Welcome to our August episode of Insights with Zillow!
Let’s face it – Zillow understands home buyer and seller behavior better than anyone. In this episode, Chris Lapp from Zillow talks about best practices for online lead conversion. Chris emphasizes the importance for agents to have a dynamic online presence, especially now that’s we’re in a global virtual marketplace. Chris shares how to handle the first call with your lead based on the vast research that Zillow has collected. Chris provides tips on how to interact with the lead and gives step by step instructions on what to say (and what NOT to say). Last, Chris talks about agent safety and how to protect oneself when meeting face to face.
To download Zillow’s Conversion Playbook, click here.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Interested in seeing what marketing options Zillow has for YOUR business? Click here!
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00
This episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by zillow.com Hey podcast listeners. Are you looking for ways to boost your business and expand your network? I want to encourage you to check out what advertising options are available to you on zillow.com. If you haven’t checked out Zillow in a while or maybe never have before, please send an email to keeping it real at Zillow group.com That’s keeping it real at Zillow, group.com and one of Zelos team members will be in touch with you to see the options available in your market as well as learn about their new products and tools to help your business grow. Again that email address is keeping it real at Zillow group.com And now on to the show.
Welcome to keeping it real, the largest podcast made by real estate agents and for real estate agents. My name as always is DJ Paris, and I am your guide and host through the show. Today we have our newest monthly series insights with Zillow. Now everybody listening knows about Zillow and they know that Zillow is at the forefront of the home buying and selling process here in the digital age. For example, currently, Zillow is averaging over 190 million unique visitors to their website every single month. That reach is incredible. And they’ve become experts at buyer and seller behavior because of the sheer volume of users on their website. And this means that they have insights based on hard data, not just theory. And they’re going to talk about some of these insights here on our show. We couldn’t be more proud and excited to have Zillow as our guest today. Representing Zillow is Chris lap from the corporate partnership team on the West Coast. I have personally known Chris for several years, he’s a fantastic resource to listen to, and also to help agents take some of these Zillow insights to increase their overall real estate production. But let me tell you a little bit about Chris before we get started. So Chris Lappe has been with Zillow for four years he serves as the corporate partnership manager. In this role, Chris works with some of the largest and most strategic real estate brokerages across the country to drive partnership opportunities with Zillow. Chris has a doctorate degree in the field of communication, and has years of experience coaching agents and brokers nationwide to implement best practices and strategies for online lead conversion. Welcome to keeping it real, Chris, once again. Thank you for joining us.
Chris Lapp 2:36
Thanks, DJ, it is an absolute pleasure to be with you and your listeners today. I’m excited for our conversation.
D.J. Paris 2:43
Yeah, me too. I mean, things are so different right now than they were pre pre pandemic, of course. And I know here in our local Chicago market, of course, we have listeners all over the country and even in other countries. But here in our local Chicago market, boy, I mean, with rates being where they are, with inventory being low, there’s just this explosion of activity. And our Realtors are actually busier than ever, which, you know, is is a good thing for the real estate market. And I’m sure I know you you guys have seen a huge growth with your own website numbers as well. But last time, you know, we met, we discussed a broad overview of Zillow and some of the free things that agents can do to build their brand. And I want to encourage our listeners, if you missed that first episode, the best way to find it is you could scroll through if you have a podcast app, just look for the last Zillow episode we did. But the other way to do it is you can actually visit our website. So if you go to keeping it real pod.com and you scroll all the way to the bottom, we have the Zillow episodes in its own category. So if you scroll the bottom, you can see the different categories of episodes we do, and we have that one there. But we also discussed in addition to some of the free resources, we discussed your advertising platforms for agents and ways that they can connect to consumers through Zillow. Today, I thought it’d be a good to take some time to dig into what Zillow has learned from maybe the best ways to be successful with online leads. And I know there’s a lot of people out there that claim to be online lead conversion experts. It’s kind of like SEO experts or search engine marketing experts. There’s a there are a lot of them. And it’s not always clear who actually knows the best possible strategy. So we’re going to go straight to the source. And curious if you guys have created resources around figuring out and best practices for online lead conversion.
Chris Lapp 4:39
Yeah, so again, very excited to be here. And when it comes to the topic of online lead conversion, we have learned a huge amount about how agents can be successful with online leads. So really, when it comes down to it, we have the greatest visibility into seeing what works and what doesn’t work with online lead conversion. And as we all know, especially in times like this with COVID, the importance of agents having a dynamic online presence has never been more important than it is now. And as I’m sure many agents know, that are listening, there usually comes a point in an agent’s career where their own network isn’t enough, right? They need they want more connections. And I’ll often say to agents that Zillow is in the handshake business, although I guess that example doesn’t work so well with COVID right now. But what I really mean by that is that we introduce agents to consumers, they would have never otherwise known, expanding their network, right? And if you happen to be one of those agents, who comes to advertise with Zillow to expand and grow your network, what you find is that when that phone rings with a prospective buyer, who let’s be honest, you’ve never met, and oftentimes that call comes in at the moment that you least expect it the way that you handle that first call. And that first impression is of utmost importance, and will be the make or break moment. And unfortunately, oh, yeah, go ahead.
