We recently completed a survey of 50 Realtors® and discovered that the most common mistake they make with their websites is not calling their leads!

“Wow - that’s ridiculous. But it can’t be many of them can it?”

Our survey revealed that a whopping 30% of Realtors® don’t call leads generated from their websites!!

“What do you mean, not calling? Surely the Realtors® emailed them or did some other type of follow-up??”

This is what we’d thought, but after further questioning we discovered that these leads had simply been forgotten, missed, or just not followed-up with at all.

Why?

In most cases (66%), Realtors® ignored emails coming from their websites. In other cases (20%) Realtors® assumed the customers would not immediately convert. The remaining Realtors® reported a host of other reasons including (but not limited to) untrained/low-quality assistants, not enough time, etc.

Other things to be aware of

In addition to almost a third of Realtors® not calling their leads at all, a further 30% waited upwards of 24 hours before responding to their email/website inquiries! Any current or future top producer knows that even an hour, let alone a full day, can mean the difference between getting business or not.

When a lead was called, what happened?

Of the 70% who reported that they’d called their leads back, the vast majority (over 75%) reported that they’d made one or more sales from those leads during the prior year. Almost 10% reported that they’d made one or more sales within the prior month!

Our conclusion

By our estimates, Realtors® can increase website lead conversion two-fold by making the following two changes:

1. Call or email ALL leads that approach you through your website
2. Make sure your website sends leads directly to your cell phone or mobile device so you can call or email ALL leads immediately

Tired of all the hand-holding you do for your customers? Here are 3 ways you can turn those time-consumers into money-producers:

1. Empower them to do their own work

Top producers know it - customers who are empowered to do their own work will; it REALLY IS that simple! You can empower your customers by:

• having a Virtual Office Website that allows them to do and save their own MLS® searches
• giving them access to other information about the market such as statistics and trends
• giving them all information about listings so they can narrow down their favorites themselves

2. Make them your sales staff

Happy customers will tell their friends about you; all you need to do is give them great service, then make sure you stay in touch.

• Use an email campaign with your recent website blog entries
• Add them as a friend on Facebook
• Send monthly newsletters

Doing these things will ensure your customers always mention your name when their friends ask, “which Realtor™ should I use?”

3. Use them to recruit listings

If you’re working with lots of buyers, you can use them to recruit more listings. Just go to craigslist.org, or kijiji.com and add your buyer’s needs to their, “wanted,” directories. You’ll have FSBOs inquiring in less time than you think.

Successful companies use their customers to grow their businesses - start thinking like them and you’ll find more commission in your wallet almost immediately.