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How
to Respond to Internet Leads
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Prospects
in the real world and online often employ the “Send
Me Something Brush-off.”
I’m sure you have had the experience and I’m
sure you have used it a few times yourself.
Many people use it as a way to get off the phone
with the salesperson.
In some cases they actually do not want the product
or the service but cannot bring themselves to just say so.
Instead they ask that more information be sent.
In some cases the prospect may really want more
information or may want time to think about things before
making a commitment.
On the Internet it is so easy to send off a request
to several places and see what comes back. Real Estate
sales people often spend a lot of time and money sending
stuff to people who never call again.
WHERE
DID THE LEAD ORIGINATE?
These
days, leads come from a variety of sources.
You need to be able to identify which sources
provide viable leads and which ones simply provide lots of
busy work for you. When
thinking about using a Lead Generating Service make sure
you do your homework and find out how those leads are
generated. Too
often the leads the real estate agent receives are not
serious prospects. One company in the past offered homeowners the chance to win
$1500 by signing up for a Free Comparative Market Analysis
and then sold those leads to agents in different zip
codes. Do you
think most of those people wanted a Free CMA or did they
want to win the money?
LEADS
FROM YOUR WEBSITE
Leads
coming directly from your Website that is promoted on
the search engines and / or through local marketing
efforts are stronger than leads generated by a lead
generating company. Make
sure that you can identify leads from your Website so that
you don’t accidentally delete them or have them caught
in any spam filter you may have.
For information on how to set up Web pages that
will generate leads visit http://www.sellrealestate.net
/LeadGeneration.htm.
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Automated
Follow up Systems |
As a
general rule I’m not inclined to put in a lot of
effort sending stuff to people I barely know.
However, I realize that some people who ask for
information might be good prospects and so I want to take
care of their needs. Trouble
is that it is not always so easy to tell which prospect
genuinely wants information and which one is too timid to
tell me they are not interested.
Thank goodness for the Internet because now I can
send follow up information with a click of my mouse.
Remember, I didn’t say I am opposed to actually
sending information; I am only opposed to putting in a lot
of time and effort to do it.
FOLLOW-UP
PACKETS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
One way of
handling follow up information is to anticipate the
kinds of questions your prospects will ask for and prepare
it ahead of time. I
have some of this in an Email folder ready to be send out at
a moment’s notice and some I have in an automatic response
system so that all I have to do is click on the name of the
document and off it goes.
IDX
LISTING ALERTS
If you
have a good IDX option that allows you to display your
MLS data on your Website and also lets your prospects
request free, automatic listing alerts, you already know how
convenient this feature is.
When prospective buyers want to know the instant a
certain type of listing comes on the market, you have it
handled.
TIMED
MESSAGES
Websites
that we create for real estate professionals always come
with a monthly E-Newsletter built in.
This means that every 30 days their prospects and
past clients will receive a useful, well-written message
about some aspect of real estate.
I do not think there is any form of marketing that is
more powerful than Email when it is well done.
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Send
'em
Back to Your Website |
In a
perfect world, every person who visits your Website
will visit every page and study it in detail but, alas,
few people will ever do that.
However, if you plan ahead, it is always
delightful to be able to send someone back to your
Website when they ask for more information.
PLAN
AHEAD
When
real estate agents ask to see samples of sites we
have designed for others, I send them a link to this
page: http://www.sellrealestate.net/customweb.htm.
When folks ask me to send them information about
how search engines work I send them this link: http://www.sellrealestate.net
/SearchEnginePlacement.htm.
And when people tell me they accidentally deleted
my newsletter, I send them here: http://www.sellrealestate.net/archives.asp.
If we start getting lots of requests for some
other information, I will create a Web page to address
it. It is
always good to design your Website with information that
people really want.
CUSTOM
WEBSITES DELIVER
A
well-designed custom Website will include good
content information that will help attract people to the
Website and keep them coming back for more.
Now lots of designers talk about this IDEAL of
Website design but few deliver.
Good information has to be true, honest and
something your prospects really, really want.
Sorry folks, but a link to the school report site
just won’t cut it.
If you would like to see how a Custom Website
will bring lots of qualified leads and help with follow
up, visit me at http://www.sellrealestate.net/FreeWebPlan.asp.
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