You should check your email several times a day and respond to inquiries promptly. Auto responders have their role (which we will get to shortly) but you shouldn’t rely on them to handle your general email accounts.
When someone submits a contact form through your website or sends you an email, they expect it to reach a live person and to receive a personal response. You don’t want to disappoint them with a canned response to their specific questions and requests. The Internet is an impersonal and anonymous medium, but the real estate business is not. It’s important that you take this opportunity to begin establishing a relationship with your visitors.
Your initial contact can very well determine whether your relationship will flourish. Always keep your replies courteous, professional and grammatically correct. Keep your emails concise but make sure they include all of the requested information and address all of your visitor’s questions. You’re probably not the only one the prospective client has contacted but if you can give a personal response that provides relevant information, you’ll be way ahead of the pack.
For local prospects, it’s a good idea to follow up with a phone call soon after. These prospects have more resources available to them and it’s likely that they’ll quickly be contacted by other agents.
Out of town prospects that are relocating to your area are probably working with a longer time frame. They might not be ready to start their search in earnest yet, but it doesn’t hurt to begin building a relationship early.
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