Lead Generation is one of the most important duties of a real estate agent. If you have no one to talk to, you have no business. In my real estate team, we talk about lead generation and conversion 90% of the time. Here are some tips on how to generate good and inexpensive leads.
If you’re in the real estate business in any capacity, and you haven't watched the movie, Glengarry Glen Ross, you're missing out, I suggest you watch Alec Baldwin’s monologue in the start of the movie to understand just how important leads are in the real estate business. It's a bit old school, and harsh but it will change things for you.
When one talks about leads, they always talk about how expensive it is to get good leads, which actually is untrue and extremely inaccurate. Good leads can be generated in many ways that doesn't actually cost a lot and aren't that expensive, the methods mentioned below can be used by any real estate agent/organizations to generate leads inexpensively, which is especially great for agents/organizations which are just starting out.
But before we get into that, let us get into the basics of it. The definition of ‘a lead’ in broad strokes is a person who is interested in what you're selling. The lead is mid-tier in a Sales funnel.
SALES FUNNEL
What is a Sales Funnel, you ask? A Sales Funnel is a concept module, with the below mentioned points:
- Visitors: Visitors are on the lowest end of a Sales Funnel; visitors can be anybody who'd walk into the property you are offering or people who could call you while they pass a hoarding of yours. You cannot be sure they're looking to buy, because at this point, they're just asking you questions.
- Leads: As mentioned earlier, leads are people who are interested in buying a product similar to what you're selling. Example: They are interested in buying property in the same locality as the one you're selling something in, but they may not necessarily know about or be interested in the one you're selling. Leads can be people who list their requirements on a website like Craigslist. A visitor could convert into a lead, if he signals he’s interested in buying.
- Qualified Leads: Qualified Leads are nothing but leads which have converted a step-above the leads, these people are interested not only in buying property, but are signaling towards buying something you have to offer/ are selling.
- Customer: The reason why they say ‘Customer is King’ is because the customer sits at the top end of a Sales Funnel. He is someone who has already bought what you're selling and the deal has been completed.
Remember, every purchaser goes through the Sales Funnel, every time he buys something.
Now that we know what a Lead is, how do we get to know who are the people who are interested and in the market to buy property? Let’s look at some great and inexpensive ways to do that below!
LEAD GENERATION METHODS
- Create Content for Leads: Creating a SEO-friendly website with rich content which would enable people to leave their details on the website is one of the most inexpensive ways to get traction and get good quality leads at the same time. Think about what your brand identity is; create useful and coherent content around it.
Each type of content you create, makes the potential customer believe that you know what you're doing. Content like eBooks and reports, blog posts and newsletters could go a long way, and nowadays one can even upload live stream webinars about things happening in and around the local real estate market you operate in.
Remember, offering targeted content will help you get many leads. These folks are not just some random people who stumbled on your website but they are your actual target market.
- Social Networking, Social Media & Online Advertising: Advertising has diminished in value, in terms of how people are not looking at ads anymore online due to the constant barrage of ads that they have to face.
However, when done right, advertising on social networking & media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and even content consumption sites YouTube can work wonders. Specifically targeted marketing campaigns running on these platforms are not extremely expensive and you can have a very tight control on the budget too.
One could also look into marketing campaigns through Google Ad words and other similar services, which would appear on relevant blogs and websites and on search pages. Advertising creates leads, helping you gain traction on your website and therefore also indirectly helping you with word-of-mouth marketing if you have a nicely designed website, which is helpful and fun but also informative.
- Social Proof: Leads stick around and turn into Qualified Leads depending on how much “social proof” you have of your work-ethic and experience, therefore you present your leads with reviews and testimonials of your satisfied client list, run through some basic questions with your clients and design up charts of the percentage of people who were happy with your service and the quality of your service, etc.
Tell your clients to review you not only on your own website but other real-estate portals such as Zillow, Realtor Dot Com, etc.
- Create a Niche: Why would people looking to buy, come to you? What do you have that the other realtors in the market don’t? Expertise in particular kinds of deals?
Be a specialist; know your craft extremely well and people will automatically gravitate towards you. Carve out what you do best and advertise it everywhere. Wear a badge to a party if you have to!
- Buy Leads: There are many real-estate oriented websites out there, specific for your city which sell databases of people who are considered leads, these leads are not extremely expensive to purchase, but note that not all websites sell valuable leads.
Therefore, it is very important to purchase leads from a website you trust or a website with money back guarantee, or just ask your team members, colleagues and people in the same field to help you find a legitimate website to buy leads from.
- Talk To Personal Bankers, Wealth Managers, Asset Managers & Financial Planners: You should know people who know ‘people’ who are looking to buy property, and who else but personal bankers, wealth managers, asset managers and financial planners know such people?
This set of people could help bring in business by the truckload but remember establishing trust towards their client is a must, show your commitment and the leads will start flowing in.
- Be Nice & A Part of the Community: There is nothing in the world which comes close to being nice to people and being part of a community, to get more people to pay attention to what you're doing.
You can end your sales calls by telling people that if there is anything they need help with in the locality they can count on you. Post flyers with a social messages or donate money to organizations out of the commission you make. Also, you may give away stationary with your/your company’s name on it, host a block party, host a barbecue, write hand written notes to thank your clients. Or throw housewarming parties for your clients as a gift.
None of the above mentioned strategies are expensive to implement, and if you do them with your heart and your full dedication, people around you will evolve into a lead imminently.
Needing some help? Schedule a FREE CONSULTATION.