So last week we did a very detailed kind of run through on the different functionality of Pop deal, how to use kind of the basic updating, and I run you through on Friday about how someone like Bow uses it. And what I realized is that a lot of different people have a lot of different approaches. I’ve personally been doing real estate here for not here, but in my life, nearly 20 years, since I was 18 years old.
But I have a much different approach to someone like Bow. Not saying it’s right or wrong. There’s just going to be people in your markets that also have 20 years experience that will be doing it to this level.
So I want to give you guys a bit of insight about how I think and would update one of my clients, one of my fresh new leads that I get and how I take them through from the first initial Pop Deal lead all the way through to a viewing on an offer. I’m not going to go much further than that. I think that’s enough.
So I actually devised quite a while ago my own checklist, and this is something that I’m happy to share with you guys. Anyone who’s interested in getting access to this, after the call, I’ll make some updates and changes. I’ll use chat CPT to update some of my email formats because it’s really good for that, but I want you guys to have access to this.
But what I realized when doing sales myself, and it’s the same for rentals, but not necessarily detailed, is there’s actually a number of different steps along the process you need to go to or go through to take a client from their initial inquiry all the way through to actually being a closed sale. And that starts off all the way from the investigation stage. The one thing I notice a lot of people don’t do is they ask the what you want, they don’t ask why you want it.
And this is something that I think actually defines the whole way you process a client after that. Let me try and load this up. It’s not loading.
So the main questions you should ask are very standard in any sales process. What are you looking for? What’s your budget? How many bedrooms? The usual stuff. Everyone knows that stuff.
But the real question people miss out is the why. So whenever I had a client, I was always finding out what their motivation is. Are they buying purely for investment? Like, why are you moving to another property when you already live in one? There’s those core questions that will help you define the future of your search of that client.
And you also get to understand their mindset about why they’re currently in the market looking to either buy or rent a new property. And by understanding their mindset, you can basically put yourself in their shoes and better service them. Also, the other question I had to ask for a lot of Paul, because they’re not based here, they don’t necessarily know Thailand.
We have a lot of foreign clients. Some of them have been in many years and know it all, of course, as we’ve seen many of them, and some of them have only been here for a couple of weeks, or they’re just about to come here for the first time. The other question I always ask is, how well do you know Thailand? Like, how often do you come here? Which places have you been before and stayed before? What is your favorite place? What properties have you actually looked at that you like and you don’t like? That question there will change the whole approach to how you service the client after that, because you find out exactly what they actually are interested in or they’re really not interested in.
And you can actually save yourself a lot of time by asking the why question and how well they know Thailand. The other thing particular for clients that are looking to buy or invest in a property, I’d ask them if they know about the ownership laws, and I’d go through it in a very, very detailed way about what they think the process is, and then I’d take a step back. I wouldn’t necessarily answer all the questions on the phone about how to own leasehold versus freehold.
I would take the questions they have, I’d write them down and I would send them our Help desk section. I’m not sure Mike went through it last week, but I can show you it and share it in the email after, which has a load of information about the taxes, the transfer fees, the legal ownership. And I would send them their questions that they asked me in a really detailed email after that, just saying, these are the four questions you had about the buying process.
Here’s all the answers that we put together for you in a very structured way, because people forget, people get confused between the process and the ownership. So we need to make sure we give them an utmost confidence by sending the content to the market. And then I’d ask a very general question I wouldn’t necessarily go into personally, this is how I did it.
Obviously there’s five different ways you can do it, but I found this to work best. I’d ask them what their ideal property to buy or rent is, but then they give me their wish list and then I break it down and work out exactly which one of those particular things is actually a priority, a need, or something they want. There’s a big difference between what people say they’d like to have and what people actually need.
I’m not going to go too detailed into that, but that just gives you an idea. And then obviously the last question is their ability to view this question helps define whether someone’s actually ready to view and buy now or rent now, or they’re willing to wait for the right property to come along. And it helps you identify who you should prioritize.
And this is a really important part because you get a lot of leads in a day. You get a lot of clients you’re managing, and you need to make sure you’re spending time with the guys that are going to buy the next few days or view in the next few days weeks, and then the guys are looking in a few months. You can deprioritize the time you want to spend with those guys.
That’s a really good one. So I’m going to go back to the Pop deal manager here, and let’s just treat this like it’s a brand new lead. It hasn’t got any details on it.
What I would typically do is I would look for the notes, check the frequently asked questions. This is a rental, but I’m going to treat it like it’s a sale. I’d see what he said in here.
I’d look at what he inquired on, and then I’d call the person up almost immediately, and I would basically go through some of the questions there. I’d be like, Hi, I see you’ve inquired on X, Y, and Z in this unit. You just tell me a little bit about why you inquired on that property.
