“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

The biggest mistake you’ll make this year is not being reachable by your customers.

You’re probably thinking:

“This doesn’t apply to me – I’m always reachable through my office; I even give my cell phone number to serious customers…”

Don’t be fooled:

Definition of Reachable: “… To succeed in getting in contact with or communicating with …” (courtesy of The Free Dictionary)

The key word is, “succeed.” Unless your customer succeeds in getting contact with you, then you’re not reachable. Ask yourself honestly, “how many times during the day am I TRULY reachable.” I bet the answer will surprise you.

Top Producers look at things differently – though they themselves might not be reachable, their “services” are. For example, when you call the office of a Top Producer you’ll always get someone on the other end of the phone. In most cases they’ll be able to help get the basic information you’re after, and if not they’ll be able to tell you when to expect a call back from the Realtor™.

Many Top Producers take, “reachable,” to the extreme:

• They put their cell phone numbers on their listing signs and websites, and rarely use answering/paging services at all.
• They provide a wealth of information through their real estate websites including listing information, detailed explanations of the entire real estate process (looking/listing, moving/mortgages, etc.), MLS® Searching, and much more.
• They are fluent in, “E-Language“.
• They are efficient and know when to cut to the chase.
• They rely on systems in their businesses to keep them, “reachable.”
• They set explicit expectations for themselves and staff about, “rechability.”

Here are some simple things you can do TODAY to make yourself more reachable:

• DROP THAT PAGING SERVICE!!! Make sure your office gives out your cell phone number and/or website URL
• Be accessible on the internet – Realtors™ without websites are dead in the water
• Keep your cell phone voice mail message short and sweet, but make sure the caller knows when you’re going to call them back

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.

Ask yourself – how do you attract buyers?

• Inquiries from your “for sale” signs
• Inquiries from buyers on your website
• Inquiries from Realtor.com/Realtor.ca
• Open houses

It’s pretty obvious that listings mean buyers.

So – how can you turn this around and use buyers to attract listings? Simple: advertise them where FSBOs are looking – here are some great ideas to start with:

• Craigslist.org
• Kijiji.com
• YOUR website (add a page with your buyer’s needs)

FSBOs are always looking for buyers, and if you take an hour every week to add your buyers to the “Wanted” lists on these websites, you’ll get inquiries from them.

The advantages are:

• No one else is doing it – you won’t be competing with hundreds of Realtors® like you do when adding your listings to these websites. Your posts will be visible on the first page for at least several days.
• It’s free – there’s absolutely no charge for this strategy.
• It’s a great back linking opportunity – more links to your website means a higher ranking in Google.

E-Language is the new, mainstream communication medium – it’s emailing, text messaging, facebooking, and twittering – and it’s the business language of choice that 40% of your customers are using; and here’s the funny thing about E-Language – most Realtors® think they’re already fluent. Afterall, you’ve got email right?

The truth is that it’s not about having the tools, it’s about how you use them.

Here’s what I mean: when you travel to Spain and someone speaks to you in Spanish, how do you respond? Well, if you speak Spanish, then you respond in Spanish. If not, then you ask that person to speak back to you in English. Guess what? To them, you’re now speaking a foreign language.

E-Language is no different – how many times have you responded to a potential customer with this email:

“Hi Jim, thanks for your email. Give me a call when you get a chance at 555-555-5555 and I’ll give you the details on that listing.“

Well done – you’ve just told that potential customer that you don’t deal on their terms, and that if they want to work with you, they’ll need to do it on your terms.

The key is to speak their language back to them – if you’ve got a good real estate website, then they’ve already seen your phone number, and if they’d wanted to use that medium then you would have already have spoken to them. The fact is that they’re more comfortable with E-Language – so you’d better respond in kind:

“Hi Jim, thanks for your email. Here are some more details on that property:

… (put a link to your website)

By the way – you can use my website to search the entire MLS, just click here: (link to the MLS® search on your site).

I’m at your disposal to answer any questions you might have.“

Now you’re talking their language!

Today, all successful real estate agents have interactive websites (here’s a good example). The best websites automatically manage email marketing campaigns, have Real-Time MLS search maps, and offer a variety of features that not only attract prospective customers, but also keep existing customers coming back. A good website will guarantee that you present well. A great website, with the right marketing, will save you time and make you money.

Of course, the more people that use your great website, the more time it will save and the more money it will make you. So how do you attract people to use your website?

Before you start worrying about Twitter, Facebook, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and so on, start simple. Here are 3 tips that will have a surprising impact on your business:

• put your domain name on all your marketing literature (business cards, letterhead, listing signs, magnets, pens, coffee mugs, etc.)
• tell everyone you meet about your website and hand them a card
• create accounts on your website for all of your existing customers and set them up with daily automated MLS searches. (If your website doesn’t allow you to do this, consider taking RPM Agent for a 30-day spin)

With a great website, these tips will save you time, especially with buyers. Additionally, your customers, both new and old, will be ecstatic with your level of service: your website is running 24 hours a day and never sends them to voice mail. Your great website has also given you something great to talk about with everyone you meet. What better a prospecting tool than something cool to talk about?

Many of our customers report that these tips (and a few of the other simple tips in our Marketing Manual) have had such a significant impact on the efficiency of their businesses that they don’t need to pursue additional online prospecting.

So what about attracting new customers using social media? In tomorrow’s post, we’ll develop a system that you can use to decide if it’s “worth it” to you and your business.

• How to Sell Houses Fast in a Slow Market Part 1
• How to Sell Houses Fast in a Slow Market Part 2
• How to Sell Houses Fast in a Slow Market Part 3

For those of you that are already our customers, log into your back-office and check out our Marketing Tips in the help wiki. We’ve updated them to include some information specifically about using the Internet to make your life easier when it comes to attracting buyers.