Leads are the lifeblood of the real estate industry. An agent’s ability to convert prospects to clients and generate new leads could be the difference between excelling in their career or falling behind. Capturing leads and converting them into clients is the first step in the process before being able to make a sale. Without a consistent lead generation program, you may never be able to ‘wow’ your clients with your strongest skills—presentations, proposals, offers, negotiations, and closings.
A solid lead generation program can help you increase your marketing power and start converting those potential clients into happy customers. Well-seasoned real estate agents know that powerful lead generation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s not just one single event, but a cycle that goes beyond just capturing and converting prospects. The way you attract and convert these clients has a strong effect on whether the proposition turns into a closed deal. To help you strengthen your lead generation program, Homes.com recently released an ebook filled with strategies for real estate professionals—“Talkin’ About Lead Generation.”
Here are three ways to begin strengthening your lead generation routine to be sure you’re getting rock star results.
1. Develop Your Online Presence
Sellers begin researching home information long before they reach out to an agent. This means that the impression you give online is likely your first (and possibly only) impression. Of all the prospects you connect with online, don’t be surprised if most of them are Millennials. According to the 2014 Google House Hunting Study, Millennial real estate web usage grew 30 percent from May 2013 to July 2014 and Millennial real estate mobile usage grew 81 percent during that same time. These soon-to-be homebuyers are beginning to make their move in the real estate industry, so you’ll need to be active where they’re looking most — online.
To begin marketing online, it’s key to remove your real estate hat and look at this form of prospecting from the eyes of the client. Think of online prospecting like a funnel. At the top, you have those clients who are only dreaming of homeownership. This part of the funnel is the widest, since prospective buyers and sellers are focused on gathering information and may not have developed a loyalty for a particular agent yet. Qualify these leads by moving prospects who are not ready to transact to a lead nurturing or drip marketing campaign in order to focus on more active buyers and sellers. This will allow you to work with clients who are ready to transact first, while also staying top of mind with those who aren’t planning to make a move until later.
2. Create Compelling Content
Once you’ve identified the types of clients you want to attract, it’s time to be sure your content is geared toward the right visitors. Research consistently shows that visitors want high-quality images, video, detailed listing content, current neighborhood information, home prices, and more. They want local content that’s relevant to their situation and answers their questions. Share content that sparks the interest of your audience, and you’ll be able to position yourself as the local real estate expert. Find your niche and focus on it.
The best real estate websites have content that attracts both humans and search engines. Optimizing your site for search engines means more real humans will see your page. Make your content eye catching by including images and videos. Also, as search engines become more sophisticated, social content, images, and videos all attract more results. Finally, while it’s important to have content, capturing leads from this content is the key. Once you have rich content, you need a strong call to action to convert those lookers into customers.
3. Quality before Quantity
Today, it can be tough to turn down anything that looks remotely like a lead, but generating mountains of low-quality leads is not an effective way to grow your business. An unfocused lead generation strategy often results in attracting prospects who are not yet ready to transact, leaving you sifting through lookie-loos. Lead quality is always more important than lead quantity.
Rather than spending on marketing campaigns to reach the largest audience, start targeting only serious buyers and sellers in your specified area. One way to reach these serious buyers and sellers is through Homes.com’s new Local Connect, allowing you to pursue transaction-ready prospects who are actively searching for homes in your market area. By implementing a targeted marketing and advertising system that tracks your lead generation efforts, you can improve your prospecting results. Over time, you’ll learn which lead sources perform the best for you, so you’ll be able to invest in the right places, saving you time, effort, and money.
Marketing aggressively and focusing on lead generation can protect your business from the revenue rollercoaster by supplying a steady stream of qualified prospects. A strong lead generation program enables top producing agents to consistently produce results. The real estate market and technology are always changing, but the importance of generating high quality leads remains consistent.
For even more great information on how to generate quality leads, download Homes.com’s Talkin’ About Lead Generation: Six Steps for Real Estate Rock Star Results.