D.J. Paris 6:18
No, no, by all means. Yeah, I was gonna
Chris Lapp 6:21
say, unfortunately, agents are often trained how to engage a face to face client. But many agents don’t have the specific training for how to engage in online connection, especially in that first moment. And we have found through lots of research, that there are successful ways, fairly simple ways, but successful ways to steer the conversation, as well as certain pitfalls that are important to avoid. So
D.J. Paris 6:51
we dive into some of those best practices, and maybe things not to do as well. Yeah.
Chris Lapp 6:55
Yeah, absolutely. But I want to say this is when we were compiling our learnings for how to be successful. Just a bit of background, we pored over vast amounts of data. As well as conducted we conducted in depth interviews with more than 50 of the top converting real estate businesses and teams across the country who are top successful agents on Zillow. So we met with their teams, we did a deep dive into their sales process, we listen to their interactions with clients, all with the goal of uncovering the proven best practices for online lead conversion. So we distilled our findings into what you can actually find it online, on our website for agents, the conversion playbook. And so that’s what I want to dive into. And I think that you’re going to find, again, some simple, yet insightful ways, specifically in our conversation today really want to focus in on that very first conversation, that very first interaction that a consumer has with an agent on our platform.
D.J. Paris 8:00
And for all of our listeners, the conversion playbook link is going to be if you’re listening to this episode on a podcast app, look at the notes, they’ll be a link to it there. If you’re watching it on Facebook, go to the comments, we’ll have it listed there as well. So you can follow along. But yeah, I’m super excited. I want to just quickly mentioned that it is Chris said, you know, hey, not only do we have all this great data internally that we’ve collected on consumer behavior, we also reach out to some of these top converting teams and brokerages across the country. And it’s really kind of, as you were saying that I was thinking, you know, it’s so amazing that these top producing teams are often willing to share all of their, I don’t want to call them secrets, because I don’t think they consider them secrets. But they’re willing to say here’s exactly what I do. And that’s the whole purpose for our show is we reach out to top producers and say, How do you do that? And it’s amazing to me that very rarely does anyone ever say You know, I want to keep that one more close to the vest. So I’m glad that they’re sharing it with you so we can then share that also with our eyes.
Chris Lapp 9:02
Right. Right. Right. So I guess just to start this conversation, I think an important thing to kind of catch people up on is how a lead comes to an agent who is advertising on Zillow. Right?
D.J. Paris 9:20
So yeah, it’s a great, great point. Let’s let’s start with somebody visits Zillow, and then they they express interest in connecting.
Chris Lapp 9:29
Yeah, so very high level. It’s pretty simple. When a buyer is looking on Zillow, let’s say they find a home they’re interested in 123 Main Street. There they have a couple options. They can either fill out information and click contact agent. It’s a little button on the listing, or they can click Schedule a tour. And what I first want to focus in on for the sake of our conversation majority today is when an agent or when a consumer clicks contact agent And we can talk just a little bit about schedule a tour here in a little bit. But again, when someone clicks contact agent, or Connections team is going to confirm that they’re interested in buying and that they want to talk with an agent. And if we have that confirmation, we’re going to pass it along to an agent. And if they say they’re not interested, for whatever reason and buying right now, what we’ll do is we’ll still pass the lead to an agent, but we’re going to do it as a nurture lead, that will show within an agent’s inbox, and they can follow up with that at a later time. But connections, those are those live transfers. And in the world of online leads, these connections are the highest quality connections that you’re going to find. So again, it’s transferred right through contact agent or team validates that and then sends it over to an agent.
D.J. Paris 10:53
Great. And then when that agent, so the agent could receive that information as a live transfer phone call as well. Good. Also, could it also be an email? What are the distribution methods?
Chris Lapp 11:06
Yeah, so it’d be a text message or a live transfer phone call? Got it? Yeah, yeah.
D.J. Paris 11:13
So once once an agent gets connected, so an agent then receives that text or phone call? And then then what’s sort of the what’s the best first thing to do once they get that person on the phone?
Chris Lapp 11:26
Right? Okay, so full disclosure, I am not a big fan of acronyms. But for for, for everyone’s sake, to make it easier, I want to use an acronym, so that the listeners can really remember the most effective way that we have found through our research to engage a consumer on that first call. So we’re ready. Here’s the acronym, alm. A L. M, stands for appointment, location, and motivation. Another way to think of it is the first three questions to ask on a call. So when that phone call first comes in, you don’t want to think three questions. When would you like to see it? What other parties would you like to see? What interests you about these problems? Again, what you’re into is you’re getting to the appointment right away, you’re getting to location, and you’re getting to the buyers motivation. And we found that ultimately, you want to be short, you want to shift away from specific property questions, and focus more on the person. And you really want to work to give them what they want. And it takes discipline to zero in and focus on that first call to only these essentials. But we found that doing so nificantly increases the chance of turning that connection into a client.
