The Definitive Guide to Real Estate Seller Lead Generation

Let us not beat around the bush — when it comes to being a successful real estate agent, the first thing all agents need to master is the art of lead generation. However, lead generation has become almost too common of a subject. Everyone you come across has probably offered you some advice that they swear works for them in getting a steady stream of seller leads.

However, if you are a new agent who has recently got his real estate license, then this article is for you. We have done all of the leg work so that you can sit back and benefit. By the end of this article, we hope you would have a clear understanding of everything you need to know about real estate lead generation, the different ways to gather these leads, and some tried and tested lead generation strategies.

Part A: Why Is Lead Generation Essential In Real Estate?

Let us first tackle the aspect of the need for lead generation. Why exactly do real estate agents have to spend a considerable amount of time, money, and effort generating leads? Why can't they focus on excelling at their job as agents and let the clients come to them? We have all heard that good work speaks for itself, so why should one go the extra mile when it comes to lead generation in the real estate business?

The key point to note here is — business. Yes, real estate is definitely a business, and as such, requires carefully planned lead generation strategies. This is needed to make sure that there is a steady stream of buyers and sellers. You do not want there to be periods where you have no clients and then months where there is a flood of inquiries. Where in many cases, agents are unable to capture all the leads that they get.

This is the core reason why, whether you are a new real estate agent or someone who has been in the real estate industry for a while, you need to have a clear understanding and need for this ultimate guide to real estate lead generation ideas. We spoke to many real estate professionals and identified the mix of key lead generation strategy moves that would benefit all agents.

How Would You Define Leads In Terms Of Real Estate?

Now we all have a basic idea that a lead is a potential client, but how exactly would you define a lead from the perspective of real estate? Who would you consider to be a quality real estate lead?

A lead is basically someone who wishes to buy or sell a home and is in need of your professional help. You need to make sure that more and more people know that you are there to assist them with the sale or purchase of a home.

For all residential real estate agents, a lead is someone who wishes to sell, buy, or rent a home. A lead is someone who shares his/her contact information with you and is qualified in terms of finance to buy or rent a home. A lead is a person who ticks all of the above three requirements.

Now, let us discuss a bit about real estate marketing and why it is an integral component of any lead generation strategy. Marketing in its core sense means that the public at large is aware of the services that you offer, but more importantly, they remember you and approach you when it is time for them to need an agent. So the marketing and lead generation are dependent on each other when it comes to the real estate business. One leads to a rise in the other and this circle continues to grow. So now let us gain some awareness of the two broad aspects of marketing, which are inbound and outbound marketing. Let us know how these two can affect and influence your real estate lead funnel.

What Are Inbound And Outbound Marketing?

Let us start by gaining a clear understanding of the seller lead funnel. In terms of marketing, the goal is basically to let the maximum number of people know about your market presence and the services you provide. If you are a real estate agent, then all the people in your neighborhood or even across the city should know that you are an agent and this is where both of these channels of marketing help you.

Now, why are we emphasizing the word maximum? The reason for this is, all seller leads go through a certain filtration process. There are three main levels through which each of your sellers leads to progress.

• Awareness about the problem — A home seller decides to sell his home, but realizes that he has no idea about the home selling process.
• Evaluation of the problem — the seller decides to hire a real estate agent to help navigate all the procedural and legal requirements. However, at this stage, he has no idea whom to approach?
• Conversion and solution to the problem — the seller meets a few agents and decides to hire one.

Moving on to the two types of marketing:

Inbound Marketing

This real estate lead generation strategy focuses on attracting potential clients to come to you. This is achieved by creating resources which they may consider useful and in return for those resources they share their contact information. We have all come across an e-book, checklist, or template that is free for download in exchange for registering our email address. This is the information that we get captured as leads. It gives you an opportunity to send direct mail to people who have shown an interest in selling their homes. Basically, in this method, people who need you come and find you.

Outbound Marketing

This real estate lead generation strategy is the exact opposite of the above one. In this, there is a heavy emphasis on methods where you reach out to a wide segment of the population and hope to cross paths with those who might be looking for a real estate agent. Direct emails and usage of social media are the major components in this