How many of us have missed a phone call or an email from a potential client or customer? And then when you finally respond to them you hear "Oh, I've already called another agent and I'm working with them."?
What a punch to the gut!
It only took a few of those phone calls before I steeled my resolve and decided I needed to take some basic steps to capture any potential lead that headed my way.
Here are some basic guidelines to maximize your lead-capturing potential:
- A Smartphone - People, this is 2010 and the age of instant gratification. Half of my clients send me texts throughout the day (good and bad... but fast) and the other half call or send emails. The ability to respond instantly to a question is invaluable to consumers and a feature your clients will appreciate. I use a Blackberry Storm but I've been drooling over the Droid X since it has come out.
Do I get the occasional panicked question at 9pm? Sure, but I don't mind typing a 10 second response to my client to ensure they sleep well. And when they refer you (because they will), they'll say 'He even responds to late-night text messages.'
The emailing on smartphone is even better. I forward faxes to my office, addendums to my clients, flyers to my sphere, and I do it all without having to sit at a computer or rush to the office.
For everyone who "isn't used to a touchscreen or trackball" you have to remember that they are not going away! 
A Website/Blog - It still amazes me how most agents don't have a website or blog (of course not you ARs!) even with the proven results that either of them will produce.
If you aren't web savvy or say to youself "I can't run a website", either set up a blog here or look into Wordpress, a free platform you can use on your own site; there are tons of How-To's and FAQs out there that will walk you through the setup process.
And by own site, I mean your own domain name (e.g. www.yournamehereorsomething.com). You can pick up a domain for $10/year and renew it thereafter and you the payoffs are enormous.
You can print it on your marketing fliers, your postcards, your business cards, and you even get a personalized email address! me@mywebsite.com!Listing Syndication - Make sure that your listings are on all the major property sites (Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, etc) and that you have a COMPLETE profile set up on each of them with your proper contact info.
If you have an interested customer you want to make sure they get in touch with YOU as easily as possible.
Fax-to-Email Number - This is not a necessity but it sure comes in handy. How many of us sit around a fax machine waiting for a counter-offer to come in, or had to wait on a secretary to call/email us to inform us of an incoming fax?
With a online fax number, any incoming fax to your number is emailed to you as a PDF! Super handy, super fast, and it makes forwarding a fax simple with your smartphone.
And the other cool feature with most of the providers is that you can fax a document (assuming you have it in file form) by emailing it to a designated address with a recipient number as the subject. I don't know how many times I've scanned documents and then "faxed" (see: emailed) them at a later time when the were needed. Most times now I just scan everything I have just in case I need to email/fax them later.
Hope this tips can be of use to some of you, if you have more feel free to share!
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