Sharpen Your Skills and Stay on Top of Changes in the Market

As the market normalizes and it takes more effort to make a sale, it’s more important than ever before to be on top of your game. For OSCs this means working on your phone skills, your follow-up skills, your database prospecting, your metrics, and your overall re-commitment to the duties of an OSC.

What are we talking about when we say Phone Skills?

Well, up until recently anyone and everyone was banging down the door asking for an appointment, and if we threw enough against the wall, we were seeing major conversions into sales. Well, it’s time to re-evaluate and make sure we are setting strong, qualified appointments. It means asking questions and building rapport. This means slowing down and taking time to get to know the person on the other end of the phone line.

You should never get off the phone without the following information:

• Name
• Phone number
• Email address
• Time-frame (And motivation for that time-frame – is it flexible?)
• Price range (How much flexibility is there with this range, have they talked with a loan officer?)
• Area (What is the reason for that area, and is that flexible?)
• Wants, needs, and desires (Their WHY for moving.)
• Are they working with a real estate agent?
• Do they have a home to sell?
• Are they ready for an appointment and if not, what are the next steps.

Follow-Up Skills

If things are slowing down for you, it’s time to audit all of your follow up emails in your CRM and make sure the messaging is in alignment with what is going on currently with your company. Back when COVID hit we talked about changes to messaging, well now that interest rates are on the rise, people are more concerned about purchasing, and leads are slowing down, we need to make sure we are putting buyers minds at ease and helping them through this process. It’s time to redo our video emails, look at our other tools and make sure all of our messaging is in alignment with the company and the goals.

As we are refreshing our follow up skills it’s important to make sure we have proper follow up processes in place. That no lead in the database is going without some sort of follow up unless they are a “Dead Lead” or “Purchased.” If they have not been disqualified, they should have some sort of follow up attached to them.

Make sure you have next steps, and calls to action in all your follow up plans.

Database Prospecting

There are lots of leads that probably slipped through the cracks in the last 3-6-12 months. It’s time to beef up your revival processes and put out surveys, videos, and text messages to try to get those old leads to give you an update as to whether or not they are still looking to buy a home. Make sure your database is clean, you are using ratings, and have sales follow up processes in place.

Metrics

Make sure you are, at minimum, tracking the five basic metrics that make up an OSCs goals. These are the

• New visitors to leads generated per month
• Leads to appointments per month
• Appointments set to appointments show per month
• Appointments that show that convert to sales per month
• OSC Appointment sales to overall company sales per month

Re-Commit to the Job

When things slow down it can test your commitment to this position just as much as the last two fast and furious years probably have. Now it’s going to be tougher to make an appointment, tougher to keep your volume up, and tougher to make a sale. Remember to keep an abundance mindset. When you keep your energy levels high you will naturally help people when they call and give them your highest and best. It is not unusual for the real estate industry to ebb and flow. You can still be successful if you continue to sharpen your skills, keep a positive attitude, and adopt a no lead left behind mentality.