System Part 1: Lead Status Definitions, Smart Filters, Contact Templates, and Action Plans (13 min)

Introduction

In this part, we're gonna talk specifically about lead status, definitions, smart filters, contact templates, and action plans.

Lead Statuses

So let's start with lead statuses. We use our lead statuses a little different than the way that Sierra Interactive names their lead statuses.

It's super important that you understand the way lead statuses work because automations action plans, tasks, everything in the system is driven by lead status.

Leads that are in the wrong status could get the wrong messaging and/or you could get a task for somebody that you don't wanna have a task for. So it's really, really important that you understand these and that you use these correctly.

If you just follow the lead status definitions, you'll have your people in the right spot, they'll be getting the right messaging, and you'll be one step closer to converting them into a deal.

Lead Status Types & Definitions

The three types of lead statuses, we've basically grouped them into buckets. We have engagement, sensitive and disqualified.

Engagement Lead Statuses

Automation monitors lead behavior, assigns tasks, and automatically engages and nurtures the contact using mixture of email and text messaging.

New: New leads, registered in the last 45 days.
Qualify: Cold, unresponsive leads regardless of lead source.
Active: Warm leads, hand-raisers that we had a positive communication via text, email, or phone call.

Sensitive Lead Statuses

Automation monitors for lead behavior and assigns a task, if needed, but will not automatically engage the contact.

Prime: Hot leads, lead is within 90 days from purchasing and/or listing their home. …or scheduled an appointment, met in person, pre-approved, or sent to a lender.
Pending: Pending offer, under an agreement, or you’ve listed their home.
Closed: Past clients, ask for referrals and repeat business.
Archived: Sphere of influence, ask for referrals.

Disqualified Lead Statuses

Automation monitors for lead behavior and assigns a task, if needed, but will not automatically engage the contact.

Watch: Outbound referrals, linked leads, working with another agent.
Junk: Already purchased or sold with another agent.
DNC: Disqualified leads. Automatically opt's lead out of receiving marketing emails & texts
Blocked: Blocks ability to log into the site.

Again, that is lead status definitions. Super, super important that you know them and that you place people exactly where they're supposed to go within the database so that you don't accidentally send the wrong messaging.

How do I update a lead status?

There are a few different places inside Sierra Interactive where you can make this happen. Most commonly, you're gonna do this from the lead dashboard or the lead profile screen.

Anytime you see the lead status inside Sierra Interactive, you can click on it, and then it'll give you the dropdown of all the lead statuses. Or at a lead profile level, you can also click on the lead status here and do the exact same thing. Now that's updating one lead at a time, one lead status at a time.

Smart Filters

Smart filters are something that we install within your account, and just think of them as a quick search that automatically finds a group of leads within your database.

We have intelligent smart filters that constantly monitor and provide clear instructions on the next steps.

Smart Filter Types

So we install three styles of smart filters, and once you understand what the three styles are, you won't have any issues whatsoever.

Task Filter: So the first style is a task filter. That is gonna be someone who needs some sort of outbound communication. It may be a phone call, it may be that you need to suggest properties to them, it may be that you need to send a CMA to them.
Engagement Filter: The second type of smart filter is called an engagement filter. An engagement filter dynamically populates based on gaps in follow. So maybe they have yet to receive a call or a text recently, or they're not on an action plan. We're gonna find those people, and we're gonna alert you as to who they are, and the alert comes from clicking on the filter, loading the people within it, and that filter's then telling you, "Hey, this is the group, and this is what they need."
Lead Maintenance Filter: The third type of smart filter is called a lead maintenance filter. Lead maintenance filters are for things like duplicate leads, no e-alerts, or no market report. So you need to do some maintenance on those leads to tidy things up.

Contact Templates

We install over 175 different contact templates into your account. These contact templates make it very simple and very easy to respond to people.

Contact templates make it very simple and easy to engage with people. The cool part is that with contact templates; you have the ability to preview the messaging and alter the messaging if you would.

When you nudge your database, you can use contact templates or action plans depending on what the filter allows. We're gonna get into nudging in the next module, all of this material will start to tie itself together and make a whole lot of sense.

Action Plans

We install a whole bunch of action plans into your account, and a lot of them are automatically applied through lead routing or through automation.

99% of the time, you will not have to apply action plans manually. You only have to apply action plans manually if you're nudging your database.

Anytime we ask you to nudge your database, it'll be with an action plan with an asterisk at the beginning.

The content in the campaigns is tailored to the lead status. Again, that's why we talked about lead status as being so important because, depending on where they're at in the database, the messaging will change. You need to make sure you have them in the right status. Plus, most action plans feature links to the custom landing pages in them.

In part two, we're gonna talk about landing pages and start to tie that whole concept together, but it's important that you know action plans are one of the methods by which people will get back to those pages. If you want to personalize the content, the video content on the landing pages will be the easiest way to make that happen.

The text messages that we're sending and the emails that we're sending are doing nothing more than driving traffic back to these landing pages. They're just giving short little snippets. "Hey, I put together the top three things for this, or the top five ways to do this are some important tips about selling your house or about buying a house."

The text and the email are really just a little snippet to get their attention, to get them to click on the link and get back to the website and consume some deeper video content — more than you could send in an email or a text message to someone.

Closing Thoughts

So that was part one. Again, to recap, we went over action plans, we went over smart filters, we went over contact templates, we talked about lead statuses, and we really started to build that foundation that we need to start to tie everything together in the next couple of modules.

Let's go to the next module to continue learning!