Mitch 's Blog

A must read for new Agents and Agents that are stuck!

Mitch Ribak - The eHomes Realty Network — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 14:27:37 -0600

Getting started is a challenge if you pick the wrong office. When I first started I was told the office I was joining did no training. The only thing my broker said was "follow up, follow up, follow up". Today, that is still the best advice I received in this business.

So how do you get started? I could go on and on with different things you can do, but I will just take a minute and give you a little advice which will save you time and money.

1. It's a business. If you don't run it like a business you will most likely not succeed. Read the book eMyth Revisited by Michael Gerber. To me it's the best book I have ever read with regard to business.

2. Be prepared to spend money. If you don't invest in yourself and your business it's a tough road to go. When I started I had just lost my company and I was broke. However, I took 20% of every check I received and put it in my marketing account.

3. Become an expert at floor calls. Every Agent told me not to do floor time when I started. To me that was an opportunity. My first year I sold 36 homes...28 were from floor time. Create a system to capture each floor call as I did and you are on your way pretty quickly!

4. Unless you have a ton of money to invest, don't worry about branding. I think the biggest mistake that new Agents do is trying to brand themselves. It's very costly and unless you have a marketing background, very tough. I have an advertising and markeitng background and I know enough that if you don't have real money to invest in branding you are better off not doing it. Concentrate more on generating leads. Of course your next questions is how do you generate leads. Here ya go:

Generating Leads

a. Floor time as I mentioned - I created a floor calls system that allowed me to capture over 80% of the callers as leads. Keep it simple and have fun...it's pretty easy yet only 2% of floor calls nationwide are converted.

b. Open Houses - I have sold a ton of homes through open houses. Be sure to have a wireless laptop and a portable printer. It's very easy to capture each person that walks through the door. Only do open houses on more expensive homes as they produce higher end buyers. You might want to start with a few less expensive ones at first to get your feet wet, but not for long.

c. Internet Marketing but be sure you have the right tools or you are wasting your money. I'm a big fan of Pay Per Click as it allows me to predict my business. If you have the right tools you should be able to capture a good amount of leads. However, prepare to have to wait a few months before they start converting to sales and even if you are excellent at lead conversion you will only convert 2-3 out of 100 leads.

d. Seminars - I love seminars and did several when I first started. Of course I didn't know much about real estate so I partnered with an experienced Agent, a title company and a mortgage broker. I marketing it and organized it. The experienced Agent spoke about being a first time home buyer. The title company did their thing as did the mortgage company. I didn't pay a penny as I had the title company and mortgage company pay for everything. I had at least 1 or 2 sales each time I ran a seminar. Of course I had to split it with the other agent, but it was well worth it for the experience.

As far as picking your broker, it has nothing to do with a higher split. Look for a broker that has a great training program and understands the needs of new Agents. I personally love new Agents and my top 12 Agents in my office were brand new when they started with me. The split is probably the least important aspect of what your broker should do for you. They should be a good teacher and mentor for you. As I've told my Agents, 50% of a lot of sales is a heck of a lot better than 70% nothing!

Well I could go on for hours, but this should get you in the right direction. Feel free to send me a message if you have any questions. Good luck in your career!

__________________

Lead Conversion - It's not part of the game, It IS the game!

Mitch Ribak - The eHomes Realty Network — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 10:46:12 -0600

Have you ever wondered why some people on here are very successful with Internet leads and others seem to have no idea what to do? Capturing leads, even though not done very well by most, is extremely easy. You can do pay per click marketing and by tomorrow have a good amount of leads...if you have the right capture tools of course. However, it really doesn't matter how many leads you receive, it's how many buy or sell a home from you. I like to call it "creating a customer for life".

So why is it that someone like our office can close 311 online transactions last year and other companies close 3? Could it be because we generate 10,000 leads or so each year? Possibly. Could it be because we have a solid follow up system utilizing both email and phone calls? Most Definintely!

The reason most Agents and Brokers fail in the Internet space is lack of a system to both follow up and maintain leads. This past year 20 of our sales came from leads that were 4 years old. How many Agents would spend 4 years actually following up with a customer? Not many. I think a lot of it comes down to attitude. Our Agents have the attitude that we have 4-6 months to create a great relationship where as most Agents will look at a person not buying for 6 months and say, give me a call when you are ready. Are you one of those Agents? If so, we need to give you an attitude adjustment asap!

