Property Management Growth with DoorGrow DGS 188: Eliminating The Biggest Time Suck In Property Management Sales
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could eliminate the majority of all sales follow-up and get a higher close rate? There is a way to almost completely eliminate the need for following up in sales.
In this episode, property management growth expert, Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow, spills the secrets to eliminating follow-up in property management.
You’ll Learn…
[01:12] Eliminating the Biggest Time Suck in Sales
[02:41] Always Schedule the Next Interaction
[07:23] What to do When You Get Resistance
[09:30] Getting Follow-Up Permission
[11:54] Giving Leads an “Out”
[13:00] Collapsing Time in Sales
Tweetables
“Wouldn't it be great if you could eliminate the majority of all that follow-up and get a higher close rate.”
“The only reason you need to follow up with people is because you failed to schedule the next interaction.”
“The way to eliminate follow-up altogether is to not have to not have to follow up. It's scheduled already.”
“Eliminate the need for follow-up by always, always, always schedule the next interaction if you can.”
Resources
Transcript[00:00:00] Eliminate the need for follow-up by always, always, always schedule the next interaction if you can.
[00:00:05] All right. Welcome, DoorGrow Hackers to the #DoorGrowShow. If you are a property management entrepreneur that wants to add doors, make a difference, increase revenue, help others, impact lives, and you're interested in growing your business and in life, and you're open to doing things a bit differently, then you are a DoorGrow Hacker. DoorGrow Hackers love the opportunities, the daily variety, the unique challenges, and freedom that property management brings. Many in real estate think you're crazy for doing it. You think they're crazy for not because you realize that property management is the ultimate, high-trust gateway to real estate deals, relationships and residual income.
[00:00:42] At DoorGrow, we are on a mission to transform property management, business owners and their businesses. We want to transform the industry, eliminate the BS, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. I'm your host, property management growth expert Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow. Now, let's get into the show.
[00:01:05] So today's topic. I started late today because I was like, "What do I want to talk about?" And I was thinking about what I wanted to talk about, and the topic that I decided on is eliminating the biggest time suck in sales to close more property management deals.You want to close more property management deals? One quick way is to eliminate the biggest time suck that happens during sales. You want to know what one of the most important things it is to do, but also one of the biggest time sucks in sales. It's follow-up, right? We know that if we don't follow up, you're way less likely to get the deal. If you don't have a good sales CRM, you don't have good follow-up mechanisms in place, you're less likely to get the deal sometimes just following up, gets you the deal. However, if you're spending the majority of your time following up all the time, wouldn't it be great if you could eliminate the majority of all that follow-up and get a higher close rate-- higher close rate than if you were spending most of your time following up-- by eliminating it. I know that sounds crazy. Right. "How could I do that?" I'm going to share with you a secret that I've taught my clients over the years. That's been very effective, something I use in my own business, something I train my sales team on, and this is how to eliminate the need for follow-up.
[00:02:22] So what is follow up? So if you do a cold call or cold interaction with somebody and maybe schedule a call, and you get on a call with them, and you talk with them and maybe it goes pretty well. Then, you need to follow up afterwards-- is what people think, but the only reason you need to follow up with people is because you failed to schedule the next interaction. So, I'm just telling you this secret. It's really simple. The easiest way to eliminate follow up and increase your close rate so you collapse time on the sales cycle, so it takes less time to close deals and you get a higher close rate you're making more money, and the way to eliminate follow-up altogether is to not have to not have to follow up. It's scheduled already. Schedule the next interaction. This is the big secret. It's one of my major key principles I teach in my Sales Secrets training in DoorGrow Academy to our mastermind clients. Eliminate the need for follow-up by always, always, always schedule the next interaction if you can. So what does that mean? What does that look like?
