Internet Lead Conversion — The little things still count

Internet Lead Conversion — The little things still count.

One of the problems with the Internet is that it allows complete anonymity. Even if you visit a site that requires a name and email address, you can put in a fake name and a fake email address.

That makes it difficult and time-consuming to find that one name and email address that are good, and then to convert it into a sale. But how do you do that? I believe there are three things that you have to do well in order to convert Internet leads.

1. Speed — Be fast in responding to your lead. I know everyone working in real estate is familiar with the phrase "Time is of the essence," and it's oh-so-true if you want a chance to convert that Internet lead. The Internet is open 24 hours a day, so it's highly likely that you're not the only one getting a lead from that person, and often the person who responds first is the one who converts the lead.
2. Offer something of value for the chance to meet them personally — Make it something other than a free consultation. Contrary to popular belief, the only person who believes that your time is valuable is you, so simply spending your time with them might not carry much weight. They might see it as simply your opportunity to give them the ol' hard sale. Following are some of the things of value that my Clients have successfully used to convert an Internet lead into a meeting, and once my Clients have an opportunity to sit down one-on-one with a lead, they rarely lose. You can use them individually or even combine them:
   1. Plants — One of my Clients is an avid gardener, and she's always pruning and trimming her plants. The cuttings of many of her plants can grow into plants themselves simply by rooting them in water or planting them in moist soil. You can also get lots of small plants at nurseries for 99¢ or less. A dollar is not a significant expense to convert a lead. Buy yourself a spider plant/airplane plant like that shown in the picture. They grow rapidly, put out lots of runners with plants at the end, and you can simply pluck a plant off the mother plant, and give it away.
   2. DVDs — Most of my real estate Clients provide a DVD packed full of useful information about home maintenance — staying safe in our homes and easily taking care of them.
   3. Coupons to relatives' businesses — Another Client provides 10% discount coupons to her husband's auto repair shop, and yet another Client provides 10% discount coupons to his wife's custom jewelry shop.
   4. Food — This is a very popular one. I mean, who can resist food? Make some cookies (If you make peanut butter cookies, please send me some. Thanks.), or a pie, or some homemade bread, or some fig preserves.... "If you can meet with me this week, I'll have a dozen peanut butter cookies for you. If you can't meet until next week, you'll have to settle for an apple pie."
   5. Future gift — One Client is the world's best embroiderer, and she lets everyone know that if they hire her to help them buy or sell, she'll embroider a special set of his and her beach towels for them.
3. Know exactly what you're going to say when you meet — I believe you should have a script for responding by email if that's all you have, responding by phone if you're lucky enough to get a phone number, and for when you finally get to sit down and meet them. This is critical when you're meeting in person because your appearance, your vocal inflection, and your non-verbal gestures aren't something that you can take back. If you're talking on the phone, at least you can do that in your jammies, and if you're emailing, you can safe the email as a draft and proof it after supper; just don't wait too long because time is of the essence!

If you provide a closing gift, make sure you let those Internet leads know that when they hire you and get to a successful close, you have a nice closing gift for them. Don't be afraid to advertise future value for them for meeting with you today!

The little things count.

For other methods of converting internet leads, be sure to check out giftofshift.com/activerain where you can purchase a limited edition hardcover of Gary Keller's book SHIFT, which comes with a free version of the eBook Soci@l: Attract Friends, Followers and Connections to Your Business, written by Ben Kinney and Jay Papasan (in which Ben shares his 'ten days of pain' lead conversion method) as well as free audio versions of Millionaire Real Estate Agent and Millionaire Real Estate Investor, all for $19.99.