We hear you, really we do. Nobody wants to feel humiliated just to get leads. But what if I told you rock star Beverly Hills agent Ben Bacal used door knocking to land clients like Leonardo DiCaprio and even knocked on Keanu Reeve’s and Grant Cardone’s doors? You’d want to learn more, right? Well, you’re in luck! 

In this article, I go over everything you need to know about door knocking for real estate, including the best scripts and 15 door-knocking tips to get more leads. I’ll wrap up with my 2 cents on whether or not door knocking is still effective after the pandemic.

Download Free Door Knocking Scripts

The Best Door Knocking Scripts for 2022 (+ Video Examples)

1. Ben Bacal’s Beverly Hills Door-knocking Scripts

If you’ve been an agent for more than a few months, chances are you’ve heard of Ben Bacal. He’s one of the most successful luxury agents in Beverly Hills—he sold a Bel Air home for a record-breaking $94 million and has sold homes to Matt Damon, Ellen DeGeneres, and Madonna.

What most agents don’t know is that Ben Bacal got his start in real estate door knocking. Here are Ben’s general door-knocking script and the script he uses for “drive knocking” mansions with gates and intercoms:

copy to clipboard

General Door-knocking Script:

“Your house is amazing. If there is any possibility of bringing a buyer your way, would you be interested in selling?”

Drive Knocking Script:

“Sorry to bother you, but my client saw your property on Google Maps and you can’t see it from the street. You probably don’t want to sell it but maybe you do, she is a serial entrepreneur you’ve seen on TV. She’s looking for a property in the range of XX-XX. Maybe you can let me see your property to see if it might work for her.”

2. Sean Moudry’s Door-knocking Script for Listing Agents

Trying to come up with a value proposition to justify knocking on a stranger’s door on a Sunday morning isn’t easy. The best value proposition you have as an agent is a track record of success selling homes in their neighborhood. So if you have a recent listing that received multiple offers, print them out, black out the personal information, and put together a mini-presentation you can use as a talking point. Now that you have a reason to be there, here is a script you can use from Sean Moudry:

copy to clipboard

“Hello, sorry to bother you. My name is [your name] and I am the listing agent for the property down the street [point in the direction of the property]. We received multiple offers [waive the printed contracts in front of them] and, of course, we can only accept one. The home sold well above asking price and these other buyers are still looking for a home in [neighborhood]. Who do you know who would like to sell their home in this HOT MARKET?”

3. Monica Carr’s Beginner’s Door-knocking Script

Coldwell Banker agent Monica Carr went from broke to earning a million dollars in real estate through building a brand and door knocking. The script she used was dead simple, but highly effective. First, because it gave her a valid reason to knock on a stranger’s door, and second, because it built enough curiosity to spark conversations with homeowners. Here is her script from her TomX talk:

copy to clipboard

“Hi, I’m Monica. Your neighbor just sold their home for $1.5 million. What did you think of that price? Did you get a chance to see it at the open house? That one sold for multiple offers. There are still people out there who want to live in your neighborhood. For the right price, would you consider selling your home?”

You can hear Monica explain her script in more detail and share her inspirational story in her TomX talk How to Earn $1 Million in Real Estate in 4 Steps with Absolutely NO BUDGET below, which has been viewed over 700,000 times.

4. Eri Hass’ Market Report Door-knocking Script 

A former music industry executive, Eric Hass started his real estate career door knocking in one of the most expensive cities on earth— Los Angeles. While most agents probably think door knocking million-dollar homes would be pointless, Eric disagrees. Here’s how he framed the issue in his interview with Mike Sherrard: “Luxury doesn’t mean $#$%, it’s just another zero on the price, and those people need to sell too.” 

Like Monica’s script, Eric’s script is simple, friendly, and offers homeowners something to be curious about to spark conversation. Here is the script:

copy to clipboard

“Hi, it’s Eric Hass, I’m with EXP Realty and I’m stopping by with a housing update on [your farm area], keeping you dialed in with what’s going on with quarter one versus quarter four, and I’m stopping by to see if you have any questions or interest in moving anytime soon.”

Watch Eric explain his script and go over his best door-knocking tips in his interview with Mike Sherrard here:

5. Micah Mruwat’s Home Valuation Door-knocking Script

Real estate coach and former EXP Managing Broker Micah Mruwat is another industry thought leader who is bullish on door knocking. Like the other agents here, Micah starts off by introducing herself and wraps up by offering something of value that will stir curiosity and spark a conversation.

copy to clipboard

“Hi, my name is Micah Mruwat from EXP Realty. I promise I won’t take much of your time, I just want a couple of seconds—did you realize that a home just a few houses down just sold for $50,000 over asking price? I don’t know if you have any interest, but I am an expert in the area if you’d like a free valuation of your home.”

Watch Micah explain her script in more detail and go over other door-knocking tips in her video here:

16 Door-knocking Tips to Get More Leads in 2022

1. Don’t Ask for Business, Offer to Help 

Chris Linsell, Senior Staff Writer/Real Estate Coach, Theclose.com 

One of the biggest mistakes new agents make when door knocking is trying to hard-sell total strangers on their doorstep. Unless you have a stellar track record in their neighborhood, this will turn off most homeowners. Instead, focus on how you can help them. The distinction is subtle, but important. Check out Chis Linsell’s video below for a quick run-through of his door-knocking strategy and why it works.

2. Don’t Forget to Bring Your Door Hangers

One of the best leave-behinds you can use when door knocking are door hangers. Simply put, they have one of the best returns on investment (ROI) of anything you can print and put in front of your leads. Full stop.

Illinois Coldwell Banker Broker Danielle Procopio agrees:

“Never miss the opportunity to ‘touch’ a lead. If no one is home, we’ll leave a laminated door hanger with a personalized message and attempt to connect with the homeowners at least four times, and then mail them a neighborhood market analysis. Always follow up with a letter, postcard, phone call, and so on. You want to be seen as the neighborhood expert.”

You can get gorgeous custom-designed door hangers as well as social media templates, business card templates, and more at Lab Coat Agents (LCA) Marketing Center. LCA Marketing Center is similar to Canva, but everything they offer was designed for and by top-producing Realtors. The difference in quality is massive.

Visit Lab Coat Agents Marketing Center

3. Don’t Try to Close the Deal on Their Doorstep

The cardinal rule of any real estate lead generation strategy is to only focus on moving relationships to the next step. In the case of door knocking, that next step is generally either a phone call, being added to a direct mail or drip campaign, or if you’re really lucky, a listing presentation.

While you may be eager to close deals, pushing too hard for goals that are unrealistic is a surefire way to get a door slammed in your face. Sure, you want to seem confident and maybe even a little bit hungry to close, but most people instantly turn off when presented with a “sales pitch,” no matter how good it is. This is especially true when you’re standing on their doorstep on a Sunday morning.

So do yourself a favor and save the hard sell for your listing presentation or better yet, when you’re finally writing an offer for your buyer. Instead, focus on just moving the ball down the field. What next step do you realistically want your homeowner to take with you? A phone call? A visit to your open house? Focus on that and you’ll have much better luck knocking doors.

4. A Small Compliment Can Go a Long Way in Building Rapport

A compliment, if it’s sincere, is one of those ice breakers that has probably worked since the last ice age and will continue to work for a thousand years. So the next time you’re out door knocking, try to find something genuine to compliment the homeowner on.

Cindy Trotier, a Coldwell Banker agent from Illinois, uses small compliments to break the ice with homeowners whenever she can.

“When prospecting, it’s important to find common ground with the potential client, and complimenting them on their home goes a long way. Start with: ‘Nice yard, you certainly have a green thumb,’ or ‘Those are beautiful flowers.’ Make the conversation about them, not you. Additionally, share something of value along with your business card (e.g., market area report). Ultimately, you want to build relationships first.”

5. Leverage Your Brokerage’s Success if You’re a Newer Agent

Another hard and fast rule of lead generation is that you need to have something on the table that your leads actually want. That can be something as abstract as a conversation or advice, or something as concrete as a well-researched comparative market analysis (CMA) or market report.

If you feel like you have nothing to offer, then you’re doing it wrong. Just by virtue of having access to your MLS, you have more information at your fingertips than the average homeowner. It’s just a matter of packaging that data in creative and useful ways. Why not hire a virtual assistant to put together 20 CMAs for homes in a neighborhood you want to target?

Sure, that will cost you money, but how many other agents are going the extra mile like that? As Close Contributor Beverly Ruffner always says: You only need to be a little bit better than the competition.

But you don’t even need to go this far. Instead, you can just leverage your brokerage’s success. Many large brokerages like Douglas Elliman create market reports specifically for their agents to use as marketing pieces. A hot-off-the-press market report can be very useful for homeowners who may not be paying attention to the market … YET.

Just remember that data on its own is cheap these days. The real value comes from analyzing and packaging that data in ways that are useful to your potential customers.

6. Allow Yourself to Fail in Order to Get Better

If you’ve worked in real estate for more than 10 minutes or own a television, you’ve probably heard of Barbara Corcoran. What you may not know about Barbara is that she grew up poor, dyslexic, and was waiting tables before she decided to become a real estate agent.

Fast forward a few years and she ended up selling her innovative brokerage, The Corcoran Group, for more than $66 million. Like many entrepreneurs, she credits her amazing success to learning lessons from failure.

So now you may be sitting here thinking this is the sappiest cliche of all time, and why are you even reading this? Well, let’s just say that successful people didn’t get that way without breaking a few eggs. So smile and laugh when someone slams a door in your face, learn to meditate, start a healthy morning routine, and always remember that you’re not a brain surgeon—you’re just trying to close some deals. So don’t be so hard on yourself. Things are going to work out, but you need to let yourself fail first. It won’t kill you. I promise.

7. Dress for Success, but Don’t Forget Comfort

One of the best-kept secrets of success in any sales job shouldn’t be a secret at all. Here it goes: People are going to judge you, and harshly, based on your appearance. Yes, we know it’s not fair, and yes, we know you really think your leads won’t care if you show up in sweatpants and a T-shirt to show them houses. We’ve heard these arguments over and over again. Of course, that doesn’t make them right. 

Far from it, actually. In reality, people, especially the older people who own the majority of the homes in this country, are going to judge you for what you wear, and there’s nothing you can do about it. As long as you’re comfortable, dress as nicely as you can when you’re out door knocking.

Not sure how to dress to impress? Luckily, we put together guides for women and men on how to dress, and more importantly, how NOT to dress to close more deals.

8. Make Some Fun Pop-by Gifts & Bring Them With You

Texas Coldwell Banker agent Andrea Smith swears by pop-by gifts:

“Create some fun, well-thought-out pop-bys that convey your message. When Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, I attach my business cards to a small bag of chocolate hearts that say, ‘You’re the heart of my business.’ It’s a great way to help people remember me and begin a positive interaction as I’m out knocking doors. I feel like the addition of a special touch helps to open the door to a better opportunity to generate a lead or referral.”

Pop-by gifts are small gifts that you can leave with homeowners in order to get them to remember you. Things like candy, seeds, or any other small gift with your message and contact info will work. Cheesy jokes optional, but kind of encouraged.

9. Learn the Best Days & Times to Door Knock in Your Farm Area

Learning when to knock doors is like asking which baseball team is the best. No matter who you ask, you’re going to get a different answer. But there is a general consensus from people who use door knocking as their primary lead generation strategy:

Saturdays between 10 a.m. & 5 p.m.

Most people are home, but are more than likely still in get-stuff-done mode instead of full-on relax mode, like they are on Sundays. The only caveat here is neighborhoods where observant Jewish people live. In that case, you just might want to wait until Sunday, as Saturdays are days of rest in the Jewish religion.

And likewise, knocking on doors on Sunday if your community is devoutly Christian may not be well received. In short, know your audience and respect their private time.

8:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. during the week

Another good time to door knock that most people skip is in the morning during the weekday. You’ll catch a lot of entrepreneurs, home workers, and retired people who are just getting their day together, and so may be more receptive to dealing with “work.”

10. Invite Them to the First Open House at a New Listing

I don’t know about you, but I’m always desperately curious to see how my neighbors live. What does that cool-looking brownstone with the cute little yard look like inside? I bet it’s nice …

In order to satiate their curiosity, always take the time to door knock in a circle around a new listing before you have that all-important first open house. It not only helps you look good to your homeowner (neighbors gossip), but might just help keep you top of mind with the neighbors as well.

Minnesota Sotheby’s Shawn Leetz takes advantage of the curiosity factor to help drive traffic to her open houses:

“Before the first open house at a new listing, I will door knock to hand out personal invitations to the neighbors, introducing myself and letting them know that it is always a good idea to know what is going on in their neighborhood. Also, I like to let them know that it’s OK to come and take a peek; some folks are shy about walking through their neighbor’s home. Not only does this engage the community, but this is another way to offer value to your client (the seller).”

Need some ideas to actually generate leads at your next open house? Check out our guide to open houses here.

