For More Valuations, make that call!

by Craig Vile

With more than 25 years’ experience as an estate agent, Liza Daniels heads up our outsourced call service, Managed MovePal. She says there is no substitute for getting on the phone when you want to turn leads into valuations.

“When you get them on the phone it’s a golden opportunity. You can lead the conversation to where you want it to go, you can spot opportunities – it puts you in control,” she says.

“You have to guide the conversation. If they’ve generated an online valuation, I would always ask what prompted the request.

“That’s an open question – so it requires more than just a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. Even if they just say that they did it out of curiosity, I’ll say ‘great – but have you any plans to sell in the future or rent out a property? The key thing is that you’re prompting conversation while keeping an eye out for opportunities.

“Even if they don’t want to do anything right now, they might be candidates for future business.

“Texting has its place of course, but if you want to explore opportunities, there’s no substitute for calling direct, it offers that opportunity for the personal touch.”

Perhaps now would be a good time to remind ourselves about the value of ValPal leads:

• 36.7% of all ValPal leads instruct
• 18.5% of all ValPal leads go on to sell
• 72.7% of ValPal leads are lost to another agent

“Speed to lead is crucial,” says Liza. “Agents often don’t have enough hours in the day to get to leads quickly enough. That’s where I come in.

“Over the last couple of months the lead volumes have been crazy. More and more people are clearly beginning to think about their properties again. It’s all about confidence. Everything is on the right track and there are some very positive signs.

“What you have to remember when you’re making these calls is that you are dealing with people. And buying or selling a property is one of the most stressful things you can do. Having sympathy and empathy when you are on the phone definitely helps. These are actual people making difficult decisions for all sorts of different reasons. You must never forget that.

“If someone is a little bit unsure or uncertain, I ask them if it would help if we were to come around and value the property. Sometimes they say yes and that’s fine. Sometimes they might say they were thinking of selling but the valuation was too low. I’ll then explain that the best way to determine the exact value is to come over and see it - so when would be a convenient time? You always need to have that next open question at your fingertips.

“These are things you’d never be able to do if you’re communicating via text.”

We asked Liza for her list of top questions to ask potential vendors and landlords to maximise results.

Here are her top ten tips:

1.What motivated you to generate the [insert what they’ve enquired about, e.g.] Sales valuation/ Rental valuation/EPC guide/Landlord Compliance Checklist/Fire safety checklist, etc.

2. Is this your only property?

3. Do you have any other properties we could help with?

4. What is your property situation?

5. When can we come and do an in-person valuation? Does morning or afternoon work better for you?

6. Are you a landlord?

7. How many properties do you have? Where are they? What are they?

8. Do you manage your property yourself? If they say yes, I’d ask what would tempt you to use an agent? If they say no, an agent manages it for me, I would ask what fees they charge and say we would be more competitive.

9. What are your reasons for thinking about selling? Downsizing? Need a bigger property? Etc. This might mean that they could also become a buyer.

10. Do you have a timescale in mind for selling?

 

If you’re looking to book more valuations, get in touch with our team to find out how we can help:

0208 663 4930

team@valpal.co.uk