Stop Ignoring Opportunity: Why That "Spam" Call Could Be Your Next Deal

Ashley (02:52.198)
Welcome everyone back to the Leading the Lane podcast. Thanks for joining us. Today we're going to tackle the topic. It's a lot of tease. About like WhatsApp specifically or some other things that might appear to be spam. Like I know a lot of times on my phone it says spam that's calling.

Ashley (03:14.093)
not necessarily spam. But I know that we get like inundated with WhatsApp messages about call me for interested in this property. And I think a lot of people just put that off as scam because they definitely can be. But I think you have a really good point as to maybe they aren't all scams. So if you want to maybe tell us about your recent experience with WhatsApp.

Steven L Burch (03:19.556)
Yeah,

Steven L Burch (03:38.146)
so like first I always thought that WhatsApp was like just something that only spammers use. Like the only time I ever used it is when traveling internationally. So

Steven L Burch (03:48.76)
it's not like it's I ever freaking used it. and so I've always heard people with lead generation saying, you know, what's app is coming through and there's all this spam and, all these inquiries and they're not real, but it'd through Google or let it be through your CRM online. It doesn't matter where they're coming from, but, and don't let me get you wrong. Like, or don't get me wrong. The fact that

Steven L Burch (04:16.034)
there are spams out there. There are people that are trying to fish you and pull you in and, you know, be goalable, but that does not mean every single person or every single inquiry that says what's app is automatic spam. And so what happened for me recently is that, leads were coming in and, obviously read through the, the inquiry in this one was worded just a little bit differently. And I, you know, responded back like I normally would.

Steven L Burch (04:45.72)
like, what, tell me what you're looking for. and then they go on and respond back, which typically the span will do anyway. but they said that, you know, they're stationed back here at Fort Riley. and that's not a very typical term, you know, for a spammer. They know about stationing and PCS and the military base. So I was like, okay, well, maybe this person is real. So I kept on having the conversation with them and, you know, I still was very

Steven L Burch (05:14.852)
Leary, I didn't let my guard down tremendously off of that. But as we got into it, they were telling me that they've used our company previously in 2020. through the conversation, actually learned that my grandmother was the one that helped them with the transaction back in 2020. So then I was like, okay, if this is a spammer, like they're real good that they know my the relationship. I mean, they had they did some research.

Steven L Burch (05:41.346)
So I was like, let's jump on a Zoom. Let's have a conversation. I want to make sure that we're all on the same page before we, you know, send over the buyer agency agreement, et cetera. We got on Zoom like 20 minutes later, we had a 30 minute conversation about the, you know, my expectations, their expectations. And literally within a matter of 24 hours after that, we went under contract on a brand new construction. And so I think the thing here is to one,

Steven L Burch (06:09.12)
make sure that you're just not making assumptions across an entirety. You know, let that be your WhatsApp or let it be if somebody's messaging you through, you know, Facebook

Ashley (06:20.425)
Thank you.

Steven L Burch (06:20.658)
or you're getting potential spam on your phone. But two, making sure that you're asking appropriate questions to get to the answers and to the results that you're looking for so that you know if that's something you want to move forward with or not. But it's wild how much complaining we have out there that, you know, the

Steven L Burch (06:38.776)
The industry is too slow, the market's slowing down, all this negativity, but we're not willing to even try on sending something back or having a conversation with somebody. We're just going to completely dismiss it. So, yeah.

Ashley (06:52.435)
I mean,

Ashley (06:52.645)
think like the, you know, less than five minutes really that it took to make sure if that was real or not real, like obviously paid for itself. So think maybe just being a little bit more open-minded that maybe there are certain people, like we have it in our area with a medical complex. So a lot of people are coming from overseas that are using that and they use it to.

Ashley (07:19.336)
talk to their family as well. So I've seen it in some of our rentals that they use it as well in the first couple of times. I mean, I thought it was spam too, but you know, then they are asking like the legitimate questions and know what, you know, area you're in and questions that a spammer wouldn't ask. I think just being able to engage back with someone in the same sense, if you feel like it's spam like right away, or you can tell if the, you know, Roto back or whatnot, just hang up the phone.

Steven L Burch (07:46.018)
Yeah, it's that simple, right? but if we if we have that magic crystal ball, let's be real. Like I work with a buyer or excuse me, I work with an agent before that was telling me that they screen their calls. If they don't have a phone number saved in their phone, they're not going to answer it. I was like, if you have that freaking crystal ball of all of every single buyer that is ever eligible to purchase in your market, you would be you wouldn't be worried about answering your phone. You'd have somebody else do it for you.

Steven L Burch (08:15.78)
But you would not be worried about business at the point because you're talking to everybody and that is not the case. You do not have every single buyer. You don't have every single seller's phone number in your phone and we're dealing with technology. And so even there's things that come through as potential spam because it's you it's not in your phone. You don't doesn't recognize it. So it's giving you a potential spam doesn't mean you should ignore it and send it to voicemail. That's an opportunity that potentially could be knocking at your door.

