Quality matters more than quantity when it comes to following up with leads. However, it’s normal to wonder how much follow up is enough (or too much), and it can be useful to frame your strategy with hard numbers.
We recommend a certain maximum number of touches throughout the lifecycle of an inactive prospect. Every lead is different, and if you’re conducting your outreach effectively, you may need far fewer. We call it the 3-7-10-2 follow-up plan.
This guide contains a detailed strategy for how to follow this plan on a day-to-day basis, with action items for the first few days, weeks and months of contact with a prospect.
The formula is:
3 total touches the first day
7 total touches the first week
10 total touches in the first month
2 touches per month after the first month
PREVIEW:
Day 1
- Intro phone call – leave voicemail if no answer
- Send intro text if you do not connect by phone, with the goal of coordinating a phone call
- Still no response? Send intro email by end of day
Day 2
- Send follow-up text
- Send follow-up email
Day 3
- Send another follow-up text
Day 4
- If no response yet, pause outreach for one day
Day 5
- Send a personalized text with a call-to-action about the initial property of interest or a similar property
- This will capture their attention and show your interest in their search
Within 30 days of initial inquiry
- Send three additional follow-up attempts using alternating methods (call/text/email) if you haven’t yet connected
- If you have connected, use method prospect is most responsive to
Each month after initial inquiry
- Make two outreach attempts
- Leverage text to increase the likelihood of your message being read and responded to – close to 100% of all text messages are read within minutes of receipt
