Every once in a while we take on a subject with our weekly blog that lines up perfectly with what we’re all about here, and this just so happens to be one of those weeks. A real estate agent – no matter which market they’re working in and how long they’ve been in business – will live and die by his or her ability to generate leads and then turn those leads into clients. As is the case with nearly everything, practice is what makes perfect, but anything you can do to gain valuable insight into best practices is going to be welcome.
And so that’s what we have here today. Here at Real Estate Leads, our online real estate lead generation system is an excellent way for new realtors to get a leg up on their newbie competition when it comes to having shortcuts to being put in touch with home buyers and sellers. However, while leads are absolutely invaluable, it’s what you do with them that makes the difference between whether or not there’s a commission in it for you.
Converting leads is what it’s all about, and there’s specific steps you can take to increase the likelihood of that happening. And so let’s get to them!
Long and Short: Optimizing Marketing Efforts
Whether you’re marketing for tenants, off-market deals, attendees for your events or a webinar, optimizing your marketing efforts needs to be front and centre all the time. One of the best ways to do this is by increasing your conversions and reducing per-lead costs. Marketing automation makes it possible for you to put your crucial digital marketing tasks on autopilot, but maximizing your conversions all the while.
There are three specific areas that are critical to hitting your goals. Introducing these three components into a marketing strategy properly can actually triple conversions. Driving traffic from online marketing (and especially via social media these days) is arguably the most potent way of approaching this. Effective and successful realtors these days are using their social media channels as sales funnels.
Once the customer navigates through the funnel and completes the ‘goal’ (registering their contact info with you based on their interest in your advertised content) then you move that volunteered info to your database or CRM. Then you’ll begin email communications to keep the line of communication open with them and nurture the transaction.
Here’s the 3 ways this entire process can be optimized
1. Smart Sales Page / Funnel
When building your funnel and putting it in place, create a dedicated set of pages away from your website. The branding can be the same, but website menus and other information shouldn’t be included in your funnel, and here’s why:
- Fewer distractions. The primary reason a product (in this case a home) doesn’t sell is because people don’t know about the product or understand its value. Creating a dedicated set of pages without distracting menus or other offers lets you pass along the specific offer and its value much more clearly and succinctly.
- Ease of use. A well-designed funnel makes it so that the product is easier to purchase, and making this the case isn’t difficult at all. The forms should be clean, and the information should persist from one page to the next. A dedicated funnel – but one that exists separate from your website – benefits both your clients and your business.
Yes, the initial setup will require some effort and creativity on your part, but once your sales pages are in place, you’ll find you’re now articulating your offerings and value in a more distraction-free environment, and it’s proven that this way is much more conducive to converting leads.
2. Integration
This is where automation starts to make its presence felt. With you now converting leads more regularly by tailoring your funnel to meeting customer goals, the next step is to create a central repository for future communication and follow-up.
The role integration takes here is capturing the information entered by your customer, and then storing it in a central location. In more complex systems, there will be many points of entry into the central database or CRM. When the system is more complex, it then becomes more important to build and establish a central database where all information is stored.
Zapier is a really good application here, as using it makes the integration process becomes simpler because it can be automated without the need to hire a programmer. Setup is quick and easy, and once it’s completed, you won’t have to spend time ensuring your customers are entered into your system each and every time you receive an RSVP.
Plus, the CRM also functions as a platform to facilitate future communication beyond this initial goal. If you can make a client a repeat clients, that is of course preferable. Typically, if a customer can see value in hearing from you again and potentially purchasing more at some point in the future, you stand to further your business interests even more. For a business to understand the value of its clients – and maximize it – having a central repository is essential.
3. Nurture and Follow-up
Now that each customer’s information is filed in your CRM, you’re able to automate your communications with them much more easily. This ‘nurturing’ process will serve 2 goals. First, it provides communication and follow-up (such as a confirmation email with the event date, address, etc.) for the transaction or goal that your customer has established for you based on their responses and submitted info.
Next, it will more effectively promote communication around events you’re arranging to facilitate the sale of the home. As the event date nears, make sure your prospective clients hear from you a minimum of three times. Each message will cover three unique benefits of the event they’ve signed up for and a reminder of the event’s scheduled time and location. Yes, open houses are the most common of these events we’re discussing.
From here you follow what is something of a nurturing ‘sequence’:
Being Interesting – boring messages are the worst and MUCH more likely to be discarded before theyr’e read through in their entirety. Speak casually, add humour if possible, and be sure to find intriguing details relevant to your product and then tie them into your messages.
Be Frequent..Enough – Whether it’s a webinar or an event, the principles of following up stay the same: Once the customer has indicated that they find value in your offering, you need to stay entirely in touch. It’s the best way to ensure you’re delivering value.
Be Personal – No matter what communication form you’re working in, be sure to talk to the customer like you’re having a face-to-face conversation with them. People don’t want to hear a formal message to a large group. They want to hear from you, and they will appreciate being spoken to directly.
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By adding a marketing automation strategy of this type, it’s very likely you can triple your conversions. That should work out to your marketing ROI being increased significantly – and that should sound plenty appealing to you as a new realtor.
Sign up with Real Estate Leads here and receive a monthly quota of qualified, online-generated buyer and / or seller leads that are delivered to you EXCLUSIVELY. No other realtor will receive those same leads once you’re registered with us. And what’s more, you’ll also be the ONLY realtor receiving those leads for your exclusively-served region of any city or town in Canada. We’re confident in assuming you’ll quickly join the numbers of 100% satisfied realtors who know that this is an excellent investment in the success of your real estate business.
