RealEstate.com Expands Broker Offerings

 Print Article

Agent Network offers real estate brokers new Internet business opportunities
By Beth McGuire

Using the Internet to acquire new business has become one of the most important ways for real estate agents to secure solid, viable leads that develop into closed customer transactions. RealEstate.com, which has been a leader in providing successful Internet-based leads

to Realtors for some time now, has recently expanded its service offerings for leads to include a comprehensive new value package for real estate brokers.

?Brokers understand and see that they can have options in marketing to the consumer and should focus on adding value options to their agents,? says Dave Collins, vice president of the RealEstate.com Broker Network. ?Our product provides a business opportunity for brokers that has previously been handled through relocation departments. We are now managing Internet business and multiple channels of consumer acquisition. A lot of brokers are investing heavily in acquiring consumers through those channels.?

With more than 4,000 members, the RealEstate.com Agent Network is a lead generation provider specifically for real estate agents. Leads are collected from consumers looking for an agent to buy or sell their home or get a home valuation estimation on their property. RealEstate.com provides all three lead types to the agent.

?Typically agents come on to our network through a subscription base,? says Andrew Taylor, vice president and general manager, RealEstate.com Agent Network. ?They pay so much per month for X number of leads.?

Along with quality leads, the RealEstate.com Agent Network provides its members with exclusive benefits that add real value with measurable results, including: free listings exposure to more than 1.5 million unique visitors; consistent and reliable lead flow; and access to the company?s proprietary agent SUCCESS program, which focuses on best practices, coaching and training.

But there is a growing number of Internet lead generators in the industry. What makes the RealEstate.com offering more viable is a filtering program called SmartTouch Filtering(SM).

Smart Touch Filtering processes

RealEstate.com-generated leads by subjecting them to a comprehensive, four-point process that helps to determine the quality of the leads. The leads are manually filtered and then disseminated, delivering to agents a more steady flow of viable, qualified real estate leads.

?You see a lot of negative perceptions about lead generation on the Internet, that consumers are not motivated,? says Taylor. ?We?ve deployed SmartTouch Filtering to counter balance that.?

The RealEstate.com expanded broker offering is also differentiating its brand through a new business offering aimed at increasing agent retention. The Broker Network currently boasts more than 500 companies with 35,000 agents, 7,000 of which have become certified through the RealEstate.com lead training program.

?We?ve seen a real change in attitude in the broker community in how their marketing dollars are spent,? says Collins. ?There has been a shift in ad dollars going to online campaigns on a national level.?

The Broker Network offering is tapping into this shift. The primary difference between the RealEstate.com Agent Network leads and its Broker Network is in its subscription base, explains Collins. In the Agent Network, agents pay in advance for leads, but in the Broker Network, brokers will receive leads and pay after a successful transaction closes with an end referral, which is 25-35% of their commission. About half of that is then given back to the consumer in the form of rebates through their affinity relationships. RealEstate.com currently has affinity relationships with Home Depot?, Costco, five major airlines and many other national brands, providing them with access to more than 25 million households.

Brokers have been very enthusiastic about the newly formatted network, according to Collins.

?We drive marketing efficiencies for the broker. It doesn?t make sense for the broker to buy keywords when we are doing that already. We have matching technology that only delivers targeted leads. Brokers can also control their marketing spend by only requesting leads for a city or state if they like.?

The two products work well together, adds Taylor. ?Brokers don?t have to be a member to take advantage. Agents can sign up for leads or brokers can sign up for them and give them the leads. It really is a great opportunity for brokers.?

RealEstate.com is committed to providing training and education to the real estate industry for both the Agent and Broker Networks. On the agent side they have a team of coaches who proactively reach out to agents on the network and work with them on lead management and better communication with consumers.

?We have monthly ?Success Calls,? and invite our members to call in and interview the agent who we are spotlighting,? says Taylor. ?This allows agents to tap into different ways to improve their business and become more successful. We?re building that all the time.?

?On the broker side we have a team of regional vice presidents working on converting business,? says Collins. ?We?re about to publish our best practices and we?re creating a call center where we will take customers from point A to closing. We?re constantly teaching and packaging all that?teaching brokers e-commerce and increasing success with online conversion.?

RealEstate.com works with all-sized companies from five-agent offices to companies like Long & Foster with more than 13,000 agents.

For more information visit www.RealEstate.com.