How would your life change if you were able to convert ten percent more of your leads into deals? It is easy to do and you are already spending money to generate those leads so why not take full advantage? Having a follow up system or tickler system in your real estate investing business is crucial for massive success. If you create a powerful system you will close more deals and make more money, it is that simple. Here are two systems that I have or am currently using for a follow up system?
- Accordion file – I love this method because it is so darn easy to use. You will want to get an accordion file that has 30 or 31 slots. One for each day in a month. As you complete seller call sheets, or whatever it is you use to keep notes of your calls, you file the form in the accordion file for the day you want to follow up. For example, if you want to follow up in a week and today is
April 7th you will file your form in the slot behind the number 14. Each day you will pull all the forms out of the slot for that day and do your follow ups and then file them for the next time you want to follow up. This works great if you take physical notes for your leads and use a form of some kind (which I highly recommend by the way). - Contact Management Software – This is simply a software program that keeps your contacts for you where you can save notes. It also needs to have a calendar that will remind you to do things. I like and use ACT by Sage. http://sage.act.com/offer2013ppcnew/ A system like this allows you to take notes that you can see when you pull the contact up and you can schedule follow ups. It makes it really nice if you don’t have physical files for each lead. It can be a little pricey and there is always risk of losing data so there are some downsides but it is nice to keep all your contacts including Realtors, lenders, etc in one place. If you do go this route please be sure to back up your data regularly.
There are three important considerations when you are setting up your follow up system:
How many times do I follow up?
In my current business I will follow up four times in a row with no response before I remove them. If they respond or I am able to reach them I start the follow up system over. I will also remove them if they ask me to otherwise they will hear from me on a consistent basis. On my last follow up before being removed I am normally a little more firm asking them for the courtesy of a response.
How do I follow up?
A phone call is obviously the best but I think you should mix in email or even direct mail when you can. For seller leads you often times won’t have email. Sending a quick follow up letter with another phone call a day or two after the letter was to arrive seems to work pretty well. The letter can be a simple 
handwritten note asking for a phone call. This is not that tough to do. Remember these are only people that you have already talked to so it should not be too many to handle and they are normally pretty warm leads. Sending follow up letters will help you get through a lot of follow ups quickly but it costs money and does not work as well as phone calls.
What do I ask for?
Obviously you ask for the business but please don’t forget to ask for referrals. Make sure they understand what you do and that you can help their friends and family that are in a similar situation and have a house for sale. People typically don’t even think about giving you a referral until you ask for it.
Good luck with your prospecting and your follow up system. Please keep Pine Financial Group in mind if you need any help with the financing on any of your fix and flips deals.