The question is, how do you learn something that most people don't understand and very few people have mastered. Of course you could always join The eHomes Realty Network which teaches a step by step approach of our 100MPH Marketing System. This is our lead conversion system my Brokerage, Tropical Realty of Suntree, has used to grow 20% each year even in this market. Or, you can read a ton of blog posts and try to figure out who is the most successful with lead conversion and model your business after their business. The problem of course is to be sure you are learning from the right person. When I get a call from a company trying to sell me anything with regard to online programs, I always ask them if they have any real estate experience and if they do, I ask them why they are selling the product instead of using the product if it is that good. I haven't received to many answers when I ask! Always ask vendors how they know that their program is successful. For instance, I know my system works because I use it every day. I have numbers and stats to back up my claims. Most of the vendors that call me can't really prove their claims.

Ok, what is the most important aspect of lead conversion? It's simple! Give the customer what they want. Consumers come to your website for one thing and one thing only. To look at listings. If you don't have an IDX solution on your site, you are missing the boat. If you have an IDX solution and and don't require people to register you are missing the other boat. If you are not following up leads you receive, both with or without phone numbers, you missed all the boats and you are just treading watter.

Just one more quick note. I can't believe how many people I talk to that do not work leads that have no phone numbers. 25% (about 75 last year) of our sales come from leads with no phone numbers each year. The number has been consistant each year. Be sure to work each lead as they are going to buy. The reality is, even if you are great at least convesion, you will most likely only sell 2-3% of your leads a home. Of course this number is based on raw leads, not people we have built a relationship with already or that we have talked to. You must keep your eye on the ball and you must treat all leads equally at first. Create a system that will include both email drip campaigns and phone call follow up. Give the customer what they want and need. Do not give them fluff as that's a sure fire way to lose a customer.

If you need help, don't hesitate to ask. There is no reason to go another year without using the Interent to generate sales. As an individual Agent you should be setting a goal of 24-36 sales each year from the Internet. A good system will easily prodcue these results. Good luck!

Capturing leads is a piece of cake...it's the conversion that matters most

Mitch Ribak - The eHomes Realty Network — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 10:43:53 -0600

Brevard County Real Estate is going quickly these days!

Mitch Ribak - The eHomes Realty Network — Fri, 29 May 2009 22:32:52 -0500

Well it's been an interesting few years to say the least. We have been extremely busy at Tropical Realty in Brevard County Florida. Over the past few months our sales have doubled and it's very obvious to us that we finally have hit bottom. Most people don't realize that we actually started our decline about 6 months ahead of most of the country. With that said, it makes sense that we would hit bottom first.

So how do I know we are at the bottom? It's pretty easy to see. Our inventory is down from 8,000 at the peak to 4900 right now...almost half. On top of that, just about every home that is priced correctly is selling within 30-60 days and the best properties have multiple offers on them.

It's pretty funny actually what happens. We work hard to educate our buyer by supplying them with stats. For instance, homes right now are selling at 91.8% on the list price on average with the lower homes selling at over 95% of the list price. Of course our customers don't believe us. I can understand that with all the national media saying that Florida is in so much trouble. However, once they lose a house or two to other buyers they start paying attention. An Agent of mine said it well. She said that everyone is paying attention to the national media, but Real Estate is a local commodity. She is so right.

If you are seriously thinking about buying that retirement home or vacation home or even your first home so you can take advantage of the $8,000 credit currently available, then this is probably the time to get your best deal. Actually it was two months ago, but right now our prices are stable and with interest rates at or around 5%, I can't think of a better time.

And if you are looking for condos, there are some great deals. A few years ago you couldn't touch an Oceanfront condo for under $500k. Now we have some that are at $300k and some less. There was a one bedroom one bath last week, on the Ocean, for $89k. As you can guess, this was gone within a day or so....it's also not the norm!

At Tropical Realty, most of our customers come from out of state. Last year we were the number 1 Brokerage in Buyer Transactions than any other office in the county (out of 500 offices). We are very proud of this as it shows that hundreds of customers have put their trust in us to help with their relocation to Brevard County. If you would like to look at homes, you can click here to start.

We are always here to help. If you would like to talk to an Agent, call 321-259-9115. Our phones are answered by real people every day, 7 days a week.

What Memorial Day means to me.

