RISMEDIA, June 18, 2009-In previous articles, I’ve stressed the importance of consistent lead generation. I’ve also shared that my goal was to generate 400 new leads each month. In this article, we will focus on lead quality.
This topic is timely because many agents seem to know focus exclusively on generating inexpensive leads. These inexpensive leads tend to be lower-quality.
Here is an interesting finding from my business:
Lower-quality leads are attractive because you don’t have to spend a lot on the “front side” to generate the leads. However, you end up having to spend more on the “back side” trying to convert these lower-quality leads into clients. The “back side” is the marketing you deliver to the leads once generated. This would include special reports, sales letters, and more.
In my business, I rank the quality of leads as follows: (Ranking is from Highest Quality to Lowest Quality)
1. Referral
2. Joint Venture Endorsement
3. Leads registering to attend a special class
4. Leads responding to an advertorial advertisement
5. Leads responding to a “solo” e-mail or “pay-per-click”
6. Leads responding to a classified or home buyer magazine advertisement
7. Leads responding to a Craigslist (or similar) advertisement
The problem is that most agents are now focusing on Craigslist or classified advertisements which attract the lowest-quality leads. They then struggle to convert these leads into appointments and/or home sales.
To be successful, your marketing campaign must include leads from each source listed above. In fact, I might even suggest that you invest more resources on the top four or five strategies for higher-quality leads. The amount invested to generate the lead will be higher, but the amount invested to sign a new client or sell a home will ultimately be lower.
If you follow this advice, you’ll soon notice that you have less competition. This is because the majority of your competitors will be focusing on inexpensive advertisements that attract lower-quality leads. How many agents in your area are consistently setting up joint venture marketing campaigns? How many agents in your area are running advertorial advertisements? I’ll bet there aren’t too many.
Why?
Because if an agent focuses on lower-quality leads, they won’t sell very many homes. With limited home sales, their funds will be tight and they won’t be able to afford to run advertisements that attract higher-quality leads. You’ll gain a long-term economic advantage simply by focusing on attracting higher-quality leads.
The bottom line is that a lead is not a lead. There are different qualities in the leads you generate. You should create a comprehensive marketing campaign that focuses on generating higher quality leads and let your competitors fight over the lower quality leads.
Rob Minton, who reinvented his real estate sales business to sell 269 homes to a limited number of clients in one year, has written a very practical book on how real estate agents can sell more homes.
