A real estate email follow-up strategy is integral to any real estate business. But what are enough emails? How often and when should you send them? Should emails be personalized or should you use a wholesale real estate email template?
You know how important it is to follow up with leads. Data suggests…
48% never follow up on leads
25% make a second contact and stop
12% make three contacts and stop
And, ONLY 10% make more than three contacts
But…
2% of sales are made on the first contact
3% of sales are made on the second contact
5% of sales are made on the third contact
10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact
Email follow-up takes time and energy. You’re not just following up with the motivated leads; you’re following up with all the leads – the good and the bad.
The good makes you money. The bad wastes your time.
While 80% of sales are closed on the 5th to 12th contact, if you’re running a semi-successful business, you don’t have time for that much email-typing or cold-calling action.
Of course, that consistent follow-up is still vital…
The stats remain the same, and your business’s success rides on those stats.
Since you don’t have mind-reading software to divide the tire-kickers from the motivated sellers, you can’t afford to miss following up with any of your leads…
But you also don’t have the time to do it manually…
This is why you should plug these 5 (remember, 5 is the game-changing number of follow-ups) wholesale real estate email templates into your CRM and automate what you can.
CARROT PICKED RELATED CONTENT: 6 Simple (but powerful) Questions A Six Figure Per Month Wholesaler Asks Motivated House Sellers
How to Use a Wholesale Real Estate Email Template to Automate Motivated Seller Follow-up
1st Follow Up – 5 Minutes After Contact
Would you try to start a fire with wet wood?
Well, you might…
But it wouldn’t go very well.
You’d be better off starting the fire when the wood is dry. Similar to your follow-up strategy, you’re far more likely to have a meaningful conversation with your lead if you follow up fast – when the lead is most interested in what you have to offer.
Here’s how RJ Bates – one of Carrot’s top-performing investors – puts it.
Following RJ’s advice, I recommend following up by phone for your first follow-up and email. You can automate the wholesale real estate email template (below) and steal RJ’s 5-minute rule to create a system for the phone follow-up.
Also, if you’re a Carrot member, you can use our SMS system to receive a text message notification when you receive a lead on your website.
Here’s your first motivated seller follow-up email template:
Subject: Need to sell fast?
Hey, [name]!
I’m glad you contacted us about selling your home fast. We’ve provided many people just like you with a fair cash offer on their home to help them get out of debt, ditch a distressed property, or remove the stress of trying to find a buyer.
We’d love to do the same for you.
I’ll be giving you a call to discuss this further at the phone number you provided! Looking forward to talking with you :)
Best,
[Name]
2nd Follow Up – 24 Hours After Contact
Okay – after calling your prospect and sending the first email, the rest of these emails should only be sent if 1) you couldn’t get ahold of the prospect on the phone or 2) you did get ahold of them, but they were hesitant about moving forward with you.
In other words, follow-up emails 2-5 are only for prospects that don’t take the leap, and sellers who decide to work with you should be removed from these emails at whichever point they make that decision.
An easy way to automate this is to have a secondary form on your website where you only have people who have decided to work with you (or you can fill it out for them by asking some questions over the phone). Once submitted, that form connects to your CRM and drip sequence, pushing the seller out of this automated follow-up sequence and into another category.
For those leads that have been cold-shouldering you, though, here’s your second email.
Subject: Still need to sell your house fast?
Hey [name],
I would love to help you get out of your current stressful situation. I’ve worked with tons of home sellers in your exact position and saved them from foreclosure, crippling debt, and a giant headache of trying to find a buyer for their home.
Here’s what one person said about me:
[Testimonial]
Plus, I’m willing to buy homes in literally any condition.
Your house completely trashed?
Don’t worry – I’m here to help. Actually, that’s my specialty. :)
Anyways, if you’re still interested, you can contact me at and we can chat about this further.
Best,
[Name]
3rd Follow Up – 48 Hours After Contact
Subject: Are you busy?
I know that life gets busy…
Trying to find a buyer isn’t the only stressful part about needing to sell your house fast.
There’s the clean-up…
The mementos…
The bank…
The relationships…
Potential bankruptcy…
Foreclosure…
I get it because I’ve worked with tons of people just like you.
And while I know you’re busy with a million other things, I can usually close on houses just like yours in [number of days or weeks] – completely eliminating at least one of those stressful things in your life and putting some immediate cash in your pocket.
Interested?
I’m just a phone call away –
Best,
[Name]
4th Follow Up – 96 Hours After Contact
Subject: Maybe I should give up…
Look…
It’s possible that you want me to stop contacting you, that you no longer need to sell your house, and that you have absolutely no interest in working with me…
Heck, maybe I just can’t take a hint…
But I’d really like to help you out.
I know what it’s like to be in a high-stress situation without a clear way out – bills, banks, and relatives looming.
Fortunately, I also know how to get people just like you out of those situations.
Here’s what one of my sellers recently said about their experience with me:
[Testimonial]
Maybe you’ll be next?
You can reach me here at any time of day –
Best,
[Name]
5th Follow Up – 120 Hours After Contact
This final follow up should include a phone call since it’s your last chance at converting the prospect.
Subject: I’ll stop contacting you…
Since I haven’t received a response from you over the past week, I’m forced to assume that you have no interest in working with me.
If it’s because you already sold your house and found a way out of your proverbial escape room, then that’s amazing and I wish you the best! Please accept my most sincere regards.
If, though, you’re still in need of help to escape…
Foreclosure…
Crippling debt…
House clean-up…
Looming bankruptcy…
Then give me a call –
This is the last time I’ll contact you, but I’m always just a phone call away if you need help.
Wishing you the best,
[Name]
Conclusion
What’s more undeniable than the converting power of following up with leads?
The time and energy it takes to do so…
You don’t have the time to sit at your computer, typing and sending follow-up emails all day.
This is why you should use the above wholesale real estate email template (tweak them as needed) to automate your email follow up and snag the 80% of conversion that only happens when you contact prospects at least 5 times.
May I be honest? All of these scripts look too automated to me, not personal enough. I’m a believer in building rapport and getting to know the seller the most you can. Wouldn’t these pre-determined scripts be too impersonal?
Hey! I appreciate your feedback and I can totally see where you’re coming from. You’ll definitely have to adjust these templates based on your business’ tone and brand personality.
From my experience, the most important thing is to just follow up and give the people who are interested in your service another chance to make the leap.
Sure – some people might feel that these emails are too automated, but other people won’t. The results of emails like these is just something you should weigh against the time it takes for you to vet and personalize email follow up and the results that doing so receives.
You could also use these emails as a template but make them even more personal by segmenting down to the reason someone is selling their home, creating a separate sequence for foreclosure, divorce, etc, that then personalizes to the seller’s pain.
Either way, they’ll be some give and take for sure. I think it’s just a matter of weighing the benefits and results of automating your email follow up against the benefits and results of not automating. Remember, too, that calling would ideally still be a part of this process, which might add the personal touch your automated emails are lacking. Thanks again for the thoughtful response! :)
This is very helpful. I get leads into my Carrot site and sellers don’t leave a contact phone number so I am at the mercy of email only. I struggle to find the right, clear words to get a reply. I adjusted my form settings to make a phone number required on step 1. Your articles are always helpful. Thanks Mike!