The Follow Up: What to Say?

[James Danchus]

BP,

So it's been about a month since my first direct mail campaign and I need to follow up with the lead (you heard that right, see my blog posts) I got from it. It's not a particularly hot lead but we do have some rapport and he's a nice guy. I sent out an offer to him and got no word back.

My question is, what do I talk about? What kind of information am I trying to illicit? Any suggestions? 

-Jim    

[Kyle Doney]

@James Danchus@Alex Capozzolo 

When I call for follow ups I try to gauge their motivation. So I will say something like: "Hey Jim, we spoke a week ago, I wanted to check in with you and see how things are going? Are you still looking to sell your house?"

Use open ended questions and let them tell you how they feel. Listen more than you speak and try to get them talking. This is how you will find out their needs and how bad they really want to sell. Also, find some common ground to talk about. Maybe they're into college basketball. BS about college basketball for 5 minutes before getting into the convo about their house. This will build rapport and help them to like you and feel comfortable telling you things. 

Then I try to see if they want to meet or talk further about selling. Try and get in front of them and have a face to face meeting. Set times for them to call you back or times for you to follow up again. "Ok, well would you like me to follow up with you in a month when you're closer to ready to sell" Or whatever time frame the tell you. 

Keep calling until they're ready to meet you or until they tell you to stop. Persistence pays off.