Steven L Burch (08:44.772)
And you're shutting it down. You're swatting it away. And then at the end of the day, you're still bitching and complaining that you're slow. If you're that slow and the market's that free right now and you don't have anything in production in your pipeline, especially you have time to answer your fucking phone. Pretty simple.

Ashley (09:01.937)
Well, I always tell people too, like sometimes I won't be able to answer, right? I'm in a meeting or whatnot. Like I'll try to just text it, even if it's an unknown number and just be like, Hey, I missed your call. I'm in a meeting. Is there something I can help you with? Cause a lot of times I can respond via text message, but I can't be a phone call. So I think just even taking the extra step to respond to somebody. You can't literally call.

Steven L Burch (09:22.5)
And that right.

Steven L Burch (09:24.44)
Right. And that's fine. And I think that's a good way to help with some of the seeing of it's spam or not. Because if you, you know, say, Hey, do you mind if I call you back or whatever, if it's worded properly, mine's on, they, you know, have those auto responders that are available. So I changed mine to make it towards engaging. know that I see that they called, but I want them to respond back to me. Maybe that right there will help you indicate, is this somebody further, you know, is he calling back?

Steven L Burch (09:51.32)
go into a call center or whatever the case may be, but that's one step to help you fill that out versus just completely ignoring it.

Steven L Burch (10:01.336)
So with that being said, there's so many different channels of communication that come through. You have your social media constantly. You have then your phone constantly, email, walk-ins, all of that. What is a way that you, as Ashley Frederick, what is a way that you are able to help field all of those methods of communications and channels of communications over to you?

Ashley (10:32.032)
I mean, think some of it's time blocking. and I, I'll be honest, like I don't have all my apps open all the time. So I mean, like my phone is like most simple, but I think, you know, it's strange because so many different people use so many different ways that like, that might be their everyday communication, but like, isn't yours. So I know for example, that I've missed a couple of like Instagram messages because

Ashley (11:01.92)
I'm not a extremely frequent Instagram user. And then I'll go on there and it was like from three weeks ago and I'll be like, shit, never saw it. Right. So one, like I had to reevaluate my notifications just to make sure that they are coming through. thing with like Facebook messenger that I am not always the best at that. So I have to just actually like make the conscious decision of kind of like we talked about like zeroing out, like have I checked all of my platforms? And I think I told you this last week, but

Ashley (11:31.552)
obviously we've all had numerous different emails, right? Throughout our changes in our careers and whatnot. And, I kept them, some of them, cause now you use them for all your coupons and you know, what else to keep out of your normal email. But, I have like our, our rental bills go into a different one that like I used to use. So I went in there last week to pay something and lo and behold, it was a client that I sold a house to five years ago.

Ashley (12:01.54)
that had my old email address and was like, Ashley, we've outgrown this house looking to move into a bigger house. Like, right. So like, you have to remember that there's so many different avenues. they, and I even said to him, like, it was two days later and I was like, I'm so sorry. Like it was in my old email and he's like, my fault. I had to get a new phone and only, you know, came up with old contacts. So I think, you know, just remembering that, mean, literally like five years ago of an email is what

Ashley (12:30.722)
they contacted to reach out to me. So I think it's just a matter of being aware or if you were to think about how long it actually takes and if you were to not necessarily engage. So you're literally just checking like I'm going to open up Instagram, like not send 20 minutes scrolling. Like I'm looking to see if I got a message. Same with, and I think some people in your area, like they get TikTok messages, same thing. So I think just making sure like you're giving yourself five to 10 minutes per day to check.

Ashley (12:58.691)
all of the different avenues and make sure that you're doing it. You know, the other thing that I find interesting is sometimes I'll miss people because they message me during my do not disturb and that's just choice that I've made. Like, am I do not disturb on at nine o'clock, right? So if they send a Facebook message or whatnot, I'm not on my phone, like I literally won't see it until the next morning. I would hope that most people would understand, you know, the after nine o'clock.

Ashley (13:24.131)
But I think that's the other thing too is just, you know, knowing that morning might bring more of the notifications. But I think, you know, I try to think about it too. Like I'm weird about contacting people on the weekends. It's easier for me to contact them on the weekend because that's when I've caught up. So that's where I kind of go back to sometimes of like scheduling the messages is like, I might've thought about getting a hold of my esthetician on Saturday, but I'm gonna.

Steven L Burch (13:35.715)
You

Ashley (13:49.474)
schedule it to send another time. I think just trying to remember like boundaries for reaching out to people too.

Steven L Burch (13:55.076)
Yeah. And I think that with being, you know, said to pair it with people that are looking for that new shiny object, a new thing, the market is slow. So that means I'm not doing something right. And I need to start something. Um, and I think instead of starting something new and the new shining, like if you think that, I'm going to start on Tik TOK or I'm going to start on, you know, Instagram, whatever the case may be, like you better be prepared for their what.

Steven L Burch (14:23.244)
It actually entails to continue that because if you start the marketing on that channel and you're not there to capture the leads that are coming through from your marketing efforts, you're literally having wasted wasted effort. There's no reason to be able to do it. So I think instead of starting something new, it's really what should you stop doing and slowing yourself down of I shouldn't start something new, but how can I improve what I currently have? And that improvement very well may be.