11. Avoid Burnout: Don’t Try to Knock Too Many Doors in One Day

Contrary to popular belief, being physically and emotionally exhausted at noon is not a signal that you worked hard, and definitely not a signal that you were effective. It’s a signal that you’re stressed, tired, and probably cranky to boot. Basically the exact opposite mindset you need for a successful door-knocking campaign. Who wants to talk to a stressed-out stranger on their doorstep? The answer, of course, is literally no one.

So if you want to avoid burnout, set yourself a realistic goal of say, 20 doors to knock before you head to the office or start your open house this weekend. If you don’t believe us, just imagine knocking that super-lucky door where a millionaire who wants to sell lives and being too wiped out to build a rapport with her.

12. Track Your Progress: That Which Gets Measured, Gets Improved

One thing many agents forget when out door knocking is to track their progress. How many doors did you knock? How many doors got slammed in your face? Which doors should you absolutely avoid next time? Which seemed kind of promising? Who seems like a decent candidate for a direct mail campaign?

You don’t have to hire MIT to crunch the numbers for you here. Just keep a little log book or notepad app on your phone and take some notes when you’re out door knocking.

You also need to measure your performance if you want to get better. What went right? What went wrong? Does your script need tweaking? Are you getting less nervous or more nervous?

13. Ask Open-ended Questions: Avoid Yes or No Questions

Want to know a secret to not being boring? Get people to talk about themselves and then really listen to what they’re saying. That’s it. Easy, right? Well, yes and no. After all, you have a pretty clear agenda here, right? You’re not just walking your farm area at 8:30 a.m. on a Tuesday to chat about the weather.

Not only does the same rule apply to door knocking, but it’s actually crucial to your success. Think about it. You have maybe 15 seconds to get and keep their attention. Even if you’re super-charming, they’re probably looking for an easy excuse to get back to their newspaper and bagels. Answering a simple yes or no is one of those excuses.

So to avoid giving them an easy out, never ask questions that can be answered by a simple yes or no. Instead, try to get them engaged in a conversation by asking open-ended questions and actually listening to their answers instead of just waiting for your turn to talk.

14. Stay Safe: Knock With a Partner

Since safety should be one of your main concerns, you might want to think about finding a partner to door knock with. It could be a junior agent who needs to work on their pitching skills or an equal team member, but the facts are that pairing up is almost always safer than going it alone.

By the way, this applies just as much to “safe” neighborhoods as it does to neighborhoods with higher crime rates. The simple fact is you never know who is going to answer that door, so having a buddy across the street watching your back is always a good idea.

It could just be a creepy old man who gets too flirty, but a quick “Hey, would love to chat more but my partner is across the street” should be enough to throw cold water on most people.

While the odds of getting into trouble are pretty rare, you never know. As an added bonus, you’ll have a margarita partner if you decide to knock off early.

15. Don’t Be Afraid of Luxury Neighborhoods

Can we talk about super-attractive people for a minute here? If there’s one thing they say over and over again, it’s that fewer, not more, people hit on them. While this might seem counterintuitive, it makes sense when you think about it. After all, most people assume they have no chance, so they don’t even bother.

Well, you can think about wealthy neighborhoods like that super-hot guy in your spin class. You might have a low chance of getting his digits, but if you don’t go talk to him, you have ZERO chance. Why not give it a shot?

The other good part of knocking on rich people’s doors is that they’re more likely to be entrepreneurs—and maybe also more likely to be self-made entrepreneurs who appreciate a good hustle! Maybe some eccentric billionaire will take a shine to you and give you 10 listings to sell this year. Hey, you never know until you try, right?

16. Good Deeds Can Help Build Good Will in Your Farm Area

If you want to get in good with the locals, there’s nothing like doing something selfless and useful for the community. I don’t know about you, but whenever I see someone helping others in my neighborhood, I can’t help but like them.

Like a lot of successful agents, Texas Coldwell Banker agent Scott Bullard started out with empty pockets, but a deep desire to help his community:

“I started with no money, so I had to be creative. I had a T-shirt made with my real estate company in big letters, and walked my neighborhood at strategic times to come face to face with as many people as possible while I picked up any trash that I saw and disposed of it. I also went around collecting email addresses of my neighbors and started a weekly e-newsletter.”

The 30,000-Foot View: Is Door Knocking Still Effective in 2022?

If you had asked us this question in April 2020, we probably would have said no. There were just too many unknowns about the pandemic for us to even think about telling agents that knocking on strangers’ doors was a good idea.

Of course, now with multiple successful vaccines being distributed and Omicron waning, we are once again bullish on door knocking for one simple reason: Agents have been relying on technology to generate leads way, way too much over the past few years.

These days, it seems like every agent is obsessed with perfecting custom audiences for Facebook ads, or trying (and failing) to go “viral” on Instagram instead of honing the one skill they need to last in this industry: making a personal connection with another human being.

So, the more everyone in your office leans into technology, get up, go outside, and go knock some doors.

Over to You

Do you think door knocking will disappear or make a huge comeback in 2022? Let us know in the comments.

The post Door Knocking for Real Estate in 2022: Will It Still Work? (+ Tips & Scripts) appeared first on The Close.

The first step is to take my 10-question real estate sales personality assessment. As a certified MBTI practitioner and real estate coach, I have used this assessment with more than 1,000 people—from brand-new agents to billionaire real estate CEOs. I sincerely hope that it helps you too. 

For this assessment to work for you, you need to take it seriously. If you don’t answer the questions as honestly as possible, the results won’t help you, and they may even lead you down the wrong path. Once you’ve finished the assessment, return here for resources to help you tailor your lead generation approach to your personality. See you soon!

Take My Quiz

The Best Lead Generation Strategies for Every Personality Type

Here is a rough overview of the different lead generation strategies that work for each personality type. Just make sure you take the quiz to find your own real estate sales personality. Below the strategies, we include some helpful resources to get you started.

Why Finding Your ‘True Self’ Will Help You Succeed as an Agent

As Shakespeare said, all the world’s a stage and we all have many roles to play. In my life, I have three main roles: parent, spouse, and real estate agent. Each of these roles requires me to behave and respond accordingly to meet each unique situation.

Think of each role as wearing a different hat. When I am wearing my parent hat, I must be responsible, polite, and calm. My spouse hat helps me to be patient and loving, and when I wear my real estate agent hat, I must be confident, outgoing, and responsive.

But who am I really? Who am I when I’m not a parent, spouse, or real estate agent? What is my true self? The real Sean is the person I have always been. From the time I was four years old, through my twenties, today, and someday, into my sixties. It’s the part of me that doesn’t change. 

In order to succeed at real estate, I had to dig deep and find my true self through tools like the MBTI. I discovered my true self loves reading, learning, and spending long periods alone. This doesn’t sound much like the personality of a nationally recognized, top-producing real estate agent and real estate coach, does it? Fortunately, I have found ways to incorporate the real me into my real estate career so I don’t lose interest or burn out … and so can you!

Why Aligning Your Personality to Your Business Is Crucial to Your Success

Your personality plays a crucial role in your success (or lack of it!) in real estate—but not in the way you might think.

Too many unsuccessful agents try (and fail) to adapt their personalities to “fit in” better as real estate agents. They think they need to be highly extroverted to succeed, so they push themselves way too hard to “become” the fast-talking extrovert they see on “Million Dollar Listing.” This approach is doomed to failure, and at the very least, it’ll make you miserable in your chosen career.

To achieve long-lasting success and happiness in real estate, you must approach your business in a way that’s aligned with your personality. Here’s why. Studies show that changing your personality is incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for most people. The scientific evidence is clear. While most people understand that our upbringing and life experiences shape our personalities, modern researchers have discovered that our personalities are also partially determined by genetics. 

So that means the harder you push against your personality type, the more miserable you will be, and the faster you will burn out. I’ve seen this happen many, many, times in my career.

Personality Is Crucial, but Sometimes You Still Need To Eat the Dog Food…

I would love to tell you that you will always enjoy every part of your real estate career, and you will never have to do the things you don’t enjoy, but that would be a lie. While personality is a critical factor in determining your approach to real estate, it’s not the only factor. Your budget and urgency will also play an essential role in determining the best strategy for your success.

Suppose you have an unlimited budget and the time to slowly develop your real estate business over many years. In that case, you could write a blog that ranks number one on Google or become a real estate influencer on social media. I know agents who have done both, but again, it took them years to get to this level. 

Short-term goals and urgency to make money will often require you to do things outside of your comfort zone to achieve the results you want in the time frame you want them. The good news is, we all can “flex” out of our personality preference for short periods of time.

This means that even I can “eat the dog food” and spend a few hours each quarter calling my sphere of influence (SOI) to invite them to an ice cream social. 

However, if we stay outside our comfort zones for long periods, we can become stressed, irritable, or worse, burnt out. This is one of the main reasons many top-producing agents eventually fail. They spend years forcing themselves to work outside of their comfort zone, and eventually, they burn out. Ask me how I know.

As a result, I sought out a personality assessment to help me better understand the agents I was coaching, with a goal of helping them build sustainable real estate careers that complement their strengths. I wanted them to be excited about the business again.

Next Steps: Learn My 16 Strategies for Real Estate Success

Want to stop pushing the boulder up the hill for good? My book, 16 Strategies for Sales, will help you laser-focus your lead generation strategy so that it works seamlessly with your personality, not against it. 

Get the Book

Bottom Line

Knowing your real estate personality will provide you with a deeper understanding of the best approach to grow your real estate business. You can increase your sales by gaining awareness of your personality type and adapting a sales strategy that complements your innate strengths and abilities.

The post What’s Your Real Estate Sales Personality? Take Our Quiz & Find Out appeared first on The Close.

But not all real estate websites are created equal. We’ve put together a list of the best real estate lead generation website providers with a proven ability to turn your marketing dollars (and hard work!) into actual buyers and sellers. Here’s what we found:

The 5 Best Real Estate Lead Generation Websites of 2022

These options are for agents, teams, and brokers who are looking for a website that prioritizes lead generation. Looking for something more? If you want additional options, check out our guide to the best real estate website builders for 2022. 

If you’re looking for lead gen companies minus the website building capabilities, make sure to read our guide to the Top 6 Real Estate Lead Generation Companies for 2022.

Best Overall Real Estate Lead Generation Website: Propertybase

To competitors in this space, it must seem like Propertybase is playing with an unfair advantage.

A part of the Lone Wolf Technologies group of real estate companies, Propertybase GO offers a powerful, ultra-customizable website experience. It comes complete with a native integration with lead generation juggernaut BoldLeads, a versatile and customizable customer relationship management tool (CRM), and a powerful engine to drive prospects to your website. Sounds too good to be true? It really isn’t. Read on.

Propertybase GO Pros & Cons

In-depth Propertybase GO Review + Video Walk-through

Propertybase offers a lot of really interesting technology solutions for real estate professionals. Here are some of The Close resources you should check out to learn more about what they have available:

Propertybase Pricing

Propertybase GO’s pricing is pretty straightforward, offering a full package that includes the IDX website for $399 per month with a minimum nine-month commitment. 

Propertybase also offers optional al a carte access to its award-winning lead generation platform, BoldLeads, as well as its transaction management platform, BackAgent, among other options. 

A Closer Look: Why Propertybase GO Is on Our List

Propertybase GO offers clean, customizable website designs with a ton of impressive lead-generating functionality. Some of our favorites include:

• Agent stickiness: If you’re working as a part of a real estate team, you’ve probably got a website for the entire group rather than individual agents. Once a lead’s information is captured on a Propertybase GO website and is officially assigned to a team member in the CRM, that lead starts to see their agent’s information on the site instead of the generic team site. 
• Adjustable lead scoring: Within Propertybase GO’s included CRM, you can adjust the automatic lead scoring to account for what matters most in your market. For instance, if listings are in short supply where you’re working (we know, basically everywhere right now), you can adjust the lead scoring to value listing leads above buyer leads. 
• Scaling paid lead options: With BoldLeads, you can scale the amount you want to spend on paid lead generation up and down, sending more (or less) paid traffic to your website depending on your business needs and budget.

Live Propertybase Website Examples

Source: Red Oak Realty

Source: Surterre Properties

Source: Harry Norman Realtors

Try Propertybase

With the BoldLeads lead generation opportunities right at your fingertips, the Propertybase website / CRM combo is a potent tool for real estate agents, teams, and brokerages alike and a clear choice for our best overall option. Incredibly customizable, intuitive, and easy to use, Propertybase is a strong option for a real estate web presence focused on lead generation and conversion.

Try Propertybase

Best Real Estate Lead Generation Website With Flexible Ad Spend: Real Geeks

OK, before ya’ll rush to the comments to bag on Real Geeks’ websites, remember what this article is all about—lead generation. This guide is all about highlighting the best real estate website options specific to lead generation, and while the Real Geeks product might be lacking in some areas, when it comes to lead gen, they’ve got it figured out.

