ISA Best Practices for Texting Leads - a podcast by Nate Joens, Robby Trefethren, Erik Hatch

episode6-isa-best-practices.m4a

Nate Joens: [00:00:07] Hello and welcome to the ISA radio. This is Nate Joens your co-host with Structurely we're excited today on our sixth episode to be joined by Robby T and the ISA team at Hatch coaching. Robby, could you give an introduction to these fine gentlemen.

Robby Trefethren: [00:00:42] Absolutely. Hey super excited for today. Unfortunately we don't have Eric our rainmaker the man but we replaced him with three of the real rainmakers in our world. We got Cody Meyer one of our fellow lead geeks.

Robby Trefethren: [00:00:59] Cody is a phenomenal ISA Who who's really excelled in some system pieces and I'm excited to hear his thoughts today. He was also recently named by our team as the sales manager. We got Cody we got Eric Hegg who is the ever talented ISA who seems to speak like three or four different languages. I still don't know why he works with us but he is one of the up and coming and blooming ISA. And I know that we look to him a lot when it comes to texting lead. So I'm excited for him to share his stories his thoughts his ideas today as well. And then I have the man the myth the legend here too we got we got Jimmy Rentfrow and Jim without a doubt the best ISA in the country over the last three years to do days from here to hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of deals. I'm not going to say the exact number because I get it wrong and Jim would correct me instantly. But we got some stellar ISA some of the top producing ISAs in the country and I'm excited for them to share their stories about you know what the world looks like especially in regards to how we use texting it can convert leads.

Nate Joens: [00:02:14] Awesome. We appreciate everyone being on here today a little bit of a change in topic. We're really focusing on how to text your real estate leads today. We've got the best in the business who know the ins and outs of everything you should or shouldn't say and when and when not to text your lead. So with this sixth episode of Real Estate ISA radio we're covering how to text your real estate leads. So with that I really just want to want to jump into the first question how often and for what percent of leads are you guys typically texting in your pipeline regularly.

Robby Trefethren: [00:02:54] Jim that's all you brought up. You go ahead.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:02:56] Yes. So I'll start us off as far as the percent of leads that we are texting. It is 100 percent. So we've built out our system to automate text every single day. So what's a lead comes in. We get to it in five minutes. We call and then we'll send a text immediately after if we don't get a hold of them. And then the next day through the first 10 days are getting one text one email and multiple calls per day. And then it's built out basically for the next six months every 15 days afterwards until they respond to us.

Robby Trefethren: [00:03:30] I love it. I'll get back to that. So Jim is there any any leads in that we don't text any leads that we don't text period.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:03:40] Yeah. The only leads we don't text are the ones that have unsubscribed in our system will allow that and technically we want to do that anyways because it's a good way to get fined. So I love it.

Robby Trefethren: [00:03:52] Good good. Cody Eric what what are your thoughts. Know. You want to add to that

Eric Hegg: [00:03:59] As far as the recurring what's in our pipeline that we're texting. For me I have about 600 in my pipeline at any given time and usually every day I'll start out the day by texting 20 to 30 of them. And that's first thing when I get in in the morning. And then as they start you know some will respond some won't but as they respond I'll take a break at like 10 a.m. noon 2 p.m. and then right before I leave work in the evening just to spend 10 15 minutes replying to those texts and keeping that conversation going. So that's overall about 5 percent of my pipeline every day that I'm texting. Mm hmm.

Nate Joens: [00:04:38] That's interesting. Great. Can I jump in there. One follow up question on there do you. Do you set a recurring. Task every time someone responds to respond back to them. Or how do you stay on top of you know an extended conversation after you get someone on the hook.

Eric Hegg: [00:04:58] Yeah it's a good question. I'll have a task reminder for that first thing in the morning and that's where I'll start the conversation. And then as they reply they come into our CRM. It'll just show up in my communications tab as unread text messages and I never try not to go to bed with any of those left unread. So if I'm even watching TV or reading a book in the evening I'll usually just take 10 minutes set that time aside and just reply to those people at night and a lot of times they will reply and I'll just keep the conversation going when I get back to work. At 8:00 a.m. the next day.

Nate Joens: [00:05:38] Got it. And that makes sense.

Robby Trefethren: [00:05:39] Cool cool. Anything to add on it. I want to ask the following question. And I think Cody that maybe you can answer this one to get you to chime in and add some stuff as well. I'm a lot of people ask me what times a day are you texting leads. And if I were to ask you guys when are you guys texting leads. What would your answer be When are you guys texting these leads.

Cody Meyer: [00:06:06] I think I kind of concur with Eric as far as you know setting some time aside in the morning to be going through a portion of the pipeline. But honestly it's it's all day if I've got the phone on me and you know I get a text I'll text him right back right away. You know it takes all of two seconds and you know for some old leads you can re-engage them if they you know got a drip texts or are finally responding back to one of my texts and we've got him on the hook there. You know I text any as long as I'm awake and I've got the phone in my hand I'll play that game all day.

Robby Trefethren: [00:06:36] Okay. Have you guys ever seen like do most of your attacks happen between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. 10 to noon or is it fair to say that texting is something that has really been in all the time from 8:00 a.m. until 9 p.m. type game.

