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An Open Letter to Lead Generation Real Estate Companies

By Bob Haywood

Real Estate Agent with McGraw Realtors

February 02, 2011 01:01 PM

If you are a lead generation company, you probably already know this, but we Real Estate agents don't like you very much. At least most of us don't.

And here's why.

1. You're pushy. I took a call the other day from a nice lady at Trulia. No matter how many times I told her "no", she wouldn't let up on her sales pitch. "This new program is the greatest thing we've come up with and you've got to get in today!" And on and on she went blabbering on about this and about that. I didn't want to spend $40 bucks on her stupid program, but she wouldn't listen. Pushy doesn't cut it. Courteous does. Just ask our clients!

2. You don't represent or respect real referrals. Most all of us would gladly pay you a referral fee of up to 25% for any lead that closes. But you don't want to do it that way. No, you want to sell us a bunch of leads that are often crappy and go nowhere. And you want like $300 per month for all these leads. In the world of Real Estate, lead referral doesn't work that way. Get a clue.

3. You are dishonest. I mentioned recently how replyrealestate.com called me and intentionally hid who they were in the caller ID identification tag. The message left was misleading also. What do you people not understand about ethics and honesty in business? If we were to use the same kind of practices with the public, we Real Estate people wouldn't be in business very long. Hopefully, you won't either when you practice these things upon us.

4. The reality of your business model is based upon mass quantities of Realtors® getting sucked into your lead generation program. Whether or not any of the leads turn into closings is not on your radar. You don't care. And the reason you don't care is because you're getting what you want. Your hand in our pants wallets.

When I went into Real Estate, having to deal with your pushy, pesky, unrelenting sales weasels wasn't something that I figured I'd have to deal with. I know there are a few of us who do pretty well with the leads they get, but it seems like to me that most of us are tired of you and the sorry leads you claim are so great.

I'll tell you what. Offer us a fair deal where you get paid when a deal closes or go away. But either way, don't expect most of us to continue to be pleasant or to tolerate you any longer the next time you clog up our busy cell phone.

Now, back to Real Estate.

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Maria Couto

RE/MAX Premier - Berkeley Heights, NJ

Realtor with "Results That "MOVE" You'

What find the most entertaining is when you get a new telemarketeer who does not know what he is selling, It just down right funny: I ask gibbirish questions and they actually think they're answering. Good post.

Feb 03, 2011 04:17 PM

Anonymous

Shawn Murray

I always like the one where they say they can get you on the first page of Goggle. I ask them "Who will they kick off so that I can take their place and will I be the next person they kick for thext agent they call" LOL

Feb 03, 2011 04:55 PM

#72

Joan Valverde

HomeSmart - Colorado Springs, CO

GRI,CDPE,CNE,MRP,SRES Colo Sprgs, Blk Forest, Monu

Bob, Thanks for the post. I too get those calls all the time. I have not signed up, but as a newer agent I wonder if it is worth it or not. BUT they really make it sound to good to be true. SOOOO I do not part with my money! I do AR instead.

Feb 03, 2011 05:02 PM

Rama Mehra

Asante Realty - San Ramon, CA

TOP 1% REALTOR IN THE TRI-VALLEY

Loved your post. I am just chuckling away, cause you expressed my thoughts !

Feb 03, 2011 06:15 PM

Nathan Tutas

Tutas Towne Realty, Inc. - Davenport, FL

Your Central Florida Real Estate Expert

I got that same call from Trulia. At first some guy named Sam called and left a message for me to call him back. He intentionally made it sound lkike he was a client. When I did he then announced that he was actually from Trulia. Very dishonest if you ask me.

Feb 03, 2011 09:37 PM

David James

ReMax Real Estate Services Columbia South Carolina - Columbia, SC

Brian- who has the leads company- here's how you do it. Let me sample your leads service for one month. At the end of the month, when I've seen all the leads you sent me, I'll write you that check for the following month so fast, you won't believe it. Well, I don't actually "write" checks anymore, but you know what I mean. Sure, you might end up giving out a few free leads, but I think if you actually did this, and your business really is on the up and up, you wouldn't be able to keep up with all the business you would get.

