Jan. 17, 2009
You have a lead, now what? Or, "Not all leads are created equal."
Getting a lead to an agent is one of the most critical aspects of actually closing Online leads. Why? If you give a lead to the right agent in the right way (put the right person in the right place at the right time with the right information), your chances of closing it and getting the revenue are much higher.
But you cannot just GIVE an agent the lead, there has to be an exchange of information from the person giving the lead to the person getting the lead. And it has to be immediate.
If an agent is getting 'a notification' of a lead from an email system, all interviews I have done tell me it is about worthless. And that is true, most leads are worthless. And if they are not worthless, the time it takes until they close can be over a year!! Agents soon learn that they are just 'wasting' their time with tire kickers and quickly lose interest in even receiving new leads.
On the other hand, hot leads only last for minutes sometimes, and hours most of the time (I have had agents tell me this after they learn that another agent had been emailed first but never responded or responded late, etc).
If the lead is not to the agent within 15-20 minutes of the prospect clicking 'send', 'enter', etc. forget about it. A good way to think about it is, take 10% off the chance of closing it every hour an agent does not respond. So if you are getting leads hours or even the day after they made contact it is likely that they will not go with your agent.
Why? Internet browsers typically visit more than a few websites looking at more than a few properties that may catch their interest. So they very easily could email 2, 3 or more offices. Most of the time none of them will respond 'right away', but when an agent does, the close rate skyrockets.
Figuring out 'what is up with leads' is most definiatly not the strength of most sales people. Many companies have dedicated departments called Customer Service to deal with inbound leads and calls before ever 'turning them over' to sales people.
Lead Qualification
Before ever 'turning a lead over' to a sales person (Realtor), contact, and preferably voice, must be made between the prospect and the office. When an inbound lead is received, either by email, phone, etc. an office representative must immediately be able to respond appropriately providing whatever information is being sought along with 'upselling' the person on the agent's services.
"Yes, this is still for sale, I will have one or our agents that knows this home call you with the details. Are you currently working with an agent?....."
A professional that is available and able to respond 24/7 is obviously critical as well as being trained to 'handle' the lead in both questioning and distributing. That is not too much to ask for is it?
Lead Distribution
AND THEN......... a call must be made to the agent that is going to be able to respond to the lead either right away, the next day, etc as requested by the prospect.
Emailing a notification to an agent that is in a concert with their blackberry turned off is obviously not going to work when the prospect wants to talk now about another broker's listing!! And that happens.
The office representative can give the agent all the information they need including any 'sense' of the prospect that they gained during their conversation which will put the agent in a MUCH better position of then meeting that prospects needs and asking for the committment for business.
By setting the agent up for success out of the gate with the prospect, you give your agent a major advantage in getting the business of that person.
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