How did you get my number?

How did you get my number?

I participate in a lead generation system provided by my company.  My goal is to follow-up on my leads daily, and contact any new leads as soon as I am able to.  I try to get to them immediately. If I’m with clients or otherwise occupied, I just call or email as soon as possible.

The call

So yesterday a lead came in, and I happened to be sitting in front of my computer when it did. I looked up the listing and grabbed the phone and dialed the lead’s number immediately.

And the conversation went like this:

Lead: “Hello?”

Me: “Hi!  This is Kat from Better Homes & Gardens Rand Realty.  I see you are interested in property in such-and-such a town.  How can I help you?”

Lead:  “Uh [pause], WHO is this?”

Me:  “This is Kat from Better Homes & Gardens Rand Realty!!!!  I’m calling to see how I can help!”

Lead: “WHAT COMPANY are you from?”

Me:  “Rand Realty.”

Lead:  “HOW DID YOU GET MY NUMBER?”

Me: “Uh, you gave it to me.”

So then I had to explain that he entered his number and his email address into this specific website and after a few minutes he trusted me enough to answer a few questions about his needs.  This type of conversation doesn’t always end this well.

The outcome

This is a message addressed to anyone who is searching for homes online.  If you see a house you are interested in and you click a button that says something like “I am interested in more information” and you then put in a phone number and/or an email address, that information gets sent to a real person.  It may or may not be the listing agent for that particular listing.  But there will be a real estate agent that receives your request for information. They will attempt to email or call you.  That agent is calling to assist you, not to annoy you.  They are calling to service your request for data.

Unfortunately, I have had people bite my head off for calling them. I have had people obviously pretend they are not home. Seriously, I know it’s you.  “I’m sorry, but I, uh, Roberta, is not home” doesn’t cut it. If you don’t want help, then just say so. don’t hit that “help me” button if you don’t want assistance.  If you DO want help, “This is Kat from Better Homes & Gardens Rand Realty and I’m calling to help!”

How did you get my number?