The reality is that ISAs are becoming a bigger part of profitable real estate teams.
And it’s 100% true.
Back in 2004, Gary Keller’s book, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, described the role of inside sales agents as mere “telemarketers.” Today, the ISA’s role has progressed to the point where organizations have entire departments dedicated to inside sales or they outsource their ISA efforts to companies who engage and qualify leads for their teams.
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent 2 is to be released soon and shifts its outlook on the ISA by introducing it as a “Key Role” that should be introduced as early as possible in the team building process.
ISA’s are all in all fairly new to the real estate space. It was a natural evolution from glorified “receptionist” to “lead qualifier” to full blown commissioned sales positions. The ISA role has become much more than simple “lead scrubbing”.
The basic job function of an ISA (Inside Sales Agent), whether they are virtual or in-house, is to usually be the first “human” contact made with a new lead. They progress a lead up to the “qualified appointment set” step but stop short of going on listing or buyer appointments, and they don’t walk the client through the sales process. ISAs are, however, highly trained and accountable salespeople; they are licensed and can do front-end functions including prospecting, following up with and nurturing leads, and setting appointments.
The primary purpose of having inside sales agents is for leverage and scalability. Due to the overwhelmingly busy nature of a real estate agent, having a designated ISA leveraging lead generation, follow-up, and appointment scheduling is a smart move.
A great ISA can generate upwards of 70 additional transactions for your business annually. They can also take care of your past client database as well, ensuring that your business remains front of mind with regular follow ups (which is something 80%+ of agents don’t do).
ISAs are adept in internalizing scripts used in lead generation. A very effective ISA can set an appointment with one call to a cold lead, which, if you’ve ever made cold calls to leads, you know it isn’t easy.
ISAs are the first point of contact for inbound sales inquiries such as website registrations, listing inquiries, sign calls, Facebook registrations, direct-mail responses, and radio and TV ad responses.
The best ISAs have prior phone sales experience, but you can’t always find people with experience in inside sales. At a minimum, you need candidates that have direct selling experience, which means they were not an order taker, cashier, or support person. Preferably, the candidate is versed in situations where they needed to ask the consumer to take an action and buy something in order for the salesperson to get paid: car rentals, car sales, gym memberships, property and casualty insurance, financial planners, mortgage reps, door-to-door sales, and so forth. You do not want customer service reps who simply received inbound calls looking for product support, nor do you want retail sales experience. Although those employees are considered salespeople, they generally don’t have the experience or training to do the type of lead nurturing and appointment setting that is needed in the inside sales role.
In short, the answer is a resounding yes. If you want to have armed appointment setting assassins, you have to constantly role play and coach them to constantly get better. It’s an investment that will pay massive dividends.
If you’re looking to grow and scale your business or you just want to increase the results you’re currently getting you need to make the investment in a virtual ISA or in providing your in-house ISA the best training from experienced trainers/coaches.
If You’re Ready To Take Your Business To The Next Level with an new or existing ISA, we can help.
At Appointments Today, we offer ISA coaching to help you and your ISA add more value to your prospects and ultimately increase your conversion rates.
Don’t have an ISA? No problem. We can hire one for you. We’ll craft the ad, filter your applicants, conduct phone interviews and train your newly hired ISA to ensure you have a rockstar setting those appointments for you.
We understand exactly what it takes to drive consumer motivation so you’re able to convert more appointments, more consistently in your business. Your community will benefit greatly from your training as we craft the messaging for your Inside Sales Agents to deliver to your prospects to ensure you have the opportunity to add the most value to them and achieve the greatest results for them.
If you’d like to learn more about our ISA hiring/coaching and if it’s a fit for your business, you can schedule a free consultation by clicking the link below.