D.J. Paris 12:57
And so appointment, we say appointment, we say, okay, great. When would you like to go? So the first thing you do is you want to secure that appointment? And that in many ways might might be counterintuitive to to an agent listening, thinking, Well, no, no, first I have to build rapport, I have to find out if they’re qualified, I have to make sure that you know, and, and I know that Chris and I have talked for years now about this. So this is not our first conversation, but it might be our listeners first conversation. So you might be thinking, wait, wait, should I shouldn’t I qualify? Shouldn’t I build rapport? And what the research shows is, and in many, maybe in other types of lead sources, that would maybe be the best approach. But for this type of lead, these are people that have already raised their hand and said, I want to go see that. And you want to honor that request. And and just get that out of the way. First, correct?
Chris Lapp 13:52
Yeah, exactly. I think maybe a helpful way for your listeners to kind of grasp this is just like, I’m not a big fan of acronyms. I’m not a big fan of role playing calls, either. But I won’t make you do it, DJ. But I just for the sake of illustration, I’ll just kind of go back and forth here. I just want to give the listener a sense of kind of what we’re finding. Now, full disclosure up front. No call actually goes like this. So we could only wish for it to go like this, right? But I want to give the listener a sense of cadence and a sense of direction of what we are what we’re saying when we’re talking about these three questions, right. So let’s say the phone rings, you know, you as an agent on Zillow, you’ve saved that Zillow number in your phone. So you know that when your phone rings, it says Zillow lead, right so you want to do what you can to answer it. You pick up the phone. And, you know, the consumer says, you know, hey, this is John Doe. I’m interested in 123 Main Street. First things first, introduce yourself in a professional way. Right like hey, this is Chris with Main Street. Realty? How can I assist you? I know that sounds so basic and so Elementary, but you would not believe how many agents will answer those Zillow calls simply just going, hello, hello, wow, hey there, right. And so again, something so basic as a professional introduction. And when they say, hey, I’m interested in 123 Main Street, you say, perfect John Doe, when would you like to see it? Oh, you know, maybe 3pm. Tomorrow? Perfect. Let me ask you, are there any other properties are interested in? Well, you know, there’s that property on 10th Street for eight 4/10 Street? I like that one. Okay, great. What is it that you like about these properties? Well, they both have a pool. And, you know, three bedrooms, three baths, that’s a minimum for us. And we really would like that. Cool. Wonderful. So here’s, I’m going to do for you, John Doe, I’m going to go confirm that appointment at 123 Main Street tomorrow at 3pm. I’ll call you back. As soon as I’m able to confirm that appointment, and be on the lookout for a text message from me with my contact information. I look forward to talking to you soon.
D.J. Paris 16:07
So I wanted to pause for a second because I noticed one thing that you didn’t do it and I want to make sure that I understand this. And our listeners understand it. So Chris had asked, Okay, are there any other properties? And they said, Actually, there is another property? And then you said, Great, thank you. And then you said, Well, what is it about these properties? So you got a sense of what the person is looking for? But then you went back to the appointment? And you said, you know, yeah, the person raised their hand for this one particular property. And I’m guessing the thought process, let’s get that one scheduled, we can always schedule the other property laters? Is that my understanding?
Chris Lapp 16:40
Yeah, again, the idea here is you want to give the consumer what they want, right? Whether we like it or not, online, consumers are trained to get what they want, when they want it. And so you want your motivator in that conversation is simply to give them what they want. Right? So you are going to be laser focused on getting an appointment to that property. Now, there’s a lot of unknowns that, you know, there’s so much information yet to find out about this person. And we’re going to find it out. But again, on this very first conversation, it’s laser focused, give them what they want, get off the phone quickly, so that you can go to work to make sure you can get it for him, and then call him back. And that’s when we can talk about some of the other things.
D.J. Paris 17:25
So we want to we want to get off the call as quickly. But also as as respectfully as possible. By literally just saying you want to go see this great. Let me set that up for you. I’ll call you right back. Hey, by the way, are there any other properties just so I can get a sense of, of what else you might be interested in? Okay, great. Now I have an awareness of that, I’m gonna call you right back, let’s get that first one scheduled, or you know, and then okay, and off, and then you’re, you’re hanging up?
Chris Lapp 17:54
Exactly. And here’s what you have in your tool belt. Now, if you get off the phone and find out 123 Main Street isn’t available, right, for whatever reason, it’s not available, you now have another property they’re interested in, you also have some of the things that they like about that property, so that you can go to work to find something similar. So that when you’re calling them back, you’re making sure that you’re offering them something, even if it’s not the thing that they want, you have an alternative in their back pocket.