Eric Hegg: [00:06:53] Yeah it's it's all the time. There's definitely higher response rates I feel like over the lunch break time and then at like 5:00 p.m. as people are getting off work but a lot of people even when I'm making calls and I'll be like I can't chat right now I mean I'm at it they'll just I'll just ask them like hey would it work better if I texted you and nine times out of ten. Yeah absolutely. And then you could just continue that that phone conversation the attacks.

Nate Joens: [00:07:25] I'll say one thing from Structurely it's perspective being that we get Thousands of messages a day. We definitely see. The highest engagement rate during during the daytime hours. But I think the numbers between what we consider after hours which I think is just what we considered 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. we see about 30 percent of all of our messages come in during that time. And then the remaining and then I think it's another 30 percent off to double check those numbers. But I think it is another 30 percent that come in overnight. So 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.. So there's there's definitely a large opportunity for our our responsive leads that come in quote after hours if you don't have the right things set up if you don't have the right systems in place to follow up with them at least in the next business day at the soonest. This can often slip through the crack.

Robby Trefethren: [00:08:26] Yeah well I want to add to that real quick because I think one of the things that you hit on Eric and I just want to emphasize it and I think Jim and Cody are doing something comparable and a lot of my clients are is is the fact that sometimes we will text a lead and we'll send that text. And the problem is is that if they don't text us that will accidentally forget about that lead and making sure you set some type of reminder to remind yourself to text that person again. I think the simplest way to really discuss texting in this day and age is texting is a wonderful medium but the reality is is that so many times people will open up your texts start sending you a text back and forget or sometimes they'll even start typing that response and forget or frankly open it up just be looking at it and then they get another Facebook notification and now it's slipped through the cracks and a lot of times we've got to send some type of nudge to get people to re-engage.

Robby Trefethren: [00:09:31] And you know something like Well won't that annoy them. And the reality is this and I want to pick on you for a second Nate. Nate you've ever been texting you know maybe a business partner or your mom or dad and you completely forgot to respond when they had texts that you absolutely all the time all the whole time. Right. And here's the thing is do you love those people. Do you care about those people. I do. You do.

Robby Trefethren: [00:09:59] And you you blank you ghosts your friends and family just because that's the world we live in right. Our phones is full of noise. We only respond to texts when it's convenient. The problem is we're human beings and we forget to respond. So make sure you're setting some type of trigger because if here's the thing if they forget to text you back that client's not really missing anything if you forget to re-engage in that conversation on the other hand you're probably missing out on some really great opportunity. So make sure to follow their and schedule something to remind yourself.

Nate Joens: [00:10:40] Yeah I would say that's so important just to stay on top. It's to stay on top of all your leads to continuously nurture them. One of the most common phrases we use is you know I just want to make sure I'm not dropping the ball so you know shooting them a re-engagement. Another nudge. But you know actually calling out that you are being a little bit annoying usually goes a long way because they say we see so many responses that are like oh you're not dropping the ball I just forgot to hit send.

Nate Joens: [00:11:09] It happens so often that people just completely forget to respond to you even though they are still interested.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:11:17] Yeah that brings that brings up a good point made because I think one of our most heavily responded to texts is the alien text we sent where literally it's we built it into our system I think it goes on out on day eight or nine and we get tons of replies for and it's basically the same thing. It's like hey we haven't heard from you. So either you're not interested you're still looking but haven't had time to reply or you got abducted by aliens. And it's it's actually funny to see how many people reply to that text. And so what we've done in the past is we've had systems go out every 30 days with our automatic system once we talk to someone in the discussion. I think we're having now as far as these we need to move that up maybe do every seven days every five days just to make sure we're constantly on touch in front of them still.

Robby Trefethren: [00:12:06] Mm hmm mm hmm. Very good point.

Nate Joens: [00:12:09] Yeah I think that I mean just going you know using content diversifying your messages so that you cut through the noise is so important in today's today's age not only you know staying on top of people but also getting them to to look at your message and you know be interested in it so much so that they actually open their phone and try and reply to you. So what are some of the best lines some of the best scripts that you guys are using today other than your alien or I've heard eaten by alligators. Other than that line what are you guys using to spark engagement for some of those hard to reach or unresponsive leads. Well.

Eric Hegg: [00:12:48] We implemented the what we call the six minute text which we got that idea from you guys. And I think when the tracking was working we had about 26 percent of new leads were responding to that text so we'd send out the first text message as soon as we got to it. You know just say you're looking at homes online are you just curious or are you thinking about maybe making a move. And then six minutes after that it's just a quick text that says let me know if you have any questions and we get just an incredible amount of response to that second text.

Nate Joens: [00:13:25] Yeah it's been huge I think. I don't know exactly the psychology behind that but the the reason I think that six minute or I've heard a 12 minute nudge message is so powerful is because in today's in today's age and 20 19 people have sniffed out auto responders and they think that first message is usually an auto responder. But as soon as you hit him with the second one they're like well wait a second this is this is maybe actually a human I should respond. That's what I think is actually going on behind the scenes.

Eric Hegg: [00:13:59] Yeah exactly yeah.

