Zillow is arguably one of the most important companies in the real estate industry today.
Regardless of an agent’s personal view on it, using the listing platform to generate leads can be a transformative business strategy.
On Wednesday, Chris Jones, the co-founder of Guerilla Realty, a company that makes lead generation software, gave a video tutorial on a how an agent can flip a Zillow listing.
Zillow brings in eyes from all over the country. In fact, the average listing on Zillow gets hundreds to thousands of views a month, Jones explained. And, around 50 percent of the people browsing the platform plan to buy or sell within 105 days.
While many agents feel they can’t benefit from the platform if they aren’t a Premier Zillow partner, Jones said they can.
To do so, agents must first download both fizbonanza, a free tool that provides data on local for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) listings, and Listing Cake, a free tool that allows agents to make listing videos.
Next, agents should download the FSBO leads From fizbonanza and call one that is listed on Zillow. This first phone call is crucial, Jones said.
On the call, the agent should ask if they can take pictures and videos of the house for their out-of-town buyers. Below is a script agents can follow.
The first phone call:
Script provided by Chris Jones.
Once an agent has the pictures and videos, they need to upload them into Listing Cake. Listing Cake will create a listing video of the home so the agent can show the seller. Then, it’s time to call them back.
The second phone call:
A script provided by Chris Jones.
The secret tool Jones referred to is Freephotobranding.com, a website that allows people to brand photos. Jones explained that the agent should brand the lead listing photo on Zillow with the seller’s information at the top. At the bottom, they should add a line that says “Text [ a three digit code] to [a phone number] to see video of this home.”
The key is to get the seller to use the agent’s number or their text auto responder on the branded photo.
The agent should agree to send prospective buyers the seller’s way. This agreement will allow them to the collect the names and numbers of all those who aren’t a right fit for the home, aka new leads. It’s a win-win scenario.
“Nine out of ten times, they are flipping the Zillow listing so that now people are contacting you,” Jones said.
In addition to the new lead generator the agent just created, 70 percent of FSBO sellers list with an agent within two months of listing, Jones added. There’s a good chance the FSBO seller will reach back out to the agent and list with them.
