Mostly for Sugar Pine Realty agents: More and more people are using the internet to search for property these days (duh). And when they need a real estate agent, that's when they contact us! Depending on the area of interest (Sonora, Soulsbyville, Twain Harte, Groveland, etc.) that will be the office and agent that will receive the inquiry/lead. What happens at that point is what I want to briefly talk about. Internet leads are a little bit different than up (phone) calls, but not too much. The word you want to keep in mind is: incubation. Case in point: Kelly calls you with a lead. Someone's interested in finding out about homes in Pinecrest. You accept the lead. You have the person's email address, but no phone number. You email this person saying that you'd like to help them, could they please give you a call. You may even email them Pinecrest listings, too. The problem is - they don't respond. And so what do you do? Three choices: Choice #1 - You blow them off; Choice #2 - You call Kelly and yell at her; Choice #3 - You continue to pursue the lead. If you answered Choice #3, you're right. This is incubation. Sure you haven't heard back from these folks after the first email (or maybe second or third). But if the emails went through you gotta believe they got them. So put them on an automatic email notification for listings in the Pinecrest area. Why? Because industry studies say that it can take from 12-18 months for internet leads to finally blossom. But if you blow them off or call to yell at Kelly instead of Choice #3, you'll never see much of anything from the internet. The moral of the story: Don't give up on internet leads. Sure, a number of them won't pan out, but you don't need but a few to close escrow to make your investment in this area worth your time.