Real Estate Prospect Communication 

Successful real estate communication requires strategy and consistency to yield the results you are looking for. Effectively converting leads into clients means you must build a relationship and communication with prospects is very important in this process. Chances are, you are familiar with the real estate sales funnel. Each step of this sales funnel to convert leads requires different levels of communication. Let’s dive into real estate prospect communication techniques and how you can use it to grow your business and advance your career.

  

Real Estate Prospect Communication Is Key

Real estate leads and relationships are like all other relationships in life and require communication to nurture and build trust. As any experienced real estate agent will tell you, trust and familiarity make all the difference when it comes time for buyers and sellers to choose an agent. From your initial interaction with prospects to following-up with former clients, communication is at the heart of nearly every aspect of your day to day business. 

Knowing how to communicate with these leads, and having scripts ready to simplify the process will make the entire process easier and save you valuable time. Most of the time you will not have a lot of time to make your case and prove yourself to prospects so having your talking points ready can help you efficiently manage and maintain your relationships.  

Connecting With Prospective Clients 

Marketing is the first step towards real estate prospect communication. This means your advertisements online and around town are some of the first steps towards connecting with clients. Once the connection begins, chances are you’ll need to prove yourself as a local expert and trustworthy agent. Most people reach out to about ten real estate agents which means you’ll need to stand out.  

Part of standing out is reaching out as quickly as possible. This is vital to competing with the other real estate agents your prospective clients are reaching out to. When we say act fast, we mean really fast! With smartphones and apps, many agents can respond in just seconds: 

• 96% of real estate agents use a smartphone with immediate internet access on a daily basis. 
• 95% of realtors use email daily.  
• 57% of real estate agents use social media apps daily.  
• 69% of real estate agents have a website.  

As you can see, replying as quickly as possible is vital to securing your connection with prospective clients. From there, you can use the rest of our real estate communication tips to establish a solid relationship so buyers and sellers choose you when the time comes.  

The 5-Minute Rule 

Real estate industry experts say you have just 5 minutes to connect with a prospect before your chances of converting them drop significantly. Admittedly, 5 minutes isn’t a lot of time, even under ideal conditions. In a perfect world, you’ll be sitting at your computer when a message pops up via your website. While notifications for email and apps on your smartphone definitely help bridge this gap, you’ll need to be prepared with what to say when someone is interested in learning more about the listing you shared. 

So, how do you respond? You’ll want to keep responses short, simple, and concise. If they’re requesting specific information, be sure to provide it. Then ask for contact info so you can continue the conversation and provide additional information. How you proceed with these leads will largely depend on your preferred marketing style. For most scenarios, nothing beats a phone call or text message to make a connection and help nudge leads further through your sales funnel. When communicating with clients, it helps for realtors to know preferred methods of communication: 

• 93% of prospective clients prefer text messaging.  

• 90% prefer telephone calls 
• 89% prefer emails 

Sometimes we hear from agents who get bad leads in their CRM – Incomplete info that makes following up quickly seem impossible. Luckily, we’ve got a fix. Check out this post for a great tip on how to fix those pesky bad leads and drive more communication through your CRM!

How Email Campaigns Can Help with Real Estate Communication

If you have a high volume of calls already, feel the lead isn’t red hot, or prefer a more hands off approach, you may prefer an email campaign. Through email you can drip leads over a long period of time. Doing this allows you to stay relevant in their minds for whenever the occasion arises that they do eventually decide they want to buy or sell. To cover your bases, it’s a good idea to collect a name, email and phone number from every lead if possible. This gives you more ways to reach out and potentially convert your leads based on which mode of communication each client prefers.  

Following Up With Leads In Your CRM 

As we mentioned before, consistency in communication with prospective leads is key. Part of this involves following up with leads in your CRM. Once you’ve made the initial connection with your prospects, you’ll want to continue reaching out for a few reasons: 

• Gauge their interest 
• Stay top of mind 
• Share new info as it comes out 
• Continue pushing traffic to your website 

Depending on the features provided by your CRM, you can set up email campaigns, text campaigns or even schedule phone calls on your calendar for months in the future. The great thing about a good CRM is how it shows the data and details about your leads. The level of interaction with your leads will give you a good idea on how to proceed with communication. It’s always best to prioritize warm leads over cold ones just so you use your time, energy, and resources most wisely.  

However you choose to connect, making real estate client communication a top priority will help increase your success as an agent. Communicating regularly with clients helps build the relationships that your conversion rates need. You don’t need to spam your leads with messages, but reaching out a few times every month is a great idea. Make sure to provide relevant and informative messages that establish yourself as a trustworthy local expert to keep you as the top agent in their minds.  

