Dialer Best Practices

Introduction

Calling your leads regularly will help you stay connected to your potential clients--especially if your local market is competitive. Assuming that your competition is also using email drip campaigns, property alerts, market reports, etc., then one of the best ways to stand out is to make sure you have a plan and a tool that you can use to call your leads on a regular basis to stay in contact and build relationships. 

Deciding Who To Call

Cold Calling / Prospecting Calling

If you have lead lists like FSBO or expired leads, make sure to import them into Chime and then organize them by groups/tags (see Lead Organization with Groups or Lead Organization with Tags). You can use Smart Call Lists or Standard Call Lists to call these leads on a regular basis. Chime also has a Three Line Dialer that you can use to increase your calling efficiency! Click here to add the Three Line Dialer now or click here to upgrade your existing dialer seat.

Standard Call List functionality can be set up using Pipeline stages or Groups. For example, if you imported all FSBO/Expired Leads into Chime and put them into the "New Leads" pipeline with the tag/group of "FSBO" or "'Expired," then you can set up two standard call lists: one for Expired Leads and one for FSBO. Remember to give an exact name to the call list so that you can identify it easily.

Example of Groups: 

Example of adding call lists based on Groups: 

After creating these two call lists, you can start dialing by clicking the green call button. 

When cold calling, you will likely come upon leads who ask you to never call them again. For these leads, remember to put them into a "DNC" (Do Not Contact) group or pipeline stage while you are on the phone with them. This is easy to do because the lead profile will be populated on the left of the screen while you are calling each lead. You may also want to select their number and mark it as DNC as well (if applicable). 

Smart Call Lists are based on your Chime tasks that are scheduled for today or are overdue. So, in order for these lists to be populated, you need to make sure you have tasks associated with leads either by adding them manually or by having a Smart Plan assigned that is doing this for you. 

Using Expired Leads as an example, you could prepare a Smart Plan specifically for this type of leads (or consider using some of the built-in plans available in the library). More information on setting up a Smart Plan can be found here: Smart Plans. If you want to do this quickly and easily, you could simply make the Smart Plan 1-3 call tasks. Make sure the tasks are indeed CALL tasks, otherwise they will not trigger onto the Smart Call lists. 

Be sure to also set up the triggering criteria so that the Smart Plan is auto applied (if desired) or that you know how to manually apply it later on.

After tasks are associated with leads and due either today or are overdue, these leads will be added automatically to the Smart Call Lists that you can access on a regular basis:

Nurturing Leads

If you have a "Nurturing" or a "Cold" pipeline stage in Chime, you can use that criteria, plus other filters, to set up call lists as previously outlined in this and other linked articles. Reaching out to this type of lead is an important way to stay in contact. A powerful way of using Smart Plans is to mix in manual call tasks with automated emails/texts so that you can call every now and again to stay top of mind. 

Past Clients

Deciding When To Call

One Inman Study suggest that calling between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. yields the best results as far as connection rate is concerned. However, this really depends on your area, your client preferences, and the specific individual you are calling. If you can, document the best times to call leads. Categorize your leads so that you know how to handle future calls and can easily access notes to remember any important details prior to making a phone call.  In the end, find what works best for you and your clients.

Suggested Call Frequency

The answer to how many calls you should make in one day depends on your goals and who you are calling. One Inman study explained that it took 208 calls to get an appointment or referral. In other words, it could take about six hours to obtain one appointment. Set your goals for calling based on these basics. Also, keep in mind that you want to tailor your calls towards your audience. Do not call leads that you already have a relationship with using the same strategy used for cold calling, etc.

With the Chime Three Line Dialer, you can easily call through long lists of leads in much less time than you would when dialing out with just one line. Click here to add a new Three Line Dialer package or click here to upgrade your existing dialer package (*IMPORTANT: Only the Team Admin/Owner can buy or upgrade dialer seats).. (Only team owner can buy or upgrade dialer). 

Call Script Preparation

You definitely do not want to use a script if you are unable to make it sound natural. The key to not sounding robotic is practice as you already know. Memorize the basics of the script and then practice until it sounds natural. You can always role play with another agent, your spouse, children, etc.

Do not be afraid to change a script to make it more in tune with your personality and with how the lead responds.

Click here for just one source of cold calling scripts that you may refer to. You can always search online for more scripts that you might find useful. 

Questions?

If you have any questions regarding this topic or any others, please reach out to our Support Team via email at <support@chimeinc.com> or by phone at 1 (855) 981-7557.