10 Rule Guide to Closing Residential Real Estate eLeads
Condo.com and Houses.com, owned and operated by eRealEstate Holdings LLC, has released a 10-rule guide for real estate agents to help them turn internet leads to into sales. After reviewing numerous studies and best practices, Condo.com and Houses.com found that when these rules were followed, the lead to conversion ratio was significantly higher. Recent research shows that the 10 rules depicted in the infographic consistently improve an agent’s ability to move the conversation with a web lead to a prospective client, and eventually to a customer.
With the high competition that exists among real estate agents, being well prepared to create a relationship with potential clientele can make all the difference. This starts with calling versus emailing the contact. This is the No. 1 rule in the list. The second rule, and perhaps the most critical to converting leads, is to call within 5 minutes of receipt. In fact, the odds of contacting a lead increase by 100% when an agent calls within 5 minutes of being contacted versus waiting 30 minutes, according to InsideSales.com’s Research Division. In its 2013 report, the company reveals that if a lead is contacted within 5 minutes, they are 5 times more likely to get qualified compared to just waiting 10 minutes. Waiting to call more than an hour after receipt of the lead inquiry, is 50 times less likely to be qualified. As shown by the extensive research done by the Condo.com and Houses.com team, rule
No. 2 is essential for converting leads efficiently.
Condo.com and Houses.com have found that more often than not the lead is still viewing properties online (either on one of their portals or on the agent’s website) within those crucial 5 minutes. These contacts want answers quickly. Whether they are ready to do business right away or are “just looking” is irrelevant. Reaching out to them immediately to secure some basic information and capture them as a client right off the bat is what’s most important. If they do not answer the phone, it is critical to leave a voicemail with complete contact information and request a callback. A follow-up email right after leaving the voicemail is also highly recommended. Agents associated with the online portals attest to the success of capturing the lead by following the first 2 rules on the list, and have noted the opposite when they failed to abide by Rule No. 1 or 2.
Rule No. 5 is another often overlooked tactic. Being persistent means attempting to reach real estate eleads a minimum of 6 times. For example, the agent would call every other day during the first week, then once a week for the remaining initial 30 days or so. According to Leads360, agents have only a 39% chance of making contact with the first call. But that number jumps to a 93% chance after the 6th contact attempt, so it is clearly worth it to follow up. See the Executive Summary of this study here: http://www.leads360.com/download/whitepapers/leads360_wp_call_attempt_study.pdf.
Incubating leads, as mentioned in Rule No. 7, ties in with being persistent. Understanding that many buyers or sellers may not be ready to commit to an agent’s contact right away is important. However that is no reason to give up. “Incubating”, or keeping the lead warm, means to reach out to them every so often, send them market information perhaps, answer their questions, etc. Successful real estate agents use the incubation process to keep track of their leads and nurture relationships over time. Once the client is ready to buy or sell, they will almost always contact the agent with whom they’ve built a relationship with, and feel they can trust. “People need a sense of comfort from an agent, whether they are looking to buy a house, sell a condo or rent a townhouse for example,” said eRealEstate Holdings Chief Revenue Office Jody Desnoyers. “What we’re seeing is that real estate agents who build trust over time have incubated those leads. These are people who just were not ready to do business at the time of their initial contact.” Incubating leads can be difficult when an agent is juggling many ‘ready to buy’ (or sell) clients who need immediate attention; however, those who are able to incubate their ‘not so hot’ leads, are the ones who are truly successful.
Real estate agents should have leads generated on the web coming in every day, whether it’s from their websites, or from one of eRealEstate’s leading web portals – Condo.com or Houses.com. In order to make those contacts count, the 10 Rules shared by eRealEstate are extremely important to follow in order to convert eLeads into sales commissions.
About eRealEstate Holdings LLC
eRealEstate Holdings LLC owns and / or operates the category-defining portals Condo.com, Houses.com, Property.com and Location.com. These real estate portals are the world’s largest online marketplaces for real estate with more than 30 million properties for sale, rent and vacation in the United States and 70-plus countries around the world. The site receives more than 1.5 million visitors per month, and cost-effectively delivers exposure and qualified leads to builders, real estate professionals and homeowners. The privately held eRealEstate Holdings LLC is headquartered in Miami, Florida.