Social Media For Real Estate Prospect Communication

Social media is an important step in the day-to-day communication process for real estate agents. Platforms like facebook, twitter and instagram create another platform for you to share content and connect with interested leads. With hashtags, engaging content, and consistent posting, you can quickly build your audience of prospective clients. It would put you at a disadvantage to ignore the increasing use of social media for marketing and client relations.  

When it comes to social media, Facebook is by far the most popular option for real estate prospect communication. With marketplace rentals, housing groups, community pages, and so much more, Facebook offers real estate agents a multitude of ways to attract and engage with clients and leads. Other platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and LinkedIn are also great ways to widen the scope of your exposure to the right people.  

Whatever platform you choose, consistency is key. Make sure that whichever social media platform you choose for your real estate services is regularly updated so it stays relevant and engaging for your clients and leads. The platforms you choose to use should be based on your preferred marketing style, the demographics of leads you’re trying to attract, and which platforms you find genuinely enjoyable to use. After all, it’s much easier to post every day if you’re having fun doing it. 

Facebook 

Many real estate agents opt for Facebook for their social media platform of choice. With over 90% of realtors on the social media site, there is quite a bit of competition so it takes some strategy to stand out. The sheer number of agents on Facebook makes it very important to stay consistent, relevant and engaging with the content you post and leads you reach out to. With Facebook, it’s easy to connect with leads and keep the conversation going. Facebook tends to be a popular platform because of its built-in messenger, making it easy to send and receive private messages with would-be clients.  

Knowing the average audience on each social media site makes it clear whether it is the best platform for you. Statistica reports the largest demographic using Facebook is men, aged 25-34, followed by men in the 18-24 bracket, with women aged 25-34 taking up the third highest demographic. These three groups account for approximately 45% of Facebook’s users. Knowing your audience helps you tailor your content. With this information, you can use Facebook to share content you’ve created on your website to drive traffic and boost their SEO. 

Twitter 

Twitter is in many ways like Facebook’s little cousin. The real estate section of Twitter tends to be filled with quotes from famous business people, snappy comments and observations. As with Facebook, it helps to know the demographics of your audience:  

• 56% of Twitter users are male 
• 43% are female. 
• Around 23% of U.S. adults use Twitter 

Twitter can sometimes feel like posting in a black hole if you don’t have the audience to engage with your content. Unless you already have a decent following, this might not be the platform to start with. Most agents we see on the platform are posting and getting no replies. It’s best to use your time, energy, and resources in ways that yield the best results. So give Twitter a try but if it doesn’t seem to be engaging or generating leads, switch to something else.  

Instagram  

If you’re a visual person, Instagram is a great choice for real estate prospect communication. The platform is designed to share photos and create an experience for your followers. With reels, stories, and posts, you can stay engaged with your audience and find the right types of leads.  

Lifestyle bloggers and those with interesting day-to-day routines are a great fit for the platform. You can film informative reels or post photos of properties. The more you engage, the better results you see with Instagram. Here are some demographic statistics on Instagram users: 

• 18-24 and 25-34 year olds make up the largest demographics. 
• Users are fairly evenly spread between males and females. 

For our full guide on how to incorporate Instagram into your marketing plan, check out this post.

LinkedIn 

Linkedin is like Facebook in a lot of ways. It has its own messenger but is much more professionally and business oriented than Facebook.  Despite mostly being used for networking, many agents find success on the platform. You can post accomplishments, informative articles, and other content to engage the right people. Like most of the other social media platforms on this list, the average user is 25-34, but this demographic makes up a whopping 60% of all users.  

Here are some LinkedIn groups to get you started!

Reaching Out To Former Clients 

Generating new leads is very important but there is another demographic that is also imperative to keep the communication going with. Former clients have already chosen you to buy or sell property and know who you are and what you do. Staying in touch with them is very important! 

Former clients are some of your most valuable contacts for a number of reasons: 

• Most people move more than once! They’ll be likely to use the same agent they used in the past, especially if you were a good fit. However, you must remain in contact to stay relevant in their minds when it comes to real estate.  
• Former clients are a great source of referrals and reviews which can also generate new business for you. 
  

So how do you effectively communicate with former clients? Setting up a referral program and offering a gift card in exchange for leads can be a great way to motivate past clients to attract new leads for your services. You can also ask for testimonials from past clients. You can use these testimonials on your website as well as reviews to help highlight your status as a trustworthy local expert for real estate service.  

Summing Up Real Estate Prospect Communication

Real estate prospect communication is key to moving leads down the sales funnel and converting clients. No matter how you choose to communicate, consistency is key. Make sure to reach out to everyone that’s expressed interest, and keep messaging them as long as they consent to it. You never know when someone will need an agent!