A lead comes in. You call. No answer. You email. No response. Crickets. Sound familiar?
In my previous post, I talked about why not all leads are created equal. Another common challenge I hear when talking to Realtors centres around conversion and the frustration of not being able to turn leads into clients.
Here are five reasons why leads don’t convert:
1. You don’t understand your prospect:
If you haven’t done your homework ahead of time to both identify and understand who your ideal customer is, you may be getting leads that are not the right fit for you. You don’t really “get” them, and they don’t resonate with you. If you don’t understand who your ideal prospect is, the messages and the methods you use to generate leads will likely not attract the right people to you or you may simply not get them at the right time.
A common lead generation tactic is to offer visitors a free home evaluation. While this can generate a lot of leads, there is nothing personal or magical about it. Nothing to make you stand out from every other real estate agent out there. At the same time, this tool does nothing to qualify the prospect. Half the leads may simply be curious about the value of their home, with no intention of selling in the near future resulting in a lot of unanswered calls and emails. Crickets.
By better understanding your ideal prospect, you can create a more targeted approach to your lead generation activities – using their language and addressing their pain points or motivations – so that those completing the form for a free home evaluation, for example, are a better fit for you. This will likely mean fewer leads, but your conversion rate will go up.
2. You don’t follow up right away:
A number of agents I’ve spoken to admit their follow up is less than ideal. Studies have shown that contacting a new lead within the first five minutes significantly improves your chances of conversion. It’s quite simple really:
- they’ve just reached out, so your chances of connecting with them are greater;
- you’re contacting them when their mindset is currently on real estate; and
- you can be sure you’re not the only agent they’ve reached out to, so you want to get to them first.
3. You give up too soon:
If you don’t connect with a lead right away, don’t give up. Continue to reach out by phone or text for a number of days. Some refer to this as the “10 days of pain” rule. In the meantime, you should have them on an email drip campaign to help develop and nurture a relationship. But more on that in a bit.
4. You try to “sell” too early:
No one likes to be sold to. It gets our back up. A real estate purchase or sale is a very personal, significant and stressful process. There are many factors that come into play – both financial and emotional – and jumping too quickly into the transaction opportunity will turn many leads away.
Focus on building a relationship first – start a conversation; get to know them better; really listen to and understand their needs. Build trust. The transaction will follow.
5. You don’t nurture the relationship:
Focus on the long term. Some leads are simply not ready to make a move yet; they’re just exploring options. Don’t give up on these leads. If you’re in this business for the long term, your success will depend on your relationships with people – and relationships are cultivated over time.
Keep in touch with prospects regularly – a monthly email newsletter, an occasional phone call to say hello or a hand-written card on their birthday. Build a relationship over time and when they are ready, your name will be top of mind.
Self-described geek, artist and fledgling hockey goalie, Catherine Willems has been in marketing for over 25 years and focused on digital since it became a thing. Since starting her own business in 2009, she’s helped over 100 clients across two continents achieve online marketing success. As the owner of Realty Marketing, she says she has faced the same entrepreneurial struggles as many of you and can pass on her learnings to give you back your late nights and weekends. Book a free consult today or call 416-994-2332.
