3 Reasons You’re Not Making Any Money with Online Real Estate Leads
Today I’m gonna give you the top three reasons that you’re not making any money with your online real estate leads. Before we get started, 🔥 Click HERE 🔥 to join our PRIVATE Facebook for Real Estate Agent HACKS so hot that we can’t make public : https://talktopaul.com/fbgroup and make sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel for access to all the content that I am creating and curating for you.
Let’s talk about online real estate leads. Look, there’s a lot of different sources of online lead generation in real estate and as real estate practitioners, as real estate agents on any given day we are constantly solicited by a new company or a new agency that’s offering us tools to get us new buyer and seller leads, and so look I am a believer in subscribing to some of those leads. In fact, I did a video recently, on the benefits of subscribing to some of these leads so that you as the agent can focus on what you’re good at which is going out there showing up, smelling good, and closing contracts. You’re the sales professional.
Now, I took it upon myself to educate myself on online digital marketing only because I got stiffed one too many times by so-called online marketing gurus, and so I decided well I’ll just learn it myself, and that’s what I did. You don’t necessarily have to do that. You don’t have to go to that extreme, but what you can do is you can subscribe to these online lead generation services. You know a lot of them. Zillow obviously is the most famous one of them all. I am a big proponent of a company called Bold Leads. Now, here’s what I discovered, and I’ve turned on other people and other agents onto these lead generation companies, and I hear gripes. I hear people who have expectations that haven’t been met by these lead generation companies, and I can appreciate why, and part of the reason is because they’ve set up false expectations.
Number #1: You Think Every Lead Is Going To Be Easy And Ready To Act
When you subscribe to a lead generation service you think that they’re going to give you the lead and the lead is going to be wrapped in a pretty box with wrapping paper and a bow, and all you’re gonna have to do is open it up and there’s gonna be a contract inside. It doesn’t work that way. The online lead generation company is going to do their job, and their job is to basically promote either you or a property or they’re going to offer something of value to the consumer so that the consumer can go in, fill out a form, and provide their information so that they can then pass the lead on to you. What most people think is that you’re going to get a lead and they’re gonna have the future clients name, they’re gonna have their telephone number, they’re going to have their email, they’re gonna have their address, they’re gonna have all their social media handles, and that’s just not the case.
Most of us, including myself, have set up these false expectations that that’s what you’re gonna get when you subscribe to a lead generation company, and I’m not saying that you won’t get those things. Look, every blue moon you get a great lead, but the vast majority of these people are going to multiple sites and they’re filling out multiple forms, and I’m gonna tell you that 99% of the time when I reach out to these leads myself… 99% of the time they don’t know what form they filled out and they don’t even realize that they’ve done it, and so you have to set the right expectations and understand that when the lead is sent to you you’re gonna be doing some work.
There are some companies that have a concierge service, if you will, and what they do is they dig up the information on that lead, so they will use tools. I use a tool called Been Verified, and what you can do is use that tool and that tool will look for all of the contact information, so as long as they filled out either an email or an address you can then use that information to find out the owner, the name, email, and social profiles if they have any, but that’s information that I had to dig up. Now, some lead generation services will provide you at no extra cost all of that information for you so that you can try to get ahold of the client, or of the lead, but you can’t expect that, and so you have to understand that every lead is an opportunity, and if it doesn’t have those things, if it doesn’t have a name, or if it doesn’t have a phone number and all it has is just an email well then do the best you can with what you’ve been given. If you got an email address, email them right away. Do a search.
Now, if you have an iPhone. I don’t know if you know this or not but if you have an iPhone you can try to communicate with them through iMessage using that email. You can then do searches for their email on social media sites. You can do a reverse search to see if they’ve used that email to communicate with anybody, but do what you can with what you’ve got. Try to get a hold of that lead. Research that lead. Don’t be so dependent on the lead source that you’re not going to do your own research to try to get a hold of that person.
The other thing is that if it is in your market area then you should have no problem physically going to the property, unless they’re a buyer. If they’re a buyer there is no property, but if they’re a seller lead and they filled out a home evaluation form if you will then there should be no reason why you can’t go by, visit the property, drop off a CMA, introduce yourself, “Hey, John or Jane. Listen my name is Paul Argueta. Either you or somebody close to you recently requested a home evaluation for your property. Look, I didn’t want you to think that I didn’t take it seriously so I wanted to hand-deliver the CMA. I can’t stay long. I got to go visit a client right now. I’m on my way in between meetings, but here I wanted to make sure that you had it. Here’s my business card. It’s in there.” Etc. Etc. And you try to connect with them that way, but see that’s the thing.
You have to put in the effort. You have to do a little bit of work. You can’t expect that the lead is just gonna be given to you in a Christmas Box, in a birthday box, in a birthday cake. It’s not going to be given to you, and you’re just gonna automatically have a contract as a result of that lead. You will have to put in some effort. You will have to put in some work. You will have to try to get a hold of that contact, of that lead, that is part of what it takes so don’t set false expectations of yourself that you think that they’re just going to give you the lead and it’s going to magically turn into a transaction.
