From A Lead To Becoming A Buyer With Email Automation

What do you do after a buyer lead submits their information to you? A lot of us just leave it at that. Thing is that, leads need time before they make a purchase. Most buyers are never typically ready to pull the trigger.

Listen to how Luke Harris builds a relationship with his leads, familiarizing himself with that lead, nurturing that lead, and it’s all done without him having to even lift a finger. All automated.

Luke has an automated email sequence that he delivers, and in this episode, Luke shares his strategy. Luke shares:

• how he organizes and tags his leads by area
• what system he uses
• what kind of emails he sends
• and how he keeps himself at the top of his buyer leads minds

Follow these strategies in order to nurture your leads making it easier for your buyers to purchase properties from you.

Show Notes:
Podio – CRM software which Luke uses to manage his leads
Aweber (www.aweber.com)
Active Campaign (www.activecampaign.com)

Jessey: 00:00 Hey there. Welcome to the REI Conversion podcast where each episode we discuss strategies and digital tools to help you launch, automate and scale your real estate investing business. Learn how to run your investing business remotely, find out ways to automate your business to better utilize your time, and learn what other successful investors are implementing so you can get to the next step closer to your investing goals, and I’m your host and founder of REI Conversion, Jessey Kwong.

00:27 Hey, how’s it going? This is Jessey of REI Conversion podcast. Today I am joined by Luke Harris once again from the Farm Finders. Luke, you’ve been on a show before and honestly, I think your episode is one of the most actionable and impactful that we have put out there. For those of you that are listening right now, if you haven’t listened, make sure you listen to his interview with me back in episode number 7 as we discussed all about how Luke was selling a huge portion of his inventory to his buyers list. I mean, Luke, you literally give away your email schedule template and exactly what you do. It’s got a downloadable on that episode. So again, I highly recommend all of you guys to check out that episode, or head straight to www.reiconversion.com/reicon007 So Luke, how’s it going?

Luke: 01:17 Good. Thanks for having me on today. I’m excited.

Jessey: 01:20 Yes. Today we’re going to dive deep into how you nurture your leads and what kind of systems or orders you have in place when somebody gets on your email list. But let’s start by going through a very quick overview. How do you gather your buyer leads?

Luke: 01:40 So I market on a number of different channels. Just off the top of my head, Land Watch, Land and Farm, Land Modo, Land Century, Land Flip, a lot to Craigslist, a lot to Facebook. Those are the majority of it. And then they all basically just get funnelled to my website. Some of them come directly as leads. Most of the opt-ins happen on our website, so they go there and then automatically get entered onto the buyer’s list.

Jessey: 02:15 Yeah, that’s incredible. I know you’ve been sort of doing that. I recall you saying you didn’t do that at the very get go, but you started early enough and you’ve now built a great email list, driving everybody to your website and collecting them. And then what is it like when somebody signs up on your list? Do they get a phone call? Do they get emails? What exactly sort of happens from a very top down view?

Luke: 02:40 So they opt in on our website. They get a little automated, kind of very informal email. It actually looks like it’s coming from an iPhone and it just says, hey, thanks for signing up. Just want to shoot you a quick email. Where are you looking for land? Something like that, and it just looks like I typed it in on my iPhone real quick. And so they get that. Probably, I don’t know, 40% of people respond to those, and then they also get a sequence of emails with videos explaining the buying process, and also the financing option and what not, and and then if they enter their phone number, which maybe 50% of them do, then they get a text and a phone call as well. Every lead that comes in from another source just automatically gets added to the buyer’s list, and then they also get a personal email and a phone call and a text from me, or I call them first and then if they don’t answer, then I send them the text and the email.

Jessey: 03:56 No, I should ask. A lot of people are going to wonder why set up an automation to get in touch with email immediately, and why do you have a sequence of things? What do you see in terms of the advantage of doing so?

Luke: 04:18 So I can call everybody, text everybody myself and a lot of people won’t necessarily respond to that, but if you just have that automated system set up, then chances are they’re going to see the material over time, and even if they don’t necessarily want to respond to me right away, they eventually will cause they will see my face over and over again without me having to do anything, and it’ll kind of slowly warm them up.

Jessey: 04:51 So in some of those emails when they sign up, do you actually ask them to reply to you, or is there a sort of any action that they need to take?

Luke: 05:03 Yeah, so the first one asked them a specific question, the really informal one. I’m trying to think off the top of my head. I actually have an offer that expires 30 days from when they opt in as well. So it’s 10% off any deal if they buy within 30 days of signing up for our email list. So that’s kind of actionable. Honestly, I haven’t looked at my sequence in a while.

