Real Estate and Beyond Blog

 INTERNET LEAD CONVERSION AND BEYOND

The real estate market is expected to pick up over the next six months since mortgage rates will be low, plenty of inventory from bank foreclosure, and tax credits available until first half of 2010. This is a perfect storm. However, I meet real estate agents that do not know how to generate their own leads. They continue to take educational courses because their broker tells them to attend as many classes as possible. Then, these agents are ready to do their first deal. Real estate is a contact sport which means we have to converse with people to generate real estate leads. Agree? I mentor agents to learn what to say in different situations such as listings, investors or just people who want to purchase a primary home. They can at least create the lead to have me with them during the meeting so I can control the outcome of the meeting. I am a resource for them.

The Shift by Gary Keller mentions the process for obtaining a lead. I have fully defined my process below for my team. I have had this process before his book came out. Please review the 4 Cs when it comes to Internet Lead Convervsion process for the Real Estate and Beyond Team.

1. CREATE-Gary Keller reminds us in both of his real estate books that Realtors are in the lead generation business. That means we have to create leads. There are too many real estate agents waiting for the phone to magically ring on a daily basis. I have learned to master this skill to create leads through multiple web sites for niche markets I represent, weekly radio show, monthly newsletters, market my listings to generate leads both local and Internet, sphere of influence, Craigslist, word of mouth, passing out my business cards to everyone I come in contact with on a daily basis, contact my database throughout the year, hold workshops for public to attend, loan officers, ActiveRain Blogging, and COFFEE.
2. CAPTURE-Here is another skill by itself. How do you capture the lead? It is very exciting when people call you from one of your call capturing skills. However, we must do something with this lead to make it happen. Personally, I keep my writing pad with me all the time to obtain the simple information such as Name, Contact Phones, Address, Email Address and purpose of the call. Then, I go for the direct close by asking them can we meet in the next couple of days. I have dedcued that the direct close is my best method since I am from New York.
3. CONVERT This is ones ability to ask for the business. The client must know that the real estate agent is confident enough to do the task in front of them. Steps 3 and 4 are quite easy for most agents since they know how to close business. I believe most real estate agents have a hard time with #1 and #2. Personally, I have developed this skill to a science.
4. CLOSE-I have a saying "Done Deal with Delia." I close my deals. Are there obstacles to overcome? Yes! One must listen to their client to deliver the goods. That means we have to listen to our clients needs and show them the product needed by the client. There are times we must use other means to find real estate deals other than the MLS. This is where I have differentiated myself from the wolf pack.

Did this come to me overnight? No, I have developed this system over the last seven years. I have learned that we are in the lead generation business. My goal this year is to fine tune #2 and #3 to close more deals. I have set up a system to track each call so I know where my marketing efforts are paying off or not when it comes to lead generation. I have developed a one page form to obtain the important information such as Name, Address, Cell Number and Email address. Then, I ask the person where they obtained our information from because I want to track where each lead came from to have metrics each month. Then, I ask them the nature of the call with the following categories:

• Rent To Own
• Seller
• Primary Purchase
• Investor Foreclsure,Trustee Sales, Auction, retirement or fix and flip
• Short Sale opportunity
• Other

Then, I have all the categories plus other to check when the inform me how they heard of us. Metrics is very important to me because it tells me where my marketing dollars work the most

The bottom of the form allows me to obtain basic information if it is a purchase so I can start sending them homes so they start touching the inventory and to assume the sale. Then, I refer them over to my mortgage partner to start the prequalification process. This works really well becasue we have responded to the lead within ten minutes of receiving his lead. It shows the customer that we mean business. First impressions mean a great deal in this business.

I have created the Real Estate and Beyond Team so I am able to service each lead. I am the ultimate "RainMaker" on my Team. I take this job very seriously. Again, I am always looking for new ways to generate leads. My grandfather told me, "Always ask it because if you do not ask then you do not get."That was his simple advice to his grandson. I have taken this advice into my adult life. I am teaching my children to do the same thing in life. Just Ask For It-Assume The Sale.

I have seen a steady increase of leads coming from ActiveRain based upon the topic areas of my blog. I spend the majority of my time writing about real estate investing. However, I have started writing about Phoenix overall to start attracting primary home buyers since 80% of my market right now are FHA buyers. We cannot ignore that business.

There are times when we have to touch the client more than five times to close a sale. The first call is just the warm up. We put each lead in our database to put the lead on a drop Email campaign that we have personally developed. Plus, they start receiving our monthly newsletter that contains real estate information along with meeting dates, workshop dates and hot real estate deals. People love information so I give it to them. The database works great becasue we are able to email blast the whole database or just parts of it. This is a vital part of the whole process. We collect information so we are always in front of our customers.

Yes, I do Google my clients to obtain more information on them. I want to learn as much as possible on them to create a bond between each other. Yes, I look them up on Facebook to connect with them on a social media realm. Agents have to start using all the tools available to them.

People are impressed when I inform them that I host a two hour weekly radio talk show on real estate. I have been doing this for four years. I have created a sub domain name "960RealEstate" to make it easier for my listeners to remember so they can visit my web site. Many times people are in their cars listening to me. That points back to my main web site. I encourage people to sign up for my BLOG. They love it. I have my podcasts of previous shows if they miss a week.

For other methods of converting Internet leads, be sure to check out giftofshift.com/activerainwhere you can purchase a limited edition hardcover of Gary Keller's book SHIFT, which comes with a free version of the eBook Soci@l: Attract Friends, Followers and Connections to Your Business, written by Ben Kinney and Jay Papasan (in which Ben shares his 'ten days of pain' lead conversion method) as well as free audio versions of Millionaire Real Estate Agent and Millionaire Real Estate Investor all for $19.99."