We all want "good" leads. I remember my years at my previous broker when we were driving 1,300 web requests a month (to the company - not counting direct to agent, office leads), we were closing around 4-6% of the requests for real commission dollars (*after appointments). We looked at our lead sources and consistently the "for sale sign" and Web were the biggest sources of "leads". Naturally, since they were the biggest sources, we tossed more money at them: bigger signs, easier to read, colored posts that could be sign miles away, larger budgets for keyword buying, site optimization, etc. We got more leads. But, was that what we needed?

In the end those leads, just created more work, more frustrated agents, more misdirected use of time. We needed BETTER leads, not more. Why? Because better leads, lead to the following:

• selling our clients home as fast as possible for the highest possible price
• more closings
• higher earned commissions
• shorter sales cycles

If we could generate BETTER leads, we could accomplish those four goals and more. That is not rocket science. Yes, in the long run, increasing the pipeline will increase your opportunity, but you also increase work and time wasted on - what some would call - "bad leads". I am going to change your vocabulary right now, because NO lead, is a BAD lead. You need to know how to identify and attract leads that are closer to their buying stage. Better yet, you want your lead to tell you EXACTLY where they are in the buying cycle. Here are some ideas:

Which buyer is more likely to buy a property from you in less than 90 days:

1) Buyer A: Types into Google, "New York City Real Estate" or Buyer B: "Upper East Side Condo for sale"

Think very carefully. Which one knows EXACTLY where they want to live, which one knows the property type and neighborhood? Do you think that Buyer B is more honed in on their target?: Answer: YES - So why the heck do we optimize for "houston real estate", or even "new york homes for sale" - are we nuts? heck even "Brooklyn Real Estate".

You see, not only has the web evolved, but web search behavior has evolved. For some of the most popular real estate sites in NYC, the most popular terms are actually ADDRESSES - of course that is because of buildings and such, but imagine that consumers are going as far as to just type in addresses into Google and see what comes up? Try it out - if you don't believe me.

Try this on for size: A school district is one of the biggest criteria for buying a home (I think we all agree), do you think the Mother and Father go on to Google to search for the city name - real estate, or a "Zip Code - homes for sale", think about it. If YOU were going to buy a home in your hometown, what would you type into the Google  search box, if you were not a broker? One final test, grab someone, out of the industry, or ask a client that just made an offer on a house, what they were typing in to the search engine 12 months ago, and what they typed in before they made their offer last week.

2) Your method of connecting to the buyer/seller:

Do you have one call of action on your listings? I hope at LEAST one. But you may want up to 3 or even 4! Again, before you throw up your hands in shock and awe, let's walk through this. A buyer, 6-9 months out of a purchase, heck even a year out will want to ask a question, about anything - but the only option available is one contact form - why? So you have to determine the order you answer? So you can sit there and answer back in 5 minutes to every mundane question? Well THAT is exactly what you force yourself to do when you have ONE call to action. At the very least, you need two: "Ask a question about this listing here" "Set an appointment to view this property this evening", the consumer themselves will choose which pile they want to go into. What others could you have: "Sign up for a weekly update" - "Let's talk on the phone" "e-mail me similar listings" - etc. Think of all of the options now available. By doing this your e-mail system becomes a prioritization tools and the people that want appointments get the best treatment and instead of having to voraciously watch your e-mail, you can just look for the subject line: "appointment request" and answer those ASAP and leave the others for when you can sit down and give a great response.

In the end, our role is to help our sellers get the highest possible price for their homes. To do that effectively you need to work hard on the consumers that are most likely to buy NOW, they are out there. But they are not searching for "New York Real Estate" they are looking for homes for sale in 11223, an "Upper West Side Coop for sale", etc. They know exactly what they want - are you there? Can you be found? Can you tell the 90 day buyer from a 360 day buyer? Improve your marketing methods to improve your leads and close more business. these tips above are just the beginning.

Cheers,

Pierre Calzadilla

Trulia - Manager Strategic Partnerships - East Coast