Jeff Manson, founder of Real Geeks, started this company in 2008. It’s easy for OGs in the space to get stuck in the past, but Real Geeks has innovated and evolved their lead capture options to keep current with the time. They stand out in their ability to drive paid traffic, which is why they’re on our list. 

Real Geeks Pros & Cons

In-depth Real Geeks Review

The Close did a deep dive into Real Geeks and all their services. To get more information about what they have to offer, make sure to check it out, plus these other helpful resources that include more info about Real Geeks.

Real Geeks Pricing

Real Geeks provides an IDX website and a useful CRM for solo agents (or two-agent teams) for $299, plus an additional monthly fee of $25 per month for each additional agent.

Services like pay-per-click (PPC) and Facebook ad management are completely optional with Real Geeks. Drive the traffic to the site yourself or have Real Geeks help—totally up to you.

Here’s a breakdown of the pricing options with Real Geeks.

Real Geeks Pricing: Single Agent

A Closer Look: Why Real Geeks Is on Our List

Real Geeks offers tons of effective ways to get traffic to your website, as well as powerful tools to convert them into leads when they arrive. Here are some of our favorite features:

• Optimized landing pages: Yes, landing pages are staples of lead capture, but the Real Geeks versions of these tools have been optimized in ways that give them best-in-class conversion rates. They’ve been tested, and tested again, and will adjust depending on your market to convert your specific audience. 
• Partial lead capture: You can adjust your pop-ups and lead capture devices to capture only the information you want. So, say you’re struggling with getting leads to give you their phone number. Try asking instead for an email address for a while in order to get the pipeline flowing. 
• Automated or manual lead assignment: Choose from popular lead assignment methods in the CRM (like round-robin or by lead type), as well as exercise the option to reassign a lead from a team member who hasn’t responded or followed up. 

Live Real Geeks Website Examples

Source: The Bartic Group

Source: Dallas Area Homes For Sale

Source: Chinatti Realty

Try Real Geeks

Real Geeks offers flexible ways to drive leads and to nurture them through a CRM. Whether you work with Real Geeks to create a massive Google and Facebook ad campaign to push 10,000 visitors a week to your site, or you buckle down and implement your own long-term search engine optimization (SEO) strategy to increase your website’s organic visibility, Real Geeks is a tool you should consider.

Try Real Geeks

Best Real Estate Lead Generation Website for Tight Budgets: Placester

Are you a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR)? If so, then you qualify for a Placester website, complete with an IDX feed, and basic lead capture options for just $64 per month. 

Placester offers some very useful options for newer real estate professionals, especially those watching their budget carefully, but make no mistake, these aren’t tools for businesses still on training wheels. Placester offers legitimate, powerful lead generation and capture options that can power you to top-producer status.

Placester Pros & Cons

In-depth Placester Review + Video Walk-through

We’ve written a lot about Placester and the tools they have to offer real estate agents, teams, and brokerages. Check out our list of Placester resources below:

Placester Pricing

Placester’s Starter Plan annual package is $64 a month to anybody with an active NAR membership. This package gets you quite a bit, including a mobile-friendly website with IDX integration capability, a built-in blog platform, home valuation landing pages, and much more.

If you’re operating a team, consider bumping up to the Advanced Plan annual package for $120 per month, which gets you advanced lead capture, luxe design features, lead routing, and more.

Placester Pricing: Single Agent

A Closer Look: Why Placester Is on Our List

Placester is currently ranked as our number one overall choice for the best real estate website builders of 2022 because their overall offerings are the most comprehensive and complete of any other providers. But, they also stand out in the lead generation category. Here are some reasons why: 

• Customized lead gen optimization through Placester Marketplace: Placester Marketplace is a platform-specific option to contract individual, specialized services provided by Placester experts to optimize your website based on your specific lead generation goals. 
• Excellent customization options with no coding necessary: Placester offers a website design experience that feels a lot like Squarespace or Wix, but with the specific elements Realtors need to create more lead generation opportunities. It’s easy to learn, easy to use, and there’s excellent support if you need it. 
• Placester is scalable thanks to Agent Manager: Sometimes budget-friendly tools can’t scale beyond a single agent’s business, but not so with Placester. Their Agent Manager tool offers enterprise-level management, making this a platform that can run your team and even your entire brokerage when you’re ready. 

Live Placester Website Examples

Want to see what a Placester website looks like in action? Here are a few examples to check out.

Source: Vero Beach

Source: Deborah Camuso

Source: CB&A, Realtors

Try Placester

Your membership with the National Association of Realtors nets you a pretty sweet discount with Placester, making their Starter package something all Realtors should consider. Try upgrading to the Office Builder platform to get your brokerage or large team everything they need, too.

Try Placester

Best for a Website You Can Start Using on Day One: Chime

Do you need a tool that you can purchase, set up, and start directing traffic to, all on day one? If so, Chime is worth checking out. Chime provides an easy, out-of-the-box solution to your real estate website needs, with some appealing lead capture options, plus a full-bodied CRM to follow up with your leads and convert them into clients.

Chime Pros & Cons

In-depth Chime Review

Chime has a lot of features—too many to review in this guide. If you want to go deeper on this platform, check out The Close’s deep-dive review and other resources:

Chime Pricing

Chime pricing starts at $599 for the Foundation package, plus an additional charge for platform upgrades (e.g., $15 per month for phone dialer access, $15 per month for text messaging, just to name a few).

If you want to throw in services like paid lead generation, Chime charges 20% of your ad budget for management, but that is all-inclusive. They’ll cover everything from creating the ads, running them on your behalf, and delivering reports to you about the results. 

Chime makes it a point to not disclose the cost of the platform for teams and brokerages on its website, so to access this information, you’ll have to actually call and speak to a sales rep. You can find a detailed breakdown of Chime’s costs at the time of this article’s publishing in the dedicated Chime Review.

Chime Pricing at a Glance for a Typical Single Agent

Chime’s Business Package starts at $1,199 per month. This includes additional team features like custom roles and permission management, lead assignment options, a team chat feature, transaction management, enhanced reporting, and, of course, access to the platform for all your team members. They also offer an Enterprise package appropriate for brokerage-wide requests that starts at $1,750 a month.

A Closer Look: Why Chime Is on Our List

Chime is a real estate website platform where all the hard work is done for you, and the lead generation can happen pretty much the moment you activate your account. There’s a lot to appreciate about this system. Here are some of the highlights:

• Concierge-level service: The reason these websites are ready to go immediately is your setup and activation takes place with a Chime Expert who does a lot of the heavy lifting for you. Yes, there is a required cost for this (Foundation users pay a one-time $500 setup fee), but for someone prioritizing time and (easy) effort, this is well worth it. 
• Unlimited lead follow-up and nurture: Using the Chime CRM, you can email, text, even call your prospects without ever leaving the platform, making this the most centralized communication tool on our list. 
• Next-level analytics and reporting: Chime offers some of the best analytics tools for understanding your website’s lead generation efforts as well as your (and your team’s) strategies for converting those leads. This platform is a data-lover’s dream. 

Live Chime Website Examples

Want to see what a Chime website looks like in action? Here are a few examples to check out.

Source: Equitas Realty

Source: Bi-State Group

Source: Boyenga Real Estate Team

Try Chime

If you’re looking for a real estate website that’s going to be operational on day one and a CRM that will allow you to track every bit and byte of your team’s performance (and yours), you should give Chime a try. Yes, you’ll certainly pay for this level of service, but for someone who is short on time and heavy on budget, this is an efficient option.

Visit Chime

Best Real Estate Lead Generation Website for Expanded Search Options: InCom

InCom provides real estate website and lead generation services at a staggeringly low price—so low that our antenna initially popped up, wondering if this would be a service provider that offers the quality our readers demand.

However, upon careful review, we are pleased to say that InCom offers a lot of worthwhile options for agents, especially if you’re looking to work with buyers hunting for a deal on a distressed or foreclosed property. 

While InCom isn’t quite in the same league as Real Geeks, Propertybase, or Chime, as far as its back-end lead nurturing goes, its consumer-facing websites and lead generation offerings are very exciting.

InCom Pros & Cons

InCom Pricing

InCom provides a very affordable option for a lead generating real estate agent website and CRM at just $44.95 per month. For an additional $4.95 per month, agents can unlock the premium themes for the website. There is also a $175 setup fee.

InCom does offer some paid lead management options as well, starting at $100 a month, plus ad budget. They also offer their ReCall Marketing services (a program for social media remarketing).

InCom Pricing at a Glance for a Typical Single Agent

A Closer Look: Why InCom Is on Our List

InCom has some unique features at a surprisingly low price that we’re excited about. Here are some of the highlights:

• Highly customizable IDX search: Nobody else on our list provides options for website search that include expired listings, recently sold, and foreclosed homes, making this an investor or deal hunter’s dream platform. 
• Designed to interact with other CRMs: Though they may not say it, it’s pretty clear InCom knows their CRM isn’t the best option for some Realtors, which is why they make lead transfer to other products a priority, which we love. 
• Low price with no contract: On InCom, you really can try it for a month, and if you love it, keep it. If you don’t, you’re out less than 50 bucks. Convenient for someone who frequently suffers from buyer’s remorse or has a shoe-string budget. 

Live InCom Website Examples

Want to see what an InCom website looks like in action? Here are a few examples to check out.

Source: Tony Vitale

Source: Zeeshan Kiani

Source: GLORIA VALVASORI

Try InCom

If you’re looking for an affordable real estate website that really stretches the IDX capability to the max, you owe it to yourself to check out InCom. Its websites offer great lead generation options at a nearly unbeatable price, and with a month-to-month contract option, if you aren’t satisfied with the results, you have nothing to lose.

Try InCom

What to Do With Your New Leads: 3 Nurturing Strategies to Convert Them Into Clients

Whether you’ve chosen Propertybase, Real Geeks, Placester, Chime, or InCom, you’re going to need a strategy for nurturing those new leads and turning them into clients who actually buy or sell. Here are three of our favorite ways to increase your conversion rate for real estate leads:

Put Your New Leads on a Communication Drip

Reach Out Directly to Your New Lead’s Lender & Introduce Yourself

Help Your New Lead Read, Watch & Learn About You on Social Media

Your Turn

Any of the companies on our list of the best real estate websites for lead generation could be an essential part of operating your real estate business, and the best place for real estate agents to capture leads. 

With the right CRM, you can engage the leads from your website and nurture them until they are ready to pull the trigger on a purchase or sale. 

Which website / CRM combo on this list is right for you? Which options would you like to see us review in the future?

The post The 5 Best Real Estate Lead Generation Websites in 2022 appeared first on The Close.

Making LinkedIn work for you is really straightforward. We’ll show you how with a little time, a lot of consistency, and a clear objective, there is no better place to establish yourself as an industry expert. With a little dedication, LinkedIn can be an excellent tool to build your lead pipeline, establish your brand, and expand your sphere of influence (SOI). 

1. Start by Building Your Profile

No matter how a potential client finds you—whether it’s through your website, Instagram account, or by word of mouth—chances are they’re also going to check out your LinkedIn profile. Your profile should have one main goal: show the world that you know what you’re doing. 

Start the process by taking stock of your profile. Is it up to date? Is your photo in line with our headshot recommendations? We all know that it’s your online resume, so it’s a chance to brag about yourself. Make sure that all your relevant professional experience is accurate. Include all awards, accomplishments, accreditations, designations, and specialties.

You can also use LinkedIn to show that you’re multidimensional. If you volunteer or sit on a nonprofit board, include that in the Volunteer Experience section. LinkedIn’s own data shows that member profiles that showcase volunteer experience see as many as 6x more views than those that don’t. If you are a champion badminton player, include it! 

Here are a few profile examples that show off designations, specialties, and accomplishments. Each profile really stands out and highlights what makes that agent special.

If you don’t have the time to make LinkedIn lead generation work for you, get relevant local content automatically posted to your social media accounts with Artur’In. For a fraction of the cost of a marketing manager, Artur’In will curate, create, and post content to your social media to engage any audience you want.

Visit Artur’In

2. Make Connections To Generate Leads

If you’re like most agents, your connections are mostly … other agents. While it’s important to have relationships with fellow agents, when it comes to LinkedIn lead generation, you’re going to need to expand your network. 

Networking thoughtfully is a crucial part of your lead generation activity. Spend some time establishing connections with people you know, and then start looking for new and valuable relationships. Connecting to community influencers is key to LinkedIn lead generation. Think of nonprofit boards, local thought-leaders, C-suite executives, and other movers and shakers who will open doors for you. 

By design, LinkedIn does an excellent job of “recommending” new contacts for you—it can see who you’re connecting with and even who is visiting your profile (and so can you!). We caution you not to “request bomb” people, but instead, spend some time every couple of days strategically networking.

  Pro Tip

If you have a mutual connection with someone, reach out and request an introduction. A personal touch will help you stay connected to your SOI & may result in more rapid response times.

