3 Clear-as-Day Signs It's Time to Hire an Inside Sales Agent

If you've read Chris Smith's The Conversion Code, you may already know these two statistics:

• For every home that was sold in 2011, there were .65 leads generated online.
• For every home that was sold in 2014, nearly eight online leads were generated

And if you've been paying attention to the number of new portals, lead gen sites, landing page offerings and the explosion of Facebook ads in the last three years, you know that those numbers have only continued to explode in the years since.

Going strictly off the numbers, you have (less than ) a 1-in-8 chance of converting a lead you generate online. Are you really doing enough to win a lead's business from competing agents?

The answer, likely, is no. And that's okay — because it's never too late to change a failing strategy and turn it into one that works better for you and your business.

Inside Sales Agents: How real estate companies are turning cold calling on its head to build relationships with leads

Cold calling is nothing new, but it does conjure up a negative image of someone in a headset, calling from hundreds of miles away to aggressively push a deal on an unsuspecting customer (whose name they invariably pronounce wrong).

Within real estate, however, we're seeing an exciting shift in how cold calling can be used to shore up new business. Rather than hiring "dialers" who explicitly sell a product or service the minute a lead picks up, many real estate companies are leveraging "inside sales agents" (ISAs) to build relationships with new leads over time.

And when the average lead can have eight (or more!) agents working them due to online lead generation, it pays off in spades to be the business that is eager to make a connection before asking for a sale.

Here are three signs it may be time for you to hire an inside sales agent.

Sign #1: You hate the follow-up (and it shows)

Do you hate following up with new leads? The good news is you're not alone. Forty-four percent of salespeople give up after just one attempt (Scripted). The bad news? Eighty percent of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth attempt to contact a lead (Curaytor).

If your first call is an aggressive attempt to win the deal, and you aren't willing to call back again, you are unlikely to get anywhere with unqualified, dime-a-dozen online leads.
ISAs have the right tone and delivery, and because they're paid to build up relationships with leads, they are able to focus on naturally qualifying leads over time.

Imagine the difference between talking to an eager professional who wants to get to know you better, and a Realtor who is clearly hoping for a quick buck on the first call. Who would you prefer to talk to?

Sign #2: You're busy (really, really busy) with active clients

Calling, texting and emailing new leads isn't easy. It's time-consuming and it creates a strange paradox: Knowledgeable, successful agents often have a harder time converting new leads than rookie agents with plenty of time on their hands.

By hiring an ISA, you can spend time on your active clients and most-qualified leads while allowing a professional to build a relationship with brand-new prospects and leads who aren't quite ready to sign a contract yet.

Sign #3: Lead conversion just isn't your thing

Real estate is a unique profession that requires dozens of skillsets. A typical agent has to master everything from marketing and brand-building, to contract-writing and hard-line negotiations, to market statistics, to staging and interior design. Oh yeah, and then add in that small task of maintaining great relationships with everyone in your sphere and converting leads with the ease of a Fortune 500 company.

Not every aspect of real estate can be "your thing." It's important to recognize your weak spots and outsource related tasks as soon as possible. If you simply can't or won't prioritize lead conversion, even though you're paying for new leads, then it's time to release yourself of that expectation before you burn through any more money.

Inside sales agents can be extremely affordable and if you hire the right resource, your ISA might be pre-trained on best practices and pre-loaded with scripts so you don't have to spend weeks creating the right documents and onboarding processes.

Starting on day one, a great ISA can do what they do best — qualifying and nurturing prospects and leads — and so can you.

Ready for an ISA who converts predicted, nearby sellers?

What if you narrowed your sights to predicted, qualified sellers in your area? With SmartZip Outreach, you can do just that. Our algorithms predict the homeowners most likely to sell in your area and our highly trained ISAs call to build a relationship and qualify their moving timeline.

Meanwhile, you can focus on a short list of ready-to-sell homeowners waiting to hear from you. Reach out today to get a killer deal on SmartZip Outreach.

To view the original article, visit the SmartZip blog.