The real estate industry is a big one, and if you’re trying to sell properties, you have a lot of competition. In fact, there are over two million active real estate agents in the U.S.
With so many competitors, it makes sense to utilize a marketing method that not many people use, such as Chat Marketing. This style of marketing has many benefits for any business, but when it comes to real estate, you can offer some truly valuable methods to your customers by thinking outside the box.
Not quite ready to stick that “Sold” sign on Chat Marketing? Take a look at these six ways Chat Marketing can help you grow your real estate business.
Eliminate Potential Obstacles
Selling a house isn’t a straightforward process. Things can get dicey even at the very beginning when the homeowner needs to approach a real estate investor to find out what their house is worth. Many people feel embarrassed about doing this, but that’s where Chat Marketing can save the day. By removing the need to speak with a real person, a chatbot can smooth out the process and make homeowners more likely to reach out. Utilize your own bot to help people figure out how much their house is worth, and gain clients at the same time.
Matt Leitz from BotBuilders.com used ManyChat to create a bot for real estate investors that would negotiate deals. In this case, he linked ManyChat and Zillow to tap into available data. The bot would ask a homeowner how much they felt their house was worth, and after the homeowner answered, the bot would weigh their estimate against data found online. The bot, then, was able to tell the homeowner if their number seemed too high, the awkward part of the interaction.
At some point in the process of a real estate deal, you’ll have to include a live human being, but bots can get things rolling.
Provide an Immediate Response
You probably already know the importance of getting back to clients in a timely manner, but new data shows just how important lead response time is. According to the Real Estate Trainer, your chances of securing a new client plummet if you don’t respond to an inquiry within five minutes. What’s more, almost 78 percent of homebuyers choose the real estate agent who answered them first.
If you don’t respond to inquiries right away, your business could lose some serious revenue. Luckily, Chat Marketing is the perfect avenue to solve this problem. You can use ManyChat to create a bot that gets back with clients immediately — and retains those clients for your business, not a competitor.
Deliver Information
In addition to helping facilitate a deal, Chat Marketing can provide other valuable information to customers. For instance, you could set up your bot with a mortgage calculator so prospective homebuyers can figure out exactly what they would owe each month. You can also use your bot to figure out what someone is looking for and where they are in the homebuying process:
- Have they sold their previous house?
- What’s their budget when it comes to something new?
- What questions do they have about real estate?
Once your bot has sussed out this information, it can provide them with content that answers these questions either by providing a link to your blog or sending over a specifically-created resource.
Cater To Your Specific Audience
Your customers expect you to be on social media. They also expect you to respond quickly to inquiries. And they know their way around an email inbox and the messages section of their smartphones. So by offering up-to-speed technology such as Chat Marketing, you’re catering to your audience of younger, tech-savvy people who expect the businesses they patronize to have SMS and Live Chat options.
Save Time
Chat Marketing can save you time, removing administrative tasks from your plate so you can focus on the meat of your business. One way to do this is by simplifying the booking process by connecting your chatbot to your calendar. Have your bot ask a prospect if they’d like to arrange a viewing and then allow the bot to walk the client through the process of scheduling.
Position Yourself As Unique
Not every real estate company has a chatbot — far from it. So if yours does, you’ll stand out from the crowd in the best way possible. In fact, brokerages that have a live chat option on their website see a 36 percent increase in leads. There is a never-ending stream of examples of chatbots working wonders in their markets—why not give it a try?
“Bots give real estate professionals a unique selling point that their competitors don’t have,” says Leitz. You already know there’s a lot of competition in this industry, and by using Chat Marketing and chatbots, you can get closer to the end result.
And according to Leitz, the end result is just what you want: More leads, more engaged prospects, and ultimately, more sales.
