Follow Up or Go Home: 15 Tips For CRE Sales Brokers

By Ronald H. Cohen Chief Marketing Officer

The Besen Group

Follow Up or Go Home: 15 Tips for a CRE Broker to Cultivate Leads

November 23, 2015

It all starts here.

All your prospecting efforts are worthless without good

______ __.*

*Hint: the title of this presentation

Follow Up or Go Home: CRE Broker’s Tips To Cultivate Leads | 4

So here are 15 quick tips you can do to follow up as a CRE broker:


#1: Qualify & prioritize your leads • Distinguish “warm” from “hot leads” • Have a coding system


#2: Launch your schpiel quickly & strategically

• When you get the prospect on the phone, get to the point

• Avoid open-ended questions • Have some relevant data points/comps


#3: No does not always mean no • It may just be no for now, or no for this

particular property • Persevere even after you get rejected

– Unless you’re told unequivocally to flip off! – Ask what other service we can provide if a sale is not

on the immediate horizon – Seek to understand other needs or happenings in

their business – Ask when you should re-contact them


#4: Expect no one to call back • Chances of assistant’s message resulting in callback

for cold call is, wait for it: slim & none – Ask when a good time to reach them is and refer to Tip #6

• Leave a voicemail for the direct contact • Give yourself permission to call back again

– “Hi, this is Ron with Besen Group. We said we’d talk this week to discuss next steps. Because I’ve missed you, I’ll try you again this afternoon at 4pm and if we don’t connect today, expect a call at 8:30am tomorrow. In the meantime, you can reach me at 646 424-5317…”


#5: When they say call back, call back!

• People are super-busy and you’re low priority • Ask when the best time to catch them is, and

then “show up” – Start that conversation by reminding them they

told you to call at this time

• If they say call back in 6 months, make it 3 This could go on for months, but just keep calling back until they actually talk to you


Polite persistence…

“Being persistent without becoming a pain in the *ss.”


#6: Kiss the ring of The Gatekeeper • Be polite if not conversational • Get his/her name & note it down for future use • Get his/her e-mail if they won’t give out that of

the principal – Next time you can start the conversation by name,

so it’s like “they know you”


#7: Ask smart, focused questions • “Are you aware that several properties in close

proximity to yours have traded recently for stratospheric prices?”

• “If you were to consider selling at this time, would you pay the capital gains taxes or look to do a 1031 exchange?”

• “If I got you an offer of $_____, would you sell the property?”

• “What can I do to get you to hire me today?”


#8: If you cannot get them on the phone, send them something by mail

• Means of tracking them down & getting their attention • Formal letter/credentials package to their office or

home • E-mail to them or their admin • Basic letter to their building address, “Attention: Super” • Soft offer/indication of interest in writing • Stick a business card in • Letter templates are available!


#9: After you do get them on the phone, send them something by mail

• If they are at all considering a sale (warm lead) • Formal letter/credentials package • E-mail to them or their admin • Relevant article about the neighborhood their

property is in or recent comps


#10: Be a problem solver

• Follow up with relevant and/or valuable answer to key question(s) – Example: my building resides in location designated

for rezoning, what is the timing on that?

• Can guide them to other valuable resources – Legal, 1031 intermediary, replacement properties


#11: For Crissakes, use a CRM! • Must have a structured, organized system in

place to log leads & build in follow-up alerts – ACT is the official company recommendation – Outlook can work, but is not the ideal tool

• Create a “prospect database”/mailing list that receives updates of your sales activity

• Have a “Top 100” client/prospect list MISSED FOLLOW-UPS WILL COST YOU DEALS


#12: Speak to partners too

• If there are multiple partners involved, speak to other partners as well if possible


#13: Try a handwritten thank you note • Many people threw out the advice of sending a

handwritten thank you note. With e-mails flooding in by the hundreds every day and everyone’s first tactic is to just delete as many messages as possible, a personal written message is an anomaly. – A handwritten card shows you really took the time to

communicate, and it will have that human touch

• Combine it with a well-timed follow-up e-mail


#14: Make it easy for them to try you out

• In many cases you may have a prospect that happily uses a competitor’s service and has no need for you – Pry a little to find out if they’ve had any negative

experiences with the competition – Offers to let them try us out for 30 days and/or at a

slightly lesser fee – Ask if we can bring them any offers


#15: Get a Meeting (!!)

• Face-to-face, interpersonal connection always trumps all else

• No one is hiring you to sell their multi-million dollar asset without looking you in the eye first


Ronald H. Cohen Chief Marketing Officer The Besen Group (646) 424-5317 www.besengroup.com

[email protected]

www.linkedin.com/in/ronaldhcohen

@besengroup|@RonHCohen

PRESENTED BY:

http://www.besengroup.com/

Real Estate

Follow Up or Go Home: 15 Tips For CRE Sales Brokers