Is your listing not selling? Feedback is critical to getting it sold. Here is the EXACT feedback system I used to sell my last listing.
I received response to a feedback email I sent a while back. The buyer’s agent said her client wanted a home in a community with a recreation facility.
Turns out they missed the community rec center in their preview. I replied to her email with directions to find the community rec center and preview it.
The agent replied to the email with an offer.
I seldom if ever reply to listing feedback solicitations myself though.
Why?
Most feedback requests give me as little to go on as the listing agent’s name. There is simply not enough information for me to figure out which listing they inquiring about.
When I do provide feedback the agents are specific in their requests and it takes me a few seconds to email them back.
I have taken the best of what I have learned and created a simple listing feedback system that gets great results. This is the system I used to sell the listing I mentioned.
Below is an outline of the EXACT email I used and how to sell your listings with it too…
Click image for a larger view
The critical aspect is “jogging” the agent’s memory. It is also important to use a consistent subject line with keywords so you can easily search for feedback in your email system.
Automating your feedback emails
Most keysafes can be configured to provide opening notifications. These notifications provide contact info for agents showing your listing. The CAN SPAM Act prohibits us from automatically replying to these agents through an e-mail software.
This leaves us to follow up ourselves. There are services that ignore the CAN SPAM Act. They scrape these notifications for you automatically e-mailing feedback solicitations. However, they risk your email being black listed from Gmail, Yahoo, and major email servers or worse yet getting in trouble for breaking the law.
When you have a template, such as the one above, it’s quite simple to manually follow up with the agent’s yourself.
- Copy & paste your template new email.
- Put the agent’s name at the beginning of the subject line.
- Put the agent’s email address in the “to” field and click send
There is an optional step to increase conversion further. If you know the agent append your email with a short personal note. The more personal you are with any communication the higher your response rate will be.
Gmail User Tip: The Gmail plug-in called “canned responses” allows you to create easy to access email templates for each listing. Saves you from clicking copy and paste.
Tips for Making your own template
Be short and concise many people check email with mobile devices these days. Long communications are cumbersome to check this way. Think of your email as being like a text message.
Focus getting ONE response your main goal is to get feedback. Avoid talking about anything else.
White Space is King do not be afraid to use a little white space, numbered lists, or bullet points. Makes your email easier to scan and read.
Pictures are worth a thousand words always include ONE picture to jog their memory.
Post Script many people read the bottom of the message first. Put in a PS to help them focus on your message & helping you.
Hook them with their name in the subject line people scan email subjects in their inbox. When they see their name the message stands out.
Continue thread from subject line in first sentence of email email systems have a summary view where the messages are checked. This summary view starts out with the subject line followed by the first sentence of the email. Make the two flow together.
Open ended questions draw out more insightful answers you would not have otherwise thought of.
Close email with a call to action that assumes the agent wants to help you such as “Let me know your feedback…” or “Looking forward to hearing your feedback…”
Don’t be afraid to follow up twice no response to first email? Resend, and follow up with a phone call to the agent. If you get their voicemail tell them you’d love feedback and that it’s easiest to reply to the email you sent them. This process gets me nearly 100% feedback on all of my previews.
Don’t delay I check my preview notifications daily. It takes about 15 minutes to reply to all of them this way. The sooner you reply the fresher the feedback will be in the agent’s mind.