I have had a few Agents email me recently asking me about Internet leads. They usually say that they don't feel like you could possibly take care of your customers when you capture so many leads. They ask, "Aren't they just a lead to you instead of a customer?" Absolutely not I say to them! For some reason many Agents feel that an Internet lead is different than getting a floor call or a call on an ad you placed in the magazine or a sign call. Every sale you have ever had was a lead prior to becoming your customer. Yes, your husband or wife's friend that decided to use you as their Realtor after you contacted them was a lead. Your sign calls are all leads. Your floor calls....yup, they are all leads. So why would you consider your Internet leads any different.
I believe it's all in how you treat your leads to turn them into customers. At Tropical Realty of Suntree in Melbourne Florida, we treat every lead that comes into our office regardless of how it gets there, as a potential customer. With our "over the top" customer service program, everyone who inquires on my site is treated with tremendous customer service. Not only do our leads turn into customers, they come back and refer people to us all the time. In fact, just about every sale that comes to my office has come from an Internet lead...even all our listings! Check out my happy staff at www.melbournehomesearch.com and you can see how happy we are because we treat our leads/customers so great!
So when someone says to you that treating leads systematically is wrong. Tell them that you probably give your customers better service and produce more volume than they could ever think of producing. Our business is Real Estate sales. Sales is all about lead generation and lead conversion. How you get your leads has nothing to do with how good you do at converting them. Either way, you are converting leads to customers. Take care of your leads and they will turn into customers that take care of you!
Mitch, I close probably 50 internet leads every year and love them. I've recently found myself getting overwhelmed and hired a buyers agent. It's a great market.
Hi Chris - Whether the old school realtors want to realize it or not, this is the way it is now and the way it will be in the future. Doing business over the Internet is good business and for those who look down upon it I usually say to them: "How many homes have you sold this year?" Keep up the good work. 50 sales is awesome. That's what I was doing when I was selling homes. Our company will most likely close about 225 Internet transactions this year. Not to shabby for a 3 year old company!
Very inspirational
marcy Moyer Keller william Realty Palo Alto Ca.