Back in May I wrote a post about how I was going to start using a lead service.

The post can be found here: http://activerain.com/blogsview/97814/Lead-Service-Taking-the 

Well, its a few months later and I called the service last week to cancel my subscription. 

Truth be told, I got plenty of good leads.  People who called or e-mailed back with questions after my initial contact.  None have converted yet, but their all in my mailing lists - so we'll see.

The issue I had was with the idea of being tied to my computer 24 hours a day.  The lead service offers to the public a free CMA if they complete a form.  It is up to the real estate agent to then complete and do the CMA and send it to the client.  Preferably within an hour or two - but within 24 hours at the latest.

I know we're in the age of the Internet and instant gratification.  But I'm also a full-time real estate professional who is generally out of the office from about 8am to 5pm daily. 

In my state only licensed agents can do CMAs and I haven't made the leap to hiring a licensed assistant.  And for the dozen or so leads I was getting through the service - I didn't feel like it would pay to hire one now.

The whole exercise was a good wake-up call that the Internet remains one of the best places to find new clients.  I have CMA request forms set-up on a few of my web sites and I still get leads from those - an average of one a day. 

I respond to the people in a timely manner, but now I don't feel like I'm wasting money if I can't get to them within an hour or two.

 
Posted by Vinny Goldsmith on 10/09/2007 04:21 PM   Comments (1)   lead service, internet  
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1 Comments on Lead Service: Taking the Plunge - Follow-up

NOV
02
2007

Vinny,

I think I have tried just about every lead service out there, including the one you refer to in your post. Our conversion rate has been abyssmal. At first, it was my feeling that using drip e-mail campiagns were intrusive. My agents do follow-up with all leads. How many times they follow-up before getting frustrated???

So instead of just leaving it up to my agents, I've had a change of opinion, and now I am sending out drip campiagns. The internet customer is frustrating and I would certainly be open to any suggestions on how to improve our conversion rate.
Bob McDevitt
11:55am • #1


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Vinny Goldsmith

Crofton, MD

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Anne Arundel Properties

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