Robby Trefethren: [00:14:02] To add to it as well as other pieces it's another notification on their phone that reminds them of the first message and I can't understate the importance of that is half the reason people don't respond is they just forget or they forgot they got distracted and just a little bit of a ping somewhat later. You're right nate that first off it seems human. But secondly it's another ping the top of their to do list. It's something that's like Oh I gotta get this done again.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:14:34] Yeah. Another one that I'll do with people I've had conversations with is basically I'll just start droping properties to them via text self. It kind of goes to me. I'll look at what their history is and see which ones they've favorite it or see which ones they've looked at the most and just start sending those over like Hey I know I've just wanted to see if you'll be interested in a house like this. Well quite frankly I know they're interested in a house like this because they've looked at it 14 times online but at least starts that conversation and I come from value as well. Cody what are some of your yours that you have been using.

Cody Meyer: [00:15:09] So one of my favorite things to do honestly is if we had a conversation in the past and you've kind of fell in of follow it fell off the radar. Scuse me is the double back on the conversation we already had. So for example if you know I'm texting Nate and we've been talking about kitchens before I might text Nate you know a couple days later if I if he's fallen off the radar and say like hey Nate you know we're talking about big kitchens before meant to ask you know what kind of finishes are you looking for. And it's not even really about the details so much as it is all a sudden you have something to work with and you automatically come back with you know we really like the newer stuff we've been seeing and you know ex house or you know and these builders. And then I guess I've got a brand new springboard to start a conversation. I know you're there. And then I just make sure that I'm continuing to. And each text with a question I never want to send a text that doesn't have a question in it.

Robby Trefethren: [00:15:59] Sure.

Nate Joens: [00:16:00] Yeah I think that's that that question piece is so important. And I mean you know this is this is not unlike typical sales. If you're selling software if you're selling insurance I think we're hitting on some of the basic fundamentals of sales which is like Jim said always provide value said a listing like Cody said always it's always end in a question. If you're if you're just simply texting to text you know trying to promote yourself. I mean people are going to ignore that. It's it's no different than you know deleting that that spammy email from their inbox. They're just going to they're just going to swipe left and delete your spamming text if there's no value or no question added. I had one really off topic question that I wanted to ask you guys. I've heard it from some people. Do you guys ever use video texting or. I. I call them GIFs. They could be called GIFs.

Nate Joens: [00:16:55] I don't really know how you guys how you guys say that.

Nate Joens: [00:16:58] But I've heard people just like dropping a funny gif or video into a into a message to spark some to spark some engagement with those super hard to reach leads you guys ever do anything kind of funny like that.

Eric Hegg: [00:17:11] No our CRM right now doesn't support GIFs sending that out but you know if we were to if we were engaging someone not through the CRM we could do that. And I've had clients that have used that back as well but it's not like a regular practice that we employ here.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:17:33] Yeah I would say the Sam it's not something we employ. Plus I have pretty dark humor. I try not to use it with clients.

Nate Joens: [00:17:42] Got it. So I know I know one thing that you guys preach in you're the best that in the country is mirroring and matching. You guys have done so many videos in leads geeks on mirroring and matching over the phone. Is there anything that you guys use to mirror and match the text is that even possible.

Eric Hegg: [00:18:03] Yes absolutely. If they are you still want to mirror and match their energy level so if it's somebody that is selling their home because they just had a death in the family you want a mirror and match that and be empathetic to their situation but if it's a first time homebuyer they just got pre-approved they're really excited they're using lots lots of exclamation points emoticons that I'm going to mirror and match that right back if they're sending me a quick short

Eric Hegg: [00:18:33] Text that are very to the point I'm going to mirror and match that back in if they're sending me a paragraph and they're just telling me their whole life dream I'm no mere match that back as well.

Robby Trefethren: [00:18:44] I like that I think the best way I've learned is to describe this Nate is that these principles of mirroring and matching still hold true.

Robby Trefethren: [00:18:54] All that's changing is the medium in which you're having the conversation and I think you hit it on the head Eric that you can kind of tell and I know we use disk as just a very shorthand way to know the way someone acts and communicates traditionally but you can usually tell the way someone communicates if they're a high D because you're gonna get like four four words at most or they're gonna be very short direct short answers whereas somebody that's very social and gregarious and outgoing it's going to be a longer more energetic optimistic type text and the reality then is if anything it's actually probably easier to mirror match via a text message because it's literally right there in front of you. Going to look at what they're saying in their written word and write in a very similar fashion. And sometimes people change throughout a conversation but it's probably easier to mirror via text on you know via voice.

Cody Meyer: [00:19:50] Yeah I would agree with Robby 100 percent. I think people tend to make it a little bit harder than it needs to be when it comes to a mirror matching via text you know like you said it's right in front of you you know it just be natural and have a conversation with them don't put so much thought into it.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:20:05] I think mirroring and matching it is really easy with text like everybody has said the hard part with text that I think we've run into is context and context as well as how do you create urgency as well has it is really really easy to block a text. So what we found is I mean unless you get up right away it gets harder and harder and harder to engage them via texts unless you know you're doing a really good job doing a lot of dials which we are. But text is very easy to blow off sometimes too. Mm hmm

Nate Joens: [00:20:38] Mm hmm.