D.J. Paris 18:23
Well, that’s a really smart point. So you identified a secondary property if they if they knew of one in that first call, and you’re using it as an almost in some ways as a backup on that call back in case the property is and maybe maybe the property isn’t even maybe it’s still available maybe isn’t available at that particular time and say, Okay, well, we have a few other options. But oh, by the way, there’s this other property. I know you’re also interested in or based on what you told me, I came up with a few ideas. Quick question, how quickly should that broker once they have that initial phone call identifying the primary place, the primary property the the, the consumer wants to see how quickly should they then be getting back to that consumer? And should they identify that timeframe? In the first phone call? Like, hey, I’m gonna, I’m gonna let you go now. So I’m gonna schedule this for 9am. Tomorrow, like you suggested, like you’d like I’m going to call you how quickly do you have? Did you guys have any best practices? Obviously, the faster the better. But is there a you have any general tips on how quickly to call them back?
Chris Lapp 19:26
What we have found is that you really want to just make sure that you’re keeping the consumer in the loop, right? There could be a number of factors outside of your control or really anyone’s control as to when that property could be shown. Right. But the most important thing is when you get off the call right away, you’re the first thing you’re doing before you’re even picking up the call the phone to see if you can schedule that appointment, you’re texting them your contact information, right away, right? And then once once you have once you’ve texted them your contact information, then you can go back and give them updates. You No, hey, it’s been two hours haven’t heard back, I’m, I’m still looking, I’m still reaching out, I’m working to get that appointment for you, right, you’re keeping them in the loop so that they know that you’re on top of things. That’s what consumers want to see is they want to see that somebody is there to work on their behalf to give them what they want.
D.J. Paris 20:19
And you just said something really important. I want to go back to you, you hung up after the first call, and you immediately texted the person. Hey, great chatting with you. So Mr. Mr. John, and I am in the process of working on getting that that appointment scheduled, I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. And I’ll be keeping you updated along the way. Or however, by the way, here’s my contact info if you need it. That’s a huge thing that I suspect a lot of agents who are working with these type of leads neglect to do. So this, this is a another way that you’re professionally, following up and keeping the person engaged.
Chris Lapp 20:58
Yeah, exactly. And as we all know, we live in a world now where people almost text first, before they engage on a phone call. And so again, if you’re able to open that text line of communication, it’s just going to expedite the process as you continue down the road to build a client relationship with them.
D.J. Paris 21:16
So we just talked about things that you should do. Are there things that you absolutely do not do in these first phone call?
Chris Lapp 21:26
Yeah, so I’ll just hit you with them. There’s four things that we have found that are pitfalls to avoid on that very first conversation. Now, let me just be clear, it’s the very first conversation, right. So the on that first conversation, it’s important to avoid asking them if they’re working with an agent. Secondly,
D.J. Paris 21:47
well, that that is a big thing you just said. So this is going to be there’s going to be two things that I think agents are going to want to ask on the first call number one, are you are you pre approved? And the second one is, are you working with another agent? And maybe those maybe I just jumped ahead a bit. But I did. And I apologize. Those are totally fine. Yeah. And I know those are everyone is going wait a minute, but I need I need to know those things.
Chris Lapp 22:16
Right. Right. And look, we know that agents have a lot of strong feelings about this, again, because we’ve been trained to do things a certain way. Yeah. But the thing that we have not been trained on is that online lead conversion, specific, engaging the consumers mindset, who are engaged in an online platform. And that’s what we have to remember is that their mindset is different. Put yourself in the shoes of the consumer. Imagine being that consumer, right? And what we find again, here’s the four ready? Are you working with an agent? finance questions, detailed questions about the property. And lastly, the ins and outs of how buyer’s agency works. Those are the four. So you want to avoid those if at all possible. Now, naturally, sometimes those things will the consumer might bring up some of those questions, right. So you kind of have to improv and kind of work with it as you go. But what we’re finding is this, is you want to make sure that you’re just creating an easy experience for the consumer to get what they want. If you find that you are asking these questions, for example, are you working with an agent? Are you pre approved, what you’re doing is you’re putting some barriers in front of the consumer, and for an online consumer, that frustrates them. And that’s just makes it that much more difficult for you to be able to turn that connection into a client. So again, these are important questions to ask, no doubt, but we find on that very first conversation, stay away from it, you can begin to kind of get more insight with them when you call them back with a scheduled appointment, or when you meet them face to face.
D.J. Paris 24:02
I’m almost wondering too, if the consumer does say on that first call, okay. Well, I want to go see this property. And you’ve you’ve you’ve done your Alm and you you know, you you have your information and they go hey, by the way, and they want to start asking additional questions. I my thought process would be Hey, Mr. or Mrs. Client, that those are awesome, incredibly good questions, and I cannot wait to answer those for you. But I really want to make sure this property is available at the time you suggested tomorrow. So yeah, if it’s okay, I’m going to call you right back as soon as I confirm that, and then we’re going to go through those more specifically, would you agree that that was is that what you would recommend?
