I Just Got a Lead, Now What?

Contacting Your Lead

Something we hear all the time from real estate professionalis how hard it is to get in touch with new rental leads, and, we agree, if you do not have a contact plan or if you are using your same contact plan for buyers and sellers… rental client’s are different, so a different contact plan is needed.

The key to getting in contact with rental leads is to have a regimented contact plan. Don’t worry about creating your own, we created one for you. We have developed a rental lead contact plan that delivers a ~40% contact rate. You can check out our lead contact plan here

We built and refined this contact plan during tens of thousands of outreach attempts to real renter client’s. The cornerstone of the contact plan is using a multi-medium contact plan and continual follow-up. Just because a lead doesn’t answer their phone the first time, doesn’t mean they aren’t serious!

Stick to our contact plan, and you will see results.

Top  Tip:

Setting up your Lead Intake to send a first point of contact email within the first minute of accepting will make a great first impression!

Converting a Lead to a Client

Once you have made contact with the lead now it’s time to introduce yourself,  sell your value, qualify the client and schedule a showing.

Introduce yourself:

Why are you calling? Once you connect with the client it is important to communicate how you received their information and why you are calling them. Since every Rental Beast lead is generated on a Rental Beast listing it can be helpful to reference the listing in the conversation. Something as simple as, “Hello, my name is [your name] and I got your request on [listing address]” can go a long way in building trust with the client at the start of the call.

Sell your value to the lead:

You are an unbiased source. Most owners only care about finding a tenant to fill their vacancy. Does that make them unbiased? Most likely not. All you care about is helping your client’s find a place to rent. Your incentives are aligned with the renter. Make sure they understand this!

You will save them time. Once you understand their search criteria, you will search the largest verified rental listing database on the market (Rental Beast of course!), find listings that fit their criteria, and coordinate the showings. They don’t have to do anything other than attend the showing!

You are a Real Estate expert. Real Estate is your full time job. You know the local market, you know where to find those hard to find rental listings (Rental Beast!) and you have helped many renters find a place they call “home”. Make sure you establish yourself.

Qualify the lead:

Doing the upfront work of qualifying the lead ensures you will not waste your time. As mentioned before, handling rental leads is different than working with potential buyers.

As you ask your qualifying questions, you might determine the client may be a potential buyer instead of a renter. This is a great situation to be in! Review our best practices for converting renters into buyers to ensure you don’t let the buyer get away!

Get a showing (or two) scheduled:

You have conveyed your value, qualified the lead, and determined you should continue to work with them. Great! Now you need to schedule a showing.

Work with the client to schedule at least one, hopefully two, dates that work for showings. Many properties are utilizing virtual showings which makes this part of the process much more flexible for busy schedules.

Building a Relationship With Your Client

Find listings that fit their criteria:

You have the largest off-MLS, FRBO, verified rental listings database on the market. Use and abuse it. Check out the Rental Beast database article to learn how to utilize the database to find listings for your client. Once you have found listings that fit their criteria, easily send them over to the client for approval. Then, track their activity in the Client Activity Hub.

Schedule a showing:

Contact the properties directly to schedule a showing that is convenient for your client. Always confirm information provided in listings when setting showing for your client.

Regularly check-in with the client:

Developing a relationship with the client, is the best way to keep them as a client. Regularly check-in to build that relationship. Maybe send them a new local restaurant that just opened up or alert them to an upcoming event in their area. It can be anything, just check-in.

Finally, always confirm the upcoming showing at least a day in advance, in a perfect world you would confirm 48 hours in advance. People’s schedules change, and giving yourself the most advanced notice will help you reschedule and keep them as a client.

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Related Articles:

How to access Rental Beast Tutorial

How to send client listing reports

Converting Renters into Buyers

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