Typically when Bob Stewart calls, I usually either screen it or pretend he reached an Asian laundromat. I demand payment for the drycleaning, he swears at me, I threaten to call the police, he swears at me, I shout unintelligible Mandarin obscenities and he hangs up on me. It’s a hoot.
For some reason or another, I took the call from the 425 last week in normal persona (granted, I use the term “normal” loosely).
The one-time Active Rain community builder turned paid vacationer wanted to know if I would be willing to take part in a grand experiment to colonize the moon with sea monkeys. It sounded cool, but I just put in a winter lawn that needs my attention and I don’t like the piped-in muzak they play on the shuttle. Fortunately, he had an even more staggering proposal as Option B:
Test out the new “Growth Leader” product from HouseValues.Com.
I couldn’t possibly turn it down.
Why, you ask?
Not that my personal decision making is any of your business, but it sounded like it had some real lead-generation potential. I have never worked with a lead-generation service and typically prefer to find my own clients, but given the current state of the market, I am amenable to trying new avenues. As one who has always relied most heavily on repeat and referral business, I originally jumped into blogging and internet marketing as more of a lark than anything. Now that we have to work twice as hard to drum up half the leads, I am plunging into darn near any dark alley where I hear a guy in an overcoat say, “Psst!”
Growth Leader is intriguing. It is a personalized website tailored to an agent’s individual market. The geeks behind the technology have SEO pretty well wired, and the site is sticky as all get-out. In the coming weeks, I’ll relate my experiences with the product, and I’ll give it to you straight. It features some pretty trick ability to track exactly what prospects are doing on your site along with a killer lead follow-up protocol. I haven’t been playing with the site long enough to provide much analysis yet, but that will follow. I will say that I've averaged nearly one registered prospect per day since I was set up, and it required absolutely no effort from me. Phase 2 will be to track the conversion success rate. All in all, I'm impressed to this point.
For a peak at what the site created for me looks like, you can see it here.
In a buyerless market, such as we currently have here in Phoenix, I would go to the ends of the earth for viable prospects. Fortunately, I only have to open my laptop.
For the good, bad and ugly of my experiences, come on back. I’m guessing I’m not part of the control group ;)
I swear to God, though, Bob, if you gave me a placebo, I’m going to burn this joint down.
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