I’ve personally taken the time to register around the country for the sole purpose of having a great email drip campaign to convert leads into appointments and appointments into pay checks. Ironically, I’ve accidentally noticed that many of the websites I have registered on were not calling my personal cell phone, let alone sending me an email of properties or even a thank you for registering.
So I ask the question, “why force registration and not follow up?” My data gathered around the country over a period of about six months has astonished me, and possibly even you. Experience clearly shows the importance following up and having great systems in place in the way to grow your business and dominate as opposed to drowning in today’s market.
I’ll get to the statistics in a moment. First off, I was amazed that this project took me so long. After starting this project, I realized how many people do not force registration. I also realized how many people do not have websites. Sorry, I did not collect data on the number of websites I had to visit in order to register, however the number was at least 2 out of 3 who did not force registration.
You want stats! Are you into mathematical facts that grow or drown your business? If you’re a communist please do not read any further as this blog post does not apply to you, since the content below is about profit.
I registered on exactly 100 websites. Remember, the purpose of this was to get the best email drip campaign around that also forces registration. Only 64 people had an auto responder setup thanking me for registering on their website. Out of the 64 auto responders, 19 sent an additional follow up email. Out of the 19, five people continued emailing follow up messages on a regular basis. I must say there is a company in Melbourne, Florida that takes the trophy as they sent me the most listings as well as follow up messages. I did get a bit sick of the daily updates on listings, so I thought every four days would be suitable.
I must say that there are probably many flaws in my data. I could have picked all the wrong websites on the first page of Google so my data may not be totally accurate. However, the point is I registered on 100 websites to get the best drip emails and realized 80% of Realtors were not following up at all. Wow! If you get a lead, make sure you have good systems in place that can automate the process and convert those leads to pay checks.
If you’re wondering how to grow your profits in your business, simply pick up a copy of Mitch Ribak’s 100 MPH Marketing book. I have a real estate webmasters website and I thought that Mitch Ribak of Melbourne wins the leads to pay checks contest; at least he did in my opinion.
How can you change your systems to grow your business? What are your thoughts on the data? The internet may not be as competitive as we might think…I know, I know, unless you’re in Austin. (wink) Is lead conversion the new SEO? Do you have the total package? Is your business firing on all cylinders?
Great post Robert. I too have done similar tests and have found that most people don’t have consumers register. Worse, they are using Pay Per Click marketing without any capture tools…basically throwing their money away. It took me a few years to perfect the lead conversion stuff, but it’s worked like a charm now for more than 8 years.
Internet leads can be a total waste of money if you have no systems in place to convert those leads to sales. Remember though, it’s not only about the drip campaigns, it’s about phone calls and follow up. We are always working to improve our phone call follow up as I believe that is the key to go from the 400 or so sales we will have this year to the 1000 sales a year I want to acheive.
As you said, you MUST have a plan if you are going to do any type of lead generation.
July 14th, 2010 at 2:43 am
Great post Robert. I have an auto responder for registration but have not been great about follow up. However, I have a buyers agent that does call the leads when she has the time and the results are rewarding.
July 16th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Hey Marc – Just think how rewarding it would be if you actually systemized your lead conversion for your buyers agent.
July 16th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Good post, Robert. Now that I’m with Hawaii Life, I see what a good follow-up system is. Having agents on leads/virtual floor time and making them accountable is the way to go. Without systems/plans on how to convert those leads, all the SEO in the world will be in vain.
July 19th, 2010 at 1:16 am
It’s not very hard to set up an auto responder and drip email campaign. I am astonished at the results of your experiment. Were you checking your spam? Perhaps some of the drip emails landed in spam.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:00 pm
I like this particular article it gives me an additional input on the information around the world. thanks a lot and keep giving with posting such information.
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Real Estate
July 25th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
Interesting test.
Unfortunately, I must say it’s probably one of the most poorly written posts I’ve ever read on a “major” national blog.
Anyway, this just goes to show you that the tools don’t make it happen, they merely facilitate. Lazy clueless agents all over the country will still be lazy and clueless even after they go to the seminar, get fired up, and purchase the required tools.
Prospects registering on my site get the automated confirmation. Then they get a fully customized email from me based on what they were viewing, where they are from, etc.
Then they get another in a week. Then they get one every quarter forever, or until they bounce or unsubscribe.
That’s how we roll,
RM
July 29th, 2010 at 5:37 am
Excellent post. Great follow up is the key to making money in real estate. If you have an autoresponder make sure to fill it up with at least a year worth of emails.
August 7th, 2010 at 1:17 am