That’s the first question I ask. I don’t go into, I know you want to view or how much is your budget? I would just ask why? And as soon as you ask why, you almost feel like you actually care about that customer. Why do you want to buy that? You’re calling up like a friend, like a consultant, and then you let the guy just feel most times when you ask that question, the client will just start talking, and you won’t actually have to ask any more questions.
They’ll start telling you why they like it, what they’re looking for, what they’ve seen before, how often they come to Thailand, why they’re moving to a bigger property, why they’re moving to another location. They’ll give you that information on that first open question. So try that question.
And then once I actually get all the information, I typically spend between ten to 50 minutes on a call with someone for their first call. If I could spend more, I will, because I’m going to spend the next couple of months working on that client. I need to make sure that first call I built Rapport, and he actually likes me, believes in what I’m saying, believes in my ability to service that himself, basically.
Then I would tell the client at the end of the call what I’m about to do. I say, hey, Mr. Klein, I am now going to send you three, three or four recommendations of what I think would be the best matches.
I would love your feedback on them and not saying, get back to me straight away. You can either reply back to my email or I will give you a call back tomorrow at the same time I’m calling you now and the client will okay, at least you told the client you’re going to actually give them a call back so you don’t necessarily get blanked or he gets too busy. At least they know you’re going to call back and add very detailed notes about the client.
Let me just pull up the notes I’ve done in preparation. So just regarding the email, I did a couple of template emails as an example here again, using chat TPT. Mike did a session last week about how to use chat TPT.
To define what I do differently on these emails is I would add in the filtered search of what he’s looking for. So if he’s looking for a property in Bangkok for up to 4 million, I would add that filtered search link into the initial email. Because even if you send them three or four options, they may not be the right ones.
You can’t get it right every time. You can’t expect the client to be like, yes, those are the three I want to view right today. You still want to educate the client about how to use the website, how to search and use the filters and make sure they go out and spend time finding other properties in the filter.
Searching always do. The area a bit wider and the budget a bit higher, so you make sure you cover much larger scope of what you think the client is looking for. A lot of clients are usually flexible in their budget and they’re usually flexible in their location as well.
They can go a little bit further out for a better property. They can spend a bit more money on a better property as well. Rentals and sales, that both applies.
So what I would typically do is show three properties on here that I think are best. Then I’d add the filtered link to show them all the properties. And then I would go and create a filtered search link on Fazwaise.
I would rename that on the save search so I get notified for that client as well. I think Mike showed that on the last session. I’ll add it back into the email I sent around after.
But do use that save search functionality. There’s no way you’re ever going to know about all the new properties that come on the market. At the moment, we’re adding about 600 new properties a week.
So although you guys are in the office talking to your colleagues, the only way you’re going to get notified is either by checking the website daily or by setting up the saved alerts on your email or through the fazwaise platform to make sure that you get notified instantly about a new property. And make sure your competition doesn’t beat you on that property that might be right for your client. So I’d take the email, add the link at the bottom.
I would update the last line, just confirming the time. I’m going to call back the next day. And I would also invite them for feedback on email.
Sometimes people want to have an email response. They don’t necessarily want another call, which is fine, but I think if you tell them you’re going to call back and they’re expecting it, it does change the dynamic. You’re taking control of the process of the situation, how you like to work with them.
Okay, so that’s what I do. I’d send an email. I’d go and add very detailed notes.
This is an example of just notes that I had. I’m going to show you inside here on this particular client. I’d add the notes so you can see what I’ve put here.
I’ve checked the client history, so I know how to approach sections are not the right one. That’s a different one. Apologies.
That’s my process. Here we go. There, that’s better.
So this is a really good example of how deeply I used to qualify clients. I would know exactly where the clients from on. I’d know they’ve been to Thailand for X amount of time.
They’re even married, they’re single or they’ve got kids. So you know how many bedrooms they need. I’d know how often they travel.
I’d know what they do for work. It’s interesting to know what they do for work because then you can kind of judge if they’ve got the finances, if they run a company, if they manage a company, where they’re based, how often they’ll travel. So they need to be near the airport.
There’s lots of little unconscious cues you can get out of knowing a bit more about the client’s profile in order to service them better. Then I’d know how well he knows the area. I’d put in exactly the area, kind of roads or where they want to be near.
I’d say they’ve got transport he really owns. I would like to own a condo to rent out. So I know he’s an investor.
He understands high level about the process, but wants to understand about taxes. He’s looked at these two units. His budget is 5 million, but could stretch to six for a nice unit.
Again, like I mentioned before, only needs a one bed, but can be rented out for six months or stay vacant. He likes building sex wines. I just put an example there and he’s ready to view virtually, if he likes the unit, he’ll fly over again.
These sort of clients are very hard to know how much time to spend with. But you have to treat every client as serious until they prove otherwise. You have to think every client is going to buy relatively soon unless they tell you they’re not going to.