Nate Joens: [00:20:40] Yeah I think that's interesting mirroring and matching is something that you guys do so well and I know we try to do it through our product a lot harder with with something like AI but I mean we definitely see it in our responses. Some people are just one word answers the whole the whole script the whole conversation some people tell us their entire life stories. Which is crazy to think about. First of all it's crazy to think about their texting a quote computer their life story. Second of all it's crazy to think that they're just texting some. More or less stranger their life story. So is that something that you guys typically see through your conversations do is are people willing to actually you know hold pretty lengthy conversations giving you giving you those tidbits that you can you know build rapport up around.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:21:32] Yeah I'd say yes.

Eric Hegg: [00:21:34] Yeah go ahead. People just they. It is weird. And that was something that when I started this rule I didn't understand how people open up that much but there's something easy about opening up to a complete stranger about everything that's factoring into your move whether it's a job promotion relocation something like that or if it's something devastating like a divorce or family death or job loss or something like that. But definitely people seem to have no problem opening up via text and it allows them to have these personal conversations in a public place because they're texting. Whereas if we're on the phone and somebody goes into personal details about their situation a lot of times it's well you know I'm at work I need to call you back because I can't talk about it here or I'm out in public I'm at a restaurant. But if they're texting they can text you back whatever they want and it's just that confidential conversation between the two people.

Nate Joens: [00:22:41] That's a really interesting point.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:22:43] Yeah. Peggy brings up a good point and I think another big point is as ISA is as agents that are doing late conversion how many times do we get hung up on. So I think the other texts that we utilize a ton is the hang up text which people that used to hang up on me I thought you know they just basically told me to f off. So they don't want talk to me like trash delete.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:23:04] Now we said that and what it is is half the time people that work they're out to supper like Eric said. And it's just really easy way to re-engage someone that you thought you know basically didn't want deal with you. They're busy.

Robby Trefethren: [00:23:15] So I want to I want to add something to this as well to to your question about people opening up about I like to call them the D death debt divorce or their dreams

Robby Trefethren: [00:23:31] And the I think one of the funny things about culture is simply this is that if you think about communication and what we're taught in schools is it is hammered over our head and we're taught to communicate. But that's realistically only one side of communication because they're traditionally teaching you how to speak. The reality is is that this world lacks listeners. And if I've learned anything from this role is that a part of the human being experience the one thing that we crave is we want it to feel heard. We want to feel valued and we don't care who it is or who's asking the questions. What we care is is somebody is listening to those answers. And Jim you know I know one of the stories you've always shared and I've shared it in my story as well as you had somebody open up who had said that they came home and their spouse was sleeping with another person. Right. Think that most people would never talk about help. I guarantee you to this day that person probably hasn't told some of their friends or family not because they're friends or family aren't worthy of hearing that story but because they weren't taught to ask questions and listen the reason that person opened up the Jim in that moment is because Jim was sitting there and and guys if I were to ask you this What percentage of time are you talking compared to listening if we were to run down the breakdown of one year on a call what percentage the words are being spoken by you and what percentage of the words are being spoken by somebody else and if I had to guess it's probably easy.

Robby Trefethren: [00:25:17] 80 20. The fact is if that 9 out of 10. Right. And in Texas it's probably pretty comparable work. Yes. It's you asking a question but it's them answering and answering. So I think I think the big point I'm trying to make here is we crave this feeling of being visible. It's a part of our are our genetics. We want to feel like we matter.

Robby Trefethren: [00:25:42] And you just asking questions and listening is you signaling to somebody hey you win your story matter. And that is that is so needed in this society. Obviously we don't teach it well. And these guys are masters of that both in text and in voice of voice conversations.

Nate Joens: [00:26:04] Yeah. Did you guys have anything else you wanted to add to that. I think that's so important. Being able to ask the right questions and consistently listen

Nate Joens: [00:26:13] I know you guys are live in that day to day. Anything to add to Rob's points.

Eric Hegg: [00:26:18] Not to Robbie's point but Jim talked about the hang up text but then didn't even share what we actually send in the text which I'm sure is probably going to bother some people and all that text is is just Hey Jim, I think we got disconnected I was just calling because ISA you're looking at homes on our Web site are you thinking about making a move. And that's it. So there it is. And you know a lot of times it'll be like Yeah I just can't talk right then we are thinking about it but we're still six months out or something. But that's yeah that's how we respond to when someone hangs up the phone on us immediately send the hang up text.

Nate Joens: [00:26:58] Yeah that's awesome. I think you guys have definitely mastered that. I kind of want to shift gears a little bit. Along the same along the same vein you guys you guys have mentioned you know some of asking the right questions periodically throughout the conversation. Kind of a two pronged question what qualifying questions if any do you guys ask throughout the conversation you know time frame. Is there any is there any information that you're really specifically trying to gather or are you just simply there to listen throughout the conversation. And second what is your guys intended outcome of a text conversation is it to set in an office consultation. Is it to set a phone call or is it to set a showing or listening appointment. Where do you guys try and you know convert or take that conversation after you've got you know some initial responses.