Mitch Ribak - The eHomes Realty Network — Fri, 22 May 2009 09:48:07 -0500

It's Friday, the beginning of a long weekend of sun (maybe not for us in Brevard County Florida this weekend) and time to get together with our friends and families to eat hamburgers (or veggie burgers) and hot dogs. This is probably my most favorite holiday of the year. It's certainly the most emotional holiday for me.

While we are here enjoying our families, the smell of hot coals and the beauty of a late spring day in America, we have thousands of our children fighting our battles oversees. I think that it's so important on this weekend to recognize these kids and what they have done for all of us throughout the generations. Every day these sons, daughters, fathers and mothers put their lives on the line to ensure that we maintain our lifestyle and freedoms that we sometimes take for granted.

Since the beginning of this great country, we have had soldiers spilling their blood so we can enjoy the moments in our lives. Sometimes we do take our freedom for granted. We shouldn't. Especially in todays climate where every day someone wants to take away another piece of our freedom. I for one will never take this freedom for granted. I wake up each day and drive to work to have fun selling real estate, meeting new people, training my Agents and training my members of The eHomes Realty Network. I love what I do and I love that I am free to do it.

Today, like every Friday since we went to Iraq, I am wearing my red shirt and my American flag on my collar. I had heard somewhere back in 2003 that this is what we should do to show support for our troops. So, every Friday I wear my red. In fact, today, I actually was half way to work when I realized it was Friday and I didn't have my red shirt on. I turned around and drove back home to put my shirt on. I feel better now! I figure if those kids can risk their lives every day, then I can show my support on Fridays by wearing my red shirt!

After I changed and was back on my half hour ride to the office I heard a beautiful rendition of God Bless America. I know this might sound wimpy, but it caused tears to roll down my cheek. In fact, as I'm writing this I'm getting misty. I have been thinking lately of all that has and is going wrong in our country. I usually don't let negativity get into my life, I'm much stronger than that. But lately it's been hard to watch our politicians ruin our country. It amazes me every day when I hear the garbage that comes out of the Washington Elites mouths. So this morning, when I heard this song, it really hit home. I love our country and everything that we stand for. I love that fact that when any country in the world is in trouble we do our best to help. I love when there is a natural disaster we are the first ones to offer aid and money to those affected areas. I love that when I walk down the street I don't have to look over my shoulder and wonder who is spying or following me. I love that I am free to teach my kids to be free and to go after their goals and dreams. I love that they can still do that.

So as I said prior, please thank a soldier or a veteran for their service. Thank them for doing their part in keeping American safe and free. Thank then for doing the dirty work of fighting our wars so most Americans don't have to fight. Be sure my heart and mind will be on all our kids oversees fighting right now. Please join me in saying a prayer and well wishes to all our service men and women.

Have a great free weekend and God Bless America

Two Part Short Sale Webinar

Mitch Ribak - The eHomes Realty Network — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:59:36 -0500

Hi Everyone!

Next Thursday, April 30th at 2pm The eHomes Realty Network will be holding a two part webinar series on Short Sales. In this market it's vital to understand the ins and outs of short sales. We have an expert on short sales, Chris Badger of Strategic Loss Mitigation, handling this webinar to help answer all your short sale questions.

To attend this free webinar, go to: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/511191650

If you have any questions in the meantime, don't hesitate to ask!

Is your broker also your competitor?

Mitch Ribak - The eHomes Realty Network — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:01:15 -0500

I had an interesting conversation today with an Agent in Rhode Island. She works for one of the big franchises and is totally unhappy with the office and the company. Of course, with my goal to help, I asked her why she wasn't happy. There were many reasons, but the biggest was that her Broker is also her competitor as well as every other Agent in her office. She told me that even the Broker is hesitant to help the Agents because she is a compteting Broker and is always trying to beat her Agents. As she was talking, I couldn't help but think about all the big companies in which the Agents have to fight not only for their business, but to keep their stuff quiet and hidden so nobody, not even the Broker, takes any business away from them. How horrible that must be I thought!

I understand that in some cases, especially now, that some Brokers need to be selling to help keep the business going. However, I can't imagine, being a Broker, taking any business away from any of my Agents. Why would an Agent want to work for a Broker who is trying to take her business? I couldn't figure that one out.

After listening to her and saying good bye it brought even more questions to me. How can a Broker who is actively trying to work with buyers and sellers actually run their Brokerage? I know how many hours a week I work currently with 25 Agents or so. Is this the reason why we have so many unethical Agents? Should Brokers be allowed to sell property actively? Maybe if there are less than a certain amount of Agents they they could be allowed to sell too. It seems to me that it must be a major industry wide problem and might even be the single most issue that troubles our industry.

