Harness the Power of Leads and Turn Prospects into Profits

For real estate professionals looking to harness the power of leads, having a process in place to convert prospects into real profits is critical. But where do agents—whose biggest challenge centers around ramping up their connection time—begin when it comes to filling their lead funnel and solving the response-time dilemma surrounding the lead process?

This—and more—was discussed during RISMedia’s latest ACE Webinar Series, “Gain Leads Out of the Gate…and Get to Them in Record Time!” Moderated by Terri Murphy, a coach with Workman Success Systems, president of Terri Murphy Communications and CIO of U.S. Learning, and sponsored by Homes.com and SmartZip, the webinar provided attendees the intel they need to win the lead game.

With anywhere from 400 - 600 leads coming into his brokerage during any given month, Greg Dallaire—broker/owner of Dallaire Realty in Green Bay, Wis.—kicked things off by explaining that it’s not about having a ton of leads, but rather, accountability.

In fact, the brokerage—with eight full-time agents and a full-time support team that fully supports agents so they can take the conversion process to another level—is set up with accountability at its core.

“It all starts with our director of business development who is responsible for scrubbing the leads (opportunities) that come in so agents can focus on a smaller bucket of leads,” said Dallaire. “Once scrubbed, leads are handed off to the sales team. We then hold them accountable on a weekly basis, which is a huge thing for us.”

But when it comes to generating leads on a consistent basis for a reasonable cost, Facebook is king for the Wisconsin brokerage. “Facebook is a big source of our closings today, outperforming pay-per-click ads on Google,” said Dallaire, who uses Facebook ads as well as a Facebook pixel on the company’s website to track visitors.

“It’s like having a billboard on Facebook vs. on the road,” said Dallaire. “Your marketing will be a lot more effective when you’re consistently marketing to people who are familiar with you.”

Keeping the lines of communication open is another critical factor in staying on top of leads, so much so that many real estate professionals adhere to the LP MAMA acronym (location, price, motivation, agent, money, appointment)—an acronym Dallaire and his agents use to ensure they get all the right questions asked.

For Chris McNamara—Keller Williams MAPS coach—lead conversion boils down to CARE (connect, alert, refer, engage)—an acronym that gauges where an agent is in a relationship with a prospective client.

“You may get a ton of web leads coming through, but if your capture rate is only 5-10-15 percent, the rest are going into a nurturing system,” explained McNamara. “The question then becomes how we keep the agent interested in follow-up. There has to be a model, a 1-2-3-4-step process that keeps the agent interested. And that’s where CARE comes in.”

McNamara also espoused the benefits of the gap analysis when it comes to measuring the gap between expectations and what actually occurred. “By keeping these numbers upfront, you’ll begin to see that by sticking with the system to the point of where you’ve gotten good at it, that’s when the money starts showing up. That’s when folks turn into prospects,” said McNamara.

While speed is certainly a factor in the lead conversion game, accountability and consistency can’t be overlooked.

“If you follow-up with someone 7 - 8 times, there’s a good chance you’ll remember who they are and what they’re looking for,” concluded McNamara. “The best way to build trust and show a higher level of competency at your job than the competition is to ensure your follow-up is incredible and done on time,” concluded McNamara.

View the webinar in full below: