An entrepreneur at heart, Jake Fackrell isn’t one to rest on his laurels. As CEO of Landvoice—a leading cloud-based lead provider—Fackrell is dedicated to helping real estate professionals achieve abundance. “We have a huge vision for the company and where technology is going to take us as it pertains to real estate,” says Fackrell, “and our underlying purpose is to help real estate professionals achieve abundance by providing innovative products and services that will help them succeed.”
A Recipe for Success
Since getting into the lead-generation business in 1999, Fackrell has made it his mission to listen to clients in order to assess what needs are out there that have yet to be addressed. In fact, when he went to work for Warnock’s By Owner in 2001, it was these client needs that got the gears turning—that set the stage for the company Landvoice is today. “We were very successful with the for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) leads we were providing agents because 84 percent of FSBOs end up listing with an agent, but we had numerous clients coming to us asking for expireds,” says Fackrell. “I knew it was only a matter of time before someone figured out how to produce expired leads, so I took the idea to the owner of the company, however, he had no interest in launching this product line.”
Assuming the risk on his own, Fackrell left Warnock’s By Owner in 2003 and started a company that specialized in Expired leads. Solely focused on expireds at the time, Fackrell went to his partners and pitched his idea of incorporating FSBO leads into the mix. “Expireds typically cater to a limited market since only licensed agents can subscribe to our expired leads service, but FSBO leads are of interest to—mortgage brokers, title companies, real estate agents, real estate investors, movers, cable and satellite companies, carpet cleaners, telephone service providers, alarm companies, etc.—making the market so much bigger with this lead set.”
With no interest coming from the partners, Fackrell decided it was best that they buy him out, and in 2005, he started FSBO Leader. A high-tech lead services company, Fackrell developed the company’s cutting-edge technology from the ground up. And in 2010, everything came full circle when Fackrell bought Warnock’s By Owner, now called Landvoice.
Boosting Business
Because quality leads are the backbone of a successful real estate business, Landvoice continues to innovate by offering real estate professionals a wide range of products including up-to-date and accurate contact information. From homes that have expired within the MLS to those being sold by owner—and everything in between—Landvoice’s product line currently includes Expired, FSBO, Just Listed/Just Sold, Pre-Foreclosure, Old Expired and Expired Pro lead generation programs, all of which have an avid following, according to Fackrell.
“When talking about expireds, it’s important to note that real estate agents can go into the MLS and pull them, however, more often than not, the owner’s contact information has been removed,” says Fackrell. This means an agent who wants to target expireds has to do hours of research. But with Landvoice in their corner, agents no longer have to spend their own time chasing down missing contact information.
“Our clients love the Landvoice seller leads,” says Fackrell, “we’re finding our Old Expired leads to be the hottest product at the moment.” Launched at the end of 2013, the product line came about largely due to client need. “In speaking with clients, our Success Coaches were hearing time and again that agents were going back to the 2008-2012 timeframe, spending copious amounts of time looking for current contact information for homes that had expired during that period,” says Fackrell. Adding to the process, they also had to research whether the property had sold, gone into foreclosure, was currently listed on the market, or if the homeowner was even still living there.
This was all the motivation Fackrell needed to develop the patent-pending Old Expired product, allowing clients to lock in specific years and zip codes. “Since the year and zip code are exclusive to a client, we put our patent-pending technology to use in order to provide them with contact information including cell phone numbers for the expireds that fit within these parameters, while weeding out any properties that have sold or are currently listed,” adds Fackrell. Because this product is exclusive, an agent’s competitors are locked out of the leads.