Chris Lapp 24:40
100% Because here’s part of the problem. As I mentioned at the beginning, this phone call is often coming in at a time when you least expect it, right? And so, I mean, you could be you know, walking down the street and all of a sudden your phone rings, you’re not in front of your computer, but you want to be able to take that call. And if you focus on those three questions, you’re able to do it and if they started Getting into property specific questions. The reality is, they probably know more about that property than you do. Right? They’ve been staring at it, they’ve been flipping through every photo for the last 10 minutes, right, they’ve read everything down to the tax records on the home, so they know way more about that property than you do off the top of your head. And if you’re able to simply go, You know what, you have some really great questions, let’s get that appointment set for you. And to be honest, the best place to get a lot of these questions answered is going to be at the property itself. So let’s get that appointment, we’ll get all those questions answered for you. Again, it’s a simple simply deflecting back to the appointment.
D.J. Paris 25:36
And are there anything after the call after the appointment is scheduled, any specific practices that you know, we talked about texting and your contact information, anything else that comes to mind once you get that appointment scheduled, to help the agent find more success?
Chris Lapp 25:52
Right. So again, as I mentioned before, confirm the appointment, text, your contact information right away, that’s first, second, make sure that you’re calling them back with a set appointment at a property, even if it’s not the one that they reached out on. Right. As I mentioned, before, you’re gathering that information to do what you can to give them an appointment to a property. Another, you want to make sure that you’re reminding them continually about the upcoming appointment via text message. And the last one is my agent. So this is a service on Zillow that we started a couple years back. And what this does, is, instead of having a consumer like John Doe, he’s looking at the home. And he finds when he likes contact agent, he goes to another property. He likes contact agent contact agent. Before you know it, he’s reached out to 10 different agents on 10 different properties. Sure we have created it’s called my agent and it helps to make sure that they’re only connected to one agent on Zillow. So what that means is the first agent that John Doe connects with, they create what’s called a my agent relationship for 30 days on Zillow, meaning that anytime that consumer goes on Zillow, the agent that they were connected with is the only agent that will show on any listing for 30 days. So that will always drive them back to the agent they were connected with. Now, if they want to expand that relationship beyond 30 days, they need to do the equivalent of like the Zillow version of a friend request on social media that will allow them to expand that relationship into months and years. So again, my agent is going to be one of those things that they can do as they nurture that relationship to ensure that they keep that connection with that consumer.
D.J. Paris 27:44
And this is a really, really big deal. Because we know that well, we would assume that that consumer is clicking on multiple properties. Of course, buyers look at many different options. And back before Zillow had this technology and thought to integrate this and we think back to even like services like Craigslist, which they don’t, they’re more of a classified system. And you know, somebody might be reaching out to five or six classified ads, and now they are talking to five or six agents. But on Zillow, you guys haven’t figured that out so that they’re only going to that one particular agent for up to 30 days, and then possibly further if they want to continue that really got it. Exactly, exactly. That’s a really, really big thing. I want to make sure that our listeners know that because I don’t want you know, that’s something new that I’m just learning about Zillow is, it is nothing I hadn’t thought about. But that is a really, really important point is that if that same buyer goes on, they’re not going to be speaking to another agent 10 minutes later, unless, of course, they somehow used a different email address and a different name and a different phone number. Right. Right. Right That way you could they but that’s probably unlikely to happen.
Chris Lapp 28:53
I also want to notice thinking about doing that.
D.J. Paris 28:56
I also want to want to go back to and if they’re thinking about doing it, you know, maybe that’s not not the best lead for an agent anyway. But But I want to go back all the way to the beginning, when you said the consumer goes on the website, they click contact agent, but you also mentioned clicking schedule a tour. Can you talk a little bit about what that process is? And how can agents handle those types of leads?
Chris Lapp 29:18
Yeah, so this is a little bit different in this is a bit of reverse engineering, right? Instead of you asking the consumer right away, hey, when do you want to see it? The consumers already told you when they want to see it. So when they click Schedule a tour, they’re able to look right on a calendar and put in the date and the time that they want to go see that property. So even though it’s a bit of reverse engineering, the goals of converting them into a client are going to be the same. And that goal is securing a face to face appointment as quickly as possible. So again, another acronym I you know, I don’t like it, but it’ll help remember. So the acronym tour. So the T two Take a moment, check your schedule. When that new tour request comes in, you’re going to want to pause, check your schedule, confirm whether you are if you’re on a team, a team member is available to meet at that desired time. Only accept tours for the times that you can support it. And it’s okay to accept a tour request without knowing in advance if the home is available. And if it isn’t, it’s okay. You can reschedule reschedule the consumer. So again, really focus in check your schedule, make sure that you are a teammate can accommodate that request. Oh, for tour organizers showing, right so once you accept the request, Zillow is going to let the consumer know that you’re working to confirm the tour. So you should immediately check to see if the homes available. And if it’s not see what when it can be shown and reach back out to the consumer with those times. Again, what you don’t want to do is you don’t want to reach out to a consumer without the next step already thought out for them. Right? Like, you don’t want to reach back and say, hey, it’s unavailable at 3pm. Right? Right. It’s, hey, it’s not available at 3pm. But I was able to secure it for 6pm. Right. Now, do you recommend
D.J. Paris 31:14
I’m sorry, Chris, I wanted to ask, do you recommend on the schedule a tour being that now the agent has this information prior to having to ask the consumer directly on the phone? Hey, when would you like to see this? Do you recommend so responding to that via telephone or text?
