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So what is the real story with Internet Leads?

Over the past few months I have received several emails from Agents stating that Internet leads are a waste of time. They have said that they are not real leads and that they never buy homes. They have talked badly about companies such as Homegain's BuyerLink program even though they have never tried the program. All in all it just seems to me that most of the people who are complaining about how poor Internet leads are don't really have the training, capture tools or conversion systems available to them to help capture and convert leads to customers for life.

So what is the real story?

In reality, if you don't have the proper site then all those negative statements are true. You will not have a good experience with Internet Leads. In fact, you will waste a ton of money and most likely blame it on everything but your site...why? The reason is simple. You don't know how to build a site that has the tools and you have never been trained on any successful conversion systems. It's not your fault, but before you blow off Internet Leads all together, maybe you should take the time and see if it's your site that is the real problem.

Every once in a while I open myself up to a lot of extra work by evaluating websites for free. Of course I don't write a book about your site, but I will give you a few hints on what you need to do to capture more leads. Keep in mind though, this is only half the battle. You still have to find a system to help convert them to sales. As you may have heard, we are launching The eHomes Realty Network on Monday. The purpose of this post is not to promote that site, but if you have no conversion systems and don't understand the Internet, you may want to join. You can't get info like this for only $39 per month. Ok, the reason for this post is to see if your site needs to change if you want to at least start capturing leads. It's impossible to get experience in converting leads if you are not capturing leads in the first place.

To get your free website evaluation, go to: http://www.ehomesrealtynetwork.com/index.cfm/Free_Website_Evaluation

So the real story with Internet Leads is if you have a good capture tool with a great follow up and conversion system Internet Leads are awesome! Our office, Tropical Realty of Suntree in Melbourne Florida is living proof. Last year we were number one in Brevard County working with Buyers. This year we are hovering between number one and number two. We should end up with over 250 Sales from the Internet for 2008! All of our business comes from the Internet and even our referrals are referrals from customers that we gained through the Internet. Currently we have 46 inhouse Listings....90% of those came from our buyer leads that had homes to sell. We love Internet Leads!

If you have any questions or would like to chat about your Internet Program, don't hesitate to take advantage of me. I really enjoy helping those who are struggling and watching their business grow by implementing the tips I suggest. Good luck!

Posted by Mitch Ribak on 08/09/2008 10:29 PM

Comments (11)

internet leads, internet conversion, lead conversion, free website evaluation

Post is included in group: Internet Lead Capture and Conversion

11 Comments on So what is the real story with Internet Leads?

AUG

2008

I'll check it out. The experience I had with house values was a complete waste of time and money.

100% of the leads I received were not serious sellers, they just wanted to know the value of their home.

Hey Lori! I grew up in Canton and raised my kids in Mansfield. I come to S. Easton at least once a year to see my brother. Maybe next time I come up I can spend a few minutes showing you what we do in my Melbourne office. One of the things I have not had much luck with either is lead conversion with leads bought from a company like House Values. I had tried them in the past too with no luck. Homegain's BuyerLink program is different because all you are doing is buying traffic that goes to your website. So, if you have good capture tools, you can create lots of leads and if you have good conversion tools, you can turn those leads into sales.

The better you get at conversion, the more lucrative the program becomes. However, you do need to be patient as it takes time to work. Most people expect instant results from Internet Marketing. It doesn't work that way. In 6 year experience of converting Internet leads, the average turn around time is 4 months. We have had many sales this year that were leads from 2004 and 2005.

You can see if any BuyerLink traffic is available in your area by going to:

http://www.homegain.com/buyerlink/index_html?ht=landing_bl&entryid=10708

Let me know if you have any questions. I'm always excited about helping Red Sox and Patriot Fans!

I think I have a pretty good website with capture tools, but I was not happy with buyerlink results after almost 2 years. I have a pretty good drip email system for follow up, but I will admit my telephone follow up was lacking for a while. Even after 6 months of consistent follow up from email and phone, I just wasn't happy with the results. For now I've cancelled buyer link, but I'm always open to new ways and new ideas so I will check out your site and the free evaluation.

Hey Damon! A lot of it is about realistic expectations too. To me it's a numbers game. I'm not sure how much traffic you bought, but the conversion for any Internet lead nationally is about 1 in 50 leads. The better you become at conversion, the better the rate. I have one Agent that is converting 1 out of 10 leads (unbelievable) but my average Agent is 1 out of 35 leads for Agents with us less than 1 year and 1 out of 25 for Agents with us more than 1 year. Keep in mind that 50% of our leads have no phone number and our stats are based on all raw leads.

So, with this said, if you are only buying 250 clicks per month, and are receiving a 10% capture rate that means you would only get 1 sale every 2 months based on averages...and that's if you have a decent follow up system. The phone is key. Our sales doubled when we added a solid phone follow up system. I can always tell which of my Agents work leads properly versus the Agents that are trying to do the easy way. Yes, they will get sales by not following our system exact, but if they follow it, they will excel and I believe you can too!

I look forward to checking out your site for you. Have a great night!

What about lead programs that send the same lead to any and all Realtor's who purchased the ability to get leads based off of certian criteria? In this case it is first come first serve and I've personally struggled with the idea of paying for something that isn't giving me exclusive rights to a lead.

AR has their referral tool which I think acts in the same way. At least those are free leads directly from other AR members and snooze you lose should apply.

I guess you are right, there is more to it than just buying Internet leads, and even the conversions. I read agents prasing internet leads, and agents despising internet leads.

Are we what makes the difference?

Jon Z - Yes - It's actually the system that makes the difference. If you have a good conversion system and have patience Internet leads are great. If not, then they are terrible. In the end, it's up to the Agent or the Broker to put together a proven system to convert leads to customers for life!

John J. - I'm with you on the multiple lead to whoever purchases the lead. We are actually going to test Homegains Agent Evaluator because I have talked with a number of people who have done very well with the program. I figure it is worth a try and we will see how well they do putting them into our 100MPM Marketing system.

Of course, I'm always going to want to capture my own leads as my cost per acquisition is less. Currently it costs me about $5-$6 per lead. Even with a conversion rate as low as 1 out of 50, that would be a $250 cost per sale. I would spend that all day long. Having a 1 out of 25 rate brings my cost down to $120 per sale. It's a no brainer to me!

AUG

2008

Mitch

I listened to your interview on Real Estate Radio USA.

I covered some of the points you made on my blog with a link to the interview.

Thanks

Louis

Finding a good website with internet leads are really hard to come by, what i have been working with is Movoto and Agentmachine.com, probably by far my favorite.

Dominic

AUG

2008

Hey Dominic! My belief is I can do just as good a job as the lead generation company myself in capturing leads. So it comes down to would you like to pay 25% (which is fair by the way) or would you like to pay $250 or less per sale. Of course all this has to do with how well you capture and how good you are at converting the leads. I did check out Agentmachine.com and they look like the other models already out there where they give you the leads and ask the Agent to do the work in converting...and then they take 25%. As I said, I have no problem with these companies as some of them are very good. I know Homegain has a great program with Agent Evaluator. I have talked with many Agents using their program successfully. To me it still comes down to being able to generate traffic, capture leads, and converting leads to have a successful Internet program. When I do this properly, it costs me around $150-$200 per sale in marketing costs which is far better than 25% of my sale.

AUG

2008

We don't have a great capture tool - but we do have sites that give LOTS of information and focus on our niche. Yes, we can improve our capturing on our websites, hugely. But, even with our sites, we have a very successful "internet lead" turn over and prospects CALL us.

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