RealTown's RealTalk

I just spoke with Linda Jefferson, whose  GoArmyHomes.com site we redesigned as our Extreme Web Site Makeover last winter. I wanted to get an update on lead generation by her site. It was a difficult conversation because she had stepped outside a very loud "watch party" of people gathered to watch "her" military family's ABC Extreme Home Makeover show on TV, but I managed to jot down a few figures:

A few details about her stats: The site has gotten some 11,500 unique visitors since its launch February 1 (about 5% appear to be other REALTORS(R) who've read about the site in various online publications). It has moved from PR0 to PR1. Linda has banner ads on Lawton real estate and rentals pages that rank very high in Google; these ads are responsible for about 30% of her traffic, with the rest coming from the SEs, Point2 syndicated advertising and online articles. About 45% of the SE traffic is from Google. The site usually gets 50-75 unique visitors per day during the busier days in the middle of the week, with approximately 20% being return visitors.

Before the site launched, Linda's business was in serious need of help.  Within two weeks of the site's launch, she had 11 new buyer/seller deals under contract,.

Currently, she averages about 4 prospects signing into her IDX page per day for a total number of prospects listed in her Point2 stats at 162. Very few leave bogus contact info; she can only remember 3-4 bogus contacts all together. She says she is contacted by mililtary families all over the world, including a family who'll be moving from Germany this week to a house they bought sight-unseen via her web site.

Linda also averages receiving 4 phone calls per day and says that virtually all are serious contacts. She rarely gets simple info requests and is able to get a high percentage of those who contact her to sign a contract. She has also had more success converting rentals to buyers, reducing her rental home management from 15 homes to 2. Each of the six agents in her office, including Linda, are currently handling 3-4 buyer or seller deals, most originating from the web site.

Linda has been a very inspiring client with whom to work. Her passionate involvement with her niche market, as reflected in her new web site, has undoubtedly created a high level of trust with her Web site visitors and helped convert many of them to clients. Besides huge increases in business with her target market, Fort Sill's military family, the visibility afforded her by her public service work has resulted in her getting more listings from outside her target audience as well as enabling her to get her first luxury home listing. Even though her site doesn't push listing, she is also getting more new listings.

Initially nervous about changing from unfocused marketing to a niche marketing strategy, Linda is now a firm believer in the power of niche marketing. She is no longer afraid that by targeting the military she "wouldn't get all those other clients I wasn't getting any way." 

Suzanne

Suzanne, that Utah site is great. How much does one cost? Could I still have all my link modules from my home page on it? http://www.goldcirclerealty.com Would I need a professional Point2 membership.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of terrible Lead Generation Services out there. Check them out first before you subscribe! You need to know first & foremost how well they screen the leads they send to you. There is a big difference between contacts, leads & prospects. If they don't screen well , you in up screening yourself and get bad phone numbers, bad emails, eroneous people... You need to watch for the fast talkers who want you to buy a year contract. (Stay away from Realty Tracker). You want to do a test run first, so if they don't offer a monthly subscription price beware. Try to get a free test run.

I am currently with http://realestateclientreferrals.com who has you add anywhere from $500.00-$2300. to your own account . They have a comprehensive screening process , so they ask questions about timing for buying /selling a home, whether they are pre-qualified etc. They have a long questionaire, if someone isn't serious, they will stop before they finish it. Then they verify phone numbers, emails and names. Then they send it to you. You don't get a lot of referrals at once . I have only gotten two in 3 months, but they are real people within a time-frame to buy. 

http://RealEstate.com is ok. They don't screen quite as well, and I spend a lot of time emailing for credit, but I get it . They now let you go month-to- month. If I'm not getting results, I can stop my subscription. I have picked up some future business through them. I closed some deals through them when they were ServiceMagic as well.

With all lead generating services, you have to work the lead . They say 87% of real estate prospects, start their buying/selling process on line & they take 3 months to a year before they are ready to buy/sell. I have found that to be true.

You must stay in contact and build a relationship . There is usually no "instant" client. You must therefore have a website with a drip campaign, use the MLS listing service, send periodic emails and maybe even call about a listing you have sent to them. You have to "grow" your customer. BUT, if 87% start on line and go with the first Realtor that contacts them, you can generate business this way. It takes diligence & periodic contact to build a relationship and turn them into a client from a lead.

Laura Lavespere,Realtor
Adams Cameron & Co. Realtors
54 S. Atlantic Ave.
Ormond Beach , Fl.
386 299 7105

I consider Lead Generation is one of the Lifelines in the "Who Wants to be A Millionaire Real Estate Agent". Point2Agent as well as other real estate sites are good and affordable solutions. No need to pay over $50 a month for a website. No need to pay for lead generation. Point2 generates me between 30 to 50 leads a day. I can adjust the flow to my website by turning "switches" on and off. It can cost me a few dollars a day...

Understand that it is not only the Hosting Company that brings in leads, it is your efforts to promote your website that count most.I have closed over 7 deals already this year from Point2 leads, not from handshakes though.In order to maximize my benefit, I just left my brokerage to sign up with a larger real estate office with over 300 agents. My goal is to refer all my leads and make 25%-50% referral fee. I stongly believe that the benefit is not in the number of leads only but in the quality. Where there is quantity, there is quality. Once you have the leads, the most important issue is to convert them and this is the MOST DIFFICULT part of our job. I can convert into clients on average 1 lead in every 5. Others working on my leads convert 1 in 20 or 1 in 10.

Deep down inside, SUCCESS is within you! It's all up to you!For example, I advertised the pre-sale of a specific new condo development here in Toronto. I generate free traffic to my website from craigslist and backpage.com. In 2 days only, 423 people downloaded the information pack I prepared for the new condo. Do you not think that these are all potential buyers? My Cost was 2 hours to set it up and 15 mins a day to regenerate the free ads. I have over 100 people a day still coming to my site (4th day in the sale). Some get upset because they think they reached the Builders site... I closed 4 condo units yesterday... (not including the 7 mentioned above). I ranked above the builders website in 1 day. I can replicate this success consistently with every new condo development! Even I am amazed...

Anyhow...I advise all agents to work smart. Stop spending crazy money for advertising. Minimize your expenses. Avoid lead generation schemes. Sell your own brand, your own ideas... And without going deeper in to this: SPECIALIZE! It pays off to be known as an EXPERT! If you are not a geek, hook up with a young student in marketing... in website design... pay them (cheap) to help you out... be creative... be smart... be happy!