Lately I’ve seen too many companies complain that they are struggling to generate quality real estate leads despite them using little more than 3rd partly lead generation systems. Sourcing out your lead generation can be pretty dicey. Although they certainly improve your property listing exposure (I can attest), relying on these systems solely is likely to leave you in the same place you were before you started using them. How is this possible you might think? Answer: Everyone is doing it now. And once everyone is doing it, then you no longer have a competitive edge. This is the perpetual problem of the internet and its ubiquity.
I sketched out the old school sales funnel to illustrate what most real estate agents, brokers, and sellers are doing;
The unfortunate problem with the above sketch (besides the fact I’m graphically challenged), is that all of your competitors are already doing this. You may have received an initial “pop” of activity when you started using them as you likely beat some of your competitors to market, but in the end if a property portal works well enough, it becomes ubiquitous and everyone starts using it including your competitors. So where does that put you? Basically we are in a never ending technology rat race. So even though your competitors are there, you still have to post to all these sites (even though you didn’t 5 years ago), and it’s giving you little advantage if any.
So what’s a real estate marketer, agent, seller, to do?
The only answer is to create an “in-house” solution. A solution that is unique, because unique, after all, is the only thing that is noticeable in the digital age. You must hack the system by creating your own.
Here’s a few ideas to get you going;
- Webinars of value – a webinar of value is an educational or informational webinar, not a sales event (everyone is already doing those).
- Whitepapers that matter – why not create a document that none of your competitors have with unique content? Market it with lead capture on your site to create an effective opt-in list.
- Respect opt-in protocol – when you do get subscribers don’t spam them. I’m signed up for several competitor sites and usually it is spam central with self-centered email messages not relevant to the list I signed up for.
- In-person workshops – workshops can be very effecting in meeting your clients face-to-face while offering some educational benefit to them. Stay away from bait-and-pitch tactics where you sell them after promising education.
- Create content evangelizing them – if I see another “me, me, me!” video I’m going to throw up. People will share quality content, not garbage. When’s the last time you shared an advertisement with someone?
To build an effective in-house lead generation program you need to have strategy and goals. Most importantly when you do generate leads, be persistent, yet respectful. Follow up timely. The chance of converting a new lead drops by 70% if you don’t connect in the first 24 hours.
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