You wouldn't ask someone to marry you after the first date would you?

Working with online consumers can be as and even sometimes more frustrating than dating!  I do believe both have some similarities that we can learn from.  For instance, think about how nervous you are or were before the actual first date.  It's a combination of excitement and nervous all at once!  At times as we generate leads we can get this same rush.  Now fast forward a bit...it's towards the end of the date and you had a great time.  In fact, you have decided that this is the person you want to be with.  Would you ask that person to marry you at the end of the night?  I am guessing your answer is NO WAY!  If I am right about your answer then I want you to think a minute about why that's your answer.  Chances are you are thinking to yourself that it would be too much too soon.  

The same exact thing can be said when it comes to working with today's consumer!  You see, consumers start their search online to gather content.  They are looking for pictures and details of homes, neighborhood information, neighborhood amenities, value of their home even local school data.  What they are not looking for is a real estate agent.  This is actually why 9 out of 10 consumers start their search online today. They can hide behind the wall of the internet gather content and reach out to an agent when they are ready in their timeline.  This is what can be frustrating to us.  However, if you understand this and can be the person that provides them the relevant content they are looking for then consumers are 70% more likely to choose you as their agent.  You can't accelerate the consumer timeline but you can most certainly influence it!

Here are some best practices to make sure you aren't being too much too soon:

1. Make sure you have a complete online real estate store for your consumers
   • Just like any successful small business owner you need a store front to attract today's consumer.  Make sure your website is more than just a website.  It has to be consumer focused and have all the information that consumers are gathering online.  Think about how you can make it their final destination online.
2. Fish where the fish are biting
   • 9 out of 10 consumers are starting their search online.  In fact, in the last 3 years real estate searches on Google have increased over 250%!  You have to make sure consumers can find your store online.  My recommendation is that you use 3-4 different sources to generate you total monthly lead count.  Remember, no matter where you generate your leads you must drive them to your store to stop their search!
3. Be the first to respond
   • Don't be the average agent and take over 4 hours to respond to a new lead.  Make sure you have the right technology that will help you reduce your response time.  Leads with phone numbers always get calls and leads without phone numbers must receive an email that will result in them going to your store.
4. Service approach not the sales approach
   • No one wants to talk to a sales person right?  I mean this is literally what attracts consumers online is the ability to avoid us.  So your first response must provide relevant content that gives the consumer a reason to talk to you.  Don't be so focused on disqualifying the lead right away, because when you do that you are actually the one that is being disqualified from the consumer!  
5. Stop their search!
   • The most important part of lead engagement!  The average consumer goes to 8-10 websites before actually talking to an agent.  The reason they do this is because no one takes the time to stop their search.  Your first priority is to get them on your website in front of relevant content.  It doesn't matter where you generated the lead.  It doesn't matter if it was a paid lead or a free lead.  The end result is converting the lead, but that can't be your first goal.  In order to get to our end result we must accomplish our first goal and that is to eliminate all other search engines and make sure that we replace those with our website.  For example, you generate a lead on Craigslist today.  Would you want that consumer to still search Craigslist everyday?  NO WAY!  How many other agents are they seeing or meeting on Craigslist without me?  You would want to make sure moving forward that consumer uses your website to look and gather content.

Providing relevant content is the key to engaging more leads and turning them into contacts.  The consumer timeline on average is 24 months and this is something we can't accelerate.  We can only influence.