Chris Lapp 31:35
So you can really do it either way. Ultimately, you’ll want to get them on the phone beforehand, if at all possible, right. But if it doesn’t happen immediately, that’s okay. Right? If you can, you can secure the appointment, and then schedule a time to talk to them and call them. But again, take a moment, check your schedule, organize the showing. And then the you update the consumer text first follow up with a phone call confirming the appointment. Again, the goal, you want to get them on the phone for that initial conversation where you can execute the ALM framework, appointment location, motivation, right, the more tools that you have in your tool belt, the better it’s going to be as you begin to build that relationship. And then lastly, reach out with the reminders. Like I said, text reminder, hey, looking forward to it. If it is more than 24 hours away, you’re going to want to send another reminder the next day. And this is an important thing to note. Send a Text This is whether it’s a schedule a tour, or it’s a contact agent, send a text an hour before the appointment. Yes. Now, there’s an important mind frame that I want the agent to consider. And when having this conversation, I’ll tell I’ll tell agents this all the time. If you don’t lead the lead, the lead will lead you and most likely they’re going to lead you somewhere you don’t want to go. So you want to lead the lead. So as an example, text them an hour before and you say something like, Hey, I’m on my way to 123 main street, I look forward to meeting with you soon. Instead of saying something like, Hey, are we still on for 3pm? Right? Right, you want to lead the lead. I’m looking forward to talking to you soon I’m on my way to the proper Damn, you’re taking charge, you’re in control. So yeah,
D.J. Paris 33:28
I’ll tell you what we do here. So I spend my day recruiting agents and I do the exact same thing with respect to notifications and reminders. So the way I do it in agents should really follow a very similar path. It’s exactly what Chris just mentioned, which is the moment that I schedule an appointment with a prospective agent that might want to work at a firm, they immediately get a text message from me, obviously, I’ve already talked to them on the phone, we’ve confirmed it and then they immediately get a text message saying I can’t wait to see you at this time at this date, this address, you know, etc. Then if it’s more than 24 hours from that from that point, then they get a reminder exactly 24 hours before in we send a text and an email. But but which is probably a good idea to do as well as an agent and you want to say I can’t wait to see you and you know, we’re on for tomorrow at 3pm you know and then the same thing and then an hour before we do the same thing can’t wait to see in an hour this also it gives the the consumer an option to say oh wait a minute, I can’t do that. And at least you know it by sending these these reminders. You know it’s funny when I first thought about doing this, my dentist is the one that taught me to do this. My dentist does this and I said what you send a lot of reminders and he said it’s mine does do or Yes. And so I stole it from my dentist and and I started applying it about six or seven years ago here and it’s just been a godsend. And you might be thinking as you’re listening point, that’s a lot of reminders and you know what it isn’t? It might seem that way but people appreciate it. Now if you’re calling them three times, maybe that would be considered excessive, just to remind them of the appointment. But a text message is no big deal. And I never get complaints from people. And I can’t tell you how many times and I meet with five to seven people a day. Now virtually, but I cannot tell you how many people like an hour before that message goes out all of a sudden goes, Oh, my gosh, something just came up. We need to reschedule? And I’m like, thank goodness, because now I can contact them. So no problem we can reschedule. It’s a great, it’s a great practice.
Chris Lapp 35:32
Absolutely, we need to learn from those dentists.
D.J. Paris 35:37
Awesome. Well, I know, I know that we really are just scratching the surface here of sort of how to how to work a lead, zillo lead, is there anything else that we can do deeper dives, of course in future episodes, but anything else that agents should know about the first conversation and connection with with a Zillow consumer.
Chris Lapp 35:58
So I want to take note and just talk for a minute about safety. Sure, right. Because sometimes agents aren’t comfortable with meeting that perfect stranger at a property. And in some cases, some brokerages really frown upon it. And sometimes it’s just not safe, right? Just plain is not safe. And so we found that meeting at a coffee shop or a neutral location is a great place to start. So a way that that could work. And again, just for the sake of silly roleplay that I’ll just kind of lay out for you would be when you call John Doe back, right and say, Hey, John Doe, great news, I was able to confirm that appointment for 3pm. Tomorrow, here’s what I’d like to do. There’s a great little coffee shop, three blocks from the property, let’s meet there at 230 will get you all set up for success. I look forward to meeting with you. Perfect, right where again, you are leading the lead, you’re in charge. And you’re you’re laying out for them what the steps are going to be for the showing. Right? You’re not asking them, Hey, would you like to meet at a coffee shop beforehand, because most likely in their mind, they’re just tunnel visioned on wanting to see the property, right. But if you’re able to just find a little place a few blocks in the property, right, you can simply just direct them and say like, this is what I do. As an agent, this is what you know where we’re going to meet.
