A recent article by RISMedia brings an alarming statistic to our attention – 75 percent of real estate leads generated online are lost. According to PCMS Consulting and One Cavo, these leads are lost because real estate sales professionals and others in the industry are not responding to them or are simply responding too late.
One Cavo found that of those real estate sales professionals who responded to leads, they responded an average of eight hours after the initial inquiry by the prospect was made. These days, prospective clients don’t just want fast response times, they expect them. According to Jose Perez of PCMS Consulting, “…over 70 percent of consumers choose the first company that gets back to them.” What does a fast response time mean? Well, to many consumers out there, a fast response time means within 15 to 20 minutes after initial contact.
If you’re not responding to online real estate leads, responding too late, or simply forgetting about these leads all together, you’re doing a lot of harm to your business. Not only are you losing potential customers and referral sources, but you could be causing negative word of mouth about yourself.
The Cost of Losing Real Estate Leads
Think about the money you could be losing by letting just one real estate lead fall through the cracks. These leads can be easily turned into clients and we can’t underestimate this simple fact. Let me paint a picture about the worth of a client. The National Association of Agents states that on average, homeowners know at least three to five people who move each year. Let’s say you have 50 “A-list” contacts in your database and that on average, each contact will move once every ten years. Let’s also say that you represent the client on both ends. Each A-list contact knows at least one person who will move every year, but you won’t get them all, so assume you get three referrals over the ten years from everyone on your list. If your average commission is $5,000, that’s a $1,250,000 commission income over a ten year period!
But that’s not all. For every 100 people in your database that you maintain a relationship with, you can expect a 13% return. That’s 13 transactions for every 100 people. The more leads you add to your database and the more relationships you build, the more successful you’ll be as an Agent.
Prevent the Loss of Online Real Estate Leads
In order to prevent online real estate leads from slipping through the cracks, you need an automatic website lead captureform on your website. A real estate CRM system, such as IXACT Contact, allows you to take advantage of this. Any lead that fills out the form will be automatically transferred to your database and you’ll receive an instant email alert when a new lead comes through. This lets you respond immediately by giving the prospect a call to qualify further and/or assign the prospect to an appropriate nurture plan based on level of qualification and urgency.
You want to show prospective clients that you’re available and open to answering any questions they have. So you’ll want to prominently display your contact details on your website where they’re easy to find. That’s also why it’s extremely essential to have an automatic website lead capture form built into your site. It allows prospects to contact you without going to their inbox or picking up the phone. And it allows you to capture a potentially valuable lead and have that lead automatically entered into your database where you can track it over time.
Are you surprised by One Cavo’s findings? What insight or advice would you share with others in the industry?