Anyway, it was just a thought and I was curious how many Brokers actually compete with their Agents and as Agents, how do you feel about that?

Do you ever ask, where did all the time go? Help is here for you!

Mitch Ribak - The eHomes Realty Network — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 05:06:39 -0500

Hi Everyone!

It's been a little while since I've written. I've been extremely busy putting together new training programs for The eHomes Realty Network. Of course when I can, I like to open some of my webinars up to the public. This webinar on Time Management is so important, that I knew once I learned how powerful it was, that I would have to share it with everyone.

Have you been running around with your head cut off? Have you wondered how you could possibly get everything done you need to do? Have you been so busy that you are not accomplishing anything? If you are a busy Realtor, then you need to be at this webinar. Time Management is the killer of most Agents and business people. If you can't mangage your time, you can't expect to win this Real Estate game. It's all about being prepared each day to accomplish your most important 6 things to do. In this webinar, I'm going to teach you how!

The question you should ask yourself is, how much business do I lose each year because I didn't take an extra 5-10 minutes per day to prepare my day? My guess is you lost a lot of business. I know my Agents probably lost an average of 10 sales each last year. I can attribute that mostly to poor time management.

If you are interested in increasing your business, then this webinar is a MUST!

To register, go to: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/211903365

As always, I look forward to helping you. Have a great day!

A message to start your week...

Mitch Ribak - The eHomes Realty Network — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 07:16:59 -0600

I sent this to my staff and my members of The eHomes Realty Network yesterday morning an I had such a response from all of them, I figured I would share it with you.

As most of you know, I read a lot of books these days. That's a
pretty amazing thing because I have major reading disabilities. In
fact, if you don't know, I flunked out of college after my first
semester and was 326th out of 328th of my high school class. I had a
96 IQ and was told that I should learn a trade because that was what
someone with an IQ that far below the average of 110 would be able to
accomplish. Good thing I didn't listen!

Stay Positive - An exerpt from The No Complaining Rule

It's easy to be positive when everything in life is going great. The
hard part is staying positive when you get kocked down and kicked
around. The fact is, no one goes through life untested. If you study
history, sports and business, you will find that every great leader
and team had to overcome adversity and challenges to define themselves
and their success. With so many people telling us we can't do it, we
have to be positive and believe we can. We have to have faith and
trust in a bigger plan for us and our team. The concept of the
"overnight success" is a myth. Life is a test, and a deciding factor
of whether we pass or fail is the answer to the following question:
"Are you going to stay positive in the face of your doubts, fears, and
challenges?" Staying positive is not about putting on a fake smile or
believing you can do it all yourself. Rather it's about being
optimistic and living with hope and having faith. The measure of our
success will not be determined by how we act during the great times in
our life but rather by how we think and respond to the challenges of
our most difficult moments.

The media, your co-workers, and your customers can tell you how bad
the market is and how difficult it must be to be in the Real Estate
business these days. The reality still states that it's the best time
we have had to buy a home in the past 10 years and it's a great time
for you, the Realtor, to exploit the opportunities verse dwell on the
negatives. Take a look in the mirror and ask yourself, are you going
to be one of the thousands of Realtors that fail this year because of
their attitudes and negativities, or are you going going to be one of
the 10% who decide to take control of their lives, their customers and
their business and have a rocking 2009? The choice is yours!

Homegain and Zillow Estimation Tools - Are they good or evil?

Mitch Ribak - The eHomes Realty Network — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:16:44 -0500

I have had a bunch of people email me lately on how to deal with their customers who use both Homegains and Zillows Home Valuations. As we all know, both these tools are not accurate. They are really a starting point for the consumer to start determination of their homes value. I have read a ton of blogs on this issue and most Realtors are against these tools being out there. Personally, I don't have a problem with either of them because it allows me to show my customers why I am the professional Realtor and why they really need us.

Before we look at how it affects both buyers and sellers, I want to tell you about my findings. I have found, each time I have used both tools on the same property, that Homegain was usually more accurate. Both companies however come in usually lower and sometimes substantially lower than the actual value of the home. The main reason for this is their inability to look at factors that affect valuations. As an example of these factors, we can look at waterfront. For instance, I live on a canal in Merritt Island Florida. However, just a block away from me are homes that are not on waterfront. The difference in valuation is sometimes at least $100k to much more. When my home is run through Homegain and Zillow, the value it gives me values as low as $186k and only as high as $290k. My home was recently appraised at $400k.

