Should real estate agents work with buyers or sellers? Almost every agent or industry expert will tell you that, as an agent, you should be working with sellers as much as possible. The conventional wisdom pretty goes as follows: if you want to make real money as a real estate agent or company, then you should be focusing on sellers and gaining listings.

Although this wisdom isn’t necessarily wrong, there are some serious benefits to working with buyers. This is especially true if you are just starting out as a new real estate agent or if you are trying to grow your sphere. Before we dive into that, however, let’s go over what exactly the difference is between a seller’s or listing agent and a buyer’s agent.

Listing Agent vs. Buyer’s Agent

As a real estate or inside sales agent reading this, you are probably well aware of the difference between these two types of agents. But just for any newbies out there, the difference is pretty simple. Basically, a listing agent represents the owner of the property, helps them develop strategic plans for selling it, markets it, gets buyers in the door and to the table, and negotiates with the buyer or buyer’s agent to get the best deal possible for person or party selling the property.

A buyer’s agent, on the other hand, is a representative for the person buying the home or property. They assist the buyer with finding the right house that checks all (or most) of their boxes, shows them houses, and helps negotiate the final deal. Basically, they help the people purchasing the property throughout the entire process and have a fiduciary responsibility to represent and support their interests.

As a quick side note for agents and ISAs wanting to convert more on their calls with buyers, the term fiduciary responsibility is huge here. You might hear a buyer tell you that they are just going to work with the agent listing the property. When they say this, it’s a great opportunity for you to point out that the listing agent has a fiduciary responsibility to get the best deal possible for the seller and has their best interests at heart, not the buyer’s.

Inside sales has become a crucial role for the majority of real estate teams. I explain the role of ISAs to my clients in terms beyond the general view of appointment setters or lead scrubbers—ISAs are skilled real estate professionals who are highly trained, skilled, and dedicated to their craft in the same degree as an outside agent.  The advantage of the ISA is that they specialize in the initial tasks of lead generation, lead nurturing, and setting listing and buyer consultation appointments.

Although it varies from team to team, the basic role of an ISA for real estate includes the following responsibilities:

• ISAs receive inbound leads and conduct rigorous outbound prospecting to uncover leads.
• ISAs scrub leads, determine motivation, timing and ability.
• ISAs set the listing and buyer consultation appointment for an outside agent.
• ISAs also maintain a nurturing database of leads and work that database to produce future appointments.

Essentially, an inside sales agent takes your leads through the entire sales process, from start to finish. They bring them from prospects to paying customers.

Should Real Estate ISAs Use Scripts?

Real estate scripts are a necessary tool that all real estate ISAs should be using. That’s not to say that there is some magic set of words that will work every time, however. Developing an effective script takes time and constant tweaking and improvement. And you can’t rely on them completely 100% of the time. Real estate scripts  are only useful and effective as part of a wider conversion system and strategy to turn more no’s into yes’s on your calls.

With that said, what are the three biggest mistakes that real estate ISAs make when it comes to their scripts?

Once your real estate business progresses to a certain point, hiring an ISA for real estate is the only way for you to move forward past that point. Without an inside sales agent (ISA), your company will most likely fail to bring in enough new leads, not be able to properly follow up with and nurture the leads you have, and, generally, fall into stagnation.

Once hired and properly trained, leveraging an ISA will allow your business to grow by leaps and bounds. Within their first 12 month, you can expect your ISA to produce between 50 and 60 transactions. According to a statistic from the Real Estate Trainer, real estate teams which utilize ISAs have found the income they produce to be at least five times the cost of employing them, amounting to a 5 to 1 return on investment.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What exactly is a real estate ISA and what do they do for your business?

What Is an ISA for Real Estate?

Like we already mentioned, an ISA is an inside sales agent. I explain the role of ISAs to my clients in terms beyond the general view of appointment setters or lead scrubbers—ISAs are skilled real estate professionals who are highly trained, skilled and dedicated to their craft in the same degree as an outside agent.  The advantage of the ISA is that they specialize in the initial tasks of lead generation, lead nurturing and setting listing and buyer consultation appointments.

The ISA’s role is most effective when the scope is limited to tasks that develop the position into a lead generation and conversion machine. The raw materials are leads and lists—the product is viable listing or buyer appointments that result in contracts.

Here is the basic structure of the inside sales role:

• ISAs receive inbound leads and conduct rigorous outbound prospecting to uncover leads.
• ISAs scrub leads, determine motivation, timing and ability.
• ISAs set the listing and buyer consultation appointment for an outside agent.
• ISAs also maintain a nurturing database of leads and work that database to produce future appointments.

Different teams and agents have varying degrees of difference with this model, like not using the ISA to set appointments or having their ISA conduct marketing and advertising efforts, but the role’s effectiveness is greatest when clients adhere to the above description.

If you’re thinking about becoming a real estate agent or broker, then you need to know what real estate CRMs are. If you’re already in the industry, then I would be surprised if you didn’t know what they are and weren’t already using one. I won’t go as far to say that the right CRM is what makes successful agents successful, but I will venture to say that all successful real estate agents use a CRM effectively.