Feb 04, 2011 02:52 AM

John Meussner

Mortgages in AZ, CA, CO, DE, FL, GA, IN, MD, MN, MT, NC, NJ, NV, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI - Fair Oaks, CA

#MortgageMadeEasy Fair Oaks, CA 484-680-4852

Great post, Bob! I always ask the lead generation company...if you're so good at generating real estate leads, why aren't you doing my job and making a heck of a lot of money?

The WORST in my business is USHUD...first they use a government entity in their name to sound official when they have no affiliation...a turnoff from the start...THEN to make it worse, when I repeatedly tell them to stop calling me, I get 'sorry sir, we don't have a lead list, we just look for mortgage professionals online and call them'. What kind of shoddy business model is that? Drives me crazy!

Feb 04, 2011 05:20 AM

Bob Haywood

McGraw Realtors - Owasso, OK

BobHaywood.com

John, don't even get me started on USHUD! Get youmail.com today, put them in your contact list, assign a "this number has been disconnected" message and you'll never, ever have to talk to them again!

Feb 04, 2011 05:38 AM

Craig Hatcher

Georgia Residential Realty, LLC - Atlanta, GA

I completely agree with your post. No is no!

Feb 04, 2011 07:30 AM

Ron Parise

LocateHomes.com - Cape Coral, FL

Bob

I couldnt disagree more.

To be successful in this business I believe that I need to generate leads and referrals. I figure that if I did it myself it would take 50% of my time. id rather pay someone else to do it and free up my time to actually sell.

if I cant generate the leads myself or dont want to, or if can be done better or more efficiently then I think it makes sense to pay someone to do it for me. I always listen to the pitch; for two reasons. 1) whats being offered may be an improvement on what Im doing now or 2) I might learn something.

There are lots of things in my personal and business life that I could do for myself, but that I choose to pay others to do for me. For example

a) oil changes: I am quite capable of doing this myself, but its dirty work, and my mechanic will do it quicker than I can, and for about the same money

b) coffee: Why am I willing to pay dunkin donuts to make my coffee? It dosent make sense.

c) cooking. I know my way around a kitchen, I was an Army cook, and I put myself through college working in Marriott (Hot Shoppes) kitchens. But now I buy pre cooked meals at Costco, or eat out. Why...I like it and Its tough to cook for 2

The lead generation company I work with now does a better job than I ever could and except for a very small monthly fee, only gets paid when I do. Im happy, I wouldnt do it any other way.

Got to go now, its lunch time and Subway has a sub ready with my name on it

Feb 05, 2011 03:07 AM

Bob Haywood

McGraw Realtors - Owasso, OK

BobHaywood.com

Ron, thanks for stopping by and commenting. I'm glad that things are working out for you and that the company you work with only gets paid when you get paid. I haven't encountered a single lead generation company that has a lick of common sense and is willing to be paid after the fact.

So, who do you work with?

Feb 05, 2011 03:24 AM

Melissa Brown

Helen Adams Realty - Charlotte, NC

Realtor - South Charlotte NC Homes for Sale

Amen, amen, AMEN!!! I'm so sick of it I could croak! I want to not answer my cell phone, but that would be crazy because i would miss the legitimate buyers who are calling off my blogs posts or websites.

It never fails, they always call at the most inconvenient time. And I want to get really rude, and say "What kind of fool do you think I am?" Maybe I will next time! Thanks for the posts.

Feb 05, 2011 08:29 AM

Justin Shum

ReadyChat - Toronto, ON

Why pay for leads?

Real estate lead generation is no different than any other industry. Leads from third-party sources are usually always crappy and expensive. The best leads are organic - ones developed from your personal website.

Unfortunatley, most realtors don't have the money to invest the funds needed to be competitive in SEO. So the next best and most logical thing is to focus on converting the existing (even if little) traffic your website gets.

The #1 issues with online lead generation is being able to build trust quickly. Without trust, your visitors are reluctant to leave you their contact info. Breat-down those barriers by adding live chat to your site and being available to your online prospects so they can connect with you or someone from your team immediately, in a non-trheatening way. Help them find things easier online and just provide a positive customer experience to build that trust.

If you are looking for organic ways to develop leads, you should check out my page/blog http://activerain.com/readychat.

