Many agents offer news letters, special reports and "not to be found elsewhere lists" to attract potential buyers and sellers to contact them. While I am a big fan of generating leads and gathering contact information using one of these registration methods - requiring someone to register before they can look at homes on your site is a completely different topic.
We find that when potential buyers or sellers register online they tend to be reluctant to release their contact information. You've probably had Daffy Duck and Anita Bath register on your site too!
If the buyer or seller is truly interested, it's likely that they will not complete your contact form entirely, and probably will only provide a valid email address. Because of that the first goal is often just discovering their true identity.
I am passionate about helping agents increase their lead conversions Successful systems I currently use to convert leads include all of the following:
1. Contact Management System – Fathom’s lead management system is excellent and allows you to create an “action plan” that will auto-remind you to take certain actions on specified days. You can also set up your own system in your calendar - although it takes some time...
2. Custom Solutions – You can Google each lead’s email address, which will sometimes provide you with websites, social media profiles, and blogs associated with it. Many people, however, do not even have a complete Google Profile, even if they are using gmail.
There are other advanced tools like Xobni.com (pronounced “Zob-knee,” it’s just the word inbox spelled backwards) which is an Outlook plug-in that matches email addresses with photos, names, mailing addresses, phones numbers, Facebook profiles, LinkedIn profiles, Skype numbers, and even a Hoovers profile. You get the point: It’s like having your own private detective.
The news this week that Xobni will soon be available for folks using Gmail is really great!
Think Outside The Box
Don't get "stuck" just sending an email to someone who is interested in Buying and Selling! While it's true that live in an instant gratification society, and when people request information they expect to get it instantly - but we are also getting bombarded with so many messages in our email boxes... that your information might end up in a SPAM folder.
Christopher Walton and Abel Bazan from the Home4investment Real Estate Team have reported getting double the amount of responses from sending Facebook messages to web leads as compared to sending traditional emails.
If you have a cell phone number, consider sending a short text message. Depending on the demographics of the lead - you will often get a response back from a text message long before you get an email response.
One Raleigh agent finds that so many people read email on their smart phones, her highest response rates comes from 2 or 3 sentence emails with Open Ended Questions, like "Do you need to sell a home before you buy another one?"
Particularly on the West Coast, people record video introductions as a unique way to connect quickly to leads. You can incorporate a service like Eyejot.com or Goldmail.com or Sales Fuel to create a video that can be embedded drectly into your email. Remember to keep your messages (no matter what kind they are) short, relevant and easy to respond to for the highest conversion rate!
If you have questions about building your real estate blog as you build your real estate business, give me a call! Josh Harley, Fathom Realty, 214-228-0301. I’d love to help you, and learn more about what’s working in your market! Are you on Facebook and Twitter? Let’s Connect!
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