Sellers should never underestimate the power of curb appeal—and when it comes to leads, neither should REALTORS®. For the speakers in RISMedia’s recent webinar, “All About Leads: Generation, Conversion and Everything in Between,” sponsored by Homes.com and VoicePad and moderated by Verl Workman of Workman Success Systems, lead conversion starts at the curb.
“Some of the highest-quality leads are driving in front of your listings now,” said Jim Metz, national sales manager with VoicePad. “We instruct our clients to leverage the one place in the market where they don’t have competition, and that’s at the yard signs.”
Speaker Mark Seiden, founder and CEO of the Mark Seiden Real Estate Team, employs on-brand, curbside strategies to lure leads, showcasing each property with a website, business cards, brochures and a for-sale sign assigned with an 800-number and an exclusive extension.
“We order a for-sale sign every time we list a property. It’s part of our marketing budget. It’s what sets us apart from everybody else…we get a lot of curbside,” Seiden emphasized.
That curb-first approach is tied to open houses, which are a lead-generating tool for both Seiden and speaker Anthony Marguleas, owner of Amalfi Estates.
“We’re getting probably 20 percent of our business from the open houses,” said Marguleas, whose team hosts approximately six opens each Sunday. “We have a whole system in place where, prior to an open house, we’ll have our sales partners invite all of the neighbors to the home.”
Related Link: Open Houses: Powerful or Pointless?
Seiden similarly approaches opens—“on steroids”—with invitations to the neighbors, 20 signs (minimum!) directing visitors to the property, and an outdoor table, as well as other tactics, all labeled with the property’s 800-number and extension.
Both methods involve a practice unheard of in real estate: sharing information from competitors. At open houses, Marguleas provides visitors a list of the open houses hosted by other players in his market.
“Our philosophy is to give away as much information as possible,” Marguleas said. “Our belief is, ‘We’re here to share information.’ They can get this information online—we might as well be the person that’s going to be giving it to them.”
Seiden’s not holding cards close to the vest, either. His single-property marketing strategy gives buyers comprehensive information about each listing, from annual utility and maintenance costs to floor plans.
“It’s everything that buyers want to know, ready for people 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Seiden said. “They don’t have to call a REALTOR® to get that information.”
Complementing leads captured curbside are those generated online—a source not to be discounted, given most consumers initiate the buying or selling process with an Internet search.
Agents put off by the quality of leads provided by online portals should consider revisiting them, advised Marguleas, who sources leads from Homes.com, among other portals.
“Ninety-one percent of the people that come to our site are looking to buy or sell a home within the next 12 months—we’re talking about very bottom of the funnel, people ready to go, ready to buy,” said Joe Sesso, national speaker for Homes.com.
“What we’ve found is that in the last couple of years the quality of leads has gotten significantly better,” Marguleas added. “Some companies have better quality, some have better quantity, some have a better interface, but it’s always good to keep trying new companies and not rely on the same company you’re currently using for leads.”
All told, these strategies are propelling Seiden and Marguleas toward a record-breaking 2016—on and off the curb.
For more insight on lead generation, cultivation and conversion, view the webinar in full:
Missed last month’s webinar? Tune in to “Bet on Buy-In! Proven Strategies for Agent Tech Adoption” here.
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