Jul 19, 2011 10:37 AM

Jeffrey Burnham

Choice One Properties & Mgt - Las Vegas, NV

The Wizard

I just got a call from a grease ball who SAID he was with active rain. I could just tell he had on a plaid coat and white loafers thru the phone!! I'm curious if these hard sell tactics work with anyone?!

Jul 25, 2011 10:20 AM

Anonymous

Nikki

I agree with All the posts about Lead Generation companies being a ripoff. Leads are usually recycled and resold to agents who are struggling to stay above water. Moreso. they generate the leads at a FRACTION of what they charge agents.

I saw a Co charging 49 per lead, reminds me of the old HouseValues. 10 leads for $500. That almost sent us shoeless and shirtless.

Lucky for us, this upset my husband enough to do something about. He went out and learned exactly what these companies do that work and don't work. So we generate our own leads and happily sustain 17-20 closings from year after year. In a market of from 150,000 -250,000, it's not SUPER STATUS - but keeps us happy.

Okay - so if you are looking to do SEO - be smart about it. It does not have to be expensive. If you are are trying to take food away from the big Google Gorillas like Trulia, Zillow, Redfin, ZipRealty, Realtor.com...you might as well take that money and try to double it in VEGAS. At least you will have fun losing your money.

The best way to approach SEO is to target Long Tail Keywords Only and build out Wordpress Mircosites for each LTKW. Trust me that the Guerilla eat from the long hanging branch, so do the work...climb the tree, and get your share .

For Newbies: Traffic without capture means nothing, so make sure you have a good IDX - as this wil be the bread and butter of your online lead capture. Propertyminder works great for us.

When you start bringing in your on leads - You can, with confidence, take those lead sales calls and explain to them how they should be buying your leads!

Sep 29, 2011 10:21 AM

#86

Adam Todd

LeadTrader PRO - Miami Beach, FL

I generate leads for Realtors and I do exactly what you ask for: I generate leads for you, at my own expense, in return for a referral fee on closed sales.

There's no catch, check out my active rain blog where I'm now publishing the exact costs of my lead generation activity, including my Google PPC costs, IDX costs and lead follow up costs. I'm showing you exactly what I'm doing and for how much.

Oct 05, 2011 02:16 PM

Anonymous

teardowns.com

teardowns.com will do the same - total transparency on "how it works" and "what it costs". If you have property being redeveloped in your market or homes being sold where the value is in the land - you can use the teardowns brand as your own vai a Marketing Partnership.

$20 a month or $200 a year per Partnership. If you want the whole community (by zip code), the cost is $60 a month or $600 a year.

Use the brand any way you want; on the back of the jersey of a local Little League team, park bench or just incorporate the brand into your existing marketin campaigns.

BTW - we are brokers and use the brand everyday in our brokerage business in Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills, IL - so we "walk the walk and talk the talk" - we've been the marketing strategy since 2001.

Thanks,

Brian Hickey

teardowns.com

Oct 06, 2011 02:41 AM

#88

Brian Hickey

teardowns.com - Hinsdale, IL

Sorry I should have signed in to my Activerain account before commenting, as well as spell checked - too much coffee.......

$20 a month or $200 a year per Partnership. If you want the whole community (by zip code), the cost is $60 a month or $600 a year.

Use the brand any way you want; on the back of the jersey of a local Little League team, park bench or just incorporate the brand into your existing marketing campaigns.

http://teardowns.com/agent_program

BTW - we are brokers and use the brand everyday in our brokerage business in Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills, IL - so we "walk the walk and talk the talk" - we've been using the marketing strategy and brand to generate unique business opportunities since 2001.

Thanks,

Brian Hickey

teardowns.com

Oct 06, 2011 02:54 AM

Barbara Carter

Century 21 Alliance Realty Group - Highland, NY

Serving Your Real Estate Needs in the Hudson Valle

And now it is our own ACTIVERAIN with it's pushy salesperson calling the sell RealEstate.com- We were sold out! BE really careful in getting involved even though it is ActiveRain it is the same deception and misleading sales pitch.

Dec 14, 2011 09:21 AM

Cynthia Grimes 443-506-0359

BHHS PenFed Realty- Office 240-815-9040 - Frederick, MD

"With You Every Step Home!"

So true!! Just be honest, don't hide your real phone number and like you said we would gladly pay 25% for a lead that actually closes.

Feb 10, 2012 12:44 AM