[00:03:30] So let's say you do a cold interaction with somebody and they're like, "Yeah, maybe I'll listen to you. Let's set up a call," and you schedule a call. Well, odds are because it's scheduled, you're going to show up, they're going to show up. You don't need to keep like reaching out, following up, right? Well, during that call, one of your main goals at the end of that call might be to close the deal, but likely you're not going to close the deal on just two interactions, right? A cold one and then one where you kind of pitch your third interaction-- maybe. Maybe it's going to take multiple interactions. So during each interaction, if you always make it a goal to schedule the next interaction-- So you're talking to somebody you're like, "Hey Susie, it's been great getting to know you and your property management needs, really excited where this conversation's going. I think you might be a good fit for our portfolio of properties that we manage. I'd love to set up the next call and go to that next step and share a little bit more detail about what we do," or if they say, "I needed my spouse or business partner," like, "Cool. Let's set a time and bring them to that call. I'll send you some material to check out between now and then. Let's set up a time. When do you think would be a good time where we could all three get together.
[00:04:37] So you want to schedule the next interaction, and the way to do that is you just want to ask them like," how's Thursday at two?" give them a time so they can say yes or no. Don't say, "_When _is a good time," I will ask, "When would be a good time? How's Thursday at two?" So I ask the question, and then I give them an answer. So ask the question, like, "When would be a great time for us to get back together?" And "How's Thursday at two?" then it's a yes or no, it's not like, oh, they start thinking about all the 10 things they have in their week. If they can think of three things, they have to do that week or three things they have to do in a day, they feel overwhelmed and they think, "I'm totally busy that day. I'm so busy this week. I've got my kids starting school. I've got a dentist appointment, and I gotta get my dog groomed." so they're like, "My week... I'm thinking of these things..." and our brain usually can't hold onto more than like three things a lot of times.
[00:05:34] This is why everybody uses lists of three. And so they're going to go, "Oh my gosh. It's not a good week. I've got like three significant things," when they have like maybe 40 hours in a week, maybe more, you know, available that's being spent towards different things throughout the day, work, etc. Maybe they have plenty of time after hours, but there might be a time, right? So if you say, "Well, how's Thursday at two?" If it's a no, they're going to say, "Well, that doesn't work for me," and you're like, "Okay. How's Friday, like maybe at 10:00 AM?" So you can just start trying different times if you have your schedule up while you do this. So get your schedule ready before you end a call or conversation and schedule the next interaction. Always, always, always schedule the next interaction. This is the big secret.
[00:06:20] So if they don't, if they don't take a time, if they give you like some excuse, they might not be interested. That might be the case. But usually what'll happen is they'll say something like, "You know what, Thursday at two's not good. Actually, this week's crazy. Why don't I reach out to you?" That sort of thing. So that puts the ball in their court and now you're going to have to follow up.
[00:06:41] I don't like following up because following up makes you appear needy, and needy is creepy in sales. I want you to be high value. I want people to be wanting to work with you because you're so great. I want people to think of you as the sexy guy or girl at the bar, right? The sexy guy or girl at the bar does not get with everybody. That doesn't make them attractive, right? They're picky about who they work with or who they get with or whatever we're talking about. So you want to be that attractive person at the bar. You want to be that attractive person that says, "You know what? I'm not sure if you're a good fit for our portfolio. I'm not sure if I want to work with you."
[00:07:19] That's another. Hack or tip or secret. So if they resist and they're like, "You know what, I don't know what a time is," I usually just then do the takeaway. The takeaway in sales is just, "Hey, you know, if this isn't interesting to you, Susie, it's totally cool. Just let me know and I'll take you off my follow-up list." usually, if they're not interested, they might say, "Yeah, you know what? I'll reach back out when/ if I'm ready, whatever," they're basically saying in a nice way: "I don't care about what you offer and I'm not really interested, but it'll continue to be nice and waste your time and you can follow] up endlessly with me, keep chasing me, and eventually someday you might figure it out, but I'm not just going to come out and tell you, so just let them off the hook. "Hey, if this isn't interesting to you, if there's other companies you really would rather work with for some crazy reason, then just let me know and I'll take you off my follow-up list.
