Online Marketing – 3 Rules to Help Make Every Lead Count

Commentary by Mike ParkerPrint Article Print Article

6-19-top-storyRISMEDIA, June 19, 2009-Perhaps the most depressing statistic (for anyone who makes their living selling things) compiled by NAR is this one: “50% of agents call leads back within 54 hours; 50% of agents never call them back.” When I read that for the first time I just shook my head in wonderment at a situation where people who live on commission refuse to call those who can make them one in a timely manner, if at all.

Then, it occurred to me that something must explain this behavior-there must be a reason-and I started thinking about what many clients have told me when first attending our client training classes on how to follow up an Internet lead: “Most of the leads I get from the Internet are no good.”

When I looked into that, I realized the reason: most of the “leads” people buy or get from corporate are junk-they are often false contact info, they are often old and they are often falsely represented as leads, when what they really are is the record of a person visiting another website and trying to find out information-not from someone who visits your website and wants more information from you.

Believe me, folks; the difference is huge. Especially when you consider that the Internet is now the largest referral source for real estate sales.

Making your website give you good leads

All the technical aspects of this aside, imagine that you have good traffic, you are found when Internet buyers look for homes in your neighborhood, and you convert between 5-15% of the first time visitors to your website into registrations with comments. (Making that happen is a formula and anyone can accomplish it.) What generates the most leads, today?

Answer: Offers to provide information about the $8,000 first-time home buyer’s tax credit, offers to provide a list of foreclosures, and offers to provide a list of distressed “bargain” properties. Everyone has heard the news that bargains are out there and they want them. Unfortunately, even in this climate, we have clients who won’t ‘sully their hands dealing in foreclosures’ for a variety of reasons-yet in many markets, distressed properties are the market. Well, if you’re one of those who disdains foreclosures, I have a big secret to let you in on-according to our most successful clients, over 80% of people who come to them as leads interested in foreclosure properties don’t care about foreclosures, they are simply looking for properties that are bargains! Do you have any properties that are great bargains? Could you prepare a list of 10 of them for an interested buyer? Then accentuate foreclosures on your homepage!

That’s equally true for first-time home buyers, and if you are not emphasizing that on your homepage, you either are in a different marketplace (e.g., high-end homes) or you are missing a sure thing. The government is basically giving people $8,000 towards buying some of your inventory. Wouldn’t you think that those first time buyers go online and search for “Decatur first-time home buyers?” (Or whatever town they are looking in?) That’s exactly what they are doing. Is your site optimized for first-time home buyers? Do you have a page devoted to giving information and soliciting their inquiry?

These two areas are where really good things are happening today, and you need to move fast and adapt your website to attracting them. Those kinds of things, along with proper lead capture and comments capability, will forever change the quality of your website leads into people you have a real chance to sell something to.

Why leads you generate are better than leads generated by corporate, or purchased from lead aggregators

Corporate “leads” can be of inconsistent quality for many reasons. I have had many clients tell me that they never sold a home to a corporate lead they have received in five or 10 years. How is that possible? Well, think about your corporate site for a minute. Then, ask yourself–if you were looking for a home, would you rather consult a faceless corporation or a friendly local agent? The desire to work with local people is only enhanced by the “Central Planning Committee” look and feel of these corporate sites; the hit or miss way leads are assigned, collected and sent to you. Folks, corporate wants to own your leads, so it can control who it gives them to. Don’t you think you’d be better off controlling your own leads and owning them?

As for lead aggregators-well, to be charitable, a lead for someone checking out the price of Aunt Mary’s house isn’t necessarily a real interested home buyer. They might just be nosy! If you get ‘leads’ that are also sold to others, why waste your money? If someone applied for a loan, does that make them a valid home buyer lead? No wonder frustration levels are so high and cynicism is so prevalent.

But when someone signs into your site and says: “Please send me a list of 10 bargain properties in the 300K price range, 3-4 bedrooms, good schools, etc…..” you have a real lead, don’t you think?

3 rules to remember to get the most out of any Internet lead

One of the great things about working with hundreds of agents and brokers is that the honest feedback received is educational. One soon learns what is hot, what works and what doesn’t work. Here are three consistently quoted rules about handling Internet leads from other agents and brokers, but first, one caveat: if you have a site that doesn’t work, you aren’t going to get these kinds of leads. If it can’t be found in major search engines, ditto. If you can’t incent visitors to register, double ditto.

1. Respond to all Internet lead by telephone, when possible-then by e-mail-in the shortest possible time.

People who shop online expect instant response. The Massachusetts Institution of Technology did a study in which they reported that leads degrade substantially as to your ability to contact them in one hour! Call them immediately!

2. Do not use an auto responder to respond to Internet leads.

One of my most expert clients explained to me that by taking a few moments to personalize her initial e-mail contact with a lead, she increased her ability to cultivate that person by a factor of 5! People want personal communication with their agent and when you give it to them from the get-go; they solidify their willingness to stick with you as their agent.

3. Do not bomb these people with e-mail once you qualify their interest

If you send out mindless, undirected e-mail, it turns people off. Only communicate with your prospects when you have something meaningful to say. That said, keep your database current and prospect it at least once a month with carefully chosen materials.

Remember, the object of this continued contact is to find the hot button that makes the prospect convert to an active buyer. That hot button is likely to relate to the reason that they signed in to your site to begin with. Don’t send first time home buyer materials to people who indicated they are looking for bargains, and vice versa. Take the care to segregate your leads by area of interest: that makes it easier to design meaningful materials for each special interest.

Remember, all real estate is local, even though your buyer can come from anywhere. Once you establish a little rapport with an Internet lead and they know that you are the local expert, you will find that in time, a goodly percentage of them become your clients. Use the common sense that we all have to cultivate people in a thinking way and you will succeed.

Mike Parker (mparker@theblackwatercg.com) specializes in online marketing services for Realtors® and real estate professionals. To request a free review of your online marketing and website to determine if it is set up properly to be effective click here and it will be evaluated free. Also feel free to obtain the new booklet “REAL LEADSTM – How to get them and Sell Homes Online,” FREE with no obligation. Just write to REALLEADS@CompassInternetSystems.com and it will be sent to you and no one will call you.

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Don’t miss other real estate marketing tips and ideas on RISMedia.com, see:

Succeeding Online – How One Agent Closes Almost All Her Listing Presentations
Where Your Local Knowledge Really Counts 
How One Broker Gets a 3,000% ROI on Her Internet Marketing


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