Number #2: You Are Not Using A CRM To Maintain Communication
Now, look, I know that some of these lead generation companies have their own CRM, and I will say that some CRM’s have qualities that other CRM’s don’t have, and so I am subscriber to multiple CRM’s, and I will put the same leads into multiple CRM’s, and I will have them have two different campaigns that are going on at the same time. So, the minute you get this lead this should be your practice. You get the lead. You see what information is provided. You reverse search the lead. You find out who they are. You look for them on social media. You connect with them on every social media front possible. So, that means that I’m gonna try to connect with them on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, on whatever I possibly can to connect with them. Why, because I don’t know what means of communication they prefer. Some people might prefer Instagram or Twitter. You don’t know what they use to communicate, and so you’re just gonna have to try them all, and eventually at some point they’re gonna communicate someway somehow, and then you’re gonna figure it out and that’s how you’re going to communicate with that particularly, and so you have to get used to the idea that you have to reach out to them. You have to put them in the CRM. You have to add them to your audience.
Again, if you’re smart you’re also doing retargeting ads, and if you’re doing retargeting ads then you are creating audiences out of your database, and so the minute that I get a lead and that person comes in I’m inputting them on the CRM. I’m assigning them a particular campaign depending on whether they’re a seller or a buyer lead. I’m shooting them a text message if a mobile number was provided. I’m connecting with them on all social media fronts and then what I’m doing is I’m also adding them to my Facebook audience groups so that my ads, the ads that I have going out are repeatedly being shown to them.
Now, there’s no guarantee of that. Of course, because the information that they provided might not be accurate, but at least I’m trying. At least I’m putting forth the effort to make sure that I’m really ensuring that I am connected with this client and that I’m building a relationship with this client. You have to assume that your message is not being heard. That’s a tough pill to swallow because for a lot of us we just think I put it on social media everybody knows what’s going on in my life, and that’s absolutely not true. Your message has to be repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated until they remember who you are, and typically that’s not going to happen for at least 7 to 10 times. They have to see your message a minimum of 7 to 10 times before they’re gonna even remember anything that you’ve said. If you’re not putting the leads in a CRM or a campaign and you’re just hoping that they’re gonna hear your message one time and that’s gonna seal the deal, and that’s not the case.
Number #3: You Aren’t Building A Relationship With The Lead
So, somebody goes on to a site. They fill out a form. They put their contact information, and all of a sudden they’re being bombarded by you and potentially other agents because you don’t know what forms they’re filling out online. It’s kind of like walking into a bar and all of a sudden having all these people trying to hit on you and you’re not sure what to do. It can be alarming, so you have to understand and accept the reality that you are building a relationship with this person, and what that means is that they fill out the form, they reach out to you, you reach out to them. Value. Add value. Add value. Add value. Add value. Add value. Ask for business. So, you have to build a relationship with that person which means that your follow-up has to be on point. You have to get used to the idea that you’re going to call this person. You’re gonna email this person. You’re gonna text this person. You’re gonna reach out to this person, and you can’t get offended at the fact that they don’t respond right away. They don’t know you. They don’t know your intentions. They don’t know what you’re trying to do, and as far as they can tell all you are is a real estate agent trying to make a commission.
I know because I employed quite a few agents. I know that as agents we always have the best intentions at heart. I get that. I realize that. All you want to do is help someone move from A to B and if you get paid for it, fantastic. The more people that you can help the better. That’s your sentiment, and I get it. They just don’t know that yet, so you have to get good at building rapport and relationship with them, which is why we go back to number two, having a CRM and communicating with them on a regular basis is very important. So, you have to. You have to understand that you don’t know what phase they’re in during this gestation period. You might be meeting them very early on in the process. They might just be thinking about making a move. It might just be a fleeting thought that prompted them to fill out that form, and if you’re not careful and you don’t stay consistent and follow up with them on a consistent basis 6, 8, 12 months from now they’re gonna go and they’re gonna make a move without you because you weren’t consistently following up.
Now, I get it. There’s a line between being persistence and enthusiastically aggressive and just weird. There’s a line. I get it. You can’t cross that line as an agent. Look, I want you to be enthusiastic. There’s nothing wrong with being excited about working with someone, and there’s nothing wrong about saying that, about saying to someone look I’m really excited about helping you reach your goals. I’m really excited about moving you from point A to point B. I’m excited about this process and I’m good at it, and I want to work with you. There’s no shame in that, but you know if someone says to you I’m probably not going to be making a move for at least another four to six months, and you’re calling them every day you’re probably gonna weird them out a little bit.
So, gage how frequently you communicate with these leads based on the information that they provide based on you asking the right questions, which are when do you plan on making the move. If you were to make a move where would you move to next, and how soon did you want to be there? Get good at asking the right questions so that you can know how often and how frequent you should be communicating with these leads.
This was intended to be a short blog. It wasn’t intended to be a long blog. I appreciate you participating in this. I hope that you subscribe to some type of online lead generation so that you can have a steady flow of online leads coming into your business. It works if you work it. If you’re reading this blog on Linkedin or Medium please make sure that you follow me on Instagram. The handle is @talktopauldotcom, and I would also suggest that you follow our real estate company @rehrealestatedotcom.
If you think that there’s anybody else that could benefit from this blog. If you see that there’s a few agents that are subscribing to online lead generation services, lead generation companies, and they’re not having success with those online leads share this blog with them. Let them know we’ve been there. We all understand the process and hopefully this blog will help them out and reinvigorate, remotivate them to go back to that database and start cultivating those relationships with those people. I look forward to hearing about your success. Comment below if you’ve experienced something similar to this, or if you’re having success, or you’re experiencing some failure right now with those online lead gen companies, and I’ll make sure to participate in that conversation and see how I can help you out. Cheers to your success everybody.
