Data-driven Appointment Setting: Are You Playing the Odds or Ignoring the Facts?

Are you playing the odds with your appointment setting?

There is so much data and analysis out there about lead generation, online lead response time, the best time to speak to people—and unfortunately, many agents ignore all of it.

So today, I’m sharing data from the Harvard Business Review. Its analysis includes three years’ worth of data on lead generation, lead response, and contact success rates.

What I’m clear on is this—you want to follow this report. Don’t tell me you get a better result doing something else. The data is the data—and when you follow the data, you’ll see improved results in your business. 

One thing that every single agent is complaining about right now is that they want more sales or they want more clients—all of which can be influenced by the four pieces of data I’m going to walk you through here. 

So let’s get into it.

#1 – Best time to reach out

The first one we’ll cover is the best time to reach out to somebody. There are two optimal time blocks for making calls:

• 8:00 am to 11:00 am 
• 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm 

How many times you have heard this before? There’s a 164% better chance that you reach someone in the late afternoon than between 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm (when many agents want to make their calls).

Tailor your day around the time blocks that have a greater chance of people picking up the phone.  If you’re calling during downtime, you’re already going against the grain and lowering the odds of having a successful conversation that will lead to an appointment.

I’m a big believer in time blocking your morning for calls and running appointments in the afternoon. But as long as you prioritize one of these time blocks daily, you can reach out to people and have more conversations about real estate. 

#2 – Ideal days to reach out 

Statistically, the best days to make calls are Wednesday and Thursday. Prioritize these days—maybe work a little later—so you can have more conversations, set more appointments, and list more houses. 

What you don’t want to do is wait to make calls on Friday when happy hour rolls around. 

A lot of online inquiries make inquiries during the week to set up their weekend itinerary. So be in the arena, be in the game on these days. If you’re going to take a day off during the week because, like most agents, you work on the weekend, don’t make it Wednesday or Thursday. The best day to take off, according to the data, is Tuesday. 

#3 – Response Time Matters

There is a 10x decrease if you wait to call a lead for five minutes. 

We’ve talked about the speed of the lead at length at coaching events. At any seminar you go to, you hear, “Speed to lead.” Call your lead right away—it matters.  

All the big players do it too—Zillow, Realtor.com, etc, all prioritize speed to lead. If you just sit there, get the lead, wait on it, and don’t call right away, two things can happen:

1. They might reach out to somebody else.
2. Statistically, you’re not going to have the same success getting that person on the phone. You will see a 400% decrease if you wait to call the lead.  

Follow the data and call the lead right away.

#4 – Persistence pays off 

Don’t give up too early on your leads. The average Realtor follows up 2.7 times according to the National Association of Realtors®.  That’s not good enough. 

It typically takes six-plus attempts to convert a lead. Every single sales book that’s out there, any research, any data, shows that six-plus attempts are what it takes to get someone on the phone. We have a 10-6 system that we use at our team here where we make sure we’re calling them ten times texting six times in the first four 14 days. 

If you’re doing that—spoiler alert—you’ll usually set an appointment at six-plus attempts.

Stop thinking you know better. Stop telling yourself, “I know what works.”

Who knows what works? The Harvard Business Review does. They studied the data in the first place.  

Take these four data points, apply them to your business, commit to them, and guaranteed you’ll talk to more people, set more appointments, and sell more houses.