LinkedIn Networking Etiquette 

If you don’t know someone but want to connect, we encourage you to use a little LinkedIn etiquette and introduce yourself. Best practice is to send a personal message with your request to connect on LinkedIn.

If you want to really show some respect or stand out, opt to send an InMail (essentially email that has a better response rate than a connection request), available with LinkedIn Premium.

3. Join Relevant Groups to Market Effectively 

Joining a diverse range of groups will not only grow your network and generate leads, it will help you market more effectively to those leads. 

Groups are an innovative way to get to know different segments of your target market. Through this networking, you’re gaining valuable insight into their pain points. Joining and being active in groups allows you to finely craft your value proposition so that you’re addressing the needs of your target audience. 

For example, let’s say you have just moved to a new town and are building your network. Consider what kinds of groups might be interesting and helpful. A young professionals group, or even more specifically, professionals in finance, could be a good fit. Or maybe people who love dogs, jogging, or startups. Whatever your niche, chances are there’s a LinkedIn group for it.

4. Engage Meaningfully With Your Network

As with almost every social media platform, engagement only works if it’s a two-way street. Your success with LinkedIn depends on your ability to give back to your LinkedIn community. Sharing and liking posts isn’t enough.

The good news is that LinkedIn sets you up for success. It alerts you when connections have professional news, milestones, and anniversaries so you can reach out and congratulate them. Celebrating their accomplishments goes a long way to showing exactly what kind of professional you are.

You can also give back by taking a few minutes to write recommendations. The whole I’ll-write-you-one-you-write-me-one only gets you so far. Think what it would mean to your connections to see your kind words out of the blue! 

Remember, though, you really want to be authentic. Nothing is worse than fake attempts at thoughtfulness—people can sense that a mile away. 

5.  Like + Share Relevant Content Thoughtfully

When leads look at your profile, they want to see that you’re the person others depend on for helpful, relevant, compelling content in your area of expertise. Ideally, you’re the one crafting the content, but I’ll get to that in a minute. For now, as you’re building your presence on LinkedIn, focus on posting and sharing articles and videos that will interest and inform your audience. 

Because LinkedIn is unapologetically a professional platform, you get to write, post, share, like, recommend, and network unabashedly and not annoy your friends who just want cute puppy content. 

Be judicious and selective in what you post, and make sure that it’s high-quality content. What you decide to share is an extension of your brand, so make sure it’s from a source you trust and respect. Set a goal to post regularly and be sure to engage with other relevant posts.

Remember, almost everyone has some degree of interest in real estate, especially with today’s fast-paced market. I bet you can find posts to share about real estate and real estate adjacent topics that will appeal to just about any audience, not just your fellow agents.

Stats about your market’s real estate activity—available from your board of realtors—supply topics for discussion on LinkedIn (including average home selling prices, current inventory, average days on market, etc.). How to stage a home for a quick sale, how to compete in a market flush with cash buyers, when interest rates are expected to rise—these are all great topics to share and discuss with your LinkedIn audience. 

6. Create Content Around Trending Topics

Sharing and posting is a good start, but if you create your own article content, you will truly reap the LinkedIn rewards. Success almost always follows a mathematical model called the Pareto principle: the idea that the vast majority of the action is done by a very small number of people. 

As you might imagine, the vast majority of people on LinkedIn never post anything, which means that if you regularly post content and use hashtags, you are much more likely to have people see and engage with your content.

This is especially true because users have to manually turn off notifications (and most people aren’t taking the time to do that), so your posts are getting seen by hundreds, maybe even thousands of users who didn’t even know they were interested in what you’re writing about. 

Plus, LinkedIn clearly lays out what’s trending and liked and shared in the LinkedIn News feed. Pick a topic and write about what you know: real estate. 

Take a look at this LinkedIn News Feed. While at first nothing looks real estate-related, you could easily tie these topics to real estate and craft a post that’s timely and relevant to your audience.

For example, the mass exodus from the workplace in 2021, dubbed “the Great Resignation,” is perfect fodder for a post about who’s buying new homes. The trends toward remote work and self-employment have popularized entirely new real estate markets.

The popularity of Peloton bikes in recent years might signal that homebuyers are looking for added exercise space when shopping for a new home. New grads commanding massive starting salaries create a whole new demographic to target with real estate marketing. And “finding your why” is a topic that could apply to pretty much anything for anyone—have fun with that one! Here’s a short informational post (and bonus points for the video content) from Luxury Presence that’s timely and engaging:

In the end, all of this work is in pursuit of your goal to convey your expertise and generate leads who see and appreciate your industry authority. While writing articles is wonderful, creating video content (as in the example above) might be even better.

  Pro Tip

Consider producing and sharing a video that showcases a neighborhood, explains 1031 Exchanges, or even a 30-second video to introduce yourself and your business.

7. Upgrade to LinkedIn Premium 

A LinkedIn member who checks out your profile might be an excellent lead. One of the most frustrating things about LinkedIn is that it tells you how many people viewed your profile, but not always who viewed your profile. If they are searching LinkedIn in private mode, you may receive a cryptic notification like “A CEO viewed your profile.” Knowing who they are makes it possible to follow up and turn that warm lead into a hot one.

That’s where LinkedIn Premium comes in. It lets you see who has viewed your profile in the past 90 days, but still lets you browse in private mode. Warburg Manhattan’s Gill Chowdhury scored a $3 million dollar deal from LinkedIn:

“I recently noticed that a prominent businessman whose attention I was seeking looked at my LinkedIn profile. This was a great sign. From there, I was able to focus more on this individual to the point where I was hired to sell his $3 million-plus property without ever meeting him, and with no phone interview. My messages were powerful enough to convince him, and LinkedIn was a key part in that opportunity coming to fruition.”

InMail Messages

The only way you can message someone who is not in your network is by signing up for LinkedIn Premium and using their InMail platform. 

LinkedIn promises that InMail is 2.6x more effective than cold emails or calls, but it’s not cheap. You only get five InMails per month with the base subscription at $29.99 per month. An upgrade to “Sales Navigator” (Core $79.99 per month, Advanced $125 per month, and Advanced + (pricing upon request) only gets you 50 per month. 

LinkedIn Premium also includes unlimited people searches, competitor data, industry news, analytics, and more. It could be a really powerful addition to your marketing strategy, but only if you’re really going to put your time into LinkedIn. Otherwise, it’s probably not worth the investment. 

8. Buy Ads & Sponsored Posts

Of course, if you’re pressed for time or don’t want to learn yet another social media platform, LinkedIn also offers a ton of paid promotion options that you can use for lead generation. You can build audiences and create sponsored content, messaging ads, or text ads for LinkedIn lead generation, site visits, or what LinkedIn was designed for—recruiting agents.

Just be aware that since LinkedIn is a business-to-business (B2B) channel, advertising on LinkedIn is not cheap. If you want to try your hand at advertising on LinkedIn, here’s a quick rundown of what they offer:

Sponsored Content

LinkedIn Messaging Ads

Text Ads

9. Be Consistent for Optimal LinkedIn Lead Generation 

We’ve laid out the steps to make yourself stand out in a crowded space. LinkedIn gives you all of the tools you’ll need to be successful in expanding your audience, establishing your authority and brand, and networking strategically. LinkedIn lead generation happens organically when you’re following these steps regularly. Consistency is absolutely essential to making LinkedIn lead gen work for you.

copy to clipboard

Devote 20 minutes a day to:

• Connect with former and existing clients, friends, and colleagues
• Strategize your target leads
• Share, like, and engage with relevant content
• Join groups
• Offer congratulations to someone celebrating a professional milestone or success
• Write a recommendation
• Write a post on a trending topic
• Create video content (start with elevator pitch introduction)

10. Use Hashtags To Reach Your Audience

Hashtags are essential to getting your content seen by relevant audiences. As with any social media platform, hashtags help a relevant audience see what you’re writing and sharing. 

Here, Chris Linsell has added hashtags to his profile, and D.J. Paris includes hashtags in his post, promoting it across the relevant channels.

And here, Becky Brooks, digital marketing manager at The Close, shows us how to use hashtags to ensure an article is targeting the right audience.

Over to You

Are you a real estate agent who uses LinkedIn to generate leads? We would love to hear your social media tips or questions in the comments below.

The post 10 Ways Smart Real Estate Agents Are Using LinkedIn to Get Better Leads appeared first on The Close.

We put together this guide to help you get started. We’ve included nine real estate SEO strategies to help your content rank better in Google (and other) search results. We’ll also cover the most frequently asked questions and common SEO mistakes to avoid. Here’s what you’ll learn:

What Is Real Estate SEO?

Real estate SEO is the strategy real estate websites use to improve their ranking on search engines like Google, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, and Bing. The higher your website ranks on a search engine, the more people will see it and hopefully click on it. This translates into more site visitors, and if your website is optimized for lead capture, more buyer and seller leads in your CRM.

Deep Dive: How Google & Other Search Engines Rank Content in 2022

In 2022, Google uses advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to decide which websites and pages rank on the first page of the search engine results page (SERP). Since Google wants to deliver the best and most relevant results, they continually tweak their AI to make sure the most helpful results rise to the top on the search engine results page.

Of course, publishing content that answers common questions that your target audience is asking on Google is not enough to rank well in 2022. After all, thousands of websites are likely to publish content similar to yours. As a result, Google also considers factors like the expertise of the person writing the content, the quality of the website, how easy the content is to read, among other factors. 

9 Steps to Perfect Real Estate SEO

Deep Dive: How Google & Other Search Engines Rank Content in 2022

Now that you have a better idea of how search engines rank content, let’s dive into the nine steps to perfect real estate SEO.

1. Run an SEO Audit on Your Website

The first step to any SEO project is to audit your current website to see if there are any technical issues that might cause Google to rank your content lower or ignore it entirely. There are a few ways to do an SEO audit for your website. 

The easiest way to do an SEO audit is to hire someone from a site like Fiverr to run the audit for you. After they run the audit, they will send you a report that will go over any issues that might be holding your site back from ranking on search engines. Expect to pay around $50 for a site audit on Fiverr. Some SEO freelancers or companies will do this for free, but they will also try to upsell you to paid services without explaining the actual issues with your website. 

Here is a Fiver freelancer who runs SEO audits for $35 with a Zoom call to talk through issues that need to be fixed:

Visit Fiverr

If you’d rather DIY your SEO audit, you will need to invest in a few free and paid tools to do it. Here is a quick rundown of the tools you will need:

Here are a few issues to fix that an SEO audit might turn up: 

• Meta descriptions
• Image alt text
• Image compression
• Keyword usage
• Heading structure (H1, H2, H3, etc.)
• Duplicate content 
• Broken links 
• Security: HTTP vs HTTPS

While we don’t recommend it, if you want to run your own SEO audits in the future, you can use this in-depth guide from SEMrush to set up and run your audit.

2. Fix Issues Found in Your SEO Audit

After you have your audit, you can then start fixing any issues uncovered in the audit. These might be easy fixes, like deleting duplicate content or fixing broken links, or more complex issues like HTTP vs HTTPS. Fix what you can and hire out for the rest. 

One of the easiest improvements you can make on your website is to make it load faster. This is something anyone can do with Google’s free Page Speed Insight tool. Run the most popular pages of your website through the Google Page Speed Insights tool. If they load slowly, try removing or reducing the size of large images or infographics. You can also try removing WordPress plugins or IDX widgets from pages that load slowly. If all of your pages load slowly, you might need to upgrade your web hosting plan from a shared plan to a VPS or dedicated server. 

VPS (virtual private server) plans will run you around $20 per month and will offer significantly faster landing times than shared hosting. Dedicated hosting plans will run you around $100 per month and will offer significantly faster loading times than VPS plans. If your website gets a lot of traffic, you might want to consider dedicated hosting. If not, VPS hosting should do the trick.

3. Set Up Your Google My Business Account

After you’ve run your SEO audit and fixed any issues that came up, the next step is to claim your Google My Business account. Google My Business is Google’s tool for indexing local businesses for search on Google Maps. This is important in 2022 because Google Maps results are almost always at the top of search results pages (SERP) for searches related to real estate. For example, when I search “real estate agent” from New York City, Google puts a map of nearby real estate brokerages at the top of the SERP:

If you want a chance of showing up here, you need to set up your Google My Business account. You can get started here: https://www.google.com/business/ 

While this won’t guarantee your site shows up at the top of the search results, if you don’t fill out your Google My Business profile, you will never show up!

4. Research Keywords You Want to Rank For

After you’ve completed your audit, fixed SEO issues, and set up your Google My Business profile, the next step is to research the keywords your local audience is searching for. Once you know what your audience is searching for, you can create content to address their questions and concerns. For example, if your audience is searching for “affordable condos in Miami,” you can write an article or create a video explaining how to find affordable condos in Miami. 

Use a Keyword Research Tool Like Ahrefs 

The best way to do keyword research is to use a keyword research tool like Ahrefs. Ahrefs isn’t free but is a worthwhile investment to help plan what content to write for your website. You can also hire a freelancer on a site like Fiverr or Upwork to do basic keyword research for you. Most freelancers will use a keyword research tool like Ahrefs to research keywords. 

