Why Calls and Texts are Both Critical
If you’re prospecting and only calling your leads or (god forbid) only sending text messages, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
When doing outreach, we tend to stick to the medium that we most prefer ourselves. If we like receiving calls, we tend to call people, if we prefer to get texts, that’s what we do. And sometimes we fall back to just sending texts because its easier.
But people are very divided on what communication method they prefer and if you reach out using the wrong method people will completely ignore it.
Using both calls and text messages is 3x more powerful than just using one
Combining calls and texts in your outreach won’t just make sure you reach everybody using the method they prefer, the two methods actually reinforce each other (because they’re both on the phone) and get you 3x the results of just using one of them.
Why does this work?
Texts and calls reinforce each other. Most people normally communicate with their family and friends using both methods simultaneously. Sometimes they can pick up the phone, sometimes they can’t. Maybe they’ll glance at your text message to see what you want but they don’t want to reply that way and will wait until you call to answer the phone.
But there are critical techniques for properly doing call and text outreach that you need to follow if you want to see real success. Starting with:
Tip 1: Don’t confuse people. Always send calls and texts from the same phone number.
Often people will call from their work phone and then text from their cell phone, but this just confuses people. They don’t know which number to call back, which makes you not want to call them back. They don’t associate the text message introducing you with the phone call you make after, or the text message following up that you sent in addition to leaving a voicemail.
Make it simple for people. Call and text them from the same number. Reinforce your message using both communication platforms and make it super simple for people to figure out how they can reach you. “This is my one number, call me, text me, send smoke signals, anything. This is my number, my identity.”
Plus then you can easily to this next tip…
Tip 2: Send a text introducing yourself right before your call. It’ll show up in the Caller ID.
Another reason you should definitely use the same phone number for both calls and texts.
When you send a quick SMS introducing yourself right before you call, phones will pick that up and show your name in the Caller ID and people will be a lot more likely to pick up.
Even without the phone helping out, they’ll glance to see who’s texting them, catch your name and why you’re reaching out to then and then bam they start to get a call from you and they’re a lot more likely to pick up.
If you just call, they don’t know who you are or why you’re calling so they won’t pick up the phone and will just see if you leave a voicemail.
If you just text, they might not respond, because text messages don’t require an immediate response, plus they feel more automated and robotic than calls.
But if you text to introduce yourself and then call right away, you get the bet of both worlds. And you have to keep taking advantage of both worlds to keep seeing results…
Tip 3: Every time you leave a voicemail, send a text too. People ignore their voicemails.
If you call someone and they don’t know who you are, they’ll often-times wait and see if you leave a voicemail. Leaving a voicemail shows that you might be a real human being.
Unfortunately, voicemails are a pain to listen to and a lot of people will put that off or just never check it.
But if you send a text message right after leaving a voicemail, you already proved you’re a real human being and now you give them a really quick way to at a glance see who you are what you’re calling about and decide if they want to maybe call you back. Or text you back either way.
Either way, you have to cater to both types of audiences. Leave a voicemail and send a follow up text after every call. This is the way.
Tip 4: The first day is critical. Follow up 2 – 3x times right on the first day.
7 out of 10 people will work with the first realtor that they speak to and this matters for follow up. If you don’t get through on the first call, you still need to try and be first one they actually pick up the phone for, so the first day is absolutely critical.
You should reach out to the lead at least 2 times the first day, if not 3. Your first follow up should be 30 minutes after your initial attempt. And if that doesn’t get through, try one more time an hour or two later.
As I said in the previous tips, your first text, call and voicemail might be just enough to establish your identity as a real person for your lead, but not give them enough incentive to call back. But they’re a lot more likely to pick up when you call again.
Tip 5: Follow up for at least 3 days. Call one day in the morning, midday the next day and in the afternoon on the last day.
If you don’t get through on the first day, don’t give up because persistence is also important. People are very busy, they ignore calls, mean to call back, forget, move on, etc.
Now obviously if someone says they’re not interested, you stop. But if you don’t get any reply back, take it as an opportunity to connect, prove you are persistent and organized, and follow up on a schedule that you set up, religiously.
Make sure that at least one day you reach out in the morning. One day around lunch, and one day in the afternoon / early evening. People have varied schedules and some are available at different times, so make sure to hit every time slot for each lead in order to see the greatest chance of success.