The question is, how do you use real estate CRMs to benefit your business?

What Are Real Estate CRMs?

Before we dive into why and how to use it, what even is a CRM in the first place? Well, C-R-M stands for “customer relationship management”. As you can guess by the name, your CRM sits at the center and crossroads of your real estate business. From tracking leads and prospects, to lead nurturing, to communicating with leads and current customers, to drip campaigns, to uploading contracts, to booking and managing appointments, and everything in between, customer relationship management (CRM) is critical to your business.

Put in other words, a CRM is the software you use to assist you in running your business and seamlessly managing your leads and clients. Without this software, agents end up spending much more time than they need to on using multiple separate tools, manually updating lead information, and continuously juggling a mountain of data and information.

If you’re a solo real estate agent, then you’ve got guts. Choosing this career path is as daunting as it is challenging. It can be a difficult journey and attrition rates are often very high. In fact, many real estate agents aren’t able to make it through their first year. However, if you can make it through, it has the potential to be one of the most exciting, rewarding, and high earning jobs you could have chosen.

Benefits of Being a Solo Agent

As we lay out in another article of ours, there are many benefits to being a solo real estate agent and building your own business.

• You get to be your own boss. Being the big man (or woman) that makes decisions means that you are also in charge of building your lead list, maintaining your client’s needs, networking relationships, marketing your business, and managing the day-to-day office needs. This is all in your hands. If you’re a real estate agent and you skimp out on any of these areas, your real estate business is not going to make it very far.
• You get to set your own schedule. It’s true real estate agents work flexible schedules, but what that also means is that you are going to be working when most other people aren’t. You won’t have the mundane 9-5, which is awesome, but you will most likely have to work and take appointments in the evenings and on weekends. If a client calls and needs something, most likely you’ll have to drop whatever you are doing to assist them.
• You control your income. Many people are attracted to the real estate industry because there is huge income growth potential. But in the beginning, the direction of your cash flow is going to be out. Making your first sale is going to take some time and work and, depending on your market, you may consistently experience a famine-feast situation.

But how do you beat the odds long enough to actually achieve the level of success you’d like and reap these benefits? Here are some tips for being a solo agent.

What’s the biggest fear that real estate agents have?

Market downturns? Maybe. Not being able to beat the odds and overcome the extremely high attrition rates that agents face? Probably. The inability to provide for yourself and your family through this career path? Most definitely.

But what do all these fears have in common?

What they all have in common—what the overarching and underlying fear is—is the fear of not being able to generate business when you need it most. This is the fundamental dread in the industry and is shared by real estate agents and businesses alike. The prospect of not being able to consistently bring in business and close sales on demand means that you will get stuck in a feast or famine cycle.

Real Estate Agents Want Control over Their Business

Many people become real estate agents because they want a greater amount of control over their careers and their lives. They are drawn to the industry to have flexibility with their schedule, they want the chance to be their own boss, and they want their income to directly reflect their skills and ability—with no artificial caps or limits imposed by having a non-commission salary.

The problem is, this dream is often not realized for many who start on the real estate agent journey. Tom Ferry claims that 87% of all agents fail in real estate. Even for those who “make it”, they get stuck in a cycle of good times and bad times in which the freedom, flexibility, and control over their income they dreamed of seems illusive or unobtainable.

When times are good and you’re converting leads, setting appointments, and closing sales, your life is great and you feel like you’re on top of the world. But then the famine hits. You struggle just to get by, you call lead after lead with no luck, and you have bills piling up. During these times, your life is filled with stress, worry, and uncertainty.

Even when times are good, for many agents and ISAs there is the voice in the back of their head asking themselves how long the good will last. They’re afraid that, although they are making sales now, will they be able to keep it up? When will the “feast” end? How will their bank account look next month or the month after?

Real Estate Companies Fear This, Too

The fear of the feast or famine cycle is not only confined to solo agents. Real estate companies of all sizes share the same thoughts in the back of their minds. “Times are good now, but will it last?” Smart real estate teams dedicate a large amount of resources towards lead generation and have systems in place to create a steady flow of new business—partially as a result of this fear.

In fact, entire teams of real estate ISAs (inside sales agents) are hired to ensure that business is being generated and that the company has a steady supply of qualified leads to keep them going in great times and not so great times. Having inside sales agents is a good step towards creating a predictable system for converting leads, but it is not necessarily a guarantee.

At Smart Inside Sales, we’ve written a lot about cold calling in real estate. It’s one of those activities that most people, even the best salesman, don’t really enjoy doing so much. The leads you’re calling also probably don’t look forward to being called by some stranger trying to set an appointment with them either. Cold calls can be awkward and sometimes uncomfortable for everyone involved.

But the thing is, however scary and uncomfortable, it is sometimes a necessary activity and something real estate ISAs should master. In the end, cold calling successfully in real estate ultimately comes down to your mindset, how you enter the call, and whether or not you are able to handle the objections (sometimes multiple objections) that the leads throw at you.

