Introduction
Many people think the most successful real estate agents and loan officers achieved their success by way of relentless commitment, a huge advertising budget, and/or luck. All of those things will help but the reality is: a great lead generation strategy (that can scale!) will beat-the-pants off everything else.
That's why we created The Ultimate Guide: Lead Generation For Busy Agents, Brokers, and Teams - because we know you need real estate lead generation strategies that work. And because we understand that not everyone has time to do all the elements traditional marketing strategies require - Posting to your blog, coming up with new content for Facebook, and now agents are even getting on TikTok. Who has time for all of that?
This short eBook is full of helpful advice from real estate pros with years of experience under their belts, but it also includes templates and strategies so you can put your newfound skills into practice right away. Don't waste another minute wondering what might happen if you finally reached out (or whether those leads will even turn into customers).
Instead, focus on your successful future, and what you can reasonably do to incorporate lead generation and nurturing tactics that work.
CHAPTER 1
5 Real Estate Lead Sources for Best Results
The truth is getting leads is easy. Getting qualified leads - now that’s the rub. After all, the internet is saturated with websites promising you the world if you just submit your name and email address - but they have no intention of actually giving you any leads that will result in money in the bank.
The question is how do you know which resources to trust? Which ones will give you the best results that will move the needle on your income? Here are five tried and true real estate lead sources that deliver the goods:
1. Friends and Family
Surprisingly, your closest friends and family are some of the best sources for generating leads. Why? Because they're people you know that can vouch for you.
2. Real Estate Events and Groups
Going to REIA (Real Estate Investors Association) meetings is one of the best ways to get plugged into your local real estate community.
Not only will you be able to meet other investors, but you'll also have the chance to talk with them about their market - and what they know that others might not.
3. Local/Area-Based Social Media Groups
Social media offers another excellent opportunity to find leads. Facebook and LinkedIn offer real estate, cause, organization, and area-based groups that you can join - and then use to find new customers.
4. Run Paid Ads
Paid ads are a highly effective way to generate real estate leads. Just remember to track your results, so you know what's working and what's not.
5. Blogging for Real Estate Leads
Blogging is a fantastic way to build a loyal, targeted audience - and use them to get the word out about your real estate investing business. The important step some agents neglect however, is to use the keywords that your ideal customers are typing into Google.
Old School Lead Generation Methods
Don't let anyone tell you that old-school lead generation isn't still effective - because it is. Here are some you may want to consider:
Go Door to Door
Blogging is a fantastic way to build a loyal, targeted audience - and use them to get the word out about your real estate investing business. The important step some agents neglect however, is to use the keywords that your ideal customers are typing into Google.
Post Flyers
Posting flyers is another effective method for generating leads. If you post flyers at the places you usually visit, you're bound to find leads.
Specialty Events and Shows
Think local home shows, and even bridal expos.
Cold Calls
Last but not least, you can always do what many have done before you - pick up the phone and make cold calls. Now, this isn't easy. In fact, in the age of telemarketers and spam calls some people would consider it to be a lot harder than going door-to-door, but it could yield results. That is if you make a plan rather than simply opening a phone book and picking a random number to dial.
Leverage Existing Customers
If you have customers already, don't be afraid to ask for referrals for your business. This is a great way to build a better relationship with current (and potential) customers.
Chapter 2
7 Email Templates To Communicate With and Generate Leads
Email is one of the best ways to communicate with your leads. But it takes a lot of time. That’s why we have created 7 email templates successful real estate agents use that allow them to plug and play their communication.
Cold Email Lead Generation
The cold email is an effective way for lead generation. You just have to be careful with what you're saying, and how you're saying it.
Cold Email Subject Lines
Subject Line #1: "I read your profile {name}!"
Subject Line #2: "Hello {name}! I noticed that you're looking for a home near {location}."
Subject Line #3: "{name}, you'll love our new open house in {city}!"
Cold Lead Template #1:
“Hi {name},
I'm a real estate agent in your city and I found you on {insert platform here}. You'll love what we have available! Here are some of the properties that will blow your mind: ”
Then list a few properties, and their top selling points.
Close with a call to action, and a warm salutation.
Cheers,
(Your name)"
Cold Lead Template #2:
“Hi {NAME},
I hope you're having a great day so far! I saw your profile on the platform and noticed that you were looking for a property in {insert location}. If memory serves, we got just what you need. I have an open house at my new listing starting Saturday from 1-4pm or come by anytime before then; here's info about it: {link}”
Again, close with a call to action and a warm salutation.
Referral Emails
Another great way to generate more business is with referral emails. If someone refers you business, thank them by sending an email asking for more referrals.
Referral Template #1:
"Hi there,
I just wanted to thank you for your business. It was great getting to work with you, and I hope we can do it again soon! If you know anyone else looking for a real estate agent, please let me know. I would be happy to work with them as well.
Cheers!"
Referral Template #2:
"Hi {name},
I just wanted to reach out and say thank you for your business! If you have a friend who is thinking about buying or selling a house, I would love to help them out as well - for every referral, you will receive a $50 visa gift card. :)."
