Calling for Condos and Dialing for Domiciles

We recently posted on how you and your buyer agent can collaborate to find an off-market property before the general public knows it's available for sale. Blanketing a neighborhood (or condo development) with a personal letter is an excellent strategy for beating the competition to a great home in a popular location. 

Another effective method is to ask your agent to call the households in your preferred neighborhood. Similar to the personal letter, an effective phone call campaign allows you to connect with property owners who are planning to sell in the near future. Here are a few tips for a successful phone call campaign, which we've learned through trial, error, and on-the-job education.

Five Tips for an Effective Phone Call Campaign

1. Your agent should create a short script about you and your home search. The script should mention your first name as well as a few details about what type of home you'd like to buy. These personal touches signal to sellers you're a legitimate buyer, and that the agent calling on your behalf isn't just telemarketing the neighborhood for new listings. 
2. For best results, your agent should use a telephone number database that is designed specifically for this type of project. Our real estate team uses the Cole Realty Resource database. This is an excellent resource for identifying the names, addresses and telephone numbers for residents who live in a specific geographic location. With the Cole database your agent can pull all of this information based on a map-based search. She can also screen for telephone numbers listed on the do not call registry. 
3. Another best practice is to load all of the telephone numbers into a phone dialer such as Vulcan7. With a Vulcan7 call list, your agent can make her phone calls in an efficient fashion while easily keeping track of which home owners answer and which do not. For the property owners who don't answer, your agent can leave a pre-recorded voice message. The voice message will prompt potential sellers to call back. 
4. A phone call campaign is especially effective when used in combination with a letter campaign. Your agent will uncover more leads by 1) blanketing your target neighborhood with a letter about your search, and 2) following up your letter with your phone call campaign.
5. Your real estate agent should also call the neighborhood/condo association manager for your preferred location. Quite often the association manager is the one of the first people to know about an owner's plans to sell.

A Sample Phone Script

Here's a phone script that works very well. It's short and sweet with a few personal touches. With this script your agent can expect to uncover one solid lead for every 20 to 25 contacts. 

"Hi, thanks for taking my call. My name is _______________ from _________________. I’m calling on behalf of my clients, _________________ and _______________, who are looking for {mention a few details about the home search here}. They've seen everything on the market in the neighborhood already, and they’re still looking for the right home. Do you know anyone in the neighborhood who has been thinking of selling but hasn't put their home on the market yet? If so, I’d be happy to introduce ___________ and ___________ to their home."

A Sample Pre-Recorded Message

For the home owners who don't answer the phone, your agent can leave a pre-recorded message like the one below in order to generate call-backs. 

"Hi, my name is ______________ from ______________. I’m calling on behalf of my buyers, _____________ and _____________, who are looking for {mention a few details here}. They've seen everything on the market already, and they’re still looking for the right home. Please call me at __________________ if you know anyone in the neighborhood who has been thinking of selling. I’d be happy to introduce ______________ and ______________ to their home. Thanks for your time and for thinking of my buyers."