Research SERP & ‘People Also Ask’ Results for Your Keywords

Once you have a list of keywords you want to target, research the SERP for each keyword to see what kind of content is ranking for those keywords. Are they articles or videos? How long are the articles? What kinds of websites are ranking for these keywords? What other content are they creating? What keywords do they seem to be targeting? Finally, how can you improve on the content currently ranking on the first page for your keywords?

  Pro Tip

Google’s “People Also Ask” section on SERPs can be a goldmine for content ideas. These are questions that Google’s algorithm thinks are related to the main keyword. Here are the “People also ask” results for the keyword “Condos in Miami”: Each one of these questions would make a great blog post.

To learn more about keyword research, check out our in-depth guide.

5. Create a Content Cluster Strategy

Generally speaking, search engines rank content created by subject matter experts higher than content created by amateurs. For example, when people search for “best cancer treatments,” search engines will display results from top oncologists before your cousin Jeff who thinks crystals and herbs cure cancer. (Sorry, Jeff!) One of the ways that search engines determine your expertise in a subject area is by looking at how much content on the subject you have on your website, and how well organized that content is. 

This is where content clusters come in. Content clusters are groups of articles organized from top-level subjects like “condos in Miami” that then drill down to more specific related topics like “Condos in Brickell” or “How to qualify for a condo in Miami.” 

Pillar Content, Subpillar Content & Cluster Content

Creating content clusters is simple. Start by identifying your most general local keywords. These will be your “pillar pages.” Then organize more specific content related to that pillar page underneath the pillar page. Once you have your cluster mapped out, start writing the content for your pillar pages and planning to write content for your subpillars and cluster content. Once you write your subpillar and cluster content, link to them from your pillar page. 

Here’s what a cluster map might look like for an agent who sells condos in Miami:

Pillar content: Condos in Miami 

Links to: 

Subpillar content: Best neighborhoods to buy condos in Miami, How to get approved for a condo in Miami, Most affordable condos in Miami, Waterfront condos in Miami, etc. 

Links to: 
Cluster content: Condos in Brickell, Condos in Miami Beach, Condos in Coconut Grove, Brickell Neighborhood guide, etc.

6. Create Useful & Compelling Articles, Videos & Infographics

Now that you have a cluster strategy mapped out, the next step is to create the content for your website.

Create Pillar Content First 

Start by creating your pillar content. Your pillar content should address general topics that you will expand on in your cluster content.

For example, a pillar page about condos in Miami should be a high-level overview of buying condos in Miami. Try to think of questions your audience might have about buying a condo in Miami and answer them in your article. Answers that require more detail will be addressed in your cluster content, so a general overview will be fine for your cluster content. What are the general price ranges by neighborhood for condos in Miami? How competitive is the market? What should buyers look out for? What should sellers be aware of?

How Long Should Your Content Be? 

There is no hard and fast rule for how long your content needs to be to rank on Google, but studies show longer content tends to outrank shorter content. Research from HubSpot showed that the best-ranking articles on Google were over 2,000 words. Just do your best to answer the questions you think your audience will have about the topic and remember to address more specific answers in your subpillar and cluster content.

Article vs Video Content 

While articles usually rank better than videos, for some keywords at least, videos will outrank articles. This is why researching SERPs before you start writing content is so important. If a SERP for a keyword you want to rank for has videos ranking at the top of the page, then making a video for that keyword is a no-brainer.

The best approach is to embed a video in an article. For example, after you finish writing your pillar content for “condos in Miami,” record and embed a quick YouTube video summarizing the content.

Use SEO Best Practices as You Write 

Always use SEO best practices for creating content for your website. These include using structured headings like H1, H2, H3, or numbered lists, using keywords in the first paragraph of your articles, writing in simple, direct language, and focusing on answering readers’ questions in the most direct way possible. Getting creative with your writing can be tempting, but for most articles, a bare-bones “just the facts” approach will work better. People are busy! They just want to learn what you have to teach them as quickly as possible.

If you’re using WordPress, a free SEO plugin like Yoast will make following SEO best practices much easier.

7. Work on Getting Backlinks to Your Content 

Another way search engines decide where to rank your content is by the number and quality of other websites that link to your homepage or directly to your blog posts. This is why getting other sites to link to your website is crucial for SEO. 

Link Quality Counts More Than Quantity 

Generally speaking, quality counts for more than quantity when it comes to links to your website. For example, a link from a well-respected site like the New York Times might be worth 100 (or more!) links from smaller websites. It’s not easy, but putting in the work to get high-quality links to your website will have an unbeatable return on investment (ROI) for SEO. 

Links from websites that are related to your pillar content are also more valuable for ranking than more general sites. For example, if you’re writing about condos in Miami, then a link from the Miami Herald might be more valuable than a link from the New York Post. Since you are writing about real estate, a link from Realtor Magazine or NAR would be even more valuable. 

Link-building Strategies 

One of the best ways to get links from high-quality websites in 2022 is to use HARO. HARO (Help a Reporter Out) is a website where journalists submit questions when they need expert quotes for articles they are working on. Getting quoted as a real estate expert along with a link to your site is actually much easier than you might think. Journalists are almost always on tight deadlines, which means they sometimes scramble at the last minute to get good quotes from experts. 

To get backlinks from HARO, subscribe to their email and pitch journalists when they need quotes from real estate experts. If they accept your pitch, ask them to link to your website. Easy, right? The key is to respond to journalists’ quote requests as soon as they get posted. This will greatly increase your odds of getting your quote accepted. 

To learn more about getting links from HARO and other sources, check out our in-depth guide to strategic PR below.

8. Update Your Best Performing Articles on a Schedule

Since your local real estate market can change from quarter to quarter or even month to month, search engines generally rank up-to-date content higher. So once you have your content written, create an update calendar to make sure that content stays fresh. 

For pillar pages, you should schedule updates at least once per quarter. For subpillar and cluster content, you can get away with updating once or twice per year. When updating your articles, spend a few minutes researching what changed since your last update, and then address those changes in your article. 

9. Regularly Audit Your Website for SEO Issues 

Even if your content is ranking well, you still need to regularly audit your website to look for any issues that might affect your rankings. For example, articles or videos you link to might change their URLs, leaving you with dead links, or your articles might start to load slowly if you install a new plugin. Scheduling yearly or quarterly SEO audits can find these issues before they start to affect your ranking. 

How Much Does SEO Cost?

Like most great lead generation strategies, real estate SEO can be done for free. Writing great content that puts the reader first might take up a lot of your time, but there are no real upfront costs. 

That said, if you are serious about using SEO as a lead generation strategy, investing in some basic tools or hiring freelancers will be a huge help. Here is a quick rundown of some SEO tools and services you might want to consider as your rankings grow: 

DIY SEO Tools 2022: Recommendations & Pricing

Hiring SEO Freelancers 

Since ranking your website on search engines can take years of hard work, you might be tempted to skip the line and just hire a freelancer to do SEO for you. Having hired many SEO freelancers in the past, this is not something we recommend for individual Realtors. Like any good freelancer, good SEO freelancers can be extremely expensive. The best SEO freelancers charge $5,000+ per month! Beware the “affordable” SEO freelancers. Some use dishonest tactics that might help you rank on Google for a week or so, but can also result in your site getting blacklisted from Google’s search results. 

That said, there are many SEO tasks that you can and should outsource to freelancers on a site like Upwork or Fivver. Here are a few tasks that you can safely outsource as the need arises: 

• Keyword research 
• Google My Business profiles
• Article editing 
• Reducing image sizes 
• Submitting your pitches to HARO 
• Basic link-building outreach

Visit Fiverr

How Long Does It Take to See Results?

This is kind of like asking, “How long will it take until I can speak French?” You might see some results right away, while others can take years. There are two basic factors that determine how quickly you will see results from your SEO efforts:

1. How Competitive the Keywords You Are Targeting Are

The first criteria is how competitive the keywords you’re targeting are. For example, if you’re trying to rank for “Beverly Hills Mansions for sale,” your chances of seeing results right away (or at all!) are very, very low. This is because there are many real estate portals like Zillow and well-established real estate brokerages that also want to rank number one for those keywords. Your chances of outranking Zillow or Compass for these keywords is virtually zero. These companies spend millions of dollars to rank their content on search engines.

However, if you’re trying to rank for “best neighborhoods in Elmira New York,” you will see results much faster since you will have much less competition on the SERP.

2. The Quality of Your Content, Website & Backlink Profile

The second criteria that determines how quickly you will see results is the quality of your content, website, and backlink profile. Let’s tackle those one by one: 

• Your content: If your content does not offer useful information related to the topics people are searching for, you might never see results.
• Your website: Even if you have great content, if your website loads slowly, is not optimized for mobile, or uses complicated code, you will have a hard time ranking.
• Your backlink profile: Part of the way Google and other search engines judge the quality of your content is by looking at how many other websites link to it. More high-quality links = better chances of ranking highly. 

Bottom Line: Is SEO Good for Realtors? 

As long as you’re willing to put in the time and effort to audit your website, research keywords, create content clusters, and produce great content, then SEO can be an effective way to generate leads and raise brand awareness with your website.

The post Real Estate SEO: The Ultimate Guide for 2022 (9 Steps to Better Ranking) appeared first on The Close.

Our real problem isn’t a question of volume—it’s conversion. Despite this explosion in lead volume, agents nationwide aren’t turning them into clients at nearly the same pace. How do we solve our conversion problem? First, we’ll share the four primary reasons real estate leads don’t convert, and then give you an effective real estate lead management strategy that can address them. Plus, we’ll provide the tools you’ll need to get started. 

The 4 Reasons Real Estate Agents Aren’t Converting Leads

Real estate agents everywhere are suffering from terrible conversion rates. Only a small margin of that sixfold increase in leads we discussed are becoming actual buyers and sellers. It’s not uncommon for typically performing agents to convert only 1-2% of their online leads—sometimes even fewer. Why is this rate so low? Here are four major reasons.

1. Speed to Lead

We live in an instantaneous customer service environment. When a prospect completes a real estate lead capture form, they expect to hear back from someone on your team within minutes. The reality is, the typical real estate agent is responding to leads within days, not minutes, starting a relationship off on exactly the wrong foot. Any delay will immediately lower your potential conversion rates.

2. Fumbled Lead Handoff

It’s rare that a real estate lead is generated, addressed, and converted by the same person. More often than not, there are multiple services or people in the process, which generates opportunities to miss important details when a lead is handed off to the person who will ultimately service them. 

In marketing, we call this a “leaky funnel.” As leads are progressing down the sales funnel toward a transaction, they drop out because of poor communication and unmet expectations.

3. Consistent, Multitouch Follow-up

Many Realtors make the mistake of thinking that the leads they generate online from their website, social media, or services like Zillow Premier Agent will be consistently hot, ready-to-buy-and-sell-tomorrow leads. That simply isn’t the case. 

In fact, it’s not uncommon for leads who have personally requested a direct follow-up from you to require multiple, varied messaging before you ever make contact. Too many Realtors will reach out to a lead once and never do so again after they leave a single voicemail.

4. Effective Lead Prioritization

Your leads aren’t just names and numbers on a spreadsheet. They’re people with their own timelines, priorities, and levels of urgency. Realtors who don’t have a system to sort leads by priority based on opportunity, need, and customer-service value will end up missing a chance to convert because they’re not striking while the proverbial iron is hot with the right clients at the right time. 

Solving the Conversion Problem: Real Estate Lead Management Strategy in 4 Steps

To solve the lead conversion problem and overcome these four hurdles, you need an effective real estate lead management strategy and ideally, an easy-to-use platform to help you execute your plan. 

Top Producer, paired with their exclusive real estate lead management platform FiveStreet, offers tools to respond to your leads faster, follow up consistently and effectively, create a seamless handoff to the right person, and prioritize your high-value leads above all others.

Visit FiveStreet

Step 1: Activate Your Lead Autoresponses

Which conversion problems does this step solve?
Speed to lead + consistent, multitouch follow-up

Autoresponders are your first line of defense against poor conversion rates. An effective autoresponse tool both answers questions before they’re asked as well as opens the door to conversations that will lead to active clients. 

In an industry when an agent’s time is often gobbled up by showings, closings, and other vital face-to-face client interaction, we can’t always jump to provide a personalized response in real time. Autoresponders allow you to meet consumer expectations without sacrificing the important face-to-face interaction needed to get you to the closing table. 

Ready to activate your lead autoresponses? Here’s what to do: 
First, you need a customer relationship manager (CRM) or a lead management system like FiveStreet that offers autoresponders. When a new lead comes in, we suggest sending two messages:

• Email: Send an automated email to any lead that introduces yourself and your team (if you have one), and connects your prospects with any of the important places you’re active. We recommend links to your social media, your blog, and your website, as well as links to client resources like buyer-readiness checklists, your digital listing presentation, and more.
• Text message: Send an automated text message to any lead who acknowledges that their request has been received and you’re looking forward to helping them. Encourage your recipient to respond directly to the text message with questions, specific needs, and more.

