7 Tips for Converting More Real Estate Leads

The internet is full of real estate tips on a number of different topics. However, at the end of the day, what is more important than understanding how to convert real estate leads?

If you can't master this fundamental skill set, nothing else matters. You either turn your leads into happy clients, or you lose out to competitors who do.

Fortunately, we've put together seven tips that are proven to turn leads into satisfied customers again and again.

As you're about to see, the following tips have a lot of potential, but aren't extremely complicated. While some will take a little work to implement, you can begin putting others into play as soon as you're done with this article.

So, take the time to read through each of these powerful, proven, tips. With these, you'll be able to immediately improve your conversion rates.

1. React to Leads Immediately

The first topic we absolutely have to cover on our list is that you must contact leads the moment they come on your radar. This might be through a Facebook ad (we'll cover that later), a reply to your drip campaign (also later), or any of a number of other methods.

Whatever the case, time is always of the essence. As many as 71 percent of online leads go to waste because responses aren't quick enough. Furthermore, if you call your leads within a minute of their online inquiry, you could also boost your conversions by as much as 391 percent.

If you're on the run or otherwise detained, at the very least, send a text message. That first point of contact is so important to succeeding with that lead.

2. Hustle, Hustle, Hustle During the First 10 Days

We actually have two real estate agent tips that involve initial contacts with your leads. This one has to do with what is widely-known as the "10 Days of Pain."

In real estate, it just means that those first 10 days are critical, so you should make every effort possible to speak with your lead. Later, we're going to describe the power of an effective email campaign, but, ideally, you want to get on the phone with your lead or even see them in person. Of course, back off if they show signs they're not ready to proceed (the email advice below will help with this). Otherwise, you need to really hustle during the first 10 days after you first hear from them.

3. Start a Facebook Group for Real Estate in Your Area

Those last two real estate agent tips are essential for closing more of your leads. However, we also need to stress how important it is that you use those tips in conjunction with an online presence. These days, if you're not online, no amount of real estate tips are going to help. Here are some telling statistics from the National Association of Realtors:

• The first thing 44 percent of buyers do when looking for a new home is look online.
• This amount represents 53 percent of young boomers in the market.
• 95 percent of all buyers consult websites during the buying process – that's more than those that rely on Realtors.
• 56 percent of Millennial buyers found their homes on the Internet.

In short, without an Internet presence, you hardly have any presence at all. The good news is that it's never been easier to make a Realtor website. This can be a valuable asset for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it gives you a place to send leads. This way, you can download your lead magnet, sign up for a drip campaign, and see your past work. We'll cover these things momentarily.

That said, the competition among real estate websites tends to be fairly steep. With sites like Zillow and Trulia owning much of Google's first page, it can be hard to attract any traffic at all. This is why Facebook represents such an important opportunity for real estate agents. In fact, we could probably do an entire post based solely on the potential of this one platform.

The first step is to create a Facebook page for your real estate business. As this is completely free to do – and based on the tips we're about to provide – this page may actually be far more valuable than a website.

Next, create Facebook ads for your page. While these aren't going to be free, they tend to be extremely cheap. Best of all, there are countless ways to target your demographic through Facebook ads. This level of specificity will make it much easier to convert your leads and see a better ROI.

Now that you've earned some likes on your page, you'll have a better idea of who on Facebook is interested in your services. You can then use Facebook Custom Audiences to find more people just like that.

Once you have a large enough group of people who are interested in buying homes in your area, the sky's the limit. You can host your open houses on Facebook Live, for example, so no one has to miss it.

Finally, your Facebook page will let you leverage the awesome power of social proof. In short, the more people who see your page because of member engagement, the more they'll view you as a reliable expert. They think, "Well, if everyone else trusts this Realtor..."

That's half the work of converting a lead right there.

Alright, we've spent a lot of time discussing Facebook, but that's because it's great for securing contact information from leads. Ultimately, with the help of a real estate CRM, you can manage a huge list of contacts, giving yourself the best chance of converting each.

Let's now talk about one of the easiest ways to use your Facebook page to harvest that all-important contact information. Combined, these two tips will have a massive impact on your conversion rates.

4. Create a Helpful Lead Magnet

You can always mass-message the people who are in your Facebook group, but that won't allow you to segment your list. Plus, if you get their contact information, you'll always have it, even if they decide to leave Facebook later. That's why next on our list of real estate agent tips is creating a lead magnet.

As the name suggests, this is content that attracts leads. This is content they receive after providing you with their contact information. The better the lead magnet, the more leads you'll attract. However, better lead magnets also set you up for much easier conversions.

Lead magnets can be incredibly powerful. This Realtor used a lead magnet to generate 100 leads in just one week! It only cost her $50, too!

Here are some examples of lead magnets you can offer your Facebook following:

• Comparative Analyses of Properties
• Guide for Remodeling
• Guide to Buying a Second Home
• Home Seller's Guide
• Home Buyer's Guide
• Relocation Tips
• Reports on Local Markets
• Tips for Taking Out a Mortgage

As you can see, you have plenty of options for your lead magnet. This also gives you the perfect opportunity to segment your Facebook followers. Those interested in relocation tips obviously represent a distinct group—just like people who have never taken out a mortgage before and those buying their second home. With a good CRM, you can keep all of these segments separate and develop unique marketing strategies that suit each one best.

Speaking of which, our list of lead conversion tips will now cover a fantastic option for doing just that.

5. Use Drip Campaigns That Are Filled with Great Content

As we covered earlier, if you have a lead's contact information, you should definitely contact them right away. That said, if they're not ready to convert at the moment, you don't have to wait until that finally changes. Instead, set up a drip campaign.

This is just an automated email campaign where one message after another is sent to your leads – drip, drip, drip – to help prepare them for conversion. Email marketing offers the best ROI of any option available, so this is a fantastic investment. On average, it earns $44 for every $1 spent. That's an ROI of 4400 percent! As it's automated – something a CRM can help with – it also leaves you plenty of time to focus on your other real-estate-related duties.

When you think about your real estate drip campaign, remember to be a resource first. Your leads probably need a lot of information before they're ready to buy or sell. You want to avoid emails that are nothing but pitches.

For example, those who downloaded the lead magnet about mortgages would probably like to learn about other first-time-buyer topics, too (e.g., how much to save for a down payment, what to know about homeowners insurance, etc.). This will also build up a great deal of trust and authority. Provided your information is useful, why would they go to another Realtor they're completely unfamiliar with when it's time to buy?

Of course, you can use a little salesmanship throughout your drip campaign. Always include your phone number and even a friendly photo. Becoming a familiar face always helps, and now they can call you as soon as it's time to start.

At the bottom of each email, you can also include flattering testimonials from past clients. That's the next recommendation on our list.

6. Put Testimonials on Everything

When it comes time to choose a Realtor, your leads could choose any number of ways to consider their options. Obviously, the tips above have all been geared toward turning things in your favor.

That said, good testimonials are so effective that they could turn that favor in another Realtor's direction – even if they're lacking some of the other ideas above.
After all, a testimonial is proof-positive that the Realtor can do exactly what the lead wants.

Recall that we mentioned social proof in one of our earlier tips. This is a similar concept. You want to show that you understand what you're doing and that leads have nothing to risk by entrusting you with such a big decision.

7. Show Your Past Work

You can take testimonials a big step further if you show off what exactly your work has entailed. While testimonials definitely deserve their spot on our list, some are going to be better than others.

If someone praises how great you are work to work with, that's helpful. However, if you can pair a testimonial with other information about the house you helped them sell or buy, that's going to be far more effective. Your leads will have a much better idea of what to expect from you.

Photographs of the homes involved are the best supplemental information you can provide. The National Association of Realtors report we highlighted earlier also mentioned that 89 percent of home buyers find photos to be "very useful." That was considered the most valuable feature a Realtor's website can have, beating out:

• Detailed information about properties
• Virtual tours
• Neighborhood information
• Interactive maps

So, while those other assets are great, don't forget lots of high-quality photos.

The Easiest Way to Make the Most of These Tips

You now have seven tips you can use to start seeing more conversions every single month. In fact, there's no reason you couldn't implement all of these – including setting up a Facebook group, ads, and a lead magnet – by the end of this month.

However, you'll have a much easier time optimizing thesetips and seeing the best results in the shortest amount of time if you have a powerful CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform made for this industry. Explore your options for CRM solutions here.

To view the original article, visit the Wise Agent blog.