You’ve worked hard to generate leads and nurture prospects, as well as everything else in between. So, what’s the best way to play it when you get a response? Selling new homes isn’t like a first date – you don’t need to play it cool. Speed is essential when you’re responding to a buyer lead. In fact, a few hours – or even minutes – could make all the difference between converting them or losing out to a rival.
What’s a lead response time?
A lead response time refers to the metric of the time between when a lead contacts your business with an enquiry and when you act on it. Acting on it may mean an email, a phone call or a direct message, offering a viewing or progressing along to the next steps.
But if you get back to them within a reasonable time, it’s fine…right? Wrong.
When it comes to new home buyer leads, the quality degrades over time. It’s best to strike while the iron’s hot and get them into the marketing suite while they’re in the buying mindset.
When you get a lead from an online form, such as the Budget Calculator, a super-fast response time not only looks like you’re incredible organised, but proves to a lead that you’re willing to prioritise them. It also means that you’re tending to their needs immediately so that they don’t have to go to another housebuilder’s development or head onto a property portal to find their next home.
The buyer’s journey and timing
The digital revolution has turned us into consumers that need things on demand and require instant gratification. Gone are the days when people would be willing to wait for information.
Consumers are in different parts of the buyer’s journey, but you can be sure that when buyers are looking for their next house:
1) They’ve done their research
2) You’re not going to be the only one they’ve approached
Timing is significant when it comes to conversion rate. Why? Because in that ten minutes you waited to respond, the customer has already filled in enquiry forms on your two biggest competitor’s sites and one has already responded.
According to Chili Piper, responding to a lead within one minute has a 391% improvement in lead conversion rate, and that businesses who respond to leads within 5 minutes are 100x more likely to convert opportunities.
It’s also true that 50% of leads will work with the first organisation that contacts them first. That means it’s essential to respond to them as soon as possible to prevent a competitor scooping them up first.
Improve your lead response time
So, what’s the ideal time to contact a potential buyer? Ideally, it’s when they enter their phone number into the form. At this time, they’re available and thinking about viewing and buying a new home. Added to that, if the response time is slow, the prospect often finds another development.
By identifying the leads that best suit your plots and developments, you can speed up the sales process. But having that information on hand is essential – their budget, deposit, salary and age – before you’ve even had the first conversation.
Filter down to the right leads
Prospecting and sales are fast paced. Everyone in the game needs to be prepared to act quickly and accordingly. That’s why it matters to be set up to receive the right budget-qualified leads that will improve your reservation rates. Get started with the top-performing lead generation tools.