If you want to learn more about how to cold call the right way, then check out this previous article of ours.

Texting in Real Estate

As you may have guessed by the title of this article, we’re not discussing cold calling. The topic is texting in real estate. Texting has taken off in terms of its use when it comes to marketing and sales. This fact is as true for real estate as it is for a number of other industries. Whether reaching out for the first time or following up with a real estate lead, texting is thought of as more personal, quick and easy to send and receive, and they don’t interrupt whatever the lead happens to be doing at the time.

According to PEW research from a couple years ago, more than 70% of Americans prefer texting or emails over phone calls. And that number will have only gone up in 2020. As Millennials and GEN-Z Zoomers become more and more of the population looking to buy and sell homes, texting will become even more important.

According to another study, 90% of people both open and respond to text messages within five minutes. That number is compared to about 5-10% of leads picking up the phone and about 20% opening an email you send them. 

I wrote in my article last week that we are finally seeing some light at the end of the coronavirus pandemic tunnel. The majority of real estate agents can go back to work showing houses, and most markets are starting to pick back up again. I also wrote that I thought now is the time to surge forward and reclaim the business you may have lost over the past few months.

All the work you put in reaching out to your network, becoming a community connector, and offering to help people in your sphere any way you could should finally be paying off. Basically, now is the time to get off of the lockdown couch (if you were ever on it) and completely throw yourself into growing your real estate business.

But what’s the best way to go about doing that?

• Put more effort into your marketing
• Maintain or increase your ad spend on effective marketing channels
• Remember we’re still in the middle of a pandemic
• When talking to leads, focus more than ever on helping them solve a problem

Should I Invest in Leads and Marketing?

During the COVID-19 lockdowns and even now as they end, many companies have cut marketing budgets or are hesitant to invest more. However, slow downs are when you should be putting even more effort into your marketing channels. I’ll qualify that statement by adding that you should be putting more effort and possibly dollars into your effective marketing channels.

It’s important to remember that effective, data driven, measurable marketing is an investment, not an expense. When done correctly, you should be able to draw a clear line from money put in to the return you receive. Despite any potential downturn in the economy or real estate markets, right now is one of the best times to grow your market share.

Why?

One reason is that over the past couple of months, the cost of ads across many different online platforms has dropped. Mostly because businesses across every industry cut their ad spends and marketing dollars when the pandemic picked up and lockdowns began. Although, as people return to work, many businesses will probably pick their marketing back up, there may still be time to take advantage of this opportunity.

The other reason is that, within the real estate industry itself (and probably within your specific market), many other agents are advertising less, marketing less, and posting less on social media. Again, this follows from the false mentality that when things slow down you and your business should slow down too.

Don’t fall into that trap.

It looks like we are finally seeing some light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel. As more and more states end shelter-in-place orders and loosen restrictions, our lives are at least beginning to become somewhat normal again. In the majority of states, real estate agents are once again allowed to buy and sell houses, and most markets are starting to pick back up again. Although there are still fears of a second wave of COVID-19 and it’s important to take the proper precautions, I believe this is great news for our industry.

We get to go back to work!!

What does that mean for real estate agents? Well, if you’re like many agents, your business probably has taken a hit over the past two months. You may even still be taking a hit. However, now is the time to surge forward. It’s time to safely gain back as much ground as we possibly can for 2020.

I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of memes and jokes out there about 2020 being the worst year ever. After COVID-19 it’ll be killer bees, then 5G sickness, and then aliens will invade and wipe us all out. However, the most extreme calamities we can imagine notwithstanding, the year is still young and there is plenty of time to salvage your business and even thrive.

Zillow and similar websites like it divide the real estate industry. Some agents swear these types of sites are very worst thing in the world, while for others, they’re their bread and butter. As our society, and the real estate industry in particular, become more and more dependent on doing things online, viewing and purchasing products virtually (yes, even houses these days), and, generally living digitally, tools like Zillow are becoming more important for both agents and clients.

They are especially critical in the current times we find ourselves in full of pandemics and social distancing and quarantining.

Zillow in the Real Estate Industry

No matter how you feel about using Zillow as a real estate agent, it’s a force to be reckoned with in the industry. Close to 200 million unique visitors spend time on Zillow each and every month. These people are looking at houses, reading content, searching for real estate agents, seeing what homes around them are valued at, and looking for a place to call home for the next step in their lives.

Like other listing websites, in order for potential home buyers to view and access the properties they want to look at, they have to enter in some contact information like name, email, and phone number. And after they do that, on the other side of the screen (or across the country), companies and real estate agents are paying for that information. Essentially, Zillow uses its wide reach and exposure to translate its large audience into leads that agents, in theory at least, take and convert to sales.

Through the Premier Agent program, real estate agents can also have names, faces, and contact information posted alongside listings. Additionally, Premier Agents receive branding and exposure by appearing prominently where home shoppers are searching on Zillow and Trulia.