Hey Moguls, it’s David Corbaley here bringing you a lesson that will help you quadruple your conversion rate with foreclosure deals...
I’m going to teach you how to handle callers who are just seeking information, but then you convert them over to actual deals. There’s a lot of material to cover, so I’m creating 3 parts to this lesson. Welcome to Part 1.
We’ll be talking about how to take inbound calls, and we’ll cover how to control the conversation, plus I’ll explain the different kinds of callers that you’ll encounter when you take inbound calls. I’ll share the opening line that I use (and I recommend that you use as well), and we’ll discuss how to determine whether or not they’re a motivated seller.
We’ll also talk about the problem of saying too much during the inbound call. A lot of times that can scare the seller away. You’ll learn about some of the possible objections you may run into. And I’m also going to give you inbound calling services that you can use if you don’t have time to answer the calls yourself.
Handling Inbound Calls
Realize that handling calls is an art. At first, it may not seem simple or easy, but I want to help you make it simple and easy. Keeping it simple will significantly increase your conversion rate.
There are a lot of techniques to taking inbound calls, and I’m not trying to pretend that I have the only way of doing it. The ultimate goal is to convert the caller. If what you’re doing right now is working for you, then keep on doing it. Hopefully there are some techniques in this lesson that will help you increase your conversion ratio.
On the other hand, if you have no clue how to do this, then take what I’m presenting here as a base and use it to pull in some deals from the inbound callers.
Control the Conversation
You want to make sure you are controlling the conversation with the homeowner. Don’t let them control you in the conversation. On the flip side, avoid having a rude attitude.
Realize that everyone has a story and a lot of homeowners will try to tell you their story. That’s why you need a technique for being efficient, effective and fairly quick with the homeowner.
The call should last no more than 45 minutes. My typical conversation is about 15 to 20 minutes. That’s usually enough time to get a basic idea of their situation and find out what they want to do—whether they want to sell or want to keep their house.
Types of Callers
In my experience, I’ve found there are several different types of callers. It helps to be able to identify each one as quickly as possible because knowing that will guide your conversation.
The Seller
My favorite kind of call is what I call the seller. This person wants to sell their house—you can’t even talk them into keeping their house. In their mind, they’ve already written the house off. They are emotionally detached. They just want to sell—period.
Keeper
This person is insistent on keeping the house. No matter what you tell them, they want to keep that house. And that’s okay because later, I’ll show you exactly how you can handle that… how to turn keepers into sellers. It’s not what you have to do. They will do it themselves.
Fishing for a Deal
These are people you want to avoid because they are simply looking around for the best deal. Usually when they try to bid investors against one another, it means that house has a foreclosure.
Tire Kicker
This person is out there just looking for information. They have no intention of making any decision whatsoever. You can recognize them because they are not entering into the conversation that you’re having. If that person is not motivated, then do your best to get off the phone as soon as possible.
The Talker
This is the person who talks on and on incessantly and will keep you on the phone for two hours if they can. This is an example of when you must take control. Do not let them waste your time.
The Angry Human
You don’t find this type of caller very often, but every now and then, you do. This is the homeowner who is full of anger. They are angry about life in general. No matter what you do to help this person, they are going to be angry. They may swear, they may call you names, you never know what’s coming. When you happen to get the angry human, just get off the phone. You don’t have to take abuse from anyone. You are in this business to help people. Just hang up.
How to Navigate the Script
How you walk through the call depends on the type of caller you’re working with. Start at the top of the script and work your way through, but remain flexible.
The opening line is to “Prep” the script. Basically, what I do when answering the phone is say:
“What are you most interested in doing—keeping or selling your house?”
This question alone will set you apart from most investors, because most investors will not say anything about keeping the house. Most will not show any interest in asking the homeowner what it is they want to do. They’re more interested in steering the homeowner into selling. I don’t think that’s the way to handle these calls.
No matter how they answer, I will say:
“Let me ask you a few questions about your property and based on what you tell me, Almost every single time they are going to say yes. But if they say no, then they’re not a serious seller. It’s time to hang up and move on. Once you get a yes, you can ask these questions:
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Name - if they have already given their name, don’t ask again. Treat this just like a normal phone call. Be conversational—maybe ask for the correct spelling. Or say, “Excuse me, what was your last name again?”
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"Is there anyone else on the mortgage or deed?” Find out if they are married, because in some states it requires the signature of both spouses for the sale of the property. It doesn’t matter if only one name is on the mortgage, if they are married, both need to sign. You need to know who will have to meet with me and who will be signing off on the deal.
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Phone – try to get at least 2 phone numbers from the homeowner.
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Email address
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“What is the physical address of the property we will be discussing.” (Some people have already moved away from the property in question.)
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Mortgage information:
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What’s the principal balance on the first mortgage?
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Ask about payments and if PITI is included in that amount.
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What type of mortgage?
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How many months behind?
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Once you know the amount of arrears, add a couple thousand to that to cover rate fees and attorney’s fees. (These are different in each state.) This will help later on if they decide they want to try to keep the house. Ask if there is a second mortgage. If there is, you need to get the same information for the first.
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“Are there any other liens on the property?” This answer may determine whether or not you want to take on this property.
This is the point in the conversation that you can reiterate their desire to sell or keep the property...
The answer you get will determine how you continue the conversation. And that’s what we will cover in Part 2 of this mini-series. Based on this information, I’m going to show you a technique that can absolutely quadruple your conversion rate.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
Your Experience
What’s been your experience in talking with those facing foreclosure? We want to hear. Leave your comments below.
Get comfortable with talking to sellers by using a script – but sounding conversational.
Learn the different types of callers so you’re not wasting your time on a dead-end deal.
Practice seller calls by role playing with a colleague or friend.
David Corbaley
joined the military right out of high school and became a special forces green beret. After 10 years he exited and joined the Seattle fire department. He started his real estate investing career in 2002 and bought his very first property on a lease option. After learning multiple ways to do a deal, like most investors do, he found a serious issue: He kept going broke. He was doing everything the courses said, direct mail, signs, ads and everything else. Same results: Do a deal, get paid, then find himself with little money all over again. Do another deal, get paid, etc. Over and over. The problem was not having leads to fuel his business. No leads or sporadic leads = no/sporadic business.
Finally, he went back to his Commando roots, and approached it from an unconventional standpoint. Then it happened. After 2 years of R&D and testing, he relaunched in 2006 and ended up doing 7 figures that year. It’s cool to have become a sought after marketing master. Companies now seek him out to consult for their business and marketing strategies. He’s known as “The Marketing Commando”, and for good reason: He’s trained thousands of real estate investors and business owners how to turn on the REAL power of marketing in their business.