So many success stories on today’s call! Congratulations to everyone who has taken on new listings, deals, and referral relationships from probate leads new and old! A lot of great stories about cold-calling and nurturing leads as well – so get motivated to pick up the phone and follow up with your future clients!
Topic Recap:
Call Re-cap:
• Gary got a set of leads and ordered the mailings right away. He wants to scrub the list and then do mailers. How does this get billed? Just go in the CRM and opt the relevant leads out of mailings. You will only get billed for the mailings that go out.
• Jim adds that scrubbing a list right away could lead to missed opportunities. Oftentimes, the deceased’s last known address could be a hospice or nursing home and isn’t indicative of any real estate that might be involved in the estate.
• Grant from Chicago is working through his first deal (WooHoo!) and has a question about when he can list the house. It sounds like the bond of surety was waived, and he should be able to proceed. Get the listing agreement signed by the personal representative first and then feel free to double check with the attorney if the house is clear to go on the market.
• Kyle from Dallas is new to probate leads. He has done wholesaling for a while and is interested in learning how to incorporate mailers into his approach. One consistent thing we hear from our wholesalers is that their profit tends to be higher per deal than from other sources because there isn’t as much competition among wholesalers in the probate niche.
• New Virtual Assistant for Blake. She has been an ISA for a while, but is new to the probate niche. How can you get around the objection that the probate is closed and they don’t need any help right now? Two great last-chance is to ask if the homeowner’s insurance has been transferred over, or if they plan to sell in the future so we can let our buyers know.
• Jim recommends calling through historical leads, especially if you are in a competitive market. A few months down the line, you might be the only one calling those leads.
• Next caller has a similar question – What are some tactics to keep your foot in the door when they say they already have an attorney? Keep the attorney’s name on hand! It shows you’ve done the leg work, whether you know the attorney personally or not. Pair this right along with a “Has he gotten the homeowner’s insurance switched over to your name?” And see if you can take care of that for them.
• Joe Lehman calls in – Last week, he let us know he was reaching out to attorneys. He just met with an attorney and got a listing from it (WooHoo!). He initially visited the office while the attorney was out, but he had a conversation with his assistant, left his tri-fold, and came back the following week and found success!
• Cliff calls in and ran into a situation where the beneficiaries’ attorney was named the paid executor of the will. He things the attorney isn’t representing the best interests of the beneficiaries. There is reason to be concerned here. Call him up, set a time to meet, express your interest in working with the client here and also discuss a potential referral relationship.
• Richard got a call from an older set of leads – They are having an estate sale this week and are ready to put the house on the market! He adds that it takes about 35-40 calls to get a yes and the ROI from cold calling is well worth it.
• Darci from Florida called in to let us know she has a listing – that’s now pending (WooHoo!!) – that came from a lead in her November set of leads. The client let her know she stood out from the other realtors. Yesterday, she got a call and got a partial listing. Today, she also got a verbal agreement for a listing. Awesome, Darci!! Darci used to be a bit frustrated but has found success. Darci’s approach is to introduce herself as a realtor who decided to learn how to handle probate issues. She loves targeting out-of-town personal representatives.