Realtor Lead Generation During the Pandemic

A professional real estate sales person’s number one challenge always is to generate quality leads.  And this pandemic is making old school lead generation and nurturing almost impossible.

The move to the new digital prospecting tools is accelerating.  Hopefully you’re getting on board before this big tech wave passes you by.

But what is the better way to a lasting real estate lead pipeline?

Is it advertising, email campaigns, local networking, SEO, social media and Content Strategy, or in building a team of agents to expand your reach into the market? All of these will help. But there’s one factor that beats all others — a commitment to being number one.

Your Moment of Decision

Right now, you’re visualizing yourself as just another real estate agent (2 million in North America), or creating a plan to dominate your market and become the market leader. What is the one thing that makes you decide on one image or the other? Is it hard work, self-esteem, logic, or just simply, fear?

Everything in your life comes down to these momentary decisions that swing you one way or another. Which train will you catch? Which business people will you align with? How ambitious should you be?

Realtors are normally a confident group, however they have their doubts about their skill, creativity and value proposition. Everyone does. There’s only one way to defeat these doubts. Dive into your ambition and your passion for your own life. No other choice will bring you success. Your commitment to your life and success powers up everything and helps you run right over incapacitating hurdles.

Cheap Usually Means One Thing — Ineffective

It’s completely understandable to try out a cheap lead sources and even some something for nothing schemes because you get to experience the loss, self-disrespect and stagnation. Important signals. Smart Realtors avoid those traps and focus on building their own empire through powerful efforts.

I’ve blogged about top Realtors in Los Angeles, Vancouver, Boston, San Diego, Toronto and other big cities. I’m connected with some really good ones too via social media. They all saw themselves as top dog because after sufficient frustration, and they realized the only safe spot is number one.

Greg Noonan and the Gellens are fixtures in the San Diego real estate market.

Neal Weichel’s all about record transactions in the Santa Clarita Market.

Merrily Hackett built an astonishing empire in the Vancouver housing market.

Mark Faris growth in the area north of Toronto is astonishing.

Sam McDadi has roared to the top in the Mississauga, Canada housing market.

No tips in this blog post, just an action plan to build the foundation for your market leader ranking. Who is getting leads and big commissions this summer during the pandemic? The few top sales leaders. Everyone else is scrambling as the whole real estate market shifts online while buyers are locked inside their own homes.

Will online and digital marketing go away? Not likely.

You must build a better lead pipeline and it’s online.

You’ll be Building a Team, and You’ll have to Feed Them

When you build a dominant position online, it’ll feed your own team of agents. So it’s not just for you. The only way you can compete and achieve big success is by hiring other agents. All the top broker agents have other agents working for them.

It’s the same with digital marketing agencies, as they scale up to leverage efficiencies in cost and labor, as well as grow reach. The team game with you smack dab in the center is how your business must go.

That’s why real estate lead generation companies earn a lot of money. They aggregate leads anyway they can and build bigger visibility. Yet in the process, they don’t building lasting sources and they ruin their reputation.

Realtor leads are grossly underrated, poorly managed, and are tremendously valuable, particularly seller leads. The typical lead generation services compete with me to capture visibility and attract prospects for my clients.

Some such as bold leads, Zillow, or Realtor.com might be a nice addition to your market leader strategy too.

Their lead system doesn’t continue for free, and you compete with other agents and teams on their platform. They’re not working with you exclusively so you’re actually a commodity to them. When you’re not special and unique, it’s not a good branding statement. Generating leads like that can drain you emotionally.

Your Lead System is Focused on You

With your own personal real estate lead system, you’ve got something that hones your brand image, value proposition, and reach. What do all conservative business people do? They build a lasting, solid, immovable foundation such as business with truly unique products and services and a location that puts them front and center.

And it’s the owners brand image and reputation that carries the business forever.

Of course today, front and center means top visibility via Google, Bing and Facebook, and on various real estate portals and major publications too. Can’t afford Dream Homes Magazine right now? That’s fine, we’ll get you there.

A System That Never Sleeps is the Right Choice

The lasting realtor marketing packages I deliver will endure as long as you maintain your website content and conduct quality marketing practices. In fact, the value and lead productivity just keep growing. We keep building on the brand image, familiarity, authority, helpfulness and trust each and every month. We build preference for you through topics, messages and clicks.

And during this temporary nasty period of the Covid 19 pandemic, the lockdown, buyer/seller fear, mortgage tightening, unemployment and more factors conspire to dry up real estate leads.

Clearly, we need something better to create reach and visibility and attract a potential client. Instead of turning to the lead generation companies solely, why not make yourself first and foremost and capture leads yourself?

