Real Estate

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Real Estate – On Hold Messages

Hello and welcome to another “Industry Spotlight” episode in the On Hold Message Maker (Video Guide Series/Podcast series), my name is Carl Hitchmough and today we’re going to focus our attention on the Real Estate industry.  We’ll have a look at some suggestions on what you could include in your message, some things not to include, why it’s great to have an on hold message in the first place and how you can get the most out of it.

So let’s delve into it then shall we?

Now real estate, correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems any industry that sells for a living gets a bit of a negative run in the trust department.  So I’m guessing that you’re countering that as best you can, trying to improve any negative perceptions, you’re super-serving, you’re providing valued-added customer support and the like.  So that may be one of the thoughts behind why you’re getting an on hold message sorted – it’s one more way to provide value and build trust.

More than likely you have someone in place professionally answering all your callers promptly and efficiently on reception or something similar, still the on hold button comes into play quite regularly.  Obviously this isn’t your preferred option and you’d like to avoid it, if at all possible, but unfortunately it probably happens more than you realise.  When you get a few calls at a time, when you’re checking further into a caller’s query, dealing with a tenant at reception, taking deliveries from the courier, if you’re transferring calls to someone who’s not quite ready to pick up immediately, all these very common daily activities may lead to you putting someone on hold.

Now what your clients hear at these times is totally up to you.  The options are pretty open, from just silence, maybe something that comes preloaded with your phone system, your favourite radio station, a cd from your collection, or the one we obviously prefer – an on hold message – literally any audio source you can plug into the input jack of your phone.  Keep in mind any of these comes with a bit of baggage.  Some may require specific licences to use them legally, a financial outlay, and if your taste in music is out of kilter with your clientele or you just play silence down your line, the research numbers show your callers aren’t going to hang around for very long.

So that’s why we recommend you put some thought into this opportunity you’ve been presented.  Spend a moment and think about how you can use your on hold time to communicate effectively to your callers, to provide them with something beneficial while they wait.  Make it worth hanging around.  And no matter whether you’re a one man agency or part of a massive nationwide network – the positive impression you present while someone’s on hold will go a long way to attract new clients and keep the returning ones happy.

Now it’s a fair assumption to make that your callers will have a fairly clear picture of what you provide, but if you think it through beforehand, your on hold will allow you to splash a little more colour and substance on your craft and flesh it out with things that they may not yet be aware of.  Your message lets present yourself in a perfect light to an already motivated, captive audience as they await your return to their call.  Think of it as some sort of tireless ambassador for your company, someone who is happy to inform, educate and reassure your callers with endless enthusiasm.

So what sort of things can you mention?

Before we speak about specific things you could mention in your message, we probably need to keep in mind first how most on hold messages are structured.  Usually they have with a bit of information, bit of a gap and then another paragraph and so on.  It’ll probably run for a few, maybe four or five minutes and then loop back to that start.  So adding that up – you have about six thirty second or so marketing opportunities, with a ten second gap between them.  So you can cover a fair amount in that time.  Like what?

Well we don’t want to spend this time relating obvious things people naturally expect you to offer or they can find out elsewhere.  That’s not to say covering some of the basics isn’t beneficial, we just don’t want to waste this opportunity by loading it up with light-weight content.  If you think ahead you can maybe cover these basic things in a single paragraph.  Communicate things like your range of services, your exact street location, how to find you, where clients can park when they arrive, your opening times etc.  By all means include some of these – but not extensively.

Keep in mind that when people contact a real estate agent, they pretty much have an idea of what you do.  They’re looking for someone with an in-depth understanding of the market, good local knowledge, plenty of resources and solid professionalism to help them out with a property enquiry.  So you’d want to reinforce this image with the contents of your message.

One clever thing to do is to head things off at the pass by covering off some of your frequently asked questions.  Exactly what they are you’d know better than me – but answering a few of them may save you time and frustration when your prospective client comes off hold, so you can focus on helping them with the bigger questions.

Of course, if you have great content on your website – especially if you answer these FAQs on there, by all means highlight the fact encourage callers to check out all the details in depth on there when you’ve finished talking with them.  This in itself portrays you as someone who shows concern for you caller’s time and has their best interests in mind.

Providing valuable advice and suggestions would be greatly received by most callers.  If you can save them money, time, effort or pain with a key bit of insider knowledge, by all means mention it.  Do you know how to get things through council fast?  Any tax benefits or cost savings available?  What aspect works best in your market – are the mountains best when viewed to the east etc.  If you can give me a couple of handy tips or tricks – I’m thinking you’re ok.

In your message, think about promoting your credentials.  People are reassured to know you have the support of a national network and many decades of experience.  Highlight the quality of your staff.  You could even actually name key people and their fields of experience.  Have you won any awards recently?  This reinforces your value and professionalism.  Just remember to do it subtly and with a smattering of humility.

Something more impressive that you could include in your message is your vast awareness of your local area.  As a local, make sure you sell the sizzle.  Talk about local amenities, are you close to the beach, the river or the hinterland?  What major activities happen around town?  Are you close to the largest shopping centre in the country, or home of a particular big piece of fruit or crustacean?  Do you have a well-known festival you can make mention of?  What about local heroes that have done well on the global stages – sporting legends current or past?  Highlighting these colour pieces about your area shows you have pride in your town and have your finger on the pulse, a quality a prospective new resident would find comfort in knowing about you.

Do you offer other services such as commercial real estate and rental property management or similar, maybe you do free evaluations and pest inspections, can you suggest a great cleaner or removalist company in town?  Mentioning things that may not be instantly obvious is like the old “would you like fries with that” upsell technique.  Again conveying your interest in customer service.

If you’re really keen and wanting to keep things extra fresh – you could even highlight particular properties.  Presenting a montage of standout homes or premises could even whet your caller’s appetite and get the ball rolling on a sale… feel free to include me on the commission payout on that one.  Of course – to make this work best you’d need to really have you finger on the pulse and keep the contents current and updated often.  There’s ways we can help you to do this without it costing the earth too – ask for more info when you come off hold… see it works

To sum up things then, if you put a little effort and forethought into it, you can have full confidence that when you press that on hold button on your phone system, your callers are going to get value.  They’re going to feel respected, that you value their time enough to provide worthwhile advice and thought out content that they can derive immediate benefit from.  And this will obviously leave them with a positive impression of your company.

When used well, an on hold message:

• Enhances your image.
• Ensures your clients are well aware of your key points.
• Upsells your clients to other services you provide.
• Answers commonly asked questions.
• Sets your clients’ minds at ease – reassuring them they’ve come      to the right place.