From an Agents standpoint, the other reason I like Homegain is I believe they do a better job of capturing customers and traffic which usually end up on my site! That's a good thing!

So let's look at how they affect your sellers and buyers.

Sellers

I love when one of my customers has used Homegain or Zillow to value a home. Since their valuations are almost always very low, it gives me a chance to be a knight in shining armor! For instance, in my home example above, if I went by Zillow or Homegain the most I would have thought my home would be worth would be $290k. As a Realtor, wouldn't you want your customer to believe their home is worth much less than much more. I know what I prefer. So say you are the Realtor and you come to my house and all of the sudden you telling me my home is worth $400k versus $290k. You use your expertise to show the real comps and how this all affects the price of the home. Instead of having to fight with the potential customer on how they need to lower their price like we do every day, you just made your customers a potential $100k more. I think they would be excited. If they wanted a quick sale, you could lower the home price to $375k and still be way above what they were prepared to list. Great stuff. Thank you Homegain and Zillow for that help!

Buyers

Ok, so this one gets a little tougher. Since the price comes in so much lower, the buyer thinks they should offer that price. Again, this is where you need to use your experience and expertise to explain to them why the Homegain or Zillow price is incorrect. You simply explain to them this is just an estimate and how it doesn't take into outside influences when pricing the property. You simply show them real comps (which you should be doing with your buyers anyway) to support the asking price or the offer they should really be offering. I like this to as it proves your value to your customer. But let's look at another possibility. Maybe, with the help of their valuation, you can get a great deal for your buyer. If you submit the Homegain and Zillow valuations with the offer, they may be more apt to negotiate at a lower price since these companies are saying their home has much less value.

In the end, these companies are not going away and if they do, there will be one right behind them opening their doors. With the advent of the Internet will bring new tools. Some will be good and some will be bad. I know I wouldn't have it any other way since my entire marketing program is online and all my business comes from online leads.

As always, if you have any questions or need any help with anything please don't hesitate to ask.

Have a fun Wednesday!

Hmmm does nobody have any creative means of obtaining sellers?

Mitch Ribak - The eHomes Realty Network — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:26:00 -0600

I posted a blog a little while ago about finding creative means of obtaining seller leads. Basically I'm interested in seeing if anyone was willing to share how they found sellers. I had plenty of people read the blog, but no response. I have to believe someone out there has a good way of getting listings. Any help would be appreciated!

Are you throwing money way every time you answer the phone?

Mitch Ribak - The eHomes Realty Network — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:52:53 -0500

The stats say that only 2% of floor calls are converted to sales. Yes, you heard that right, only 2%! That means 98 times out of 100 times a new lead calls you from a sign call, internet call, or any other call, you don't convert them to a customer.

When I first got into the business everyone told me that floor calls were a waste of time. Obviously if you know me, I saw a great opportunity. The results - My first year in business I had 36 sales with 28 of them from floor calls! I love floor calls and so should you! It's a live person wanting real estate information. What else would you want?

The reality is you probably werent trained properly or not at all. On Thursday, Oct. 23rd at 2:00pm, I will be holding a webinar on Converting Floor Calls to Sales. This is for my members at The eHomes Realty Network, but I am also opening it up to Active Rain members. Just follow this link to register for this informational webinar. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/350780788

How much does it cost to have a successful Internet program?

Mitch Ribak - The eHomes Realty Network — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:57:27 -0500

One of my potential members of The eHomes Realty Network asked me this question today and I thought it was something I should share on here for my fellow Active Rain members. I get this question asked a lot!

So how do we even figure this out? First we must look at what you need to create a successful Internet program. Here is the break down of what I use for our very successful Internet program.

Website - I'm a big believer in templated websites. There are many companies out there where you can get a site for under $50. We will use $50 as our number

IDX - A decent IDX system to add to your website can be bought for approximately $50 per month.

So basically for less than $100 per month you can have a good set up to capture leads. At Tropical Realty we spend $80 total for our IDX and Website.

