INDEX:
2. How to set up filters to find candidates to buy a property
3. Automatic filters to find candidates to buy a property
4. Personalised attention filters to find candidates to buy a property
1. Introduction
Showing a family with children a loft, a large duplex to an elderly single person, high standing homes to a young student couple… Although we should not categorise or fall into the cliché, there are certain situations that can become unproductive when making appointments with clients, basically because the profile of the potential buyer has not been previously taken into account or that the buyer has not had access (or has not been able to access) information that will help him or her get to know the home in depth. As a result, they are less likely to buy a property.
These wasted hours and hours showing a home that does not convince the client (or that escapes their possibilities), can be avoided and invested into finding the right property if we previously apply a series of filters before visiting the home. How can we find the best buyers for each flat?
2. How to establish the filters to find candidates to buy a property
The first thing is to divide and establish the actions and tools that will automate these processes as much as possible. The maxim “time is money” must be a priority in every real estate agent, and any system or tool that serves to get the client the information he or she needs, will mean considerable savings not only in visits, but also in meetings, consultations, mailings, calls, etc.
Therefore, we must classify the filtering system by means of the automatisms (tools and information visible from the web or portals) and by means of the information that the client provides us with (budget, family situation, priorities…).
3. Automatic filters to find candidates to buy a property
We understand automatic filters to be those that fall into the first category: information or software that allows any interested party to find out as much as possible about the property, so that without having to mediate with any agent, they can assess whether or not the visit to the property is in their best interest.
To do this, all properties must have basic information such as the number of rooms and how they are distributed, the dimensions of each one, the exterior and interior rooms, the height of the property… but also information beyond the address, the price and the items described that may be advantageous or decisive, such as the type of floor, whether there is a communal lift, the community fee, insulation, air conditioning, a floor plan, etc.
All of this should be accompanied by tools that serve to qualify/detail all of this information, such as high-quality images, videos, etc.
For a greater degree of satisfaction and filtering, the virtual tour software allows the client to make the visit as they wish and with a degree of detail that corresponds to reality (they are made with 360º cameras that take in every corner of the house and offer a personalised tour of it).
Mortgage calculators and automated chats (robots that answer doubts through predetermined FAQs) are other elements that add to this first filter that includes the automatisms, among others.
4. Personalised attention filters to find candidates to buy a property
Although all the tools described help (and significantly too) in this filtering in search of the ideal candidate, the management and ultimately the approval of a profile as valid, must come from the agent, who the sooner he is assured of this, the less time he will invest in the development of the sale and the more he will ensure that it is closed satisfactorily.
To do this, the agent must not work as one of those bots or as a secretarial or administrative employee without going further : we must escape from the urge to fill out the appointment schedule and ensure that each one of them is arranged with a high probability that the sale can be closed.
To do this, a personalised questionnaire can be used to find out if they are suitable candidates or if, from our experience, we feel that they are not in front of the desired property. In the latter case, we must avoid rejection “just because”, and kindly recommend another property that we have in our portfolio to them.
This is the case, for example, with mortgage costs: many clients make their calculations by adjusting their budget to that indicated in the property file, without taking into account key factors such as mortgage costs, commissions, down payments, etc. This array of numbers can mean that when it comes to having decided on the property, they can no longer afford the house causing frustration for both parties the client who loses out on their ideal property and the agent who sees a sale escape when he had everything to close it.
Finally, it should be noted that these two filtering phases do not necessarily have to be independent of each other: the real estate agent can intervene or participate in the tools that make up the first filter to enrich them. This is the case of 360º virtual tours, which can also be carried out by means of videoconference so that the agent can solve a client’s or several clients’ doubts at the same time while the property is being visited remotely.
It is also the case in which automated chats are not managed by bots but by the agent himself, answering the doubts from the file with this tool among other examples. In short, it is a question of not so much attending to dozens of visits in the hope that one of them will turn into a sale, but rather ensuring that each one of them is in the correct position to do so.