[00:08:07] Otherwise, I know how busy you are..." this is where it's going to continue unless they do take the out-- "I know how busy you are, so I will continue to follow up until you either tell me, no, you're not interested or I get you on as a client, just letting you know." So then you're letting him know, like the only way out of this loop of follow-up or of appointments or out of your sales process. The only way they can get out is if they're honest with you and they tell you, "No thanks." That's it. They take the out, or they sign up as a client. There's no excuses or like, well, maybe later or, you know, this sort of thing. So go for the next action, like get the next interaction scheduled. If you can't get that, try doing a takeaway. If you feel resistance at all, try doing a takeaway, and what they usually will do though, is not that what they'll usually do is they'll lean back into you because now you're saying, "Well, if this isn't interesting, I'm happy to just take this away." and that's the takeaway in sales. So they're going to lean back into you and go, "No, no, no. I am interested. It's just really a crazy week," and you say, "No problem. I totally understand. When would be a good time for us to get back together? How's next week, maybe on Tuesday? Do you have your calendar ready?"
[00:09:27] and so then they're like, "Yeah, next week would be good." Now, if you can't get the next scheduled interaction, the booby prize is to get follow-up permission. So if they're like, "Well, I don't know my schedule next week." You're like, "Ugh, I'm trying so hard." They're like, "I don't know my schedule next week." and you're like, "Curses!" So then what you're going to do is you're going to say, "Hey, no problem. Why don't I send you my schedule link? I have a calendly.com link. I'll send you my Calendly link. You can pick whatever time works for you. If I don't see something come through by Monday, would it be fair for me to reach out? Would it be okay for me to reach out and see if we could get something scheduled?" and they'll say, "Yeah, sure. So now it's in their court. They can use your schedule link, but it's their choice. And if they don't do it, you're going to follow up. So then you just put a note in your CRM, 'follow up on Monday if nothing's scheduled,' and you check on Monday, you're looking at your list of things to do, and you're like, "Oh, they didn't schedule. I don't see a Calendly or a calendar event scheduled. I'm going to follow up with them."
[00:10:29] So you reach out and you call them up and you don't do a typical follow-up where you sound needy or creepy. You say, "Hey Susie, um, I had down in my notes here to reach out to you if I didn't see something come through, as far as scheduling a time, see if we could get back together. You'd wanted me to reach out and get a time scheduled, so here I am. I'm calling. When is a good time?" And then, if she gives you more resistance, do the takeaway again, and you continue this cycle and they stay in this loop with you permanently forever until they give you a no. Now I generally have kind of a three-strikes rule. So if I feel deep down intuitively that I'm just chasing somebody and they're wasting my time, I just completely take it away legitimately. I'm like, "Alright." I just send them an email or note or if they're ghosting me or I'll just tell them on the phone, "look. I've been following up with you or trying to reach out for several weeks now. It doesn't sound like this is really something that might actually happen. You know, if I'm wrong, let me know but you may just being nice. Yeah. I don't know, but I don't want to waste your time or waste mine, so when you're ready to get it serious about this, or you're ready to move forward, or you want to work with the best property manager in Tucson, Arizona, (or wherever you're at) feel free to reach out, and we can have a conversation and see if we're going to be a good fit for each other. Sound fair?"
[00:11:48] And they'll say, "Yeah, yeah, that sounds fair." "Cool. You know, I'll let you go." Right. So that's kind of what I would do. Sometimes, you need to just completely pull out and take it off at the table and let them know. I've even gone so far with some clients that were like wishy-washy, ghosting us that I know are not going to be good coaching clients... I just take it away from them because they've unqualified themselves. Sometimes I'll take it. I'll let them know, "Hey look, our sales team has had a really difficult time following up with you. You're difficult to reach. You don't respond to our texts or our emails. We can only work with clients that are communicative. We only want to work with clients that do this, that this..." because it's about what you want too, right? "We only want to work with clients that we can help get results that communicate with our team, that aren't difficult, they don't ghost us, they like communicate. And so far, you've proven that you're not that client. So if in the future, you are interested in doing this, which you've told me multiple times that you are, we'll need to have a conversation to see if you're ready to become serious about this and kind of go to the next level and be reliable n communicating with us. Sound fair?" "Yeah. Okay." "All right, cool. You know, good luck, and when you're ready to reach out, we can have that conversation."
