It’s quite natural for a lot of realtors to be able to rely on certain inherent attributes of theirs when it comes to making the right types of connections with potential clients. Indeed, when an agent has the fortune to make an acquaintance with someone or a couple who is likely to buy or sell a home they can often dial up their personable nature and come across as the friendly / knowledgeable / professional type of person that these folks will be open to working with. And if they’re like 99% of soon-to-be home buyers or those ready to list a home then they WILL be working with a realtor. Is that going to be you? It may or may not, but what we can say with certainty here is that being good with Canadian real estate lead generation is only half of the equation.
We can also take fortune out of the picture in most instances too. Sure, there are going to be times when a new client falls into your lap, as the expression goes. But more frequently it is going to be the result of calculated and strategic decisions made by the agent about where they choose to invest their time – and money – when it comes to getting leads for realtors. One thing agents quickly learn after just a short time in the business is that you need to be judicious about how you spend your time when it comes to digging up new clients. Especially considering that every other realtor in your city or town is aiming to do the same thing, and there is never enough of the pie to go around.
So it becomes what are you doing differently, or more to the point what are you doing that is more effective and will likely give you an advantage over your competitors. The approaches you take to getting leads is – like we said – half of the equation. This is because a lead that isn’t converted into a client is essentially the same as a person you never met in the first place. Neither of them will have bought or sold a home through you as their realtor. As such we need to also be focusing on the other half of the equation – converting leads into clients for real estate.
This has everything to do with what you do with your sales funnel once the leads enter it, and in any type of sales business there are real gains to be had if you know how to nurture sales leads, and this applies to real estate just as emphatically. So what we’ll do with this week’s blog entry is provide valuable insight on how to navigate the sales funnel in realty and which conversion tactics are best for leads in this business. SEO for real estate can factor into this too, and we’ll touch on that as well.
Convert More Consistently
Many realtors will freely admit they’re not on top of their sales funnel in the way they’d like to be. It may be that leads enter only to disappear without becoming clients and it may also be that the agent is unaware of where he or she went wrong with nurturing the lead. However, in all fairness it’s entirely possible that there was no shortcoming on the part of the realtor that lead to that. It’s for all the instances otherwise that we need to talk about Canadian real estate lead generation.
These agents aren’t alone. It’s not uncommon for agents to struggle to understand and optimize their sales funnel. Converting leads into clients is often the much bigger challenge in comparison to making contact with someone who is approaching the point where they are ready to make a real estate move. This is where the sales funnel comes in. It is a cornerstone of any successful marketing strategy.
It helps to have a solid understanding of the funnel stages, and many realtors will only have a more vague idea of what these are and have never even thought about trying to name them. We recommend conceptualizing the sales funnel as a journey these potential clients are on, starting with initial awareness of their interest in real estate to making the final purchase or putting their home on the market with the help of a realtor.
Each stage requires a different approach and set of actions, and we’ve already dedicated plenty of blog entries here to explain how to get leads in real estate. If you’re willing to pay for them then there is almost always a lot to be gained from going with paid real estate leads Canada like the ones we provider here with our service. Otherwise you need to focus on casting a wide net to maximize your chances of being first-in-touch with people who are ready to buy or sell and haven’t committed to working with any one realtor yet.
Courses of Action
So what are the best choices for following up on Canadian real estate lead generation once those efforts have introduced a new prospect into your sales funnel? When this happens you are at the MOFU (middle of funnel stage) where the lead is in the funnel but is new to it and no efforts have been made to nurture the lead at this point. It is here that you want to focus on engaging and building trust with this lead you’ve captured. Be smart about how you nurture them, and that will usually involve providing valuable information that moves them closer to a purchase or sale decision.
One good idea is to offer a free guide or e-book. Another may be hosting a live Q&A session or webinar and encouraging audience members to follow the same path as the current leads in the funnel – based on you further establishing yourself as a knowledgeable professional who really knows the local real estate market. You can also do well with creating and posting engaging blog posts or similar social media contact that will make it even more likely for these people would see you in this light and also recognize how active you are in promoting your real estate services.
Here’s another possibility for you to consider – offering a service for free. The reason this has added value during the MOFU stage is because these leads haven’t made any commitments and they may well in fact be in touch with other realtors besides you at this time. Give them personalized and targeted content is a very effective way of nurturing leads and increasing the likelihood that they end up being converted into new clients.