Step 2: Distribute Leads Seamlessly to the Right Person

Which conversion problem does this step solve?
Speed to lead, fumbled lead handoff, effective lead prioritization

If you’re a solo real estate agent covering the soup-to-nuts operation, this step isn’t for you. But, if you work with a team, or even if you hire a virtual assistant, an Inside Sales Associate (ISA), or engage in any type of paid lead generation, your leads need to be handed off. 

A manual, ad-hoc lead handoff process leads to missed communication, sloppy follow-up, and low conversion rates. An automated, trackable lead distribution system like the one offered by FiveStreet takes the guesswork out of getting the right lead to the right person in a timely fashion. 

Ready to start assigning leads seamlessly to the right person? Here’s what to do: 

Depending on the size of your operation, you can take one of two approaches:

• Solo agent: Set up a tracking system using a spreadsheet (or, if you’re a FiveStreet user, use their lead tracking dashboard to get a sense of exactly when and where your leads are coming from). Next, record your efforts to reach out and convert them in your CRM (like the one offered by Top Producer). 
• Real estate team: First, determine which types of leads are right for each team member; for example, send listing leads to listing agents and buyer leads to buyer’s agents. Then, set up a lead broadcast system (FiveStreet offers an excellent option here) that directs the right leads to the right team members, at the right time.

  Pro Tip

This isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it strategy. If you go through the process of setting up a lead broadcast system, monitor your agents’ effectiveness with the leads they receive. FiveStreet’s analytics dashboard allows you to measure the effectiveness of lead conversion by date, source, type, agent, and more.

Step 3: Prioritize Leads Based on Need + Opportunity

Which conversion problem does this solve?
Speed to lead, fumbled lead handoff, effective lead prioritization

There’s no way around it—not everyone can be your #1 priority all the time. Effective lead prioritization is all about understanding the specific needs of each unique lead and measuring opportunity gained versus lost if you don’t act immediately. 

Put another way: Part of increasing your conversion rates is better understanding of who needs your attention today and who doesn’t need it until tomorrow. A great way to do this is to get consistent with the use of tags in your CRM profiles, marking your immediate, medium-term, and long-term nurture leads. 

Ready to start effectively prioritizing leads based on need + opportunity? Here’s what to do:

Use your CRM’s existing tagging system (or create custom tags of your own) and classify all the leads coming into your system as one of the following:

• Buy / Sell NOW (follow-up daily)
• Actively Considering Buying / Selling (follow-up 2x weekly)
• Passively Considering Buying / Selling (follow-up 2x monthly)
• Undecided to Buy / Sell (follow-up 1x monthly)
• Cold Lead (follow-up 1x quarterly)

After these tags have been applied, make the first part of every work day about follow-up. Emails, phone calls, or text messages are all acceptable, but make your leads receive and interact with effective communication. Don’t forget to provide value every time you talk—lip service is worth nothing in the real estate industry. Your words need to be backed up by action.  

Step 4: Create Multiple, Automated Lead Nurturing Campaigns

Which conversion problem does this solve?
Consistent multitouch follow-up, effective lead prioritization, fumbled lead handoff

It’s not uncommon for real estate leads to require upward of eight marketing touches before they begin to actively engage with you. And, even after they engage, your leads may not be ready to become a client just yet, which is why consistent, automated nurturing campaigns are so important. 

A lead nurturing campaign is designed to bring your lead from their starting point all the way through to when they are ready to actively begin working with you as a client. 

“But Chris, leads aren’t all created equal. How could one campaign effectively nurture the people who need two weeks, two months, or two years?” One campaign won’t do that. 

That’s why you need multiple, automated campaigns you can apply to all types of leads based on your most common lead experiences.

Ready to start creating multiple, automated lead nurturing campaigns? Here’s what to do: 

Start by assessing the leads you typically receive. Are they buyer leads? Seller leads? Both? Next, assess the typical time frame you’re spending getting buyers and sellers to the starting line. Then, use CRM resources like those available from Top Producer to implement lead nurturing campaigns based on that expected timeline. 

If you want to create your own automated campaigns, you can do that too. The Close has resources that can help:

Bringing Your Real Estate Lead Management Strategy Together

You’ve read each of the steps individually, but sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. So here’s a quick snapshot of what a typical day might look like for an agent who has put this strategy into action.

Top Producer + FiveStreet: A Potent Combination for Real Estate Lead Management

If you’re looking for a platform to help you put this strategy into action, we suggest Top Producer’s exclusive real estate lead management tool, FiveStreet. Combined with their CRM, Top Producer X, and the strategy we’ve spelled out here, you’ve got every opportunity in the world to crush your conversion goals. Visit FiveStreet today to get started.

Visit FiveStreet

The post Convert More With This 4-Step Real Estate Lead Management Strategy appeared first on The Close.

Why do some Realtors dominate lead conversion while others flounder? Do they know something the rest of us don’t? The answer may surprise you. 

Are All Real Estate Leads Created Equal?

Technically, no. There are a lot of different ways to measure the quality of real estate leads, but the one that makes the most sense to us is conversion rate, or the number of leads that convert to active clients relative to the number of total leads. 

A lead’s conversion rate can usually be tied to where they fall in the lead funnel—a popular marketing term for the journey a lead takes from acquisition to activation. The closer a lead is to activating as a buyer or seller, the higher the conversion rate. 

But, that’s just a short-term measurement. If you zoom out and look at your sales funnel as a whole, nearly all of the real estate leads agents get are part of the same funnel—they’re just at different stages in their buying or selling journey.

This means that if you’ve got an effective strategy for moving your leads down the funnel and toward activation (and building a relationship along the way), it matters much less where they start. In fact, you might classify them as short-, medium-, and long-term leads and consider the explosion in lead volume as an opportunity to nurture relationships for years to come. 

How Do Successful Real Estate Agents Move Leads Down Their Funnel? 

The process of moving real estate leads down your sales funnel toward activation is known as lead nurturing. Effective lead nurturing strategies are what separate top-performing, high-converting agents and teams from those who just barely break even. 

A solid lead nurturing strategy has lots of moving parts (something we’ll talk about in a moment), but at its core, it is: 

• Repeatable: Real estate agents get a lot of leads—at least the successful ones do. Your nurturing strategy can’t be recreated with every lead; you need to create a process that you can replicate and scale. 
• Measurable: An effective nurture strategy allows you to measure your results, both in terms of your overall conversion rate as well as the performance of each individual component.
• Adjustable: As you learn about what your leads need and want from you, you need a strategy that you can easily adjust to accommodate those needs. 
• Dependable: Effective lead nurturing has to be done consistently in order to be effective. The systems you use for lead nurturing must be dependable, and when possible, autonomous.

The 4 Basic Real Estate Lead Nurturing Strategies Every Real Estate Agent Should Use

Now that you know what real estate lead nurturing is and why it’s important, it’s time to outline the basic nurturing strategy all agents should use (or at least start with).

1. Connect With New Leads Immediately

In the age of live chat customer service, real estate leads expect real-time connections and follow-up from Realtors. You can do this by creating automated, immediate responses to any new lead inquiry. We recommend a two-pronged approach: sending an email and a text message the moment a new lead is added to your customer relationship manager (CRM). 

Why two messages? Because they each provide unique value. 

• Email: With an automated email response, you can give your new lead all the resources they need to connect with you on social platforms, check out your website, start property searches, or take in a digital listing presentation. Think of this introductory email as a chance to answer all your new leads’ most frequently asked questions before they ask them. 
• Text message: Using an automated text message response, you satisfy your new leads’ expectation for immediate contact. You give them a direct line to ask questions and start a dialogue—something less likely to happen with email.

2. Begin Delivering Value Immediately & Consistently

After you’ve made initial contact with your leads (an act that shows you’re engaged and active), you need to continue to deliver value consistently. This means creating a communication strategy with them that will offer them your knowledge, experience, and expertise pursuant to their goals. 

Some great examples of consistent value delivery include:

Often, the best way to deliver this type of value is via email. Email can be easily automated, with messages that are rich in information and links to further resources. Plus, it’s easy to track a recipient’s interaction with the value you’re providing using basic email marketing tools.

3. Spark Regular, Relevant Conversations

The passive delivery of value to the leads you’re nurturing is a great starting point, but it’s often more active, relevant conversations that will move your leads more dramatically down the sales funnel. 

These conversations typically take place via text message (or other instant messaging apps) and phone calls. However, take this step with caution. A text message or phone call that feels forced, inauthentic, and irrelevant to your lead will actually drive them away from activation, and in some cases, out of your funnel completely. 

To help avoid this pitfall, here are a couple of pointers: 

Start Phone Calls With “I was thinking about you this morning because …”

Leads love to hear that you were thinking about them, their needs, and doing so first thing in the morning. Make notes about the things that are important to your leads; spark conversation specific to those needs using this opening line. 

Try the “Quick Question / Open Question” Text Message Strategy

This two-question approach to text messages is very effective. Start by asking a quick, easy-to-answer question that’s relevant to your lead. Something like, “Quick question: How do you feel about mid-century modern homes? Is that a style you’d consider?” This will trigger a response from your lead and spark a conversation.

Once you’ve engaged them, you can then ask an open-ended question to trigger their lead response. “I see a lot of homes get listed every day. Are there any specific styles you want me to keep my eyes open for on your behalf?”

The closer your leads are to activation, the more frequent these conversations should be.

4. Include Your Leads in the Community You’re Building

Another key component of lead nurturing is solidifying your reputation as someone who is active, knowledgeable, and experienced in the real estate space. Invite your leads to take part in your client appreciation events. 

Offer “coffee shop happy hours” where you supply the coffee and snacks at a local community spot. Invite them to check out open houses you’re hosting, if only to get inspiration for when they’re ready to buy or sell. 

Well-nurtured leads don’t only connect with you through their devices—they see your face and feel like they’re a part of your business, making you a part of their real estate success.

Want to Supercharge Your Lead Nurturing? Try Market Leader

Applying these four strategies would be challenging to tackle on your own if it weren’t for customized tools designed specifically for real estate lead nurturing and conversion. We recommend Market Leader as your home base to manage these four lead conversion strategies and so much more. 

Market Leader, recently named The Close’s top pick for real estate lead generation, has rolled out a comprehensive real estate business platform that takes lead nurturing to the next level. Here’s what they have to offer: 

• Fantastic paid lead generation: In order to nurture your paid real estate leads, you have to get them in the first place. Using an industry-leading, guaranteed lead volume approach, Market Leader agents know exactly how many paid leads they can expect every month, and in what geographic areas they’ll be coming from. Also, these leads are exclusive, so you know you’ll be the only agent advancing a relationship with them. 

• An MLS-connected CRM: All your Market Leader-generated leads (plus the option to connect directly with other lead sources) are automatically integrated into your Market Leader customer relationship manager (CRM), a place where you can track all your lead activity, including their responses to your lead nurturing communication and value. Best of all, this CRM connects directly to your Market Leader website, natively logging your prospect’s website activity, including properties viewed, saved searches, and preferred communities. 

• A lead-generating website: The Market Leader website search functionality feels a lot like the sort of Zillow experience many of your prospects are used to, except with Market Leader, you can set up custom pop-ups to prompt your website visitors to enter their lead information in order to unlock more searches, save favorites, and access buyer and seller strategy guides. 

• A full-featured Marketing Center: Practically a standalone product of its own, the Market Leader Marketing Center is the launchpad for all your automated marketing, including sophisticated automated email marketing campaigns as well as automated or on-demand print marketing through a partnership with Shutterfly, allowing Market Leader users to bring mailbox marketing into their lead nurturing strategies in ways their competitors can’t.

  Pro Tip

Market Leader’s automated listing alerts are the #1 driver of website traffic from new leads. Partnered with 500+ organizations, Market Leader has one of the largest networks of MLS relationships in the U.S. Use it to drive more interaction and convert more leads into active clients.

Final Thoughts

The real estate industry has largely solved the lead generation problem; there are dozens of options for all sorts of leads available. Now, it’s time to figure out the best way to nurture these leads to activation. 

Following the four-pronged approach of speed to lead, consistent value provision, regular and relevant conversation, and community inclusion are a great start. You can improve the delivery of these strategies and better evaluate their effectiveness by using a platform like Market Leader to automate more of your work, adjust course where needed, and prioritize more effectively. 

Visit Market Leader today to learn more about how they can help solve your real estate lead nurturing challenges.

Visit Market Leader

The post If All Real Estate Leads Are Created Equal, Why Do Some Convert Better Than Others? appeared first on The Close.

But there’s a catch. Zillow Premier Agent isn’t perfect. Zillow Premier Agent (ZPA) is plagued with poor reviews from vocal agents and a reputation for customer service focused on selling rather than solving problems.

