Some real estate agents build their businesses by converting real estate internet leads. Other agents get leads, but they never seem to turn into clients. What’s the difference? It’s all in how you qualify incoming leads. Qualifying internet leads is something many agents aren’t good at, but there are steps you can take to make those leads worthwhile.
The Problem with Internet Leads
You’ve worked hard to create an effective real estate website. You’ve done all the right things to drive traffic to your website and you have real estate calls to action on your website to motivate visitors to take action. Great.
Now, you end up with a real estate lead. It might come from someone registering on your home search, requesting an e-book or responding to a special offer. Even better! The problem is that you’re not sure what to do next.
You’ve created lead-nurturing campaigns in your real estate CRM that send out drip email campaigns, newsletters and reminders for you to give the lead a call from time to time. You have campaigns to stay in touch with people in a variety of situations. For example, you may have a campaign for renters thinking about buying, homeowners thinking about selling and more.
But, you’re not prepared for the critical first step: qualifying the lead and determining the best approach for nurturing them until they turn into a client.
Qualifying is the Secret to Converting Real Estate Internet Leads
When you think about it, all the lead-nurturing campaigns in the world won’t be effective until you have contacted the lead to determine what their goals are, and to put them in a lead nurturing category. And, that’s the most difficult part of the process for many agents. Here’s what often happens:
- You get the lead and you’re delighted to find that they’ve left their telephone number, but you’ve also got their email address, so you decide to try that first.
- You send an introductory email, asking some questions to prompt a response.
- Nothing happens.
- You decide to try calling, and you get their voicemail. You leave a message, then wait for a call back.
- Nothing happens.
- You decide that real estate leads are a bunch of deadbeats and start working on the next thing on your to do list.
Many “Touches” are Required to Reach a Lead
You can’t qualify the lead until you get in contact with them, and you can’t get in touch with them until you have racked up a number of “touches” or interactions. In the example above, you completed two touches, the email and the telephone call. But, that’s not enough!
Different sales experts quote a different number of touches required to secure a lead. Some say 7 to 13, while others say 6 to 8. No matter which expert you believe, it’s obvious that more than two are required. It makes sense if you think about your own busy schedule. Do you always immediately return the phone call from someone following up on a report you downloaded from a website?
It’s Worth the Extra Effort
Let’s say you work through a variety of emails, telephone calls, and calling back later because the person is too busy to talk, and you finally get the opportunity to qualify the lead. Now, you can do something:
- You discover that the person downloaded the report to complete a school project. You wish them well in their scholastic endeavors and cross them off your list.
- You discover that the person is relocating to your area and they need to buy a house within two months, but they’re so busy making arrangements, they’re stalled in their home search. You have the tools to help them out!
- You discover that the person is checking the market because they plan to sell their home next year. Great! You put them on a lead nurturing campaign.
Without the qualification step, your lead is worthless. It’s worth the extra effort to make contact, creating a process that is a success in converting real estate internet leads.