[00:13:00] So hopefully this is helpful. So really simple, put them into a loop, a cyclical loop that you're going to continue of more effective follow-up by always scheduling the next interaction, and if you can't, schedule follow-up permission. You basically get permission to follow up. "Cool. Would it be okay if I follow up on Monday or early next week if I don't see something come through and reach out? Would that be cool? And they'll say, yeah, that sounds fair. That sounds cool, and you just keep doing this, so eventually they're either going to have to tell you "no" to get rid of you and be honest and let you go, or they're going to work with you, and they're going to appreciate if they are interested. Eventually, if they're not, they'll let you know. But if they are interested, they will be impressed by your commitment, your follow-up, and your follow-through in doing what you say you're going to do and being your word and keeping your commitments. You reach out on Monday. "I'll follow up on Monday with you, or I'll follow up with you early next week,: and you reach out then. "Cool. Do you still want to do this? If you're not interested? It's cool. Just let me know. I'm a big boy. I won't cry. Just let me know, and I'll take you off our list. I don't want to waste your time or mine. It's totally cool."
[00:14:08] And then they give you some sort of additional excuse that's them saying " yes." And if they don't, then you're gold. You just keep doing it. And you're going to get way more deals and you're going to waste a lot less time following up. So I hope this has been helpful, and for those of you that want to be in a community-- that's free-- of property management entrepreneurs that are supportive, that want to make a difference that want to help other people, people that resonate with, me and my message and DoorGrow and our show, then join our free community on Facebook. It's the DoorGrow club. The DoorGrow club you can get to by going to DoorGrowclub.com. So check us out there and we would love to have you join our group and a community. Really, I do these episodes for free. And my team pushed me to do it. Like I love coaching clients, but sitting here just talking and hearing myself talk isn't super exciting to me.
[00:15:00] The only thing is exciting about doing these podcast episodes is I know that it's going to help someone. Some of you and I, you know, I like making money, so I know it's going to feed some of you coming to us. We get a lot of business from the podcast, but really, I do this just to serve, I do this and make a difference, and I'm hoping this benefits you. If this did benefit you in any way, if our episodes do, please leave us some feedback. Like we want to hear what you think about the show. We want some reviews on iTunes. We want some reviews on YouTube. Comment on YouTube. Where are we at? Where else are we now? We're on Spotify now. Wherever you see us-- I think on the Google play store or some other place-- so wherever you're listening to this at, make sure you comment or leave us some feedback or review and we're going to start giving some shoutouts. We monitor these reviews and I'm going to try and get my team to pay attention to those of you that are doing reviews.
[00:15:49] Make sure your name is in it or on it. And we'll give you some shoutouts if you give us some feedback or anything, we'll acknowledge what you're talking about most likely, so. Give us a good review, and we'll start doing some shout-outs on some of these shows. So we'd really appreciate that.
[00:16:03] So, and that is it for today. So that's it. Bye, everyone.
[00:16:08] You just listened to the #DoorGrowShow. We are building a community of the savviest property management entrepreneurs on the planet in the DoorGrowClub. Join your fellow DoorGrow Hackers at doorgrowclub.com. Listen, everyone is doing the same stuff. SEO, PPC, pay-per-lead content, social direct mail, and they still struggle to grow!
[00:16:35] At DoorGrow, we solve your biggest challenge: getting deals and growing your business. Find out more at doorgrow.com. Find any show notes or links from today's episode on our blog doorgrow.com, and to get notified of future events and news subscribe to our newsletter at doorgrow.com/subscribe. Until next time, take what you learn and start DoorGrow Hacking your business and your life.