D.J. Paris 37:21
And also to, as I’m thinking about it, the consumer, let’s say the meeting is scheduled directly at the property and there is no pre meeting in a public place that, you know, might make that person feel more comfortable. All of a sudden, that consumer might be on their way to that to that first showing, and they think Wait a minute, what am I I don’t know this person, maybe I maybe I don’t feel totally comfortable. I mean, I’ve spoken to them on the phone. But I mean, I don’t really know who they are. And that might create anxiety, it might it might result in the person going, you know, I don’t really know this person I better maybe I should, you know, and they may even cancel the appointment. So I think setting that neutral ground, that’s, that’s safe. It’s also incredibly respectful of the other person’s feelings, which you then don’t have to ask them, Are you comfortable meeting with me at the property because that puts the person on the spot, you’re not going to want to ask that. But if you say, Hey, I’ve got a great idea, I would love to meet with you just for a few minutes before the property at a coffee shop. So we can talk a little bit more, I’ll treat you to a cup of coffee. And I also can set like you said, set you up for success. Yeah, but if you ask your right the person be like, let’s just meet at the property, but maybe even on the way to the property. They’re like, wait a minute, I don’t know this person.
Chris Lapp 38:35
Exactly, exactly. So you’re anticipating a lot of these situations in advance. And you’re you’re finding, you know, solutions for whatever, you know, whatever they might face, whatever feelings they might face going to that showing again, you are laying the groundwork for them. And that’s where you lead the lead. So I think that’s one thing I would say, you know, especially with COVID, you know, state local guidelines, everything is kind of up in the air right now, when it comes to that. So if there’s a situation where a consumer, you know, for whatever reason, they’re unable to meet you at the property, utilize virtual tours, right, we have gotten culturally used to virtual meetings now in a way that we were had just started to before all this happened, right with COVID. So we’re finding that people are buying houses sight unseen. And oftentimes, agents are utilizing virtual tours. They’re doing zoom tours of properties, right? So they go to the home on behalf of the consumer who’s interested. And they simply just take their phone and they just do a zoom meeting and they show the property that way. And for for agents who work in like vacation areas, they’re used to doing that. Yes, right. Where there’s out of town buyers, that’s the stuff they do all the time. So ultimately, it’s speed the lead, meet with them face to face, even if that face to face is Virtual?
D.J. Paris 40:02
Yeah, that is it’s such a great point. So if you, you know, for our listeners, if you do have a connection and the person goes, you know, I, or maybe for whatever reason, they’re unable to go based on your state and local guidelines around these types of, you know, visiting properties, you can say, you know, if if it’s unable to, you know, what I can do for you, Mister missus consumer, let me go to the property we’ll still schedule a meeting but it will be virtual, I will walk through the entire property for as long as you need, we will go over every inch of this home to make sure it’s the right fit for you. So yeah, that’s that’s a really great point. And lastly,
Chris Lapp 40:44
and here’s the glad observed face to face. Oh, yeah, no, with face to face. But look, most agents got into real estate, because they’re really, really good at working with people. Right? They shine when they’re face to face with people, their strength is not going to be hanging out and having a 30 minute conversation with a perfect stranger on the phone. Right. So again, to maximize and utilize the strengths of an agent, you’ve got to get them face to face. And that’s really the whole objective here that we’re trying to do. And we’re trying to do it quickly. And we have found through a lot of research that that’s the thing that turns a connection into a client,
D.J. Paris 41:27
you had actually brought up years, a couple of in the last couple of years, you and I had a lot of conversation around, around working internet leads effectively or working Zillow leads specifically specifically how to work them effectively. And you had brought up a great a great analogy of getting into a rideshare situation where you’re getting into Uber or Lyft, or whichever rideshare service. And imagine if in this I’m speaking as Chris, but imagine if you walked in or got into a car and they said in you typically the way it works, at least here in Chicago is the person confirms that you’re that person. And then they say you wanted to go to this place, right? And we go yep. And then they just start driving. It wouldn’t I wouldn’t I would be very frustrated if the person then said, Well, you know, are there any other you know, what else are you? You know, I know you want to go here. But before we do that, you know, and then start I mean, it’s sort of an absurd idea. Because you absolutely just want to go to that location. And the person confirms that. Is that where you want to go? Great, let’s do it. And we’re really talking about the same thing here. So imagine if you got in and all of a sudden had to engage with the driver and explain your motivation and explain all your previous history about why you’re not driving yourself or, you know, and why you have to use this service. And, you know, usually you just want to get there as quick as possible. So the same applies to working Zillow, Zillow leads.