CRM - There are many systems out there from $10 per month to $100+ per month. I'll use Top Producer as a benchmark and using their basic system $39.95 per month. Keep in mind that to start off you can easily use Microsoft Outlook to do most of what a CRM does. One difference between a good CRM and Outlook is automated drip emails. With that said, for over 6 years, before we automated with our 100MPH Marketing Software, we have run a very successful Internet program with just two emails per month to our entire database.

Marketing - This is where it's tough for me to give you a price because it really depends on your beliefs. As most of you know, I am a big believer in Pay Per Click. I have built a successful Brokerage using PPC and would never take it out of my marketing. Others believe SEO is the answer. SEO is great but can also be costly if you need to hire someone. Even if you don't, it's not a predictable business model so I'm going to stick with PPC for this business model.

PPC - $250-$500 per month. Personally if you are going to spend less than this amount, it's probably not worth spending the money. The average ppc is around $1 per click. Of course in some areas this is much higher and others worse. $500 spent would result in 500 clicks. A 10% capture would get you 50 leads per month which is the number that I give my Agents on a monthly basis for them to be successful. This year 50 leads per month has resulted in 1.5 sales per month per Agent in my office but more importantly has resulted in 8 different buyers per month per Agent. With this showing activity, we know that when the market comes back a little, we will average 4 sales per month per Agent which is my goal for each of my Agents.

Newsletter - I use Realty Times for $299 per year ($25 per month if broken down). There are many options out there, but I have found them to be one of the best and easiest to deal with.

The eHomes Realty Network (ok, just a little plug for me) $39.95 per month

These costs of course are the basics costs and they can be higher or lower depending on the factors. However, it will give you a little idea on what your monthly costs are if you choose to use the Internet the 100MPH Marketing way. I'm sure most of you know that my little brokerage is on track to hit 250 transactions this year using our systems.

So let's look at the summary:

Website and IDX = $100
CRM =                  $ 39.95
PPC =                   $500
Newsletter =          $ 25
The Network =       $39.95

Total $704.90

These are the facts Jack! If you want to be successful running your Internet program, these are the basic tools and costs you need to succeed. Of course when you start out, you can lower your PPC spending to $250 which of course won't get you the amount of leads I like per Agent on a monthly basis. However it does give you a chance to start at $454.90 per month. Don't join my Network and you can bring this down a little more but of course the goal of the Network is to save you money by saving you from making mistakes I have made in the past.

In the end, it's up to you if you really want to have a successful Internet program. This is the program that works for any Agent. Can Agents that understand all this do it less expensive using SEO and other online marketing programs? Sure! However, in my experience in dealing with my members, this is not the norm. The other factor that changes everything here is your ability to follow a lead conversion system that works. The numbers above are the costs to get the leads. If you can't convert them, then this number can seem very large, hence the purpose of the Network as part of your monthly costs. However if you spend this amount, and invest in your business, within 3 or 4 months you will start to see the benefits of consistancy and database building.

As always, I'm here to answer any questions and help anyone that needs help. I never charge for an initial consultation. I do them daily with many Agents. Some join the Network, and others don't. The ones that have been joining the Network have been proactive in building their Internet business. So far most of the ones who haven't joined, didn't make a commitment to be successful online.

Good luck and I hope this helps!

Internet Leads - Are they customers or just leads?

Mitch Ribak - The eHomes Realty Network — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:32:58 -0500

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!

Should you leave a message when calling an Internet lead?

Mitch Ribak - The eHomes Realty Network — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:30:49 -0500

This is an obvious answer but I can't tell you how many Agents I talk to that don't leave messages. I believe you should leave a message every time.

Here are my reasons:

1. If you don't leave a message, you have a 100% reality that they will not call you back. It's sort of like a putt you leave short...it definately isn't going in the cup!

2. If you leave a message you have a chance they will call you back. I'm not much of a gambling man but I think your odds of getting a call back go up significantly if you leave a message.

3. They gave you their number and expect a call. What if they are looking to buy today but you just missed them. They will now find another Realtor and think of you as unresponsive to their needs. Every time you don't leave a message you are potentially blowing a sale. I won't take the risk. The reason my Agents are so successful ( 1 out of 24 leads is a sale as a group) with lead conversion is because they are very responsive when they receive a lead.

That's it. In the end, they gave you their number and most of the time are pleased that you called. Many people are not available when you call. Most of the time it takes us a couple of calls to get hold of them. Consumers want an Agent who works hard. When they see you work hard, you win! If you want to be successful with lead conversion, then start leaving messages and you will start seeing the beginning of your results!