In addition, even the most successful agents need to have what we at The Close think of as the 3 Zillow Elements of Success: a competitive budget, a complete profile, and excellent follow-up skills (more on these later). If you’ve got all of these in place, you should check out ZPA’s rates in your ZIP code.

Visit Zillow Premier Agent

To help you determine if you have those three elements solidly in place, we’ll provide more detail on each one, but before we do, let’s talk about what Zillow Premier Agent is, how it works, and, of course, how much it costs.

Zillow Premier Agent: What It Is & How It Works

Each month, more than 227 million unique visitors spend time on Zillow’s website looking at homes and searching for real estate agents. Zillow Premier Agent allows agents, teams, and brokers to purchase display ads across the Zillow network. Your ads will be shown to prospects in the specific ZIP codes you choose to target. 

When Zillow’s website visitors have questions about a property or want to set up a showing, prospects are presented with Zillow Premier Agents as their first option. The platform displays Zillow Premier Agent ads in key positions next to properties for sale, and boosts Zillow Premier Agents to the top of their agent directory. 

Listing Agent vs Premier Agent: What’s the Difference?

Before we go any further, it’s important to point out the difference between being displayed as a Zillow listing agent vs a Zillow Premier Agent.

If you have an active profile on Zillow, you’ll be displayed as the listing agent for claimed listings regardless of your Premier status. However, if you haven’t claimed that listing or are not active on Zillow, you won’t have that opportunity. 

Premier agents, however, appear next to every listing they’ve got a share of in their chosen ZIP codes (plus any listings they have outside their chosen ZIP code), thus expanding their exposure significantly.

How Much Does Zillow Premier Agent Cost?

We don’t know. This isn’t a statement we take lightly at The Close since our mission is to provide the best answers to real estate questions—to your questions. But we want to be upfront with you, our readers, about the facts. Despite an exhaustive effort to clearly and succinctly give you an answer to what Zillow Premier Agent will cost, we have no clear, authoritative information. Here’s why: 

First, Zillow’s pricing depends on multiple factors, such as the typical sold price of a home, the number of real estate professionals competing for leads in a particular ZIP code, and the percentage of the available leads you want to capture, chief among them. Because these factors change depending on the agent, making accurate estimates is difficult. 

But it’s not impossible. The reality is, Zillow offers real-time estimates to prospective Zillow Premier Agents all the time. Despite our repeated attempts through multiple channels with a clear message that we have no agenda other than to inform our readers, Zillow has flat-out refused to give any insight, estimate, or information about their pricing. 

The Close works with a number of brands in the real estate industry, and, to be frank, this sort of avoid-and-obfuscate response to our repeated, direct, honest questions was frustrating and seemed to confirm the experiences of many of Zillow’s detractors. 

The company’s motivation seems clear: get someone on the phone and into “sales mode” before telling them how much something costs. This isn’t the way we operate, and we don’t believe it’s the best way to do business. 

It is the position of The Close that Zillow Premier Agent is a valuable service that should be considered as a paid lead generation option by the right agents. However, we don’t agree with the company’s approach to pricing transparency.

What Do Others Pay for Zillow Premier Agent? 

Because Zillow has refused to offer even estimates for different markets across the country, The Close asked agents with whom we’re connected about their pricing experiences. At the time of publication, we found these pricing estimates to be true from our informal poll:

• Major Metro Markets: The typical price per month for agents turning a profit with Zillow Premier Agent starts at about $1,000 per month.
• Outside of Major Metros: The typical price per month for agents turning a profit with Zillow Premier Agent is between $300 and $500 per month.

The Close Take: Is Zillow Premier Agent Worth the Cost?

Yes. Zillow Premier Agent is an investment real estate agents, teams, and brokers should consider—provided they have a large enough budget to be competitive in the markets they’re pursuing. In addition, you’ll need a robust Zillow profile complete with reviews as well as the follow-up skills to nurture long-term leads, as we mentioned earlier. 

The fact is, there is simply no other lead source on the internet that can offer the level of traffic, exposure, and opportunity as the Zillow Premier Agent program. 

Is Zillow or Zillow Premier Agent a perfect platform or even the right choice for every agent? No. Are they worth investigating and at least considering? Absolutely. 

A Closer Look: Some of the Non-lead Benefits of Zillow Premier Agent

Obtaining leads is the most significant benefit of using Zillow Premier Agent, but there is more to the program than just leads. Some of our favorite benefits of Zillow Premier Agent include:

• Zillow Premier Agent reviews: Premier and non-Premier members can collect reviews on Zillow for free. However, Zillow positions Premier Agents on the site in a way that highlights their reviews and makes them more accessible, upping a Premier Agent’s social cred among users.
  
  Zillow Premier Agent Reviews consistently rank near the top of the list of reasons why consumers choose a particular real estate agent.

• Exposure on other Zillow platforms: In addition to Zillow’s flagship site, Zillow Premier Agents also have premium placement on Zillow’s network sites, including Trulia, StreetEasy, and RealEstate.com. Though the traffic on these sites is considerably lower than Zillow’s, they offer further exposure and more bang for your Zillow buck.
• An IDX website with a custom domain name: Even though most agents considering Zillow Premier Agent already have a web presence, getting additional real estate (ahem) on the internet is never a bad thing.

• Featured placement on Zillow’s Agent Finder: Many consumers use Zillow to look at homes and find an agent. Zillow’s Agent Finder is so important that it has its own spot in Zillow’s top navigation, alongside the site’s Buy and Sell features. Premier Agents enjoy premium top-line profile placement in searches for the communities where they advertise.
• Access the Zillow Premier Agent CRM: There are lots of real estate customer relationship managers (CRMs) out there, including Propertybase, LionDesk, and Follow Up Boss. The Zillow CRM isn’t going to blow you away with its form or functionality. Still, it’s designed to seamlessly integrate with the Zillow Premier Agent App and flawlessly transfer all your Zillow leads into its system, every time. So it’s worth checking out, if only for Zillow leads.

Zillow Premier Agent Alternative: Zillow Flex

If you’re not feeling warm and fuzzy about paying Zillow a significant upfront fee for leads, the Zillow Flex program, available in some markets, allows real estate agents to get leads upfront at no cost. However, a referral fee comes due when a transaction closes, resulting in lower risk to the agent but a significantly higher cost per lead.

Is the higher cost per lead worth preserving your existing operating budget? Check out our article about Zillow Flex and decide for yourself.

3 Essential Elements Premier Agents Need to Successfully Convert Zillow Leads

The Zillow Premier Agent program clearly delivers significant benefits to its users, not everyone will be successful with ZPA. Remember earlier, when we noted that there are three key elements critical to your success as a Zillow Premier Agent? Let’s dive into those right now.

1. Critical Mass Budget

2. A Great Zillow Agent Profile

3. Excellent Follow-up Skills

Zillow Alternatives

Zillow isn’t the only game in town when it comes to lead generation. If you’d like to try something different, consider one of the following:

• BoldLeads: Offering exclusive leads, BoldLeads drives traffic by placing ads on social media and in Google search results. A part of the Propertybase ecosystem, BoldLeads integrates well with their customer relationship manager (CRM).

• REDX: Real estate prospecting is a more hands-on, but often more affordable lead generation technique. REDX gives you the tools to reach out to potential sellers proactively rather than trying to entice them to reach out to you.

• SmartZip: Predictive analytics is a new and exciting field in real estate lead generation, and SmartZip is leading the way. Using data analytics and a sophisticated algorithm, SmartZip predicts which homes in your community are likely to list for sale. 
  
  SmartZip often pinpoints homes before the owners have decided that this is the year they plan to sell. Use this tool to supercharge your real estate farming strategy or your postcard marketing campaigns.

Looking for more options? Check out 5 Smart Ways to Buy Real Estate Leads.

Frequently Asked Questions

Didn’t find what you were looking for in our guide? Not to worry, we’ve answered some of real estate agents’ most frequently asked questions about Zillow Premier Agent here:

Are Zillow leads any good?

Does Zillow work?

How much do Zillow leads cost?

Bringing It All Together

The landscape in real estate marketing is constantly evolving. There are always new players, new approaches, and new ideas, but Zillow has remained a visible and important part of this conversation.

Until Zillow’s dominance as the go-to consumer real estate source wanes, a presence in the Zillow Premier program is a valuable asset for any serious real estate agent. As long as you have an adequate budget to reach a critical mass, an impeccable profile, and the follow-up skills to convert your leads into clients, investment in Zillow Premier Agent is a no-brainer.

Ready to make the leap? Visit Zillow Premier Agent’s website to see what ZIP codes are available in your area and how this lead generation platform can fit into your marketing strategy for 2022.

Visit Zillow Premier Agent

The post Is Zillow Premier Agent Worth the Cost? appeared first on The Close.

Market Leader delivers on its unique value proposition, providing agents with a guaranteed monthly volume of leads or your money back. With the rollout of their updated customer relationship manager (CRM) and new, beautifully designed websites, plus a marketing platform so advanced that it could be its own standalone product, Market Leader is making strides toward the goal of being THE operating solution for real estate agents. Learn why.

Why Should You Trust This Market Leader Review?

This deep-dive review of Market Leader isn’t like other reviews you’ll find online. For starters, we at The Close are seasoned real estate professionals with real experience finding, vetting, and using technology tools to successfully operate our business. We’ve got practical experience and know what works. 

Also, we have used Market Leader extensively. We’ve put this review together using our firsthand experience with the actual tool, not second and thirdhand accounts of other reviewers. 

You can trust The Close to provide an unbiased, firsthand account of Market Leader, its resources and usefulness, and to offer objective analysis as well as subjective impressions.

Market Leader: Pros, Cons & The Close Recommendation

We’re going to go deep into each of the features of Market Leader, plus do an extensive video walk-through of the entire platform, but if you’re just looking for our top-line observations + our recommendation, this section is for you.

Visit Market Leader

What Services Does Market Leader Offer?

Market Leader offers solutions for nearly every step of the real estate lead journey, with a primary focus on lead acquisition, nurturing, and conversion. These tools include:

• Paid lead generation: As mentioned above, Market Leader is The Close’s top pick for lead generation companies in 2022. Their unique lead guarantee makes them a clear pick for any agent who is watching their return on investment (ROI) for paid lead gen closely (hint: that should be all of us).
• Real estate websites: The public-facing, IDX-enabled real estate websites offered by Market Leader have gotten markedly better in the last year. They are attractive, customizable, and offer some really solid lead capture options. Since their websites are critical to the Market Leader nurture strategy, their upgrades are very important. 
• Real estate CRM: Real estate leads are just missed opportunities without a system and a strategy to convert them into clients. The Market Leader customer relationship manager (CRM) provides just that with a number of intriguing features, including a complete MLS integration, a move that offers some very unique marketing power-ups (more on these later). 
• Real estate marketing tools: Most CRMs will give you tools and templates for email marketing and not much else. The Market Leader CRM offers options to do email, paid social, and even print marketing, straight from their marketing suite within the CRM. 
• Dedicated mobile app: The Market Leader mobile app is a bona fide professional tool. This standalone app is not just a mobile browser-accessed, watered-down version of the desktop experience. It’s a standalone app with its own integrations and features that will prove very valuable to agents on the go and who work from their phone a lot (meaning, all of us).

How Much Does Market Leader Cost?

Market Leader pricing is straightforward and easy to understand. For $139 per month, users get all-inclusive access to a website, CRM, and marketing center. A la carte pricing for individual tools is not available. A six- or 12-month contract is required.

For real estate leads, the cost is $25 or more per lead, depending on your market.

Market Leader Video Walk-through

Go Deeper: A Closer Look at Market Leader’s Tools & Features

Now that we know the basics of what Market Leader has to offer and how much it costs, let’s dive into each of their tools to get more detail about how they work and how they plug into the overall Market Leader strategy.

We’ll also provide you with our recommendation on how to get the most out of each piece of the Market Leader puzzle.

Real Estate Lead Generation

The Market Leader lead gen approach is simple: run ads on platforms where your prospects are already spending their time (e.g., Facebook, Google) and direct them to sites like HouseValues.com (for sellers) or your Market Leader IDX website (for buyers).

Sound familiar? You’ve heard this strategy before, but Market Leader does things a little differently.

Before selling you a contract with leads, they calculate, based on search volume, the number of leads they can consistently deliver on a monthly basis. Market Leader clients only pay for the lead volume they can support, as opposed to providers who use the same approach but have no estimate (or accountability) for the number of leads they actually deliver.

How to Get the Most From This Tool: The Market Leader paid lead model is, in our opinion, the best and most effective tool available for getting a positive return on your ad spend. Get the most from this tool by carefully measuring your conversion rates, forecasting your closings relative to your lead volume, and scaling up the number of leads you buy as your success grows.

Real Estate Website

Real estate websites offered by Market Leader used to be a bit of an afterthought (at least in our opinion at The Close), but they’ve recently become a very important part of the success agents can find on the platform.

