How Much Time Should Real Estate Agents Spend on Lead Generation?

How much time should real estate agents spend on lead generation every day? 

This is one of the most common questions that we get at the Internet Marketing Specialist Designation. 

When real estate agents get efficient at time management by blocking out times of their day for lead generation, they have more opportunities to get out there showing houses!  Here is our take on how much time should be spent in each of the key real estate lead generation categories each day.

This content was offered as part of the IMSD class Best Real Estate Marketing Sources , where we discuss how much each of these lead generation sources are going to cost, how crowded the space is, and other factors to consider when choosing a marketing mix.

Advertising – 15 Minutes
These are your yard signs, flyers, business cards, and other print advertising.  Once the initial setup is complete on these items, the time you spend placing orders and making small modifications is minimal.

Pay Per Click Advertising – 15 Minutes
Managing your PPC campaigns can be as addictive as online gambling.  Fight that urge to over-manage this category.  Get in to Facebook Ads or Google AdWords, check your analytics to make sure your ads are running as planned and your budget hasn’t suddenly exploded, then get out!

Blogging – 15 Minutes
Write one blog post a day to create a reliable stream of internet leads for years to come.  You’re not Ernest Hemingway, don’t overthink your writing.  Just follow good SEO blogging principles and make sure you’ve got the right keyword phrases selected.  Many agents will sit down once a week and write out 5-6 blogs just to get this finished.

Social Media – 30 Minutes
Allocate three ten-minute sessions per day to engage on Facebook and Twitter.  Anything more than that means you’re just monkeying around!  Post a comment and post a tweet in the first two minutes, then focus your time on engaging with others.  Don’t try to squeeze this all into one daily session… you need to be constantly dripping into their news feed or Twitter stream throughout the day.  Watch Nick Cameron's video Social Media is a Privelege, Not a Right to learn how to be remarkable through social media.

Craigslist – 45 Minutes
Head to your computer three times every day for a 15-minute round of posting real estate ads on Craigslist.   Get to the point where you can just copy/paste the text using a regular content schedule on the site for a stream of free leads.  Your ads will disappear extremely quickly on Craigslist, so make sure you’re catching people during their lunch break or when they’re having that glass of wine after the kids go to bed.

Sphere – 1 Hour
You’ve done all of the work above to build up a stable of contacts in your market, so don’t let them lose sight of you.  Spend one hour a day placing calls, visiting people, sending emails, mailing cards or gifts, and direct messaging on Facebook.  Here is a 4-minute video by Ben Kinney on managing your sphere.

So there it is, three hours per day of lead generation to get your business moving forward.  That leaves you the entire afternoon to get out there and show properties.

If you want to watch the original 16-minute video that was the source content for this blog post click below.

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Ben Kinney & the IMSD Team
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