The truth is you are not selling as much as you could. I came to this conclusion, after generating leads for Realtors and Real Estate Brokers for 12 years.
A year ago, I designed a Lead Capture Funnel for a medium-size Real Estate company. The goal was to get leads interested in buying homes in the Orlando area. The funnel was successful and generated around 200 leads per month. However, after four months, the Broker called me, and our conversation went something like this:
Broker: "Hey, Julio. I want to talk to you about the campaign. I think we should change it."
Me: "Okay. Why?"
Broker: "We didn't sell anything yet."
Me: "What? We have more than 800 leads interested in buying a home! What you're saying is statistically impossible."
Broker: "I don't know. I don?t think the leads are good ones."
Me: "I'm coming to your office now. Let's get to the bottom of this."
After analyzing the data from the CRM software, and talking with some of their agents, I understood what was happening, and the reasons behind the problem.
The first reason was the only one the Broker mentioned in our conversation over the phone: that the leads were not that good.
When we set up the campaign, the Broker asked me to generate as many leads as possible with his limited advertising budget. We were paying the minimum that was possible for the leads. I did as I was asked. The problem with this approach, though, is that the quality of the leads is usually below average. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for.
Even so, this alone wouldn't justify zero sales in four months. And so, I continued to investigate and discovered a second reason for the Broker?s problems.
It turns out that most of the agents that received leads were not contacting clients! What? Really? More than 60% of the leads didn't receive a first call from an agent. Instead, an automated message system sent, not so effective, text messages to clients. This was to see if they would engage in a conversation before the agents contacted them directly. From the remaining 40% of the leads, 35% were contacted days after they asked for more information in the lead capture funnel. Finally, only 5% of the leads, actually received a call from an agent within 24 hours.
There were a couple of sales from the lead capture funnel, but these were not registered as coming from the campaign because almost none of the agents updated the CRM software.
Digging a little deeper, I discovered a third reason for why the sales numbers were so low. 99% of the agents gave up contacting the prospects after the second failed attempt.
After presenting the results of my inquiries to the Broker, we decided to change the campaign, and aim for better quality leads. We also appointed a supervisor to ensure that the agents kept calling the clients and following up. Despite fewer leads entering the funnel, and the cost per lead being higher, the closings started happening.
So, what does this case have to do with you? Maybe nothing. Perhaps, you are doing everything by the book and your sales are soaring. But if you identify with any of the three reasons I have outlined here, and feel they are holding you back, then you should act now. Let me help you. I can make sure you are using your full potential to boost your Real Estate career.
The very first step is to only work with highly qualified leads. Generating tons of leads is not a good thing. When you have too many not so well-qualified leads, you have to work a lot harder: making phone calls, looking for properties, scheduling showings, and so on. The problem here is that you are spending precious time with clients that won't bring you the results you want.
You must define who your ideal client is and go after people with the same characteristics. Don't try to sell to everyone looking for a home. Work smarter, not harder.
The second step is to engage your leads as soon as possible. If you don't contact them right after they enter your pipeline, they will probably look for another agent. There are thousands of Real Estate agents just a click away. If they chose you, don't let them take their business elsewhere.
The third step is to stay in contact and follow-up until you have a response. Don't give up on the first two or three failed attempts to reach out. Sometimes it takes seven or more contacts for someone to answer you. Keep trying, no matter what.
In the next few days, I will be writing articles about the best way of implementing each one of these three steps. If you would like to receive an email alert when the articles become available, just subscribe to the blog using the subscribe button below.
Want to learn how to use A.I. to boost your sales numbers? Schedule a private chat with me here.
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