Chris Lapp 42:49
Yeah, well, and, and here’s the thing. There’s parts of that, that make me uncomfortable. But the reality is, it’s the consumer. And it’s the mindset of the consumer. And we can resist it. But our resistance is not going to change that culture. And that’s just the consumer mindset, right? So you’re exactly right, you get in an Uber and you say, Hey, I’m going to this restaurant, they say great. And they say, Well, why are you going there? Who are you meeting with when you get there? How long are you planning on being there? Sure, all of a sudden, you stop, right? You just take me to the restaurant now that those things could come up naturally in the car as you’re driving there, but it’s not going to be the prerequisite to get in the car to go
D.J. Paris 43:31
give the consumer what they want. And by the way if you schedule the appointment, and you then are contacting the consumer to get more information to make sure that you’re able to to meet that that consumer with the you know, the best information you have to meet their needs. If all of a sudden they say you know just so you know I’m already working with another agent, and I’ve signed an agreement to work with another agent, you can always cancel the appointment. But the it I say this to our I have people that call Realtors for me and schedule appointments, and I always say just get the appointment. Even if it’s 10 o’clock at night, I can always reschedule it if I need to. Or they can always reschedule just get the appointment
Chris Lapp 44:14
100%
D.J. Paris 44:17
Well to wrap up is if if our listeners are interested in expanding their network, and they’re curious to learn more about advertising opportunities available in their area with Zillow, how do you suggest they reach out I know you guys have multiple opportunities and platforms
Chris Lapp 44:38
Oh, are you there? I am, my internet might have cut out a little bit.
D.J. Paris 44:43
Yeah, I was asking for our listeners if there’s anyone listening who says you know this and by the way, what we’ve really done today is we have made that first contact a really it’s not. I don’t want to say it’s easy but it’s very simple. And if you stick to simple then it will large Lead be very easy. If you overcomplicated you want to treat these calls very differently than you would a different type of lead source. So we what we’ve done is made this very, very simple and actionable. And almost if you just follow the steps you’re gonna have success so if anyone’s out there who is listening who would like to learn more about how to actually engage and and receive some of these opportunities with Zillow? What what’s the best way they should? They should do that?
Chris Lapp 45:38
Oh, you’re back. Oh, yes. I don’t know what happened.
D.J. Paris 45:41
No problem. So I was asking if we if our listeners are interested in actually engaging with Zillow, and if they’re not currently, you know, receiving these kinds of connections from Zillow, what’s the best way that they should explore those options?
Chris Lapp 45:57
Yeah, so you know, I would say, Maybe you’ve tried to advertising on Zillow in the past, but you found you weren’t equipped with how to be successful with these connections. And as you see, it takes some skill. It takes some finesse. Maybe you’ve never even looked at opportunities that are available in your area. So I would suggest reaching out keeping it real Zillow group.com and we will have our team connect with you and show you what advertising options are available for you in your area. And if you want some more information on our conversion playbook, it’s a resource we’ve made available to all agents. So check it out under Zillow, Agent resources. An easy way to access it is to simply Google Zillow agent resources. We have research data, scripts, handouts, all kinds of equipment, to help agents be successful. So again, if you’re interested in learning more of advertising opportunities in your area, never hurts out. Keeping it real, Zillow. group.com We look forward to hearing from you.
D.J. Paris 47:01
Yeah, so everyone who’s everyone who’s listening, take a minute. If you’re driving, pull over to the side of the road and grab it, get your email out and just email keeping it real at Zillow. group.com Correct. And email them and they will get back to you and explore opportunities within Zillow in your area and they can find opportunities that you might not realize it because you might be thinking, Gosh, all of the biggest agents already have have swallowed up all of the Zillow leads in my area, what you’ll probably find is that is likely not the case and Zillow has so many opportunities for you. It is really remarkable the data they have and they can actually spend time with you and figure out there’s there’s going to be areas where there’s there’s an excess of leads that aren’t being delivered to agents. So even if you think I’m in an area and there aren’t any access leads, reach out to Zillow, so just email them at keeping it real at Zillow, group.com. And Chris and his team will reach out and see if they can find some some common ground. And the other thing too is, you know, this is something that we’ve done over 200 episodes here, we’ve spoken to top producers all over the country, and a good number of them a good more way more than 50% of them a purchase leads or purchase connections through advertising platforms like Zillow, these are what top producers do. And what we’re here to do is to show you how you know even if you’re not a top producer right now, we’re here to show you how the top producers do it. And it’s actually a lot more simple than you think. And so this is something that I really encourage everyone to check out. So email, Zillow, keeping it real Zillow group.com. Chris, thank you once again for being on our show. We really value the time you give to our audience. So on behalf of the audience, we thank you and all of Zillow for, for providing these resources. So and again, you know, we want to also want to thank the audience for, for listening to our show for supporting us. And we’re going to ask everybody to please just think of one other agent that is looking to get to that next level that is just looking for that little piece of information on how to do it and send them a link to the show. Maybe it’s somebody who hasn’t explored working with Zillow before, or maybe they have and they want to do more but reach out to them, send them this link. We are so lucky on our podcast to have Zillow as as a partner with us to help bring this information to agents nationwide. So reach out to them. They’re a great company. They do a lot of really wonderful things and they want you to succeed because they want you to use their platform and consumers are already using it. So guys reach out to Zillow. Chris, we will see you on on another episode. Thank you again for for your for your kind, patience with us and really exploring all this in detail for our agents and our listeners. So thanks. So we’ll see you next time. Yeah,
Chris Lapp 49:57
thanks so much DJ
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