Even people that say, I’m not quite ready, I’ll come over when I find the right property. We’ve seen number of cases that they say they’re six or twelve months away. See a great property an agent has sent them or a property recommendation has sent them and they come over in a few days and buy or rent the property.
So don’t always take what they say as fact, but try and work within their means and understand their priority might not be the same as yours and their time frame of when to get back to you might also be different. And then I always put the next steps in my notes so I know exactly what I’ve got to do with that client. So I’m just going to save that one.
That note, I’m going to pin it at the top because that’s the original qualification. That’s the most important information I need to know. That’s probably the most detailed conversation that I have with this client over the next few months.
So I need to make sure I have quick access to that. I would even take a snapshot of some of this. I’d probably just cut out.
Part of that client is based here. I would remove this part here. Just don’t irrelevant, ready to buy.
If buying unit 6 million in BKK asok one to 40 for investment. And I’d say that just so it appears in my manager view. And I can get reminded about each client because you do remember the conversations you’ve had, but not necessarily the detail of conversation, but that little note there can trigger you thinking, oh, this is a good client, this is a priority client.
And also, if need be, add that this guy’s a hot client. I know that he will buy. I know this client will buy if he’s given the right service, if he’s got the right information.
Okay, going back. So then what’s my next step? Now I’ve done the discovery part and I’ve identified the knowledge about Thailand. I also go through the legal process.
I’ve got a couple of documents here. So again, because the actual process between inquiry to viewing can take time, I try and provide other value along the process. So I devised all different information.
I’ve got a whole folder about reports in Thailand, about key information about what the rental returns are, what the highest best properties are. And I’ve got all different information about Thailand as a whole. So I have to sell Thailand as a destination and then the particular location are in to make sure the client really sees value and actually does end up buying or staying here.
So I would send them a really detailed information about Thailand. It would also be where’s the other document? I believe it’s here. All different services we provide, just so they’re aware that we aren’t just a sales or rental company.
We can help them do a number of different services along the process. We can help them do all the transfer we have a transaction team. I would make sure that client throughout the next few weeks gets sent different emails and different information about all different services and offerings that we have just so they see the value in working off.
They’re going to be speaking to five, six, seven agents at any one time. So sending an email of recommendations is what everyone does. The people that are on the next level keep sending valuable information to educate the client about buying, selling or renting in their particular market.
Really important to stand out. You have to find ways to add more value than the typical agent and become like the 1% again. If you guys aren’t doing it, there are people like me in your markets that are going above and beyond to win the customers away from you.
So I’m trying to give you guys every little step, every little inch you can have to beat the guys next door. Yeah, I’ve got pictures here. I’ve got structured emails about how to send the recommendation email, talk through the recommendation email, how you call the client up after and talk through it.
I’ve got consultation, call key selling points, what’s good about the property, this is more about handover. Let’s go back to this particular part here. The other thing I need to do is make sure that the activities are set, but they’re really specific.
I’ve just spoken into him today. I want to have a call, I’m going to be called to follow up on email recommendations and walk him through why I chose them and schedule virtual viewing, virtual save, and then even go a bit beyond. And just first put app.
If no response on call, send him app message telling him I called and that I will call back in an hour. It just takes a little bit of pressure. If you not sound like you’re chasing them, you’re telling them you’re chasing them.
You’re saying, hey, try and make yourself available in 1 hour to walk with a recommendation. I’ve spent time out of my day and my job to basically help you with those properties. So please give me the respect back.
I’m going to call you. Let’s walk through them, let’s find out if you like them. Save that’s now.
Got two future activities added. There’s no way I can miss that. Going to be booked in into my activities section and I’m going to follow up on that tomorrow.
When I come in tomorrow, I’ll check the activities. I’ll see that I’ve got a call scheduled for the end of the day or 10:00 a.m. Whatever time it is, and I’ll make sure I do that.
If he doesn’t reply back to me, I’ll send him a WhatsApp. I’ve already sent him an email, so no, it’s another chaser email. I think that’s pretty much enough today of me rabbiting on.
I will cover a couple other different sessions this week. One thing I’d ask everyone to do is there’s a survey that went out on Friday. Just asking if there’s any questions you have, any extra parts you want more deeper feedback or explanation on.
So please go back and fill out the survey and make sure you tell me or tell everyone what exactly you think we’re missing. And I’ll cover that in the next couple of sessions in a much more deep dive, answering some of those key questions, because there were some really good ones so far. But if you guys can all kind of bash your heads together and come back to me, feel free to.
And don’t forget, if you want access to the inside sales checklist, you have to reach out to me personally. I want to see who’s engaged, who’s interested in getting it, and who wants to have kind of the next level of client management that is required to beat the competition. Okay, thanks very much for today, everyone.