Jessey: 05:35 I think what I’m trying to get here is it’s a really smart move and we do that as well, and we try to get people to respond right away through email because a higher chance that their email service won’t block your emails or consider it spam because they have replied to it and it’s sort of marked as a safe email by whatever email system they’re using. So it’s always a smart idea. Like you said, you keep it short and informal. Even a quick reply of what they’re looking for is more than enough to put you on their safe list and to make sure your emails get through, but anyways. So is there a specific timing for all these emails that go out? So there’s an informal email that goes out. You said it looks like a message coming from an iPhone. So I’m assuming at the bottom of the footer it says sent from an iPhone, and then your following emails, how many emails do you send after that? And in general, what are those about?

Luke: 06:38 It’s over a period of a couple of weeks, I believe. I’m gonna actually pull up my AWeber right now.

Jessey: 06:51 Sorry, I’m going to cut you off. And for those of you listening, AWeber is an automated email system, so you could use something like AWeber. What is that other one? Drip Campaign, I believe or Active Campaign is another one we use. Recently I’ve purchased one called Send Fox. I mean, there’s tons of them, or Mail Chimp is another common one that we all use, but okay. So yeah, back to the question. Yeah. Is there a specific timing for all of these emails?

Luke: 07:19 Yes, so they get one email pretty much right away. There’s five emails in my sequence here and there’s a one day pause between each one is just how I’ve set it up. I’ve tried … I think I am on my third iteration of an autoresponder and I basically have just kind of split tested them. So I go through and see which one I get the best results on and then I’ll keep that one, and maybe try something new on the one that’s performing the worst, whatever the open rate is. So I’m on my third iteration of that. So right now it’s got five different messages. Like I said, the first one goes out pretty much right away and then there’s a one day pause, another one, and then just a one day pause between each one. So just under week for the whole sequence to go out.

Jessey: 08:12 And some of those emails have videos, like you said, where you explain the buying process. I’m sure some of the emails you’re explaining about who you are and your business, and really the purpose of these emails is for you to build that relationship and nurture that lead, so they become familiar with your business and it’s an easy way to build trust and for you to eventually offload a property to one of those leads. Is that correct?

Luke: 08:40 Yeah. Yes.

Jessey: 08:41 Okay.

Jessey: 08:43 Driving your leads to your site is important if you’re looking to getting on the road of scaling and automating your investing. It needs to be a systemized process just like Luke’s in this interview. Once you’ve brought in leads, whether from Facebook Marketplace or any listing sites, you’ll want to capture and start automating emails to reach out to those leads, nurture them, organize them and market to them. Now this may all sound daunting, but with the right tools like we’re discussing here with Luke, it isn’t that difficult. The main thing is that you’re capturing those leads. And to do that, you’ll need a website that will help you scale, automate, and that is built to capture leads. So if you need a property selling website, whether land or house, make sure you check out REI Land List or REI House List. These sites have a plug-in we’ve built specifically for this purpose. You can funnel all your leads to make sure you’re catching them all, growing your buyers list and then running them through an automatic sequence of emails just like Luke is talking about here in this episode. Easily set up and launch your powerful strategic land or house selling website today at www.reiconversion.com. Feel free to head to the site and hit the “Book Tour” button at the top, and book a completely free one-on-one tour personally with me where I can answer any of your specific questions. Again, head over to www.reiconversion.com today and get started.

Jessey: 10:09 So generally anyone that ends up on your email list, they get run through a few automations. Like you said about five emails within a week and then they are put on the list where they’re going to get what you do, which is your deal of the week. Are there any other emails that you send out periodically just to connect with them other than your deal of the week, which is what we talked about in your last episode in episode seven, but is there any other emails periodically that you send out to connect to them with?

Luke: 10:43 Yeah, so through AWeber, I basically have two different platforms that I contact them through. AWeber and then Podio is like my CRM. And so in AWeber, I send them the deal of the week and then I do these larger sales over holidays, typically like five properties I’ll put up on sale. But other than that on AWeber, that’s all I do. I just do the deal of the week, and then I do the… I have in the past done other things. Maybe I’ll send out a video or something like that, but that’s pretty uncommon. Through Podio, they all get just kind of a reminder like here we are. The Farm Finders. Are you still looking for property? Just an automated email that goes out about every 45 days, and if we have their phone number, they also get a text message, which the whole automated texting/ marketing thing is kind of a whole other discussion.

Jessey: 11:52 Just a quick question. Do you see a better response rate through texting versus emails?

