The foundation of a successful commercial real estate deal starts with not only meeting the right people but also staying at the front of their minds. This is why sales representatives who are reaching out to CRE industry players should engage in opportunities to connect with the right leads and make moves to continue the conversation.
Reaching out to your leads with consistency, whether through an email or a CRE-specific LinkedIn group, shows them that you want to learn more about their work and find ways to offer your knowledge, or eventually, your products. The first step to staying on top of your follow-ups is to develop a system for tracking your leads using the capabilities offered by Google Workplace. This allows you to create and maintain a spreadsheet for important background information about the lead.
To reach CRE-specific leads, sales reps can leverage Biscred, a prospecting platform that allows them to search for contacts at the “people” or “company” level. You can use the filters to narrow your search for your target audience, generate and download contact lists and use them for reach-outs.
Read on to learn how to better manage your leads, with advice from Biscred’s upcoming ebook.
Get Organized
Upon opening up a new Google Sheet, include the following information in separate columns: the lead’s full name; where they work; their email or phone number; where you met them; what stage you’re at with the lead, whether it be a new lead or someone you’ve contacted before; when you last contacted them; and when you plan on reaching out again.
Using the “data validation” feature in Google Sheets helps you quickly update columns without having to type the information in manually. For example, if you’re looking to change the stage of the lead from new contact to meeting scheduled, you can go to the “data” tab, select “data validation” and set up a drop-down menu with different options, including “new lead”, “contacted”, “interested”, “set up follow-up meeting” and “closed deal.”
Sales reps can alternatively use Biscred to streamline their contact lists. When searching for CRE professionals at the “people” level, you can view the information in Biscred’s platform, which includes the person’s company name, job title and asset classes. While Biscred automates the columns with the information, you can create a new list for all of your contacts. You can find your list on the platform or download it onto a spreadsheet and use data validation to establish category options where needed.
Set Reminders
With a long list of leads, it may be easy to lose track of who you connected with and when. To make sure that you reach out to leads with consistency, you can use Google Calendar to create a new event and title it with the lead’s name and a follow-up reminder. After creating the event, you can also set reminders in advance to keep it at the top of your to-do list.
Google Calendar also helps keep the rest of your spreadsheet up to date, which is especially important if your contact gets a new job, gets involved in a different asset class or moves to another city. Be sure to set quarterly reminders to update your spreadsheet, so that you always have the most up-to-date information on your contacts.
Stay Connected
One way to stay on your audience’s radar is to connect them with information that’s relevant to their industry through a reader’s digest or newsletter. With Google Alerts, you can keep track of CRE-specific keywords that resonate with your audience, and share resources or news articles related to those keywords. When sending information to your audience, be sure to add your take on why the information is important and how they can use it for their business.
You can also invite your target audience to join a LinkedIn group or Slack channel, where they can talk about industry updates, share business best practices and engage with other CRE professionals in your target market or asset class. The group and channel can also be used to give insight to burning CRE questions or to find speakers for a webinar.
Leverage Resources
Your efforts to engage your leads can mean the difference between gaining new relationships and business opportunities or getting lost in the shuffle of new contacts. Getting organized and having a reliable plan for reaching out to your leads brings you one step closer toward achieving your sales goals.
In addition to automating your search for CRE contacts, Biscred provides context for your leads so you can tailor your conversations according to their business goals. Visit Biscred to learn more about how you can get your contact list together and deep-dive into deal-making.
Photo 315450285 | Fizkes | Dreamstime.com
Commentaires