Hundreds of thousands of Realtors are using video and Facebook to showcase themselves and their properties. It’s a nice try but what’s missing is continuous new connections and ever increasing visibility. Those who isolate on Facebook find they’re repeating the same messages to the same familiar connections. That’s too stagnant. A bigger pipeline is needed.

Big Visibility Creates Awareness then Trust

What most Realtors and real estate lead generation companies alike don’t have is sufficient visibility online. Small business owners and Realtors have always said “location, location, location.” Yes, without that persistent high visibility you can’t build sufficient attention and move enough leads through your pipeline.

Familiarity and trust are the currency. Whose faces do you see most in your market? The market leaders. That says everything.

A Good Lead Filter Will Help You Focus

The real estate lead companies advertise on FB and Google and draw prospects. A lot of them aren’t well qualified though and they have to pay for those leads. It is a big problem for them. That’s just the way advertising is.

Your website lead management system (e.g., Pipedrive, Realvolve, FollowupBoss, etc.) will filter in the good leads (and seller leads) and you’ll be focusing on them. Your staff can handle the other buyer leads coming in.

Your Lead Processing Realtor Website

Leads can be directed from all your online sources to your own website. In some cases must use the lead generation company’s lead management system. Either way, it’s much easier to enjoy a website with great content that builds trust and familiarity directly for you. Just can’t beat it.

Your broker’s logo isn’t enough. Few are impressed with the brokerage brands anymore, especially anyone under 35. You need to be hip, current and effective with your web site. They know it’s a website. But they believe what it implies about the quality of your results.

You need a website with listings to peruse and which allows them to search for properties right away. Some brokers put visitors through the ringer right away forcing them to divulge info or sign up immediately to get access.

What we need is a toll free superhighway to a convenient, professional but pleasant page which makes them feel very good about you. It’s all about you, not the listing. That’s why they’ll remember you and provide their contact info. It’s one part big traffic and one part lead conversion and we’re creating a continuous stream of leads for years ahead.

Advertising doesn’t generate the same type of lead and you must pay through the nose each time. Paid ads have their place of course, but not as the core foundation of your lead generation for the next 10 to 30 years. There are new real estate AI tools popping up but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. We need the foundation first. That’s what my real estate marketing packages provide.

I’ll bet right now, your pipeline is dry. Your prospect list was okay before, but then Covid 19 changed it all. A whole new group of people are the real potential buyers now. And sellers? Well, they need some big reassurances about Covid 19 too before they sell. Who is going to downsize to a crowded condo building now?

Those of you in smaller towns and rural areas are probably overrun with buyers leads. There is a big migration of home buyers looking beyond urban areas for a simpler life free of the dangers of disease and crime. Now with Covid 19’s second wave getting worse, the migration will be stronger. Buyers are going back to work and the thought of getting out of the city, and out of dense condominiums and apartments is high on their mind. Many will be desperate.

And they’re all going online to search for houses for sale.

Buyers aren’t driving around like they used to. They’re not attending open houses and they don’t want to meet you face to face. They want to see evidence on your website in your written content that you’re creative, energetic, crafty, and successful at finding homes for sale.

They’re searching online looking for Realtors who have good connections to sellers. And sellers want a Realtor with ideas. Because really, they want to sell. They’re waiting and hoping that later this year or in 2021, they will be able to sell and move onto their next home.

Everything Feeds to Your Website Where you Can Control the Experience

Your real estate website is still the king, although Facebook can be a nice addition. Facebook and social media posts aren’t as finable for new leads. Social media connections are great but have to be maintained as part of what’s called your content strategy.

I can vastly improve your site and turn it into a market leading resource for buyers and sellers.

Your website acts to extend your sales referral network as will your social media accounts.

Online marketing is competitive. Winning means putting in more time, being more creative, innovative and strategic. Realtors must be driven to understand the online market and optimize it. You can’t just hand it over to a marketer or marketeer, and expect buyers and sellers to take you seriously.

Your expert insight shared with me really helps me inform clients and create preference for you. Let’s find what separates you from the pack and keeps your visitors coming back for more. How many times do they need to visit your site before you get that call from them?

That’s where good analytics comes in. New AI based analytics and predictive analytics tools have some exciting potential. There’s a lot needed to make you top dog and we will do it all.

My unique, original fresh Content, SEO, advertising and lead generation services are essential if you’re going to scale up your business. You will rise while thousands of other remain anonymous online. You can hire the best of them to build a solid team.

If you’re ready to build your real estate sales empire, I’m ready to be your key business asset.  Call Gord at 416 998 6246 to discuss.

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