Converting Online Leads Into Clients
Once
your website begins to generate new leads for you,
the tough part is over. However, you still need to
effectively convert those new leads into clients.
There are several key differences between the average
prospect and one from the Internet. Understanding
these differences will save you time and frustration
and most importantly will keep you from making the
mistake of neglecting these valuable new leads.
The
Online Consumer
Online
leads usually represent people in the early stages
of research who are just collecting information for
a potential purchase. It's often anywhere from 6 months
to over a year before a new lead is ready to sell
or purchase their home.
Prospective online clients are generally in an information-gathering
mindset. They're accustomed to collecting information
freely and anonymously and are often reluctant to
provide valid contact information. Because of this,
many agents become frustrated with their online prospects
and consider them a waste of time. In fact, some surveys
indicate that as much as 90% of all agents don't respond
to their online inquiries.
This is a huge mistake as statistics show that online
homebuyers are every bit as likely to use a Realtor
in their purchase. The key is to utilize the right
tools to efficiently follow up with them regularly
during the months after the initial contact.
Client Management Tools
First,
you'll need to get a feel for how close your leads
are to buying or selling their home and sort them
into different groups accordingly. It's not practical
to constantly call, mail, and email every single lead
you get. You want to focus more on your hot leads
that are almost ready to buy, but still maintain contact
with the others to see how they're progressing.
This can be quite painless and inexpensive with the
right tools and methods. Some websites offer integrated
client management and follow-up features and there
is an abundance of software available.
Whether you're sending your leads free market reports
or updates of new properties on the market, try to
address each of their specific needs as much as possible.
A family looking for a 4 bedroom home in the suburbs
shouldn't receive emails about your new studio or
2 bedroom apartment in the city. If your emails don't
contain anything useful, they'll quickly associate
it with all the spam that floods their email box everyday
and all future emails will go straight to the Trash
folder.
A monthly newsletter is another good way to maintain
contact with previous clients and leads who are still
in the early stages of their home search. There are
several companies offering professionally written
newsletters that can be branded with your contact
information. RealEstateABC,
Realty
Times, and Inman
News all offer reasonably priced monthly newsletters.
Some website providers can offer these products at
a discounted rate through their partnerships with
the provider. You should check with your website provider
before purchasing these products or services directly
from the vendors.
Prompt and Personal Response
You
should check your email several times a day and respond
to inquiries promptly. Auto responders have their
role (which we will get to shortly) but you shouldn't
rely on them to handle your general email accounts.
When someone submits a contact form through your website
or sends you an email, they expect it to reach a live
person and to receive a personal response. You don't
want to disappoint them with a canned response to
their specific questions and requests. The Internet
is an impersonal and anonymous medium, but the real
estate business is not. It's important that you take
this opportunity to begin establishing a relationship
with your visitors.
Your initial contact can very well determine whether
your relationship will flourish. Always keep your
replies courteous, professional and grammatically
correct. Keep your emails concise but make sure they
include all of the requested information and address
all of your visitor's questions. You're probably not
the only one the prospective client has contacted
but if you can give a personal response that provides
relevant information, you'll be way ahead of the pack.
For local prospects, it's a good idea to follow up
with a phone call soon after. These prospects have
more resources available to them and it's likely that
they'll quickly be contacted by other agents.
Out of town prospects that are relocating to your
area are probably working with a longer time frame.
They might not be ready to start their search in earnest
yet, but it doesn't hurt to begin building a relationship
early.
Auto Responders
Auto
responders are special email addresses that automatically
reply with a prewritten message. You should generally
only use auto responders to handle specific inquiries
such as requests for market reports or a homebuyer's
checklist. In this case, a visitor to your website
may request to have an article emailed to them through
an online form, and it would be automatically sent
to them without your interaction.
The only time you should be using an auto responder
for your general email is when you won't be able to
return emails for an extended period of time. For
example, if you're going on a 10 day trip, you can
have an auto responder set up to let your clients
know that you won't have email access until a certain
date and to provide an alternate way of contacting
you for emergencies.
There are also email programs that not only send an
automated reply but also subsequent messages at set
intervals. You should make sure your prospects know
that they'll be receiving regular emails when adding
them to your mailing list.
Final Tips
- Always
include a link to your website in all emails
- Never
use ALL CAPS as it makes it a pain to read and
is often perceived as shouting
- Never
email your clients and prospects by adding their
names to the CC (carbon copy) field. Your clients
and prospects do not want their email addresses
shared with everyone on the list. Use BCC (blind
carbon copy) instead, so the email addresses are
hidden.
- Make
sure everyone on your email list can easily unsubscribe.
Either a link or instructions on how to opt out
should be included with every email.
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Inman
Real Estate News and Tools |
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