Referral Template #3:
“Hi there,
I just wanted to say thank you for your business. If you have a friend looking for a real estate agent, please let me know - I would be happy to help them find their perfect home.
Once again, it was a pleasure working with you, and I hope for many wonderful memories to be made in your new home!"
Follow Up Emails
The final set of email templates are for reactivation emails to follow up and check in with leads that you’ve been in contact with previously. If you haven't engaged with a lead in a long time, send them an email asking if they need anything.
Follow Up Template #1:
"Hey {name},
I hope this email finds you well. I just wanted to check in with you and see if there is anything that I can help you with - or if there was something specific that I could have done better!"
Follow Up Template #2:
"Hi {name},
I just wanted to check in. I know you were considering selling your home/buying a new place, and the market is hot right now!
Are you still looking to purchase/sell?
I’d appreciate it if you would email me back and let me know.
Thanks for your time, and I hope to hear from you soon!
chapter 3
Save Time Nurturing Your Leads
Nurturing leads is an integral part of the sales process. However, it can be time consuming! With that in mind, here are five real estate lead nurturing practices that will help you save time while keeping your leads happy.
1. Segment Your Leads
If you have many leads, put them into segments or categories so that it's easier for you to manage them all at once in a single real estate communication platform.
2. Create A System For Tracking Lead Engagement
Having processes and a plan in place will help you save time by knowing when to follow up with your leads, and what to say to them.
3. Turn Off Distractions
Turn off your phone, email, and social media notifications for a while - this will help you focus on the task of lead nurturing and get it done faster.
4. Automate Task When Possible
If you have many leads, think about what elements of things like your communication process can be automated or delegated to someone else.
5. Stick To A Regular Schedule
Pick a time every day to follow up with your leads, and stick to it!Sometimes just having it in the calendar is all you need to get the job done, and get it done quickly.
The Best Real Estate Automation Tool
Agent Legend - Imagine being able to open one application and connect with up to 500 of your most recent leads effortlessly. Use some of the templates we shared earlier, or create your own, and schedule emails and texts to be sent out on autopilot.
chapter 4
Critical Benchmarks for Real Estate Prospecting
Using benchmarks in your real estate prospecting is a great way to understand how you're doing compared to the top real estate agents in your area. Here are a few metrics that will help you get more out of your efforts:
1. Close Rate
The average close rate in the industry is 22%. Use this number to see how you compare against the average.
2. Lead Numbers Per Week
The most successful real estate agents average 39 new leads a week. Need more ideas for how to get real estate leads? Click here.
3. Average Lead Close Time
The national average for time spent with leads to get them to make a decision is 10 hours.
Read all 7 of our benchmarks for real estate prospecting here.
Chapter 5
Advice for How To Handle Cold Real Estate Leads
Sometimes leads will go cold, and when it happens, you need to re-engage with them if you hope to earn more business. That said, here are a few tips that will help you reconnect with cold leads.
1. Create A Plan For Your Cold Leads
If you want to effectively nurture your cold leads, you need a plan of attack.
2. Replicate Your Success
If you find something that works, replicate it with other cold leads because this will get them to open your emails more often!
3. Share Social Proof
One of the best ways to handle cold leads is to use social proof of past client success. Share your sales and wins on social media!
4. Use Personalization
Personalizing your emails will make the cold leads feel like you wrote this for them specifically, and this will increase their open rate! i.e. use their name, and add in details unique to their situation.
5. Start With An Email
The best place to start is by sending an email that explains how you found their information and why they might be interested in what you have to offer.
Use Engaging Subject Lines
Your subject lines should be as engaging as possible to increase open rates. Your goal should be to have an open rate of 20% or higher. Then, once someone opens your email, you will want to follow up with a phone call/text message as soon as possible.
The average open rate for a real estate email campaign is 26%, and the average email click-through rate (or CTR) is 7%.
Here are five personalized email subject lines that will help get more opens:
3. "Hi, {first name}, I'm Following Up About A Conversation We Had About _________"
4. "Hi, {first name}, I Was Referred By ________"
5. Hi, {first name}, Do You Have A Minute To Talk?"
Top Cold Lead Email Mistakes
If you're using cold emails, there are a few mistakes that you should avoid because these will decrease your open and engagement rates.
1.
The first is creating an email that is too long. Email subject lines are also critical because your lead won’t open them if they are not compelling enough. People are busy - you have to get their attention!
2.
Another common mistake is failing to personalize the email content. It’s best to include your lead's first name and think about their pain points before you send any correspondence.
3.
Not using the proper tone for your message. You don’t want to come off as selling “too hard.”
4.
Forgetting to follow up. Not everyone reads their emails and responds immediately. Follow up with a personalized phone call or text message.
Remember that cold emails are sent to people you don't know, so be clear about the objective of your email right away. If it's too long or if you haven't gotten to your point by the end of the email, then you might lose your lead.
Text Messages = Higher Open Rates
If you're using cold emails, there are a few mistakes that you should avoid because these will decrease your open and engagement rates.
