How to Reconnect With Your Sphere Without the Awkward Call

Real estate agents hear it constantly: work your sphere. A couple of weeks ago in our Tuesday training, we talked about why your sphere is still your number one source of business. But hearing it and actually doing it are two different things. What does it look like to reconnect with people you haven't talked to in years, without it feeling like a sales call?

For this session, Mike Pillow and I brought on Kyle Draper, who leads the Serene Team with LPT Realty in Los Angeles. He shared a campaign that takes the awkwardness out of it, and it's one of the most practical sphere ideas I've heard in a while. Watch the full session on YouTube.

The real problem is the awkward call

Almost every agent has a long list of people they've lost touch with: old friends from high school or college, former coworkers, past clients. Kyle had people on his list he hadn't spoken to in 20 years.

The list isn't the problem. The problem is the anxiety of calling out of the blue. The phone rings and you're thinking, "They're going to wonder why I'm calling. How do I make this not sound salesy?" That anxiety keeps a lot of good agents from ever picking up the phone.

Text first, and schedule the call

Kyle's fix is simple. Instead of calling out of the blue, send a text asking to schedule a catch-up call. A text is lower stakes for both people, and it's a lot easier to send several of them during your day than to make cold calls with your heart pounding.

Kyle has an assistant send the text, with both his cell number and his CRM number included on the message. That matters, because some people only have one of those numbers saved. The script goes something like this:

"Kyle didn't want to assume you'd have time for a random catch-up out of the blue. So he asked me to reach out first and see if we could schedule a quick check-in call for the two of you. When's a good time this week?"

Then Kyle jumps in on the text thread from whichever number the person is more likely to recognize: "Hey John, it's been so long. I'm really looking forward to catching up." That makes it clear it's really him, not a random spam text.

No assistant? Change one word

You don't need staff to do this. Just make it first person: "I didn't want to assume you'd have time for a random call out of the blue, so I wanted to reach out first and see if we could schedule a quick check-in." Kyle also has an agent who uses a separate Google Voice number and acts as his own assistant. People tend to be impressed that someone took the time to set up the call properly.

Keep the follow-up light

This isn't an internet lead campaign. If there's no reply, Kyle's assistant calls the next day, then sends one more text the day after that. That's it. No double dialing, no two-week chase.

As Kyle put it, your sphere has to lean into you. If someone doesn't respond after three days, that tells you something too. Some people he keeps and tries again in 90 days. Others he removes, because after 20 years, the relationship may simply be gone.

"What is this about?"

Expect that reply almost every time. The answer is simple: "It's just been way too long since you last touched base, and he was hoping for a few minutes to catch up." Sometimes they ask again. Same answer. You're not selling anything. You're reconnecting.

On the call, Kyle is honest. He'll say that for the last decade he put his head down building his business, lost touch with people who mattered to him, and now wants to make a real effort to reconnect. And he means it.

Why a scheduled call works better

When you call through a list for two hours, you start watching the clock five or ten minutes into a conversation because you've got a quota to hit. A scheduled call is different. You've both blocked the time, so you can relax and let the conversation go as deep as it naturally goes.

Kyle schedules one or two of these a day, with at least half an hour for each. The results have gone well beyond business. One old friend invited him to a wedding. A high school classmate who's now a travel agent is planning an event with him to bring their old class together.

The one question that brings up real estate

Kyle doesn't use a script on these calls, with one exception. At some point he asks, "So where are you guys living these days?" He'd ask that on any catch-up call, realtor or not, and it leads naturally into real estate. Most of the time, the other person picks it up from there: how long they plan to stay, what they're thinking, what the market is doing.

Kyle started this campaign only a month or two before our session, so he doesn't have years of data yet. But he's already helped friends who aren't moving start investing, and he's building a pipeline of people for when the timing is right for them.

When you reach out, make sure you're following the rules on texting and calling, especially if you use any automation. Talk to your broker if you're not sure what applies.

Want to connect with Kyle? Follow him on Instagram at @thekyledraper and his team at @thesereneteam.

If you want help building a sphere plan that actually gets done, and you'd like to hear how the Mike Team and LPT Realty support agents, schedule a time with me at 21mike.com.

Mike Ferrante
The Mike Team at LPT Realty
www.21mike.com
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