Their website designs have gotten a facelift, and they’ve got a really solid IDX-enabled search functionality that will give visitors to your site an experience akin to the one they’ll find on Zillow. They also offer excellent lead capture options that will convert more of your paid (and organic) leads than the average, brokerage-provided website.

How to Get the Most From This Tool: The Market Leader websites are attractive, but their true value comes from their lead capture options. If you want to get the most out of this, make sure you turn on (and fine-tune) the “activity wall pop-up.”

This is a pop-up that will fire on the website after a prospect has viewed a certain number of pages, done a certain amount of searching, and so forth. The trigger for this pop-up is customizable, so you can make it as aggressive or relaxed as you like. Most websites only offer casual, optional pop-ups.

Market Leader’s lead capture approach will get more leads into your CRM, giving you more chances to convert site visitors to clients.

Real Estate CRM

The newly revamped CRM is the sun around which all the other parts of the Market Leader solar system revolve. Your website leads (paid or organic) will populate in Market Leader’s CRM, and it connects directly with your website to record any user activity (including properties viewed, searches saved, and so forth). You can access the Market Leader Marketing Center through their CRM.

How to Get the Most From This Tool: Getting the most from the Market Leader CRM is easy—simply lean into its connection to your Market Leader website. The best part about this CRM is, hands-down, the organic integration between your leads’ website activity and their lead profiles. Using this feature will allow you to see what your leads are really searching for, and give you insight into how you can better provide value for them.

Without this connection (or the use of a Market Leader website), this CRM is still valuable, but relatively ordinary compared to its peers.

Real Estate Marketing

Market Leader’s Marketing Center focuses on three pillars: email marketing, print marketing, and automated campaigns that combine these two options.

Their email marketing includes a ton of templates for typical lead nurturing for buyers and sellers, plus tons of customizable templates for special holiday greetings, birthdays, home anniversaries, and more.

Partnered with Shutterfly, their print marketing options allow direct mail postcard and flyer marketing that can make your real estate farming and circle prospecting efforts a lot easier.

How to Get the Most From This Tool: You’ll get the most from these marketing tools by optimizing the third pillar—automated campaigns. With Market Leader automation, you can choose from dozens of preconstructed email drip campaigns for prospects at virtually any stage of your sales funnel.

Plus, you can use their automated direct mail marketing, which is great for new listings, price reductions, open houses, and more. And as a bonus, Market Leader writes an original newsletter each month that you can repurpose as your own and blast to your email audience.

Additional Market Leader Resources

Market Leader offers a surprisingly robust set of tools for agents, teams, and brokers who want to level up their use of the platform, but also grow their business in general. These include collections of scripts, templates, long-form strategy guides, and more with titles like these:

• “Email Marketing & Automation”
• “Guide to Maximizing Your ROI on Old Leads”
• “Paid Online Lead Follow-Up Scripts”

Where Market Leader Could Improve

If you’ve made it this far in this review, you know by now that we’re feeling pretty good about Market Leader and what they have to offer, but the platform isn’t perfect. There are a few things we wish were better:

• Analytics: Market Leader doesn’t offer analytics on par with the rest of their platform. This seems like an odd omission, given how important it is to measure your marketing efforts. There are some tracking options available in the team and brokerage products, but not much for solo agents. 
• Built-in dialer: Without a dialer built in to the CRM, agents are forced to log calls they have with their contacts manually. If you’re like most agents, you’re on the phone A LOT, so it’s inevitable that some of your calls won’t get logged. Not even the mobile app offers this functionality, which again, is a swing and a miss. 
• Automated SMS texting: Though SMS texting is a limited option for Realtors through the Market Leader mobile app, scheduling text messages as a part of automated campaigns is not. This feels like an oversight. With scheduled SMS, agents could add an entirely new dimension to their drip and nurture campaigns.

Is Market Leader Right for You?

In our view, Market Leader is officially the front-runner when it comes to an all-in-one real estate operating system. To be clear, they aren’t there just yet (nobody is), but they are leading the pack. Between their lead gen, website, CRM, and marketing options, Market Leader is offering agents nearly everything they need to operate and grow their business. But is it right for you?

Market Leader is right for you if:

• You’ve got a growing business that already has or is ready to integrate paid lead generation into your strategy
• You are dedicated to using a CRM every day to improve the consistency of your contact management and nurturing
• You’ve got the budget to commit to at least 12 months of using their system

Market Leader isn’t right for you if:

• You’re just getting started in the real estate business and don’t have the budget or bandwidth to start paying for leads
• You won’t use the Market Leader website as your primary marketing hub
• You’re a part-time agent and don’t have time to use all of Market Leader’s offerings

Visit Market Leader

The post Market Leader Review + Video Walk-through appeared first on The Close.

The solution is to create a lead generation plan that leverages your unique personality. Today, we’re going to help you create a custom plan that fits your personality and fills your pipeline with leads and referral opportunities.

Assessment: Determine Your Unique Sales Personality

Your unique personality should be the key consideration when selecting strategies for your lead generation plan. Have you ever considered that there may be a lead generation strategy that aligns with your goals, past experiences, and personality? You don’t have to like or enjoy every lead generation strategy—some are going to be better for you than others.

How to Determine Your Unique Sales Personality

Using the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator and the DiSC Assessment, I created the 16 Strategies for Sales Personality Assessment. This assessment is designed to help you learn about your unique sales personality, which will help you become a more effective, successful, and happier salesperson.

Take the free 16 Strategies Sales Assessment on my website, 16 Strategies.com. It should only take five minutes.

Now that you have a better understanding of your unique personality, let’s go through my five-step formula to create a plan that is just right for you.

My 5-Step Lead Generation Selection Formula

With this 5-Step Lead Generation Selection Formula, you’ll create a lead generation plan that you’ll actually stick to. If you’re ready to start creating your plan today, download the Lead Generation Plan Worksheet.

Download the Lead Generation Plan Worksheet

1. Begin With Your Goal

When it comes to getting leads, a goal is simply a destination with a deadline. It defines where you want to go and when you want to get there. All of the decisions you make about your real estate business must align with your goals. 

As a coach, I’ve found that when agents aren’t achieving the results they want, it’s usually because they are out of alignment with their goals, or even worse, they haven’t set concrete goals. They then find themselves jumping from idea to idea and strategy to strategy with no real plan.

How to Set Concrete Goals & Actually Get Results

Setting concrete goals is as simple as asking yourself three questions. Don’t skip this step! The answers to these questions will form the blueprint for creating your lead generation strategies.

• What do you want to achieve? (Be specific!)
• When do you want to achieve it?
• How long do you have before you must produce income?

Now that you have set or refined your goals, we can take a closer look at your sales personality, which will help you select the best mix of strategies to deploy.

2. Match Your Strategies to Your Personality Type

You have your results from my 16 Strategies Sales Assessment. If you don’t, go back and take it! This information will help you select lead generation activities that align with your strengths and reconsider the ones you might find challenging or emotionally draining.

The Success Cycle

We all can “flex” out of our personality for a period of time. However, when we stay out of our preferred strategies for too long, we become stressed and irritable. This is one of the main reasons new agents fail so often—they spend too much time working outside their comfort zone and burn out.

The secret is finding lead generation strategies that align with your personality and don’t require you to flex out too often. When you do, you may find that you actually enjoy lead generation. Your positivity will lead to more appointments, and more appointments lead to more contracts—which generates inspiration, excitement, and passion.

It really is that simple. I call this the Success Cycle.

The key to remaining in the Success Cycle is engaging in lead generation that you naturally enjoy—activities that are in sync with your unique personality.

3. Identify Your Available Resources

Putting together the right lead generation plan means taking a serious look at your resources. Every agent has unique experiences and opportunities that will help create success in sales. You just have to figure out what they are and how to benefit from them.

How to Identify & Assess Available Resources

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Who do I know who can help me reach my goal faster?
• Specifically, what can they provide or teach me?

Next, consider your education and work experience. School and work provide both skills and knowledge to help you achieve your goal. Ask yourself:

• What advantage do I have from my education to help me reach my goals?
• What knowledge from my work experience can help me achieve my goals?
• What skills have I already developed from my previous experiences?
• What other experiences benefit my real estate goals?

Lastly, identify what lead generation opportunities you have: tools, systems, and resources in your company or association. To identify these resources, ask yourself:

• What lead generation systems does my company provide?
• What lead generation education is available to me?
• What other resources can provide lead generation systems, tools, and education?

Define Your Budget & Brokerage Resources

You’ll need to consider your budget in your lead generation plan. Some lead generation strategies are more expensive than others, so be sure you’re adhering to a careful budget. 

Research and utilize resources that are offered by your brokerage, like lead management systems, FSBO (For Sale By Owner) and expired leads, advertising, and consumer apps.

Now that you have identified your unique resources, we can discover the lead generation options available to you—and how they work with your budget.

4. Explore Lead Generation Options & Costs

It’s simply impossible to cover every lead generation strategy available to agents, but we’ve compiled 37 Underrated Real Estate Lead Generation Ideas for 2022 to get your wheels turning. 

Choosing the right mix of strategies can be overwhelming. To make it easier, I categorized the strategies by active and passive, cost, time commitment, and lead quality.

Active vs Passive Lead Generation Methods

Active lead generation methods are strategies where you control the result. For example, calling FSBOs (For Sale By Owner) to get listing appointments is active because you can continue to call FSBOs until you find a seller willing to meet with you. You control your lead-generating actions.

With passive lead generation strategies, you can’t control the result. For example, marketing is passive because you can’t control how many people contact you on a given day.

Some strategies can be both active or passive, depending on the activity. For example, having a booth at a local bridal show is considered active if the agent engages with prospects. But, if the agent just stands behind the booth, waiting for the prospects to engage, it’s considered a passive strategy.

Prioritize Your Optimal Lead Generation Strategies

Begin by reviewing and ranking the lead generation strategies that fit your personality. Next, create a list of them organized by cost and lead conversion time. Ask yourself these probing questions:

• What are lead generation strategies already available to me?
• Do I have access to free or discounted lead generation strategies?
• What is my budget to spend on lead generation systems?

Let’s put it all together and create a blended lead generation plan that includes everything we just discussed.

5. Create Your Custom Lead Generation Plan

Now that you have reviewed your goals, deepened your understanding of your personality, uncovered resources, and analyzed options, it’s time to select the best strategies for your lead generation plan.

You should choose at least three strategies—but no more than four. Like the legs of a table, your business can’t stand on just one or two strategies—a table is stable with three legs but stronger with four.

Pinpoint Your Pillar Strategy

At least one of the strategies you select should be active, which ensures that you will have the ability to generate leads even when times are slow. We call this your Pillar Strategy. You will need to hold yourself accountable to your Pillar Strategy on a weekly or monthly basis.

Choose Your Support Strategies

Your Support Strategies work to enhance your Pillar Strategy, and they can be a mix of active and passive ones. Remember to take into consideration your resources, budget, and the time your overall plan will take to convert leads.

As part of your overall plan, you should manage your sphere of influence (SOI) database by contacting leads, following a marketing plan, and holding small events. Managing your SOI database will ensure a consistent stream of repeat and referral clientele.

Use this list of questions to guide you in designing your own unique lead generation plan.

• Which lead generation strategies are available at low or no cost to me?
• Which lead generation strategies do I already have experience with?
• Which lead generation strategies excite me?
• Which lead generation strategy is in alignment with my personality?
• Which lead generation strategies have I already tried?
• Which lead generation strategies did I enjoy or dislike?

Real Estate Lead Generation Plan Worksheet

Now that you know my step-by-step formula, it’s time to put it into action! Download the lead generation plan worksheet and create your own custom real estate lead generation plan.

Download the Lead Generation Plan Worksheet

How I Developed the Lead Generation Plan That Transformed My Career

I have had several different lead generation plans in my real estate career. My unique strength is educating people, and my preferred method is speaking to groups. Writing and public speaking allow me to work within my strengths and achieve my goals.

A few years ago, I ran a real estate investment group and was often a guest speaker at other groups. Offering education was my Pillar Strategy. My other three strategies were managing my SOI database, advertising investment properties, and seeking out business-to-business opportunities.

The advertising generated leads who were then invited to hear me speak about real estate investing. The customers generated through the speaking and advertising were presented as potential buyers to homebuilders and banks with foreclosed properties. In the four years I ran this lead generation plan, my team and I closed on more than 2,000 homes!

---

Over to You

Now that you have completed your custom lead generation plan based on your personality, resources, options, and most importantly, your goals, you’re set up to accomplish something great! If you want to deepen your understanding of how the strengths of your personality can help you be successful in sales, I invite you to read my book on sales personalities.

Do you have a lead generation tactic we didn’t mention here? We invite you to share your success stories in the comments. If you’re an active agent, join our Facebook Mastermind Group to learn and share with other agents nationwide.

The post How to Create a Custom Real Estate Lead Generation Plan (+ Template) appeared first on The Close.