how to convert leads in real estate, our coaches will go over real estate lead conversion tips like the ones above that you can implement into your practice to close more deals.

Make sure you download your script book and start improving your lead conversions and begin closing deals in real estate today!