Eric Hegg: [00:27:55] Yeah. Good questions. First thing that I always ask within the first couple of texts as soon as possible. Are they working with an agent or do they have someone in mind. I don't want to spend weeks or months texting someone that already is working with another agent. That's just a waste of my time. Always to their time. So I always ask that and we go through the normal qualifying questions what's their agent and what's their ability you know are they pre-approved if they're not then I'll ask them questions about their credit history are they working full time. Do they know what their credit score is. Those basic things to see if they're even in that preapproval range. And my goal is always to get an office appointment but I have set those up the text and it's very tedious trying to determine like a time and a date. It's so much easier just to say hey that's great. And then just give them a call. They already recognize your number. You've been texting you already have that rapport built and then you go into the close. But it's always better to close that over the phone.

Cody Meyer: [00:29:02] So I think Eric really hit the larger portion of it one thing I might add is honestly I think the outcome is that help initially when you're having those text conversations you know that they're coming at you with a lot of questions they're starting to spill you know their intentions and their needs. One of the questions that I love to ask and honestly is it's really just stupid simple is how can I help.

Cody Meyer: [00:29:25] And generally they'll lay out exactly what they need. And I'll say OK that's great. I've got some answers for you. You know can I give you call and generally just say yeah you know I'm available or no but give me call at 3:00 and you know we can talk about it then and I've already got you know I've got to value add because I have the information or I have answers to their problems. You know I know they're going to pick up the phone if they say you know call me at 3 o'clock or you know or if I miss or if they miss a call for me they're going to call me right back. I've had a lot of success with that.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:29:54] Yeah. As far as from my perspective I always try to get the timeline first. If they're two years out I'll find out why they're two years out and then if they're truly two years out you know I don't need to have too much of a conversation right now because things could change drastically in three months compared to two years. However if there are a closer timeframe and that timeframe is validated then I'm going to take more time into that conversation. I always lead with time timeline and that lets me know OK how much effort should I put into this conversation.

Nate Joens: [00:30:27] Got it. Yeah I think I think those make sense.

Nate Joens: [00:30:32] I think you guys you guys kind of are masters at driving the conversation like again mirroring and matching. I know there was there was a there's a conversation you guys were having in the leads geeks groups about kind of some of the go to scripts that you guys use. I think those are typically used or leveraged. Kind of made conversation or maybe if they fell off the face of the Earth Earth after a couple of responses and I know you kind of mentioned it to Jim you you always ask why that's kind of one of you guys is most important questions. What are some of those kind of next level questions that you that you that you use to dive a layer deeper when they try and hit you with an objection like I'm I don't know my time frame I'm three years out I might be working with an agent my friends an agent how do you kind of get over those objections or leverage the scripts that you were mentioning to dig a layer deeper.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:31:31] Yeah. This is I think the hardest thing with text conversations is getting that context and getting those two or three levels deeper at least from my perspective. But I think the big thing like you said is give them to the why. So. Oh I have a friend that does real estate. Oh well Why are you looking on our Web site then. You know just trying to find out where their pain point is because the other friends in real estate. Why are you why are you talking. Why are we talking you know so trying to really dig down into the whys I think is the big one and then that conversation that next responses. That's what I'm going to use for my next question. Right. And just go and try to go three or four levels deep with it that can that can lead to some conversations that go you know why why why I like Eric has had in the past with objections. But I think that's kind of my point is just really trying to go two or three levels deep with the why.

Eric Hegg: [00:32:25] Yeah. And every once in awhile someone will push back on that like I've had the one where I love to ask what are you looking for in a realtor because that gives me what their expectations are. And I had on very few occasions people say I want someone that's not going to ask me a bunch of questions. Maybe there's some expletives in there but you know those are far and few between most people usually really appreciate the depth. If you even if it's something as simple as well I'm looking for a four bedroom home OK. You know why do you need four bedrooms. Well we're outgrowing our current home. Oh yeah. Tell me more about that. How are you outgrowing it. And well we we've got two kids one on the way and a great dane. So it just opens up more and more doorways by just asking why at least one or two times on each question and I want to add some pieces to this.

Robby Trefethren: [00:33:23] Some people will ask well why do we need to do that. What's the point of all of that why are you finding out all this information you could just do that in person. And the quote that's always stood out to me is one that Tony Robbins says where he says if you want to influence someone you need to find out what is already influencing them and really what happens is as whether it's via text or if you're talking on the phone when you use the tell me more mentality like you kind of just brought up Eric I'm digging deeper into somebodies answer. What happens is you're usually well human beings like an onion. And yes you deal or peel back the layers you eventually get to this oh that's why you're looking to buy.

Robby Trefethren: [00:34:08] And it's that information then can be used to leverage you know to a line how do we help you. It's so much easier to help them when you know what's the pain point or what's the pleasure that they're seeking. And more importantly why are they seeking it.

Nate Joens: [00:34:25] While you guys were sharing that really insightful stuff about the conversations I I search lead geeks and found that that post by by you Robby. Oh sure. Just so I can share it with some of the listeners. You say the best scripts in the book are tell me more say more. What else. I'd love to hear more. What do you mean etc. So rather than just saying why over and over. You can ask why in five different ways.

Nate Joens: [00:34:58] And I think that that's really what you guys are are so good at and understand so well about this lead conversion game Mm hmm.

Robby Trefethren: [00:35:08] That that threat is one of my favorites. Yeah. The best scripts in the book. Two more words that I'll add to it that I really love. What else. And then keep going. It is crazy how sometimes you can just tell there's more to somebodies answer. And it was like OK go on tell me more about that. Or you you just you know out there High D. Keep going. They're not going to open up if you don't ask.

