I have been following a blog on Inman News; http://www.inman.com/buyers-sellers/columnists/teresa-boardman/consumers-dont-want-be-captured , which has sort of taken on a life of its own. The woman, a well known blogger from what I'm told, is saying that she doesn't believe that anyone should capture leads and that consumers don't want to be captured. Firstly, I'm not really sure what the difference is between getting someone to call you from a yard sign, a magazine or a tv ad versus the Internet. However, if you read many of these bloggers, they would make you think you are dirty for having people register prior to looking at listings. I don't really get it, but I guess the beauty of America is freedom of speech!
Ok, so what I'm trying to find out here is your opinion on if you think you should have a registration to looko at listings, or not have a registration. However, I really want to find out more. I want to find out what works best. I want to find this out for all of us, so if you don't leave a comment with stats, we may never know the answers.
Here are the questions I would like answered. I am going to put my stats up there first to get the ball rolling. Stats should be an average throughout the year and don't have to be exact. An estimate is fine too. I don't want anyone having to work hard to do this. Just keep it simple. When we are done, I will post the answers in another blog.
1. Do you require people to register prior to looking at listings? - Yes
2. How many unique visitors to your site do you receive monthly - 5,000
3. How many of these turn into leads? - 880
4. How many monthly sales on average - 28 and growing!
Ok, let's see if anyone is really going to help me end this debate once and for all!
Recently, I signed up for a call capture 800# for my listings. Too soon to know what the results are, but have not used it before. Several people in our office use it and it seems to be working for them. My web site does not require then to sign in, and I do intend to change that in the future. The key seems to be providing them with great content/reports they can get after they sign in. We'll see how it works.
Hi Sheila! I'm really trying to understand the mindset of Agents on this subject. I don't make my customers sign in to look at my site, only to look at listings. Do you have them sign in to look at listings on your site? If not, what is the differnce in your mind, in using the 800# to capture phone numbers of people calling your number versus people on your site. Isn't it the same thing? Thanks for responding. It really helps me understand better when I can get people to open up about this stuff!
I have been using the 800 number to capture leads for several years and estimate 30% of my new business comes from it.
Mitch -
I have two different views on this topic and multiple websites to make the best of both options:
My main website www.SamMiller.com does not require any type of registration and you can click on as many listings as you like and all the virtual tours as often as you like. The key is to market my listings to as many buyers as I possible can. If they are interested I will hear from some of them while others will never contact me due to relationships with other agents.
My www.AppleValleyOhio.com website allows visitors to view as many photos as they like without registration but there are buttons to request more information and to view the virtual tours that require registration.
Most agents focus their energy on building a gorgeous website but fail to make it super easy to have the visitors contact them. We have built into our sites forms that generate a tremendous amount of inquires. Most of these inquires who fill out the forms are very serious. My goal is not simply about capturing names, numbers or e-mail addresses but determining who is a serious buyer so we can help them today and follow up with the other inquires who want to buy in 3 months to 6 months. We do utilize a drip system to stay in touch and we love it when buyers want to be placed on our computerized listing search because it educates them to the current market values.
During our best year my modest sized team and I sold and closed 380 transactions using this system. The numbers are obviously not as high today with the shift in the market but we are actually gaining market share while many other agents in our market seem to be giving up.
Hi Sam! Thanks for the feedback. I to let my office listings be seen without any registration. I think it would be a diservice to my sellers if I didn't maximize their exposure. I only have people register to search the MLS through my IDX system.
Your numbers are excellent. Unfortunately I started this all when the market started going down in 2005. I do know that with an average of 8 different showings per month per each of my 24 Agents, it's only a matter of time before we hit a high transaction rate. This year we are on track to hit right around 250-275 transactions. Next year I'm shooting for over 350. It takes time to get Agents into the Internet mindset. One of the great things about having a bunch of successful Agents though is the new Agents coming in ( I have 6 of them with less than 4 months) can see the system works great. I did have one Agent write and close 13 contracts the past 45 days. She has done a great job of challenging by example all my other Agents. Her close rate this year is 1 out of 10 raw leads.
Thanks again for your numbers. How many Agents do you have working with you on your team?
Mitch, I have heard of you too. I get what you are saying. My article is talking about how cosumers feel about being captured and having to give up contact information just to look at listings when they can look at them in many places without having to sign in. My approach is different. I attract buyers and sellers. I put it out there, they come to me. Yes it is marketing, but i don't drip, or collect contact information. It saves me time and work and my conversion rates are much higher than yours. What I mean by that is the people who do give me contact information also become my clients. I don't need to get 880 "leads" for 28 transactions. I run a different kind of business. I would need fewer than 40 leads for 28 transactions.
Teresa - It's all about what makes you happy. My motto this year is "If it ain't fun, I ain't doing it"! You are very right. If you just let the customers contact you, you should have a higher conversion rate. There are a ton of business models out there with regard to Internet lead conversion. As I have said before, it's really whatever makes you comfortable. One of the differences though, is with my system, an Agent can be up and running and start seeing success within a few months. If we waited for people to contact us, my guess is it would take substantially longer. Even with the registration, we still receive a ton of emails from people who haven't registered and are inquriing about the area and housing. So again, if you have a good amount of traffic, then you can certainly be successful without having them register. I have tried both ways and as far as running a business, there is no comparison for me.
My goal, as a business, is to create as many leads for my Agents as possible. The Internet affords us the opportunity to do that. I know that when someone registers on my site, they are getting excellent information and excellent service from my Agents. We hardly ever get an email or a phone call with someone who is upset that we tried our best to help them. Most of them have even thanked us for contacting them when we have called, emailed or both.
In the end, I just want my Agents to have a good career and to help as many people as they can find their home. This is a very personal business. If my Agents didn't have the great work ethic and customer service they have, then all this wouldn't really matter. It still comes down to treating your customers the best you can treat them and servicing them the best you can service them. How you get a customer whether through friends, newspaper, 800 number, yard sign, tv ad or the Internet is all the same to me. It's a person interested in buying a home. If you are in sales, which Real Estate is a sales business, it's our job to convert those interested into those buying.