All of this will eventually lead to the BOFU (bottom of funnel stage) and it’s here where it becomes that proverbial make-or-break point a lot of the time. This is especially true for leads that have been ‘warm’ the whole time they’ve been in your funnel. Clients that are almost certainly going to be buying or selling a home, and it’s only which realtor they are going to work with that’s still in question. It’s here that you’ll also want to ensure that you have a good website for real estate agents and that it is SEO optimized.
The significance SEO for real estate is in the fact that during this top or middle funnel stage these leads you have made contact with may still be making searches with the terms for *city* real estate OR *city* real estate agent, and if your real estate agent website is SEO optimized it is more likely it will come up high in search results. You want them to be pleasantly surprised and think ‘hey, that’s the agent who was speaking with us’ as it will almost always go along with a reinforced belief that you’re a legitimate professional who is reputable in the industry and a solid choice for anyone who needs a realtor.
BOFU is where you convert these leads into paying clients. These leads are ready for a transaction, so agents can make great gains and increase the chances of a conversion if they can provide clear calls-to-action and seamless onboarding. Options here can be to offer a free consultation or demo, or providing a discount or special offer.
More Proven Paths
In the bigger picture your overarching focus should be on building a more balanced pipeline, meaning a more consistent number of leads at the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel. Be critical when asking yourself if you are nurturing them effectively in the middle, are you converting them efficiently at the bottom? When one stage is lagging, it can throw off the entire process.
A balanced pipeline ensures a sustainable lead flow by adequately filling and resourcing all funnel levels. It’s common for agents to put more of their focus on outcomes based on leads that are now in the bottom of the funnel, but you shouldn’t put most of your focus their exclusively because all of those leads had to make it through the top and middle stages while still staying IN the funnel. Neglecting the top and middle can lead to a dry pipeline.
The consensus is that it is better to allocate 50% of your budget to top-of-funnel leads, 30% to middle ones and 20% to leads that have made it all the way to the bottom of your funnel. What is also supremely advisable is to use a CRM (customer relationship management) suite to track your leads’ progress and ensure no potential client slips through the cracks. Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) such as lead conversion rates, cost per lead, and customer lifetime value. Agents like how they can take this data and then identify bottlenecks and optimize your funnel for maximum efficiency.
At all stages there is everything to be said for WHEN you follow up with the leads, and HOW you follow up with them. Timely follow-up is critical for strategies to convert leads into clients. There are studies that have indicated that when you respond to a new lead within five minutes increases your have 20x the likelihood of converting them. It’s great to have an understanding of that, but effective follow-up goes beyond speed. It’s about creating multi-touch campaigns, personalizing outreach, and segmenting leads for targeted efforts.
Use the lead’s name, reference their specific needs or interests, and tailor your message to their stage in the funnel.
Advanced Follow Ups
Multi-touch campaigns are also highly recommended with Canadian real estate lead generation. This is based on the fact that most leads require multiple touchpoints before they get to the point where they can be converted. They are best done with a mix of emails, calls, and social media interactions to stay top-of-mind and continue to build trust with the prospective client. What’s most important to understand first is that this shouldn’t involve just sending an email or making a phone call. Greater results will come if you create a series of touchpoints that provide value and build trust over time.
The last thing you should also be doing is tracking the activity of the leads as best as you’re able to. With your CRM you should be able to monitor which emails your leads open, which links they click, and which pages they visit on your website. This information can then be used to tailor your follow-up efforts. Make sure to segment your leads based on their behaviour, interests, and stage in the funnel. This allows you to send targeted messages that resonate with their specific needs.
We’ll conclude here by saying that optimizing your real estate sales funnel is about actively engaging with your leads at every point of their journey. As is nearly always the case it is something that you get better with over time and with practice, so approach this as something where you’ll likely need to be improving with it over time and to be realistic about how much you can improve with converting leads in real estate. Continue to put something of a focus on SEO for real estate too, and if your site needs to be optimized that way then it’s definitely worth paying for someone to do that for you if you’re not capable of it yourself.
If you’d like to fast-track the growth and infusion of new potential clients into your sales funnel with paid real estate leads in Canada then you’re always welcome to sign up with us here and start receiving a monthly quota of qualified buyer and / or seller leads that will be delivered to you exclusively. No other realtor will receive them, and you have that opportunity to contact these folks all to yourself. Needless to say there is a lot to like about that if you are an agent and especially if you are working in a big city in Canada where the business tends to be competitive.