Nate Joens: [00:35:32] Yeah. I love those. That's that's honestly one of my favorite threads to keep keep watching too because I mean it. It puts people it's not just checking. You know checking and ticking boxes through the qualification scripts which are important which we've talked about. But it's just go in that level extra level which is super important in these conversations. I think we've talked about what to cover and how to cover your conversations via text. What if anything should not be discussed over text Whew.

Robby Trefethren: [00:36:14] It's a good question.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:36:17] I think people naturally bring up those boundaries. Mm hmm. If we cross over. That's that's what I've noticed in the past is oh I don't really want to get into that or you know they'll just change the subject. But for the most part I mean you know like Robby said I mean I've talked to people about you know their husbands their wife having affairs I've talked about death via text. It's what other whatever that person is comfortable with.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:36:42] And I think sometimes with text you can actually be more comfortable because you could kind of emotionally detach from it in a way because that person is not in front of you and you don't hear that voice don't hear that voice quavering and and wavering. So I mean for the most part. You could ask anything. It's just how you ask it to like you know if I'm talking to a D on the phone I could speak you know what's your credit score via text it might be like something like Hey do you know what your credit score is or you know you said you're going to need financing you need help with that. You know it's it's it's just that context peace again.

Nate Joens: [00:37:18] I think one of the one of the most valuable things that I've learned from listening to your guys videos before that you preach over you know your phone conversations is don't assume anything.

Nate Joens: [00:37:30] I would imagine that is especially true in text or at least equally as true. Do you guys just kind of want to cover covered what you mean by that and how it might apply to texts too.

Robby Trefethren: [00:37:43] Yeah yeah I'll start and then Jim I'll let you take the reins. I've always jokingly said it's the best ISAs in the world would be like a a knowing three year old who just ask questions all the time. And that's because they act like they don't know anything. The problem with assumptions is you'll think that somebody is motivated by one thing and then as you dig in deeper you'll realize that that's not at all their motivation. I think with most people I've spoken to there's always two different motivations there's a surface level let them surface level motivation which would be something like I want a bigger home. And then there's always a deeper motivation like I want a bigger home because my mother in law's moving in because my father and lodges stop and bills are two drastically different conversations. And if you just make an assumption you only find out the surface level answer you get stuck. And then we're sitting around playing whack a mole all the time because we're like What the heck. I didn't think that was a big deal but I think that's the big piece with this is digging in deeper gets you pass at surface level motivation. Jim go ahead sorry.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:38:55] Go on. No worries. Basically. Basically almost the same answer Robby gave. You know if someone says oh I need a bigger house why do you need a bigger house. Someone says I'm not ready till spring. Why not spring. I mean it's almost the same type of conversation you have to be on the phone. You just do it in a text medium.

Eric Hegg: [00:39:12] Well it just reminds me of a conversation that I had last weekend where it was the same thing. Why are you looking at homes while I'm looking for a bigger home. It's okay. You own already. Why are you looking for a bigger home. And you know they had kids they're sharing one bathroom and then I got a little bit deeper too and I said so when you're daydreaming about your next home you know what's something that you always think about. She goes a really big bathtub. And that was a really important thing for her then. She wanted you know her own bathroom a big bathtub like a nice place where she could go because she was stressed out with kids and just that was like her one place of sanctuary. But because they only had one bathroom that was in that was really like the pain point was this one bathroom and then she went off telling me about how when they're potty training one of their kids one of them was in the bathroom the other one ended up wetting his pants outside like yeah that's stressful that's that. That pain point that emotion where you can really build off of that. So it it we don't want to assume you know anything and really get to that personalized. Issue that is driving their motivation.

Cody Meyer: [00:40:31] Yeah. So the assumption thing is a really good point. I'm going to kind of build on what Eric said with a failure story because this was one one time that building on assumptions don't talk about things or make assumptions about stuff that they haven't directly told you. I'll give you example of that. There was a person I was talking to a couple of months ago and I had initially reached out when they entered our system gave them a call didn't get contact you know sent you know that initial text and then they got the six minute text will a couple of minutes after that they sent me a text back and said Hey I'm really sorry I didn't get your column out of dinner with friends. I was like oh not a problem. Just wanted to check in and you know see what was going on. So you're on our Web site thinking about making a move. Yeah absolutely we're really really excited. We're currently living in Fargo and renting but you know my boyfriend got a job here at Grand Forks and we were kind of looking to settle down here in Grand Forks. I was like Oh that's great. We're talking for a little while having a great conversation and then she's like hey I'm going to have to leave you hanging here.

Cody Meyer: [00:41:33] I'm heading to the Ralph which is a big arena in Grand Forks tonight. Now I knew that there was a big Cirque de Soleil show there. I knew that because Eric had tickets he was going himself and I was like Oh that's great. Not a problem. I'll she the text tomorrow. Enjoy Cirque de Soleil. And she had never mentioned it but I knew it was going on. That was the only show going on there. But we hadn't directly talked about it. And a couple days went by I was shooting texts trying to get back in touch with them. And probably like a week later she had finally given me a text back and said hey Cody's sorry we're going with somebody else. And I was like Oh OK. You know can I ask you know what happened. I feel like we kind of kind of got off on the wrong foot there. She's like Yeah. You just kind of creep me out. Like Oh that's. OK. So. So unless they directly talk about things you know building on assumptions don't don't assume that you know things even if they're self-evident.

