The way a funnel is going to work is having a space constriction and gravity working to ensure that some type of liquid can be taken at volume and effectively moved into a specific location as quickly and thoroughly as possible. A sales funnel is going to be more a figurative use of the term, as there’s nothing liquid about prospective customers and you won’t need to know of their viscosity. Sales funnels in real estate are dependent on new leads being added to them and this is why real estate lead generation is so important.
Agents need to get good at finding these leads and converting them, as it’s only once the lead becomes a client that they go into the sales funnel. Before that point you don’t know if a lead is going to end up working with you or not, but you do need to know the best ways of making that a likely outcome. You learn as you go in the business, and that’s why meeting and corresponding with leads is something you’ve got to be doing as much as possible. Among real estate lead generation services these days are ones like ours where you can get paid real estate leads.
These leads are qualified, meaning there is something proving that the individuals have at least some degree of likelihood that they’re going to buy or sell a home in the nearer future. Only one realtor will ever receive that lead, and if that’s you then you have the opportunity to be first in touch with them. Do you have what it takes to convince them you’re their best choice as a realtor? That’s something you need to look at and it may be that you have just as much expertise and local market knowledge as any other realtor in the area. It then becomes a question of what else do have to offer these people.
Getting good at real estate lead generation can take years, but if you’re a new realtor in Canada it makes sense to start working towards that now, and paid real estate leads can be a way for you to get ahead faster. It may be that we can expand the definition of the sales funnel to include lead generation, as it has to happen before there’s any person or could to go into the funnel to begin with. So that’s what we will do with this week’s entry here, and look at how the real estate lead generation funnel works. Call now to get exclusive real estate leads.
Funnel Parts
The idea of the funnel has always been a core concept in sales and marketing. The terms ‘marketing funnel’ and ‘sales funnel’ certainly aren’t new but in this new era of digital marketing we’re all seeing them a whole lot more often. They push the need for tracking a customer’s interaction with a company or product, and they make it easier to do that.
In response people have created lots of online lead generation funnels, and of all those people the ones who will be reading this here are real estate agents. Not all of them are the same, and some of them will be better put together than others. Conceptually the way they works is as a visual representation of your customer’s journey from the awareness to the advocacy phase. The terms marketing people will use in relation to them are the top, the middle, and the bottom of the funnel.
The top of the funnel is where you will have broad marketing activities that build awareness about your product or service within your target audience. An example with real estate lead generation could be any kind of ad you do either in a magazine or online that will be in front a ‘cool’ audience, meaning one that isn’t warm and likely to be ready to make their real estate move soon. People in the cooler audience will be ones who don’t know of you as a realtor.
The consideration phase is also in the top part of the funnel. Here is where marketing activities undertaken to persuade homeowners to list with you are found. First and foremost as a marketing strategy here will be retargeting ads available on digital platforms. A consideration marketing activity can also include a mass email to your mailing list. In traditional marketing, coupon codes and in-store promotions are often used as a marketing activity to drive people into the consideration phase.
Conversion is what means you’ve created a situation where it’s now very likely the person is going to work with you. Here you are converting a lead or prospect into a paid customer. Different sales activity may be used to go them to the conversion phase, but it’s always going to be something that happens – or doesn’t – in the middle of funnel. The length of these phases will depend on the type of purchase the customer is making. When the purchase or sale is of a home the sheer magnitude of the decisions means all those buyer / seller prerogatives become amplified and for obvious.
Finding the best outcomes isn’t an option, it’s something that has to happen for these homeowners or people who are planning to buy a home. Everything has to be going right before they are going to take the next steps and the potentially the ones that mean they’re continuing down your lead generation funnel.
Contemplation, Then Consideration
Loyalty and advocacy phases come in the post-purchase phase, and it’s here where agents have the opportunity to make the right lasting impression on clients. The type of impression that will have them choosing to work with you again in the future if they are buying or selling homes then too.
These advocates are a big part of real estate lead generation too as they will be fully inclined to refer you based on the positive experience with you as their realtor. Usually, people first become loyal customers, meaning they’ll continuously purchase products or services from you and then become advocates. Once an agent gets to this point there is a crossover between the initial funnel and the property purchase funnel.
The Property purchase funnel starts right at the beginning too and at the very moment and would-be client starts to first think about buying or selling a home. Whether it is a buyer’s or seller’s market at the time can be a factor in how these people are oriented as they become potential leads, and a realtor needs to be taking this into account when they decide on how they’re going to approach them once that opportunity exists.
In this phase these individuals or couples are all about gathering as much information as possible. They want to know what kind of properties are on the market and how much they go for. Obviously they know there is not going to be much purchase intent when people are in this phase, but a realtor who is experienced with real estate lead generation services knows how speak with and nurture leads based on this aspect of their mindset.
Next up will be the consideration phase, where the client has already arrived at the point where they are considering some options. It’s still a research phase, but they have a clearer purchase intent too. Most of the people in this phase will make some type of real estate move within the following year. They’ll do so working within a budget and needing to be in a specific price range and with a shortlist of areas and property features they’d like to have in their future home.
It’s here that they’re going to be choosing a realtor to work with, and so this secondary stage is so big for agents as it’s make-or-break with converting leads into clients for real estate. Conversion means it is decision-making time for them, so it’s right here that agents will be soon finding out if they nurtured the lead well and the people will be choosing to list with them or agree to start seeing homes.
Loyalty and Advocacy
These are the last of the two phases as they are connected in the bigger picture of real estate lead generation. It’s possible that any client’s purchase of a home or sale of one may be the last time they’ll ever do that and need the services of a realtor. But if they do end up getting back into the real estate market for whatever reason then they’ll be working with a realtor again. Will that be you? If you’ve succeeded with the parts of the funnel to this point then it’s quite likely they will be open to having you be their realtor again.
You can feel confident in directly asking for these referrals if you think you’ve done a good job and your clients are happy. One of the most common questions we get here is how long does it take for an average lead to convert. Some say it’s an average of 2-3 months, but there are so many variables that can go into it. Understanding marketing and sales funnels helps you get a better picture of what online leads are and why it may take some time to convert them. Call now to get exclusive real estate leads!
