RISMEDIA, July 15, 2011—Driving traffic to your website is key for generating homebuyer and seller leads, but one major component of most real estate websites is often overlooked. Companies spend thousands each year driving more and more traffic to their websites in order to generate leads and rarely take the time to focus on the other half of the equation—the part about converting that expensive traffic into actual sales leads.
Real estate websites that deploy Live Chat help real estate agents solve one of their greatest online challenges—how to establish trust quickly with online prospects and convert them into viable sales opportunities. Most real estate agents are well aware of the benefits of having a website and visitors, but the challenge lies in converting those online visitors to homebuyer/seller leads.
The best way to do this is by turning your website into a conversation space, where prospects not only find the information they need, but can get quick answers on properties and your services, without having to commit to a phone call. Cold calling is never fun for any salesperson, and you can bet it’s just as annoying to have to pick up a phone and call an agent or new home salesman to start their home search.
Many of these visitors are just not ready to commit, because, well, they just don’t know if you or your company is right for them. The problem with the Internet and businesses models that rely on in-person selling, is it’s difficult to establish trust and relationships quickly online. Social Media is great to form relationships online, but even that takes time and nurturing. Luckily, with live chat, you can easily and quickly connect with live prospects, get them talking about their needs in a non-threatening environment (like over the phone or in-person), and influence them to take action.
Live chat for real estate websites have not been widely adopted, but there are more larger firms adopting live chat, such as, brokers, builders, property management companies. And anyone who does can really establish a competitive advantage online, by getting to prospects before the competition does and offering personal assistance early in the buying or selling process. From a customer service stand-point, home buyers and sellers appreciate.>From an agent’s perspective, this means more connections with online buyers and sellers and opportunities to convert them into actionable leads.
The new standard today involves superior customer service and commitment to your clients. There is no better way currently to demonstrate this commitment than using live chat. This provides immediate answers to questions with live assistance, establishing trust and shape the customer relationship well before the transaction. Just like a phone call to your office, live chat brings you the benefits of real-time communication with prospects, but from your most visited property—your website.
For more information, please visit www.readychat.ca.