Steven L Burch (14:52.684)
I need to start checking my messages on Facebook or Instagram. And it's that simple, right? I will tell you, like I send friend requests to different people that, you know, we are part of a company and as they come to the company, they're new and I send these messages back there. She distracted me. I felt like she's in a right on your whiteboard. But as

Ashley (15:13.856)
to connect with.

Steven L Burch (15:14.053)
people come into our company, I send, you know, Facebook invites because I want to connect with them. There's people that have never even

Steven L Burch (15:22.788)
that had been a part of the company for two, three years, that they never even accepted it. And so therefore there's our opportunities right there for marketing that you are so focused that you have to have all of this wonderful social media marketing, but you can't even accept a friend request that potentially could lead into a referral network and building your business in that aspect. So it's not a matter of what you can start. It's a matter of what you should stop and enhance. Love it.

Ashley (15:24.117)
there.

Ashley (15:49.407)
Well, and I think, you know,

Ashley (15:51.889)
if you do get those friend requests, like, it's an opportunity, maybe if you don't know them, or I, like, I always like to make sure we have mutual friends, right? And then I know it's typically not some type of fan, but like send them a message and be like, thanks for the friend request. And then I don't know, I mean, I always like to know like, what made someone specifically reach out, right? Are they looking for referral? What are they looking for?

Steven L Burch (16:08.728)
next.

Steven L Burch (16:12.883)
And while that right there, especially in the real estate and sales, it's all about the relationship and having conversations. And that's an easy conversation that does not require a face to face. It's behind, you know, your, your screen super freaking easy. And who knows, but that opportunity now that you opened it, what that now opportunity is going to lead to. So.

Ashley (16:36.05)
Well, and

Ashley (16:36.35)
I think that goes back to like Neva and I'm probably guilty of it, but depending on who it is, you know, for happy birthdays, right? Like most people will just comment on your page, but there is an opportunity there to Facebook message someone instead, because it is a little bit more personal and who's to say they don't respond with some question they've been meaning to ask. Cause I still go back to like, people are watching what you're doing, even though they're not saying anything, especially when you end up

Steven L Burch (16:55.812)
.

Ashley (17:02.782)
seeing someone somewhere and they ask you about something that was posted or, you know, so I think you have to remember that people are touching the right context or the right frame of mind to ask you a specific question.

Steven L Burch (17:13.348)
That's my number one way to teach how to utilize and start into your CRM is that first is wishing people on Facebook, happy birthday via messenger because everybody else and I just noticed here and I don't know if it's a new thing, but this smile at your birthday or these generic messages, people are using these now new generic messages and everybody's saying the same thing. It's not meaningful, it's not impactful.

Ashley (17:42.109)
I'm changing.

Steven L Burch (17:43.746)
So send a direct message. What I do is ask if they're doing anything amazingly fun for the day to celebrate their birthday. And nine times out of 10, I will get a full response back and now I can start a conversation with them. But my favorite tip with that is now you know it's their birthday. You're already friends with them. You're on social media. So put them into your CRM. You may already have their contact information in your phone. So put that data entry in there.

Steven L Burch (18:12.876)
You go to your emails and see if you guys ever emailed back and forth. Throw that on there. A lot of times people have their email address already listed in their about section on Facebook. So now next year, right, even if you do nothing else with them, next year if you set the drip campaign up or the reminders, automations, whatever you're doing, you're now going to be able to send them a text message or a postcard or a birthday card or give them a phone call to wish them a happy birthday, which means even more to them. And as you learn more about them, like...

Ashley (18:40.717)
Even if you

Ashley (18:42.597)
think about it, like on Facebook, a lot of people do have their phone numbers. So I mean, if they weren't in your data in your phone, like you could add them so that if they do ever call, it doesn't look like a spam call to you. know, like even people that I randomly meet, if I don't recall like who they are, and I normally put something behind it, like. Each street seller or something, you know, like that. And so sure enough, like two days ago, I had like, like a Janet Zena, like I'm like one.

Steven L Burch (18:59.533)
Okay.

Ashley (19:10.753)
that it called and yeah, I they were relocating like unexpectedly, right? And so I think it's just a matter of trying to answer those calls. And if you have those numbers, like making sure that your database is up to date.

Steven L Burch (19:24.516)
Be open for opportunities.

Steven L Burch (19:29.07)
The end. Mic drop. Done. Thanks for listening. Have a great day. okay.

Ashley (19:33.047)
I'm gonna challenge someone that listens to

Ashley (19:35.763)
this is to like, I don't know, for three days, like try to answer every phone call that comes in and see what happens.

Steven L Burch (19:42.34)
I will accept that challenge because I know and what I've done is my phone was always on do not disturb anybody that knows me knows that's the way that it's been for like the last five years. Now I have taken that off and so I will accept the challenge as well and make sure that I answer every single call as long as I'm not in the meeting.

Steven L Burch (20:04.344)
Well, thanks for listening to the Leading Lane podcast. Tune in for the next one, guys.