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Do you follow up with your Internet leads? If not, why would you leave so much money on the table?

By Mitch Ribak

Real Estate Broker/Owner with Mitch Ribak - The Real Estate Success Network

January 11, 2009 12:33 PM

As you might know, this is an area that I have been perfecting over the past several years. Currently we are converting 5% of our leads in one of the worst real estate markets in the country. The best part of our program right now is that we are actually showing 18% of our leads homes. When the market comes back just a little, it will have a huge impact on our bottom line!

Obviously there are many factors of why we are very successful using the Internet to generate our business. However, nothing is more important than having a very strong follow up schedule that you actually follow. The past week I spent a half hour or so with every Agent going over their 2009 goals and action plans. While doing this, I found that most of them thought they did an ok job of follow up, but in reality, they are all doing a terrible job. Once we started discussing their business, they all realized they were doing a terrible job of follow up. That's why are always ask, do you REALLY think that you are doing a great job of follow up.

I'm not here to tell you which follow up plan to use. As you probably know we have our own follow up plans at The eHomes Realty Network that we implement at my office. My goal of this post is for you to realize that if you don't have a great follow up system, you are leaving lots of money on the table. I know most of your goals for 2009 are to grow your business. If you have been working Internet leads, my guess is you probably already have enough leads in your system to double your business this year. The key of course is finding out which of your leads are your buyers this year.

As always, if you need help or would like advice don't hesitate to contact me. I'm always available to help pretty much everyone!

Finally, don't forget that we are holding a free webinar this week on Friday, Jan. 16th at 2pm est. If you are interested in attending, please register at:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/775588581

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Tim and Pam Cash

Crye-Leike (Sango) - Clarksville, TN

Real Estate Professionals - Clarksville TN

Mitch, that is tremendous - we do followup, but do not have near the success you are seeing.

Jan 11, 2009 12:41 PM

John Walters

Frank Rubi Real Estate - Slidell, LA

Licensed in Louisiana

We follow them up. I would say we are doing better than 5%, but we may not get as many as you do.

Jan 11, 2009 12:42 PM

Katie Van Nes

Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Langley, & Fraser Valley - Abbotsford, BC

Local Real Estate eXpert | eXp Realty

Hi Mitch, great post, where would one register for the webinar? Sounds fantastic. I receive most of my leads via internet from all over BC as well as Alberta, Saskatchewan and California. I put them on a 33 touch program with Top Producer that I've customised and would love to take it a step further.

Jan 11, 2009 12:51 PM

Kathy Knight

Intracoastal Realty Corp - Wilmington, NC

BROKER, ABR, CRS, GRI, SFR, SRES

Internet leads are where its at - I am still hanging on to the ones I have. Just waiting for them to come to town.

John Villella

All Pro Home Inspection & Household Environmental Services, Ltd. - Buffalo, NY

General Manager - All Pro Home Inspection

Mitch,

Good post. I think the main thought to take away from your post is to work every lead as hard as possible. We all have some expense invested when a lead comes in, so it's even more important to follow up today with our "A" game to secure that lead/customer. At the end of the day - we all should understand the value of a client and what that client can do for our bottom line.

Here's to your best year ever, and may everything you touch turn SOLD,

www.allprohomeinspection.com

Jan 11, 2009 12:56 PM

Mitch Ribak

Mitch Ribak - The Real Estate Success Network - Melbourne, FL

John - That's awesome if you are getting higher than 5%. Most people I talk to would kill to do even 2%. Are you counting every lead even if they have no phone number? I had talked to one group once that quantified their results differently, which is why I'm asking. They were not forcing registrations and therefore were only relying on leads that had contacted them. That will definitely give you a higher closing percentage. Our numbers are based on raw leads which includes leads with no phone numbers, bad email addresses, etc.

Tim and Pam - It's the type of follow up you might be doing that isn't getting the results you desire. The most effective follow up programs will keep you in touch with a lead from the first contact through the buying process...which could be a year or more. We had 20 sales this year from leads that came to us in 2004.

One thing I find happening is that most Agents do a pretty good job making the first contact with their leads. After that it seems to fall apart. The key to success with follow up is to create a system through either a CRM or even through Outlook to remind you when you need to follow up. This way nobody falls through the cracks.

When I wrote my post, I forgot to put in the link for the webinar. This weeks webinar is about SEO, Search Engine Optimization. I have a guest speaker, considered one of the best in the country, coming in to talk about how to use SEO to increase your traffic and therefore your lead flow and ultimately your sales.

If you would like to attend, please go to:

Jan 11, 2009 01:03 PM

Eileen Hsu

Douglas Elliman Real Estate - Manhattan, NY

LICENSED REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON

Thank you for your post. Following up internet leads should be #1 on any agent's list. The industry is changing and the market is dynamic, we must follow up every single lead to ensure nothing slip through the cracks. I suggest everyone follow up the lead within 4 hours or less once the lead has contact them...!!!

Jan 11, 2009 01:29 PM

Thea Byrnes

BeYoutiful HS - Elizabethtown, KY

Just Tickled Pink

Thank you for the post! We were just talking about our follow up and how we need to do a better job at it. We are implementing some new ideas and getting our business off to the right start this year. Thanks again!

Jan 12, 2009 12:21 AM

Keith Pound

EXIT REALTY CRUTCHER - Louisville, KY

Realtor, Auctioneer - Louisville, KY - 502-645-5950

Thanks for your post, I am working on a better plan to follow up on my Internet leads to improve my sales for this year

Jan 27, 2009 03:05 AM

Keith - If you ever need any advice or help, don't hesitate to ask. I spend most of my waking hours helping Agents understand how to work Internet Leads among other things. Good luck!

Jan 27, 2009 10:50 AM

Stephen M. Wigg

http://4114Info.com - Omaha, NE

4114Info.com

I'm in the enviable position of designing a module in our software for leads tracking and follow-up that's seamless. In sales myself for 30+ years I hated two things over all else: Voicemail and reports that had to be generated vs. a tracking tool that doubled as that report. So, I'm curious to see what you think of this initial design.

Feb 05, 2009 02:44 AM

Tony and Suzanne Marriott, Associate Brokers

Serving the Greater Phoenix and Scottsdale Metropolitan Area - Scottsdale, AZ

Coldwell Banker Realty

Lead generation is the fuel for the engine and Lead Followup is a key ingredient in the fuel.

Dec 02, 2010 11:52 PM

Do you follow up with your Internet leads? If not, why would you leave so much money on the table?

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