What type of real estate agent do you want to be? How do you want to spend your time? Where do you want to focus your efforts? Every agent needs to address these key questions because they impact your marketing approach.
No matter your answers, an undeniable fact is that in order to succeed, you need to have a steady flow of leads coming in. Lead generation is the lifeblood of your business and is essential to both short-term and long-term success.
The #1 mistake that real estate agents make is devaluing a lead if it doesn’t create immediate success. Some agents believe that if a lead doesn’t close right away, then it’s a dead end. The reality is that although not all leads are the same because they take differing amounts of time to be ready to actually generate results, every lead creates an opportunity.
For example, a referral has a higher likelihood of becoming a client today than an online lead. That’s because they’ve been recommended to you by someone who already knows, likes, and trusts you. Therefore, a referral may gain you quicker success, but an online lead has just as much potential to gain you business, it just may take a bit more time.
It’s important to take every lead seriously and it’s crucial to have systems that help you nurture each relationship so you can gain both short-term, and long-term success as time progresses.
Let’s explore two approaches that enable you to utilize your strengths, as well as how you can manage the relationships generated through your efforts.
Approach #1: Be a prospector
Prospectors cast a wide net by creating as many connections as possible. They spend the majority of their time on top-of-funnel marketing strategies, typically investing in third-party lead generation solutions to feed their pipeline. Prospectors excel at creating brand awareness and demonstrating their area of expertise, taking a high volume/low conversion approach to lead generation. On average, approximately 2 to 3% of leads generated are people who are ready to buy or sell in the next 1-2 months, but this is where prospectors thrive because GCI on 2% of leads is still an incredible return, and they have long-term lead nurture strategies in place to increase lead conversion over time.
Prospectors rely on a robust, end-to-end CRM solution that offers everything from lead acquisition, to short-term and long-term automated lead nurturing and appointment setting services. This is important because the volume of leads is going to be much higher, requiring much more than a manual, hands-on approach.
Approach #2: Be a networker
Networkers heavily generate repeat and referral business by focusing on their sphere. They nurture the relationships they already have to create close connections, filling their pipeline with people who know, like, and trust them. Networkers take a low volume/high conversion approach, excelling at closing deals based on the relationships they create.
Networkers don’t need all of the “bells and whistles” of their prospector counterparts, but a more simplified solution that focuses heavily on unique ways to nurture and support long-term relationships within their sphere.
The good news is that both approaches help fill your pipeline and keep your business thriving!
Are you a prospector?
Elm Street’s Elevate CRM® may be the perfect end-to-end solution for you. And now, you can try the platform FREE for 60-days. Learn more and create your free account today!
Sign-Up for Elm Street’s Elevate CRM® FREE 60-Day Trial
Are you a networker?
Whether you are new to the business, a part-time agent, or someone who’s built their business on sphere of influence marketing, Elm Street’s IXACT Contact® CRM offers you more than you could imagine. Try the platform FREE for 60-days to see if it’s the right option for you.
Sign up for Elm Street’s IXACT Contact® CRM FREE 60-Day Trial
About Elm Street
Elm Street offers a growing portfolio of real estate technology and marketing services with the goal of providing one vendor and one point of contact, fully fused into one singular platform – Elevate – to capture and nurture more leads into closed business. Elm Street’s portfolio of products and services allows busy real estate professionals the ability to streamline and automate their marketing and day-to-day business objectives by offering high-end IDX websites, lead generation tools, a powerful CRM, email, social, text, and blog marketing automation, recruiting and retention tools, and more. To learn more, please visit ElmStreet.com.