Luke: 11:58 Yes, and I don’t have a really good platform to track the exact numbers on that the way I do with AWeber. With AWeber, you can see like the open rate and stuff like that. I pretty much do all my texting through Podio, which actually connects with Click Send, so I don’t actually have good numbers on the open rate with texting, but there’s a ton of leads I get just phone numbers for and no emails, and yes, I do feel like it’s a dramatically higher response rate. It tends to be. It’s also a dramatically higher opt out rate.

Jessey: 12:40 Right. Now is there any way you go about organizing your leads when they come in? Do you put them under a specific list? Do you tag them? Again, is there any system or organization that you do with your leads?

Luke: 12:55 Yes, and that actually brings to mind something else that I do as well. So every lead that comes in, that first automated email they get, I’m trying to figure out where they want a property, and what size the property is, and I have a bunch of tags in Podio and I try to get them tagged with a County and a State, or multiple Counties and States and even a size range of a property, and then whenever I get a new property, I send out a text blast and an email blast letting everyone know with that specific tag for that property type that we have a new property available. And then also when I do a deal of the week, whatever people are tagged with the type of property that I’m doing the deal of the week or even the holiday sale on, I’ll send out another text blast and an email blast for that specific tag for that type of property.

Jessey: 13:57 Gotcha. Gotcha. Wow. Okay. So it seems like … and I’ll list out all the tools that you’re mentioning. Well, I’ll probably have to go through this with you through email and make sure I list all these tools that you’re using. Now I think you just mentioned it but I had it written down here as one of my question is we already know you’re doing deals of the week, but you said you also do discounted sales for holidays and events and what not. Is that correct?

Luke: 14:26 Yes. For holidays, typically I’ll do like five properties and it’ll be an even better discount than the deal of the week.

Jessey: 14:35 Wow. Awesome. Okay. Well, and then coming back to your phone calls quickly, you’re doing a few phone calls. What are you doing on these calls? Are you doing them yourself, or is there somebody that is helping you with that?

Luke: 14:52 No, I’m doing all the sales right now. My next big step that I really want to do as soon as possible is to have a full time sales person to be able to answer the phone anytime somebody calls, because right now I’m just doing my calls once a day and responding to people and I’ve definitely lost a significant number of sales because I’m not answering the phone, and some people get upset about it too, but it’s just the stage I’m at right now.

Jessey: 15:19 That’s a good problem you have! So I have got to ask you, you’re doing this… It sounds like you’re doing almost everything by yourself. Is that correct?

Luke: 15:29 On the sales side of it, yes.

Jessey: 15:32 That’s amazing. That’s amazing that you’re using tools. To be able to automate tools to your advantage and allows you to scale and you still be able to handle the sales all on your own. Now on the acquisition side, is there somebody helping you?

Luke: 15:52 Yes. The acquisition side is pretty much totally outsourced. I have a lady. She’s the acquisitions manager and she’s gotten very competent. She’s really much, much better than I am at it and she handles all that.

Jessey: 16:05 Oh, that’s amazing. Okay. Awesome. Luke, this has been another jam packed episode. I feel like if you guys are listening, you’re going to need to rewind this back and take some notes. There’s just a lot going. There’s a lot that you’re doing here. Luke, you’re an incredible investor, but even more incredible is how much you’re open to sharing it and the value that you provide to the community. Honestly, I’ve got gotten a gem out of this episode and if you guys are liking this, please connect with Luke. He’s on Facebook. You can also find him inside the REI Conversion community for land investor group. Let us know your thoughts or if you have any questions or if you need any clarification, you can find us inside of there. Luke, am I missing anything in terms of how you’re nurturing your leads, and what you’re doing to connect with them once they enter into your buyers list?

Luke: 16:59 No. I believe we’ve pretty much covered everything.

Jessey: 17:03 No, that’s awesome. Well once again, Luke, thanks very much for coming on this episode. I know you’re probably very busy at the end of this year, and I’m going to probably have to have you back on the show again, but anyways thanks for listening everyone and Luke, thanks again for joining me on this episode.

Luke: 17:22 Yes, absolutely. It’s a pleasure. Thanks.

Jessey: 17:24 Before you stop this podcast or head to the next episode, I want to personally thank you for listening to this episode of the REI Conversion podcast. If you found this helpful, we’d greatly appreciate an awesome review and rating on whichever platform you’re listening to this on. And if you have two minutes and wanted to step it up even more and help others, feel free to share this in other Facebook groups or pages or any communities, giving others a heads up of the REI Conversion podcast or this specific episode that may help them on their investing journey. Once again, thanks very much for listening and catch you on our next episode.