When you are bombarded with a busy schedule – appointments, re-stocking flyers, calls, contracts, leads and listings to follow-up with – prioritizing your time is essential. You’ve probably witnessed agents who’ve been really busy one month and then stuck in a lull the next. Whereas top producers have systems that work on their business while they are busy working in their business. It’s why they are consistently active with deals month-after-month. Online leads provide you with new deals when the other agents are slowing down.

How do you advance your business when you are busy?

This is a great question to ask and a good problem to have. It means you are moving into the next stage of your business.

The answer is leverage. For a Realtor there are two types of leverage. People and Technology.

Having a part-time assistant can streamline your business and make your time more effective. An assistant can handle some of the repetitive tasks like weekly emails to your client database and lead database. A Realtor’s schedule is unpredictable. Whereas an assistant can have a consistent schedule which makes it much easier to do the important growth building tasks week after week.

Millionaire Realtor Breffni McGeough says, “If you’re task-driven and you get your tasks done, then you don’t have to worry about commission because people come to you.”

The second leverage you can setup is technology. Most critically, lead-generation technology. Tried and true activities like door-knocking and mail-out campaigns work. But they are painful. These activities demand your time on the street and you have to go one-by-one. The system we’ve designed enables you to do this in much better way.

StreetText leverages Facebook to digitally door-knock on thousands of potential home buyers and sellers, everyday. While you are busy closing deals or following up with an inquiry, StreetText is working on your business. When setup our technology is working on your behalf generating new business – putting you above the clouds.

If you don’t have a steady stream of incoming leads you need to stop everything you are doing and start generating them. It’s the lifeblood of every real estate agent. And it’s something you need to do really well.

~ Gary Keller, “The Millionaire Real Estate Agent”

Why online leads are way more likely to work with you than you may think

Would you agree that it’s worth focusing your marketing time and money where real estate business comes from? I think most people would agree with that.

According to Realtor.org real estate clients come from 3 main sources. (2014 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers)

Referrals, client database, and lead generation.

Here’s a quick breakdown of where home Buyers and Sellers clients came from in 2014.

Home Buyers:

1. 40% of home buyers found their agent through a referral.

2. 12% of home buyers worked with an agent they had used before to buy or sell a home.

3. The remaining 48% of home buyers were available through lead-generation marketing.

Also noteworthy:

Two-thirds of buyers only interviewed one agent before choosing their agent.

88% of home buyers reported that they would recommend their agent.

Home Sellers:

1. 38% of home sellers found their agent through a referral.

2. 22% worked with an agent they had used before.

3. The remaining 40% of sellers were available through lead-generation marketing.

Also noteworthy:

70% of home sellers only contacted 1 agent.

83% of home sellers reported that they would recommend their agent.

But how well do online leads convert?

Well we’ve recently released our survey of 5000 online leads generated for a large brokerage. The leads were tracked from capture to the conveyancing office. Of the 5000 leads generated, 3500 were Buyer leads and 1500 were Seller leads.

The results of the study showed that 678 of the leads closed a transaction at the brokerage within 12 months.

Here’s why it works for busy agents

Busy agents usually have a few things working for them. They have an assistant or tools that help them stay in touch with their client base (database). Secondly, they have a drip-email system to nurture their leads. Also, they tend to be generating some leads through various forms of marketing already.

Busy agents can leverage these existing systems to make online lead generation a good fit for their business. Isaac Verge, a high performing agent based in Windsor Essex Ontario, implemented StreetText in his business. Isaac has good clients and a good reputation in his community. But in his own words, “I decided that the risk of using the advertising budget I was currently spending to try something new would be small.”

Isaac’s assistant does all initial follow-up calls to his prospects generated through StreetText. He then goes to the booked appointments. By working with his assistant he is able to leverage his time much better. As far as results go, Isaac says, “With StreetText I have had more positive contacts with buyers and sellers and it hasn’t cost me anymore than I was spending already.”

Conclusion

Digital door-knocking (online lead generation) offers one of the greatest opportunities for Realtors of this generation. This is going to be the difference that separates real estate agents who put in place digital marketing from the rest.

StreetText is for people wanting to seriously grow their lead database list. It is an automated system that generates leads with really good marketing. The benefits of StreetText will easily help you get in front of new buyers and sellers, capture leads, meet prospects and advance your business.