According to NAR and other research we have done independently, 80% of leads generated by you or your company over the internet are lost, marked as dead or simply thrown out? Why is this happening?
An online consumer contacts you by email. They want an immediate response to their question. And As we know the first one to contact the consumer has the better chance of engaging the consumer. Speed matters, and the speed of the internet has created this consumer need.
The reality is that the online lead many times is not ready to commit right way.
So we give up, or just lose interest, or don’t have systems in place to keep track of them to convert them at a later date.
Todays online consumer does not want to be captured by the real estate agent. They want to stay in control of the process.They feel if they give information the agent will bug them to they buy or die.
The technology needs of a buyer-based marketplace are so different than those of the past five years that many real estate professionals find themselves back at square one.
Here are some of the challenges:
- Knowing who today’s consumer is and how they consume information on the internet
- Having all the tools to respond properly
In other words The challenge today is to understand which values are desired; and retool our business around them.
What about the leads that you send information to and then won’t give you enough information for your to qualify them as a lead? One import fact to remember is that buyers are on line way before they are ready to purchase. Try to eliminate the 45 day mentality we attach to leads. Remember? A buyer walks into your office. You speak to them, read their tells. Within half an hour you know if you have a commission check in your inbox in 45 days. Ahhh . . . memories. Those days are gone forever.
Many buyers enter the real estate search arena up to 4 years before they sit at a closing table. This is the subconscious stage. When something triggers to them to the next phase they actively engage into pre-research. This is the thinking about it stage.
Another trigger sends them to active research. They are finally pre-qualified and they actively Search online for homes, and areas.
The actually buying stage is when they need help on the Offer, Negotiating and Closing. Keep in mind the actual buying phase can last as long as 4 months.
What are these triggers? Job change, income change, family change, you name it.
Managing all these leads can be overwhelming, so look through all the software, programs you own, especially products attached to your website and see if there are any automated email campaigns available to you.
Please note – I am not an advocate of just pushing unwanted data to these people. AND I NEVER recommend this type of product to your sphere and past customers. Watch for my next post when I review products who pass my 3 Point Marketing test!
