Here are the three things you must do if you want to use internet leads.
Should you spend time on internet prospects from Zillow, Realtor.com, and other sources? There are many ways to build your business, and this seems like an easy one—throw money at something and expect a return. I’ve been working on this question for half a decade and tracked my findings along the way; and I’ve learned that you can spend money on those sources and get a return if you’re willing to do three specific things, and it actually isn’t the easiest source of business. For us, and some of the other larger teams around the country, it ranks as the sixth or seventh highest return on investment.
If you still want to use internet sources, here’s what you need to do:
1. Contact leads promptly. You need to contact them in under five minutes after they’ve shown interest in a property. A lead response study done by MIT states that if you can’t respond within five minutes, you may as well not respond at all. Under that time is when you’ll get a massively higher return.
“If you can’t respond within five minutes, you may as well not respond at all.”
2. It takes seven to eight follow-up attempts to convert. These aren’t warm leads; they don’t trust the person calling them yet, so you must build quite a bit of rapport and trust, which can take days or months. If you aren’t willing to do seven or eight follow-ups, it’s not worth it to use this prospecting source.
3. Conversion happens in the follow-up. Over 50% of the people who inquire that intend to buy won’t purchase until next year. Their business is in the amount of time you can nurture, follow up, and build relationships with them.
If you have any questions about how we scrutinize our prospects or have conversations with leads, I’d love to share what we do with you. Reach out to me via phone or email at 717.216.0860 or dave@davehooketeam.com, and I’ll follow up with you. I’d love to help you do better business.
