Cultivating Prospects Captured on a Realtor® Website

Cultivating the contacts captured is the key to creating sales via the internet... follow-up.  Most real estate agents have a quality Realtor website with inbound traffic. Most agents offer the MLS, and most agents have a guest book. But most agents lack follow-up.  In 2005, the National Association of Realtors® conducted a study, and in that study members randomly signed up for information on an agent's website.  The average response time was THREE days.  Unacceptable.

The response time must be immediate.  This is where a well thought out, content driven DRIP CAMPAIGN becomes very effective. It is preferable that the drip campaign is automated.  A thank you email is sent when a contact signs up.  The follow-up emails should contain take action steps.  For example, in your thank you email, you may ask if they are selling a home, and if so, would they like a Comparative Market Analysis.

The Drip Campaigns should last at least four months, and they should be front end loaded. The contact should receive more emails early and less frequently towards the end.  For example:  in my drip campaign a contact will receive five emails the first month, but only one email in the last month.   Remember to have take action steps in all correspondence.

Another great tool for cultivating internet real estate leads is the automated MLS searches or Gateway.  If you have captured relevant information in your form, then set up an automated MLS search, and send listings to the contact weekly.  Be careful not to send too many.  I recommend sending 10-15 listings per week.  Then, send a weekly email asking if they received the listings and were any of the properties to their liking.  The objective here is to create dialogue.  Once the contact responds, you are one step closer to a sale.

Electronic newsletters are another great tool for cultivating real estate leads.  Utilize monthly newsletters to maintain contact, remember to include take action steps.  If you are utilizing electronic articles to enhance rankings and boost traffic, these can double as monthly newsletters.  Make sure your newsletters are content driven and relevant.

A very productive formula for success is to put a lead into a drip campaign with a series of messages and MLS searches for six months.  After six months, transfer the prospect into a second campaign that consist of monthly newsletters and MLS searches. 

Play with it, see what works for you.  The internet can be an excellent tool for enhancing your real estate business, nut cultivation is the key to success.

If you really like our articles, visit our site at http://www.pro-onlineagent.com/ to find out how you can Create, Capture & Cultivate leads via the Internet.

If you would like to see the above techniques in action, please visit http://www.proonlineagent.com/.