My name is _______(your name) from _________(Realty Company). We help buyers and sellers with _______(what you do) in your area. Would you have a minute to chat about how we can help you with the buying/selling process?
Hi, this is _______(your name) from _________(Realty Company). I found your information on LinkedIn and wanted to follow up! Give me a call or text at _______ when you have a minute.
Hi, my name is ________ from _________(Realty Company). We help buyers and sellers with ___________ (what you do) in your area. I was hoping to follow up with you about how we can help with the buying/selling process? Can I give you a call or text in the next couple of days?
chapter 6
Strategies Top Real Estate Agents Use in Lead Nurturing
Real estate lead generation is worthless if you’re not nurturing your leads. The most successful real estate agents understand how to nurture leads effectively to drive business. If you want to be on top, you will have to learn what the top %1 of agents are doing to succeed.
With that in mind, here are some insights into the best strategies to nurture real estate leads effectively:
Build Influence
Top agents know how to build influence through blogs, social media, and local events. They also understand you must give value first before you ask for something in return.
Be Authentic
Top real estate agents know that it's essential to be authentic, and build a relationship with the lead. They take time and invest in their leads because they realize that this can pay off later on when a lead is ready to sell or buy. Use tools such as Agent Legend to help make this process easier and more efficient.
Focus on Your Five Best Clients
Instead of focusing on the mass number of clients you have, it's better to focus on your top 5 clients because these are the ones that will give you the most referrals. This is why it's so critical to nurture your leads - because the more they get to know you, the easier it will be for them to refer business to you.
Share Someone's Influence
If you have a chance to meet someone who has influence in your area, then take the opportunity to get to know them and build rapport with them. Top real estate agents realize that if they can network with someone who is already influential, it will be easier to learn from them and build up their own business.
Referrals, Referrals, Referrals!!!
Give referrals when you can, and ask for referrals in return. If you’re too busy to effectively nurture a lead, refer it to another agent. It could benefit you when your lead pool runs dry. And, as we’ve mentioned previously, ask for referrals from your clients too. It’s important to always keep fresh prospects in the pipeline.
Chapter 7
Should You Ever Buy Real Estate Leads?
Anyone in the real estate lead generation business knows that there are several ways to generate leads such as paid traffic, organic (SEO), and referrals.
Paid real estate lead generation is typically done through internet marketing channels or lead brokers. If you’re an agent looking for how to get real estate leads, you might have found yourself looking into purchasing leads. It’s important to determine if it is worth buying leads from available sources because you don’t want to waste your money. We cover this more in depth in our post Should You Be Paying for Real Estate Leads?, but here are the highlights of what you need to know:
Average Lead Cost
On average, a qualified real estate lead will cost $20, depending on the source. Keep in mind that there are different sources of paid real estate leads, so it's essential to understand all of your options before deciding which ones would be the best for you and your business.
Running ads yourself may result in higher lead costs than outsourcing the advertising to someone with more experience. Depending on your budget, it may be worth the investment to pay for qualified real estate leads.
Another source is utilizing lead services which can cost $100 to $400 a month.
Don't Want to Buy Leads?
You may decide that paying for leads doesn't currently fit your budget, or you prefer to build your lead list yourself. There are other options for you that may not cost any money but require more time - sweat equity, if you will.
For example, you can choose to hustle and generate your own leads through networking, using social media, or hosting an open house. You can also rely solely on referrals from previous clients, coworkers, and friends to generate leads. However, these methods could result in your prospect pipeline drying up fast if you stop putting in the work.
At the end of the day, it's up to you and your budget whether or not you decide to buy real estate leads. Although some people think that buying leads is a waste of money, many others have reaped the benefits.
chapter 8
Real Estate Lead Generation: Best Practices For Automatic Follow Up
Once you have gone through the arduous process of generating real estate leads, it's time to move on to the next step of engaging with these leads. As you are working through your list, here are 5 of the best practices you can use for automating your follow up:
Using automated email marketing tools like Agent Legend to send pre-written or custom emails based on your lead's information can keep them engaged and interested in what you have to offer.
Let’s Circle Back Around
We hope you have found all of our tips in this guide helpful. Our goal is to help every real estate agent become, well, a legend in the industry. That’s why we developed Agent Legend in the first place. Simplifying the world of real estate through automation and segmentation is what we’re all about. From creating and deploying a real estate newsletter to effortlessly sending text messages to prospects - with our software it’s never been easier for you or your agency to make a splash.
If you want to sell more property and book more listings, you need Agent Legend. We have helped countless clients level up their game, and make more money in less time. But don’t take our word for it. Click here to start your free trial now, and see for yourself what Agent Legend can do for you!
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1. 5 Real Estate Lead Sources for Best Results
- 2. 7 Email Templates To Communicate With and Generate Leads
- 3. Save Time Nurturing Your Leads
- 4. Critical Benchmarks for Real Estate Prospecting
- 5. Advice for How To Handle Cold Real Estate Leads
- 6. Strategies Top Real Estate Agents Use in Lead Nurturing
- 7. Should You Ever Buy Real Estate Leads?
- 8. Best Practices For Automatic Follow Up