Lead Generation, Conversion and Closure

I recently read an excellent article published by Baylor University, “Lead Generation: What Really Works”, which articulately discusses lead generation. The three categories the writers included in this article were lead generation, conversion of the lead to an appointment, and closure of the appointment to a transaction.

One of the studies I found particularly interesting was finding out the extent that real estate agents and brokers take to keep records of their lead generation efforts. And for those who keep records, how detailed the records are that they keep.

For “conversion to appointment” only 23% of the respondents reported their records as Moderately Detailed or Extremely Detailed. With a mere 32% reporting moderately or extremely detailed for “closure to a transaction”.

With a reported 17% of the respondents marketing budget allocated on the Internet or Website activities, unfortunately, or fortunately for us, the online world remains this big black hole. And, without keeping detailed records, it shall likely remain this ominous, monstrosity, money pit for many but it doesn’t need to be this way.

HomeGain’s BuyerLink does a great job of tracking your advertising budget. I’ve been using BuyerLink for years now. The concept is that it’s up to you to keep on tracking your results from the initial lead generation, to conversion through close.

Regardless of your preferred marketing method, they discuss how are you attracting your leads? Are you “seeking” or “attracting” your leads? In today’s tough market the survey results reflected that more seek oriented (60/40) for highest lead conversion in a tough market.

Of the leads generated 58% were buyers and 42% sellers. Many brokers, including myself, consider home buyers a premium in this read more

Posted by Brian E. Kinkade on Aug 01, 2008 under Online Marketing, Best Practices, Leads

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Hawaii Real Estate Market Update: Old Fashion, Top Notch Realtor Service

I was speaking with Kelly Barnes—a HomeGain agent and Realtor who uses BuyerLink—over the weekend about the market in Hawaii and he graciously agreed to send me an update, which I’d like to share.

Hawaii Real Estate Market Update

Every year a large number of military families relocate to Hawaii. In addition a good number of people relocate in Hawaii just to live in paradise. The good news is the value of Hawaii’s residential properties are still holding strong, unlike many areas on the mainland which have seen dramatic decreases in recent times.

On Oahu, although the actual “number” of residential real estate sales has slowed down, overall prices have been staying fairly steady. For instance, the difference in values of single family homes between this time last year and now is only a decline of 4.4%. Sales of 740 single-family homes and 1,121 condominiums were recorded in the April-to-June period this year.

Compared to the same time period last year, the 2008 sales figures showed a decline of 28.6% for single-family dwellings and a 30.7% decrease for condos. When these second quarter sales numbers were compared to the first quarter, we saw increases of 10.0% and 8.1%, respectively, according to the Honolulu Board of Realtors. read more

Posted by Louis Cammarosano on Jul 07, 2008 under Regional

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Melbourne and Brevard County Florida Real Estate Market Update

Mitch Ribak of Tropical Realty of Suntree, Florida provides mid-year update

Mid-year Brevard County Real Estate Internet Marketing Numbers are in!

Well it’s been a crazy year so far here in Melbourne, Florida and my real estate agents have been as busy as ever. Even though the real estate market is terrible here in Brevard County, Florida, Tropical Realty of Suntree is holding its own and is neck and neck with two other companies for first place in total closed transactions.

As most you out there, I’m sure you are showing a ton of customers just to get one home buyer. They are certainly taking their time making their home buying decisions. Where are those old glory days?!

Since I’m always talking about Internet Marketing, Lead Capture and Lead Conversion, I figured I would share with you our stats for the first half of the year. There are two reasons I want to share this info.

Firstly, I am proud as a father of my Agents and my staff (my kids). They have worked their tails off this year to keep their careers in line. They don’t want to hear about a bad market, they are making the best out of it. In fact, we wrote 35 homes for sale contracts this month which is a new record since our opening in 2005!

Secondly, I want you all to see the possibilities of what happens when you really dedicate your business to Internet Marketing. And yes, HomeGain’s Buyerlink program is a big piece of our success. Gone are the days where I spend two hours each day managing my keywords. So thanks to my awesome Agents and thanks to HomeGain for having the BuyerLink program!

Ok so here is what we got: read more

Posted by Mitch Ribak on Jul 03, 2008 under Regional

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The Website Leap of Faith

In this month’s Agent Success Newsletter, we feature Brian E Kinkade with Cherry Creek Professionals Realty in Colorado.

Something significant took place with Brian’s business this year that has resulted in a huge increase in his real estate business. In fact, it became necessary for him to transition from being a “part-timer” into becoming a full-time REALTOR® in order to accommodate all his new clients!

Brian tells the story of how it happened:

Until recently, my business efforts were based primarily on what other real estate agents were doing, and frankly, my business wasn’t growing like I wanted. I was doing a mediocre job at working Internet leads from a “so-so” website.

It wasn’t until I found Myers and HomeGain that my business started growing exponentially. This is all about the power of the Internet. read more

Posted by Jessica Gopalakrishnan on Nov 23, 2007 under Online Marketing, Success Stories, BuyerLink

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