It's true.
Almost all of my business comes from social networking... much of it on the internet, and I suck at internet lead conversion. There are a few ways I suck at this...
- I don't have a dedicated database for internet leads...
- I don't have an email drip campaign to stay in touch with them...
- I don't have a checklist of 'touches' to go through with each lead...
So, just how the heck can I stay in business?
I wonder sometimes myself... I know that I need to build a dedicated database of my clients and leads. I also know that I need to establish a checklist and drip campaign.
OK, I don't just ignore them hoping that they'll go away... Instead, I get to know my prospects.
Back when I first started, I bought leads from a company. They promised the world and seriously under-delivered. I had hundreds of leads. I had a drip campaign that carried them for a year. There was a checklist of touches. All of the things I knew (and know) I needed. But the leads sucked... Over the year that I was stuck in their contract, I verified about six people... that is, I know that six of them were real because I was able to actually talk to them. The rest had dead end telephone numbers, bouncy emails and even non-existent addresses for their free CMAs. Of the six, one chose not to work with me, three couldn't qualify with anyone short of a loan shark and the last two I lost touch with after a year of touches...
Now, I get actual calls. Not many... but I have a pretty high conversion rate. Between half and two thirds of the people I talk with end up in a property with me. I am losing some of them to financing issues, though.
What AM I doing?
I talk to them. In fact, about a third of the time, it is the first contact. Most of the rest of the time it follows shortly. I don't email people for months... I might talk to them for months, though.
We look at properties. About half of my actives are actually looking at properties. Some of the rest have found out that they need to wait a little while. They might need to wait for months.
I set them up with a Client Gateway. This is something one of our MLSs offers. It sends new listings out as they hit the market. It also allows the consumer to sort properties and make notes. I set them up for buyers based on their criteria and for sellers to monitor their neighborhood or area. And I think that properties are actually a pretty good drip email for people that are looking for property. They don't send it to the trash... it is EXACTLY what they want to see.
I look for secondary connections. I don't go nuts with it, but I research them a little on FaceBook, LinkedIn and even Twitter. Part of it is to see if we are going to be a good fit... and also to make sure that we have multiple layers of connection. It is always good to know if we share any connections. About a quarter of the time, they beat me to it and send connection requests...
We become friends. I work mostly in a niche. Most of my buyers and a good bit of my sellers are auto enthusiasts like me. We have things in common. We talk cars and technology. We often have mutual friends, even if we didn't know it at the beginning. In fact, sometimes I get to reconnect with old friends through new clients.
I know...
There are some people that have fallen through the cracks. I hate that. I need to change it... I know that. I lose people to the "nice lady from church" sometimes. I actually remember most of the people I am working with... and I get my memory jogged and call people back or shoot them an email after not talking with them for a while. There have been a couple that bought or listed a home while we were out of touch. Not many... but more than I wanted to lose.
I think there will be a change in how I handle them... and it will be this year. I need to formalize the procedure more so that I don't have people slipping through the cracks. I hope to be able to do that without making it feel mechanized.
For other methods of converting internet leads, be sure to check out giftofshift.com/activerain where you can purchase a limited edition hardcover of Gary Keller's book SHIFT, which comes with a free version of the eBook Soci@l: Attract Friends, Followers and Connections to Your Business, written by Ben Kinney and Jay Papasan (in which Ben shares his 'ten days of pain' lead conversion method) as well as free audio versions of Millionaire Real Estate Agent and Millionaire Real Estate Investor all for $19.99.
I got points to write this...
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