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A Open Letter to RISMedia on Lead Sellers

Today I read the artical that RISMedia put out about lead sellers which was basically a advertisement for Lead sellers just like the recent 60 minutes story was a advertisement for Redfin. I read their entire artical and found it to be a very very poor example of what Realtors should do.

Here is a link to the artical: http://www.rismedia.com/wp/2007-06-12/to-buy-or-not-to-buy-whats-all-the-fuss-about-online-leads/

What they did not say is that these companies are trying very very hard to get between the consumer and the Realtor, and in the process devaluing the Realtor as just a commodity to be used and thrown away.

Here is the e-mail that I sent to them:

I am interested in knowing why you are writing a article promoting lead sellers. It is a poor model which is easy to beat on the local level. We have lots of lazy realtors in my area who use these lead sellers and because it is hard for the lead sellers to stay ranked well for the local market, City Name Real Estate in google and yahoo all it takes is a few months of effort and a local Realtor can get his or her website to place higher than the lead sellers websites.

I have talked to some of the agents who are buying leads in my area, and what I am hearing is that since a few local agent websites started placing well in google, mine is one of them, the lead buying agents lead quality has dropped significantly. Incidentally I am getting good quality leads from my website, I think that the relationship between my lead quality and theirs is related.

Lead selling in the Real Estate industry, a flawed approach.

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What do you think of the artical, and the e-mail that I sent to them????

6-18-2007

Update, I e-mailed RISMedia about an hour before first posting this blog. The blog is showing up #10 google search rismedia. I kind of thought that I would get some sort of response from them, but I guess they are just your typical uncaring what the little people think kind of company.

When you talk relavent Real Estate News, are you talking RISMedia, possibly if you take the relavent out of it.

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When you are looking for Real Estate in Chatham NJ or Morristown, Madison, Florham Park, or Short Hills, contact James Boyer of Keller Williams Realty in Summit NJ 973.647.0253

About the Author

James Boyer, Realtor is a real estate consultant specializing in Real Estate Morristown and Chatham NJ Real Estate. He is the team leader of the Jboyerhomes team at Keller Williams Realty, who aim to provide exceptional service and provide expert guidance in each of their client's real estate transactions. You can visit their web presence at Real Estate . http://www.jboyerhomes.com

Posted by New Jersey Real Estate James Boyer Morris, Essex & Union County NJ Realtor on 06/15/2007 10:23 AM

Comments (12)

seo, lead buying, lead generation, real estate leads, rismedia, new jersey, real estate, new jersey real estate, new jersey realtor

Post is included in group: REW Rainers

12 Comments on A Open Letter to RISMedia on Lead Sellers

JUN

2007

Interesting . . . I guess what I got out of the article is this, when I buy leads from companies, don't expect more than 10 - 15% to pan out. It is also saying that it's ok if I spend this money on a lead because I have to to get to a good one. A numbers game! Besides that, it's ok if I waste time on these leads that will eventually fall out because that's part of the plan too! That almost makes me as upset as the throwing away of money.

Thanks for the response Cynthia, you read their artical correctly. What they did not say is that these companies are trying very very hard to get between the consumer and the Realtor, and in the process devaluing the Realtor as just a commodity to be used and thrown away.

Didn't read the article but I did like your response and letter. I am so tired of getting calls from these lead sellers.

Here is what the California Association of Realtors has to say about lead generation companies-they are NOT all the same.

http://www.car.org/index.php?id=MzcyOTE

JUN

2007

If you are buying leads.... you might be in the wrong business

James - LOVE your letter you sent to them. Thanks for bringing this RISMedia article to our attention - somehow I had missed that one.

Thanks,
Ann

No real surprise here. This article was written by the founder of Reply.com. The link to reply at the bottom of the article gives me the ability to go in and get a "free home valuation" for my house. The valuation I got there was 266K-1.2 million with another link that would give me the "real home valuation". That real home valuation would be for me to give them my contact info and them to sell my info to an agent.

i've seen some agents pay for leads, and sometimes they actualy turn a pretty good profit from it. i personaly, would rather make contact, and get my leads from people in person.

I hate getting calls from the lead sellers. I tell them no. But they still call back a month later or a couple months later. I don't like throwing money out the window!

Thank you for your comments and more are welcome. It just bugs me when so called news sources put out such blatant advertising, and this stuff is bad for the Realtor as well.

Everyone I've talked to that has used lead sellers (homegain, etc) have all said the ROI was atrocious. Most of the leads were garbage and some didn't even want to be contacted at all. Realtors are far better off spending that money on a PPC campaign instead. -Charles

JUN

2007

Thank you for this post. I was just about to write something along this line. You did a superb job. The 3rd part aggregators drive me crazy. They scam our data and sell it back to us. Totally amazing,and yet they are getting a lot of publicity and air time. I swear, I wish we could make all the MLS's closed and we should been the ones to have decided what was to be put out there.

We were all victims of falling for the Bill Chee "lion coming over the hill" speech. We all helped to make it a self fulling prophecy. Big mistake. But you can't un-ring the bell.

Very good post. Congratulations on being featured! Very worthy indeed.

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