How to Convert Real Estate Leads

The real estate market has enjoyed several years of outstanding sales with over 6 million home sales in 2021 alone. While recent changes in the interest rates on loans have cooled the market somewhat, the buyer appetite for homes is by no means extinguished.

Of course, agents, brokers, investors, and buyers face an ongoing problem. The U.S. faces a nearly 4 million home shortfall in overall inventory. That leaves agents and brokers with a dearth of properties to present to hungry investors and buyers.

That makes real estate leads a crucial element in your business. The challenge lies in converting those leads. Keep reading for some key advice on converting leads into sales.

What Are Real Estate Leads?

The definition of real estate leads depends a lot on the kind of real estate agent or broker. For a buyer's agent, leads are essentially people who are either in the market for a real estate purchase or likely to be interested in one in the near future. For a seller's agent, a lead is someone who has an interest in offloading their property.

At present, buyer's agents aren't having all that much trouble finding clients.
Seller's agents, on the other hand, are often desperate to locate people who might prove willing to sell their property.

With those basic distinctions out of the way, let's dig into some of the methods that agents and brokers use for lead generation and lead conversion.

Lead Generation

Lead conversion starts with lead generation. You can't convert anyone who hasn't, in some way, entered into your conversion funnel. Fortunately, you have a few options for lead generation.

Website

One option is a well-designed website. Well-designed will mean slightly different things for buyer's agents and seller's agents, but you need the website essentials taken care of first.

Your site must load fast. It needs clear, easy-to-use navigation. Make sure your contact information is easy to find.

Also, provide visitors with an easy way to add themselves to your mailing list. Once someone is on your mailing list, they're a lead.

Social Media

Social media is another good option for finding leads. Social media lets you talk about the properties you represent or humble-brag about the great house your clients just bought.

Social media excels at letting you build your personal brand. Plus, you can interact directly with potential leads and bring them into the fold.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is the long game of lead generation. You, slowly but surely, build out a library of high-quality articles, blog posts, and even video or audio content on your site. All of that content attracts potential clients who come to trust you because you offer great information or advice.

Buying Leads

The short game of lead generation is buying real estate leads. Rather than waiting for organic traffic to bring people to you, you let someone else do the research legwork. Then, you reach out to those leads.

Once you have your leads, you fall into a hazy middle ground known as nurturing.

Lead Nurturing and Conversion

The line between lead nurturing and lead conversion is often difficult to pin down. That mostly happens because the same methods that can convert some people, may only nurture others. Let's look at a couple of key nurturing tactics.

Email Drip Campaign

An email drip campaign works as a nurturing tool because the people signing up for your email list are typically people already considering either buying a selling a piece of real estate. You aren't really talking them into anything, so much as feeding into their existing idea.

For some people, the drip campaign will ultimately convert them into a client. For others, it will simply make them more open to the idea of you representing them in a sale or purchase.

Email Newsletter

Another lead nurturing option is the email newsletter. The hit-and-miss ratio here is higher than it is with people who specifically signed up for your email list about real estate purchases or sales. Some of the people signing up are just casually interested in the real estate market in a given area.

Some of the people who sign up, though, are definitely looking to buy or sell. They want information about:

• What's available
• What it will cost
• How much they can make
• Potential obstacles
• Upsides to specific neighborhoods

Providing this information is often enough to push someone over the line from consideration into a decision to buy or sell.

If these methods don't ultimately convert, there are still a couple of tools left in the toolbox.

Lead Conversion

Let's say that your excellent content marketing convinced some visitors to sign up for your email list or newsletter. They open the emails you send. These are excellent leads, but they haven't reached out to you.

What should you do next? Lean into direct outreach. There are a couple of options here.

Direct mail

You can lean into a direct mail or direct email option. This gives you the option for a lot more personalization. For example, you can do some basic research about the property they might want to sell and discuss it.

For potential buyers, you can ask them to reach out with specific information about what they're looking for in a property.

Call

If they provide you with their phone number, you can even try calling them. A call is often a good way to build rapport and get a better read of their intentions. If you're skilled and a little lucky, a call can convert a lead into a client.

Whatever path you choose, just remember that there are always multiple paths that can lead to a conversion. Don't rely too much on a single communication channel.

Real Estate Leads and You

No broker or real estate agent can survive long without real estate leads coming their way on a fairly regular basis. Of course, it's typically on you to generate those leads and convert them.

Lean into social media, your website, and content marketing to generate organic leads. Use your email and newsletter lists to nurture those leads. When in doubt, use direct outreach methods.

The Share Group specializes in real estate research and lead list building. If you need more leads, call (402) 235-4556 or buy leads online now!