Robby Trefethren: [00:42:36] Oh man that's a good story. And the funny thing is Cody if you were to do it differently if you probably would have just sent a text like Oh great what's going on there tonight. And then she brings up she's going and then you say that no big deal. Exactly. That that changes everything. But dang that's that's a very valid point. I I called that left-fielding where you bring up something that they didn't bring up directly. It was very indirect. Right. But yeah that's that's that's a heck of a story.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:43:10] I'm just so I'm just a creep. You bring up a good point though Cody because I've I've actually made that same mistake before where you know you'll you'll be talking to someone look up on social media. See they work somewhere or that and then you know basically ask Hey do you work here. I think it could creep people out real quick. So even I make the assumptions now where even if I know that and I'm handing that off to. An agent a lot of times I won't put that in the notes because they have to self discover they're going to be pretty creeped out. So yeah it's a very very good point and I think I think that one of the points in this is even if you know something because I almost guarantee you she went to that night. Ask the question to get them to say it

Robby Trefethren: [00:43:59] Just because there is this small likelihood that they're wrong that something else is going on or there's something else as well get done to say it then it's good to go. You can mention all day long. Mm hmm

Nate Joens: [00:44:12] Mm hmm. Yeah. Never assume anything that's that's why I posed the question. I learned a lot from from you guys in your your past videos on this and in sometimes in the conversation. Less is more especially from from your side as the ISAs less is less is often more from from this side of the table. Yeah I think I think I want to wrap up with kind of one question that one final question for each of you that kind of builds off one of our past webinars which is are dials dead. So we've talked almost exclusively about texting today and how to take those text conversations further. We've we've mentioned you know when you should close in. Oftentimes that closed turns into a call or an office consultation but kind of generally do you guys think that phone calls are dead or dying.

Nate Joens: [00:45:12] How do you intertwine texting with calling. What does the what does the today of ISA qualification in Lead Nurturing look like versus five years ago versus what it's going to look like in the next five years.

Robby Trefethren: [00:45:32] Yeah. Oh I'll go ahead and does it.

Eric Hegg: [00:45:34] I just read a really interesting study that was done by I don't know one of the cell phone networks they were hired to do a study in in 2017. Three point seven percent of total cell phone calls were some sort of spam or robo call in 2018.

Eric Hegg: [00:45:55] It jumped to twenty nine point two percent and a lot of that you know were all the calls that were going out with election season and everything there. But it's projected in 2019 to be at 45 percent of all cell phone cellular calls that you receive are gonna be some sort of a robo or spam call. So The cell phone companies have recognized this and and who's going to use the cellular network if all you do is get spam calls on it like no one is.

Eric Hegg: [00:46:28] So they're making it easier to block calls and probably seen it Android all of the major ones they have the ability to screen calls forwarded to voice mail. So I think that's why it's so crucial to do that initial phone call and then immediately follow it up with a text message. And but we also need to be mindful of how easy it is to block text messages so you don't want to send them useless text messages that they're immediately going to block.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:46:56] Yeah. One thing I would add is I think the old model of things was where the ISA or the agent would control that sales cycle. And I think what is given naturally happened is the client is going to start directly impacting and directly controlling a lot of that sales cycle now. So I think we're going to be there as the relationship piece and answer questions and automating as much as we can. But I feel like the client is going to start controlling a lot more of that which can be scary to agents and to the ISAs because if we don't have control we can't control our pipeline we can't control ad revenue things like that but people are going to sniff through things much more they're going to start blocking things much more and you have to have a much more customer and client centric system or people are just going to leave and go somewhere else.

Cody Meyer: [00:47:47] Kelly I'm sorry about that. It took me and I think by my view button. So I think kind of building billing on both Eric and Jim's points. You know if I had to give you a direct answer you know our dial set. No but I think they're dying and it's just like any other form of communication. I mean you could ask the same question of you know is letter writing dead is doorknocking dead. You don't know. I think it's still has a place and it's still an important thing in our repertoire it's still an important practice that we have to you know do day in day out as as inside sales agents. But you know you have to meet people where they want to be met. And for some people that may be a phone call and for a lot of people that's becoming texts you know next year to three years down the road we might have another medium. I mean we have so many different mediums to communicate. You know we're we're on a Skype call right now we can Facebook message there's tweets you know there's DMD there's I mean there's everything.

Cody Meyer: [00:48:40] So yeah I think dials are dying but I don't think they're irrelevant and I'm going to add this and I know I've shared my thoughts on this.

Robby Trefethren: [00:48:49] I absolutely believe the UN arranged answering of a phone call is going to be a thing of the past that is with the with the metrics and I saw that same study that Eric had mentioned if 50 percent of the calls I receive are unsolicited and robo calls aka junk. This will a phone call in most people's mind is going to be no different than a junk email therefore they're going to treat a phone call unless they know it's from a phone number that they recognize they're going to filter it out. It's going to go in their spam folder. I think what is shifting is texting gives the consumer the power to not commit to a conversation they can not text back if they want. And I think what's going to happen is I think conversations will still happen. I just think that instead of it happening because on my terms as a salesperson as an ISA of calling you out of the blue I think it's there's going to basically be some pre check marks that are being checked some pre work being done and a lot of those calls are probably going to be more arranged or at least you know pretty filtered but dials are dying and it's crazy because I grew up in the world. When I came into this game five years ago that's what I was taught and I did it and I dialed like crazy but it slowly slowly slowly eroding so to add add to this Nate we we are all big believers in data.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:50:27] You're right. We all love data. So Robby you got out around June 2016 right. Yeah. That's when I was full on out. Yeah exactly. So if I look at your data so from January let's say 2014 I think that's roughly when he came on to June 2016. You had sent roughly 31000 texts and emails when I'm looking at it right now. Yes. Oh life. Yeah. So when I'm looking at my data and I started around July 2014 and I'm still in the game I'm right at eighty two thousand roughly so four and a half years so I don't have the calculator in front of me if I look at Hegg's you know he's at about 13000 and that's just over a little over a year. If I look at Cody he does a lot of automation outside the system. So if I look at here he's at about 8000 texts and emails. So it's definitely I feel like it's definitely speeding up and it's definitely becoming much more text and email and not even email email I would say is is people that are over 30 years old. I mean it's very very sporadic. It's it's mostly text now.

Robby Trefethren: [00:51:44] Yeah absolutely.

Nate Joens: [00:51:48] Yeah that's that's awesome. That's awesome insights.

Nate Joens: [00:51:51] Obviously that's all we focus on it at Structurely so I don't have a comparison of of calls vs. phone phone numbers but I can I can echo almost everything that you guys have said today. People are willing to tell you their life story over text. They're willing to take an entire conversation to a close whether that be another phone call in office or showing appointment or listening appointment. Texting is so important too to add to your repertoire today if you're not doing it as I think your numbers allude to Jim you're missing out on a lot of opportunities.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:52:33] Yeah I mean I just look at my ratio I'm sending it about 18000 texts and emails a year over the course of this while Robby was sending about 12000. So I mean it's just it's definitely speeding up but it's becoming much more useful and much more prevalent in the game.

Robby Trefethren: [00:52:52] And please know that when we say those numbers that is basically us doing an outbound attempt to somebody that doesn't include if I text somebody back a hundred times back and forth. That's not a one hundred text. It would be one text message outbound to them that's all that's kind of just so because there's a lot more text being sent than that. I just want to make sure that's very clear.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:53:12] Yeah yeah exactly yeah.

Nate Joens: [00:53:15] That's awesome data.

Nate Joens: [00:53:18] I think I think we can go into an entire discussion on on data on tracking on metrics on analytics that you guys live and breathe by in your ISA role.

Nate Joens: [00:53:29] I would love to turn that into another episode on real estate ISA radio we'd be. We'd be honored to have you guys shed some some of those specific numbers on it. On a follow up here. But for now I think that we've covered most of most of the questions that I had listed here for our listeners. I know you guys are definitely going to want to listen to these actual rainmakers a lot more than what we covered here today. So if you I'm gonna let you guys kind of plug where they can go to get more information on some of those videos leads geeks just where can it where can our listeners find a little bit more about Hatch coaching leads geeks and learn from you guys.

Robby Trefethren: [00:54:18] So let's talk about the hatch coaching piece if you definitely just go to the hatch coaching dot.com and we've got a lot of videos up on there you can reach out to us via that platform. And then I think the most prominent place to learn about what the these three real rainmakers. I love calling them that well that were they're what they've been generous enough to do is in Facebook. We have a group called Lead geeks L E A D A L E D s space G E E K.S. leads geeks. Some people think it's real geeks it leads geeks. And if you just search that on Facebook we have a group you get apply to be in it. And these guys have posted how many guys how many videos so far guys.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:55:10] Cody how many is there. Oh ISA just over 40. Hold on I'm pulling up the actual page right now.

Robby Trefethren: [00:55:20] And then where else can they find some some information guys. What are the all the resources they can follow and start seeing the good stuff that you guys are saying.

Jim Rentfrow: [00:55:29] Yeah we have a board on Pinterest so you can actually several boards over there. Cody can talk about that. We have our blog as well so yeah. Yes.

[00:55:40] So you can definitely check us out on most social media platforms under leads geeks like we said mentioned the Facebook group. We're on YouTube that's where we post a lot of our live role players if you guys want to connect with those just look up leads geeks on YouTube. And then again on Pinterest too we print a lot of our content and content that we find relevant engaging on there so you can connect with us a lot of different ways whatever whatever your medium of choices.

Nate Joens: [00:56:05] That's great. Well I appreciate everyone taking the time today. I know I learned a lot as as usual. But I believe that's all we have today for how to text your real estate leads you can find more free insights like this by searching real estate ISA radio on iTunes Google podcasts or on the ISA radio dot com. Again this is our sixth episode you're definitely going to want to check out the other five but we also again be sure to check out the best in ISA coaching at Hatch coaching dot.com and the most insightful artificial intelligence inside sales agent at Structurely dot.com.

Nate Joens: [00:56:45] Until next time guys I appreciate it. And as we like to say here it's actually happy closings.

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