Unlike most of us, your leads don't clock off at 6pm

For most people, searching for a new home or wondering what their current property might be worth isn't part of the working day. It's something they do in their own time.

They browse properties after work, investigate house prices in the evening and start thinking seriously about their next move at weekends.

Which creates an obvious challenge for estate agents. Just as prospective sellers have time to start their property research, the agency office may be closing for the day.

New data from ValPal Pro shows just how significant that overlap can be.

During August, ValPal Pro generated 3,634 appointment requests and 3,802 callback requests - 7,436 direct opportunities for agents.

And a significant proportion of them arrived outside traditional agency opening hours.

If office hours are considered to be 9am to 6pm, seven days a week, around 25% of ValPal Pro activity took place outside those hours. Treat Sunday as a non-working day and the figure rises to around 32%.

In other words, almost one in three opportunities is being created when there may be nobody in the office to deal with it.

 

Generating the lead is only half the job

The wider ValPal platform generated 47,401 valuation leads during August.

That's encouraging evidence of homeowner interest, but the number of leads an agency generates is only part of the story.

What happens next?

How quickly does somebody respond? What happens if the enquiry arrives at 8pm? Is the lead nurtured if the homeowner isn't ready to book an appointment immediately? And what happens to older leads already sitting in the database?

Craig Vile, Director of The ValPal Network, says: "Consumers don't organise their lives around estate agency opening hours. Someone might start thinking seriously about moving after dinner, while they're browsing property online on a Sunday or when they've finally found ten minutes at the end of a busy day.

"That person is every bit as valuable as somebody who makes an enquiry at 11 o'clock on Tuesday morning. The challenge for agents is making sure the opportunity isn't lost simply because of when it arrives."

The August figures reinforce that point. Activity was shifting later in the day, with 3pm becoming the busiest hour and activity at 5pm increasing by 15.1%.

What happens when you're not there?

This is where automation can make a significant difference.

AI and automated nurturing don't require agency teams to work longer hours. They allow the initial conversation to begin immediately, acknowledge the enquiry and keep the prospective client engaged until a member of the team can take over.

As Craig explains: "The objective isn't to replace the agent. It's to make sure the agent gets the opportunity to have the conversation.

"Technology can handle availability. It can respond, nurture and keep a lead warm when the office is closed. But the relationship still belongs to the agent and it's the agent who ultimately wins the instruction."

All of this, of course, raises a bigger question: how effective is your agency at managing the leads it already generates?

Give your leads a health check

The ValPal Network has developed a free Lead Health Check to help agents examine exactly that.

The online tool takes agents through their current approach to lead management and helps identify where opportunities may be slipping through the net.

Take the free ValPal Lead Health Check here.

It's worth doing because improving lead performance doesn't necessarily mean generating more leads. Sometimes the biggest opportunity is already there in an enquiry that arrived after 6pm, a homeowner who wasn't quite ready when they first got in touch or a lead sitting in your database waiting for the right conversation.

Before spending more money filling the top of the funnel, make sure you're getting full value from the leads you've already got.

To find out how ValPal can help you generate, nurture and convert more opportunities, contact team@valpal.co.uk.