“You can’t manage what isn’t measured.”

My business coach was attempting to convince me it was worth the time and effort to track KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) for my marketing to motivated sellers.

How is Your Marketing Performing Right Now?

Can you answer this question in a factual way? Or is it more of a guess?

For too many years I was only concerned with how many motivated seller leads I was generating. If you were to ask me how my marketing was doing I could only answer in a vague general way based on how many leads were coming in.

I got by for a long time operating this way. I didn’t know I had a problem until I got burned out trying to add more “lines in the water”.

Every new marketing channel was calling my name. “Let’s throw some money at it and see what happens” was the mantra.

It’s so much more exciting jumping into something where the sky’s the limit because the possibilities are unlimited. We’ve never had results to show us otherwise. Compare that to spending time looking at what results we got with the last campaign and what we can do to try and improve those numbers.

It’s no wonder we prefer chasing another shiny object!!!

Wasted Time and Money

This resulted in more wasted time and money than I could have ever imagined.

Here’s why.

It takes so much time to research and implement new campaigns. Yeah, there’s excitement there driving us because we are optimistic we’re embarking on the next big thing with each campaign.

“I can’t wait to get my message in front of all of these new prospects and watch the motivated seller leads roll in!”

We can be hopeful because we haven’t seen any results to say that won’t happen.

After we spend all the time researching and putting the campaign together, we go ahead and spend the money to implement the campaign. Our message goes out.

Then, if we’re lucky, calls come in. It worked!

Or did it?

Our new marketing “scheme” generated some leads but how well did those leads perform?

If none of the leads became a deal, not very well.

Why didn’t they become a deal?

If the sellers were unmotivated, the lead source could be a complete waste of time…seriously! Taking all the calls, analyzing all the properties, going to all the appointments, calculating all the repairs…it all takes TIME.

But how do we really know if it was a motivation issue?

Maybe it wasn’t them…maybe it was us!

We can determine this accurately if we measure the right data.

What to Measure

These KPI’s will give us a much better understanding of the results we are getting from each of our marketing campaigns. It’s best to track these separately per campaign.

Per campaign:

  1. Cost
  2. Calls received
  3. Website submissions received
  4. Qualified leads (where the caller actually wants to get an offer – not ‘stop calling me’ or spam calls)
  5. Appointments scheduled
  6. Offers made (unique leads)
  7. Offers accepted
  8. Contracts
  9. Bought/Closed

How to Accurately Track Calls

Due to the importance of tracking our KPI’s per campaign, I recommend utilizing CallRail. It’s an inexpensive call tracking system.

You can get a separate phone number for each campaign you run. This allows you to know that each call or text that comes into that phone number should be attributed to a specific campaign.

You can even set a “whisper” message that plays only for you (the caller won’t hear it) when you answer the phone. This message can tell you which campaign the call is coming from!

Yeah, it’s pretty sweet.

Another big benefit of using a system like this to track calls and text messages is you’re setting yourself for growing your business. If you’re still using your cell phone number on your marketing, you will always be stuck taking the calls.

Trust me, one day you will want to have someone join you to start answering the phones and going on appointments. Prepare now so you’re ready.

Tracking KPI’s

Now that you’re set up to accurately track which campaigns are producing your calls and texts, you need a way to keep track of the data.

Spreadsheets are a great start. Our team’s preferred method is to use a spreadsheet where the rows are the metrics and each column represents a week (we do Monday through Sunday).

Each week, usually on Monday, check CallRail for the calls that came in for each number and record the information. You’ll have to set a note for each number that called or texted in to tie the lead information you have to that communication chain.

In this way, you keep up with how many leads came in and which campaigns produced them. You and your team can update the other KPI’s as things happen each week. Once an appointment is set, increment the cell for that KPI in the spreadsheet.

If you want to know, “Of the leads that came in from this campaign during this week, what happened? How many of those leads had an appointment set? How many of those leads were put under contract eventually, even if not during the same week?”

Want to know how to not only view your data in the tabular way a spreadsheet does AND in the funnel format but also keep track of it all for you so you don’t have to enter the data?

Automate Your KPI Tracking

Integrate CallRail with a CRM like Forefront to see your data in weekly/monthly table format or in the funnel format as mentioned above.

Not only does Forefront CRM track which campaigns your calls and texts come from, but you can also set it up to track where your website leads come from. This way you are capturing the data you need for all your campaigns.

Every time a lead comes in, an appointment is set, an appointment is canceled, an offer is made, a contract is signed, etc., Forefront updates your KPI. This allows you to see exactly where you are at any given moment, in real-time. The professional account tracks 27 data points!

Manage Weekly

Once you are accurately tracking your KPI’s you can start to take your business to the next level. Review your numbers weekly and adjust based on the data.

If you see a lot of leads coming in for a campaign but there aren’t that many appointments being set, ask:

  • Were the sellers that called not motivated at all?
  • Did the sellers not have any equity?
  • Is your team making assumptions about motivation and not setting appointments?

This allows you to really dial in your business to maximize the ROI for all your marketing dollars.

Building a True Business

This kind of data tracking and adjusting is how you build your business to be more consistent and predictable.

In order to hire a team, you’re going to want to know you are steady enough to be able to support them.

Imagine taking a week off knowing everything is being taken care of. You can check your KPI data if you want, just to ensure everything is happening and not trending in the wrong direction.

Measure so you can manage your business.

Bio: A veteran house flipper, Danny has been real estate investing since 2003 having been a part of nearly 1,000 deals. He’s the creator of the Forefront CRM for real estate investors and is currently launching a new podcast called ‘Braver’ which is devoted to being honest about what’s holding you back so that you can grow a real estate business that works for you.

Categories | Article | Fundamentals
Tags | Marketing
  • Danny Johnson

    Danny Johnson has flipped hundreds of houses over the last 11+ years in San Antonio, Texas. He blogs about flipping houses at FlippingJunkie.com and is the author of "Flipping Houses Exposed: 34 Weeks in the Life of a Successful House Flipper," a best-selling book on Amazon. He also provides real estate investor websites at www.LeadPropeller.com.

Related Posts

0 Comments

Submit a Comment