During a recent video coaching session, one of my clients was visibly frustrated. She had plenty of leads, but converting those leads was feeling like a fruitless struggle.
“Why can’t I convert?” she asked me.
In this article, I’m going to tell you what I told her. There are three skills you absolutely must master to convert more leads into appointments and ultimately closed transactions: building rapport, qualifying, and closing.
I strongly recommend you read this and utilize the tools in our Fearless Follow-Up bundle, a free toolkit full of scripts and tips to turn leads into clients. Download it free now!
Building rapport: Do what they do
You know it. I know it.
There’s a huge difference in the way you interact with someone once you’ve built rapport. In sales, building rapport makes everything so much easier. But I often encounter agents who struggle to quickly achieve that rapport with people.
Doing so is an art form. And I’m going to show you how.
The most basic thing I do whenever I want to build rapport with someone is to mirror them. Neuroscience tells us that getting those mirror neurons firing creates empathy in the brain.
In simpler terms, we know that people prefer to do business with people just like them. If I want to build rapport, I’m going to use the same language they use. I’m going to speak with the same pace and the same tempo.
If you want to convert more leads, you have to get in the moment with the client.
I’m listening for their pace and tempo because it’s going to give me insight on whether they are visual, auditory, or kinesthetic in their communication. I listen for the words they use, their pace, their volume and their tonality.
You can take on their cadence, pay attention to their volume and use their language by mirroring them.
By doing all of these things quickly, you can build rapport within the first 60 seconds.
Ask qualifying questions: Don’t be afraid to be nosy
The next step if you want to up your conversions is to ask more qualifying questions. To convert and book an appointment, you need to know your prospect’s motive for action. You need to know what’s important to them, what their timing is, what’s their financial situation, etc.
Asking them certain questions can help you find out just how motivated they are to sell their home. I call it “qualifying their motivation.”
Here are 10 questions you could ask:
- What would you like to achieve?
- Where are you looking?
- Why are you selling your (property type)?
- What’s the why behind it, what’s the motivation?
- What’s your timing?
- Who else is involved in the process?
- What’s your Plan B in case it doesn’t happen in (time frame)?
- Have you met with a lender?
- What price range would you like?
- What’s important to you in the agent you choose to represent you?
Always be closing: How to overcome a ‘no’
No transactions happen until we get an appointment.
So we need to have multiple closes to handle different objections.
Here are some “closing statement” scripts you can use:
- “Let’s go ahead and schedule an appointment. Are mornings or afternoons better for you?”
- “You told me (X,Y,Z) and in order to achieve your goals, let’s schedule an appointment on (date & time).”
- “All I need is 15 minutes. If I can show you the obvious advantages in both your time and money, would it be worth 15 minutes of your time?”
The bottom line: It’s not about them
This is hard to understand, sometimes. But it’s not about the leads. It’s YOU; it’s YOUR ability to convert and YOUR ability to build rapport with a wide variety of people that matter most.
But you can do this. Practice the skills I mentioned and note the results. You’ll see a difference.
Make sure you click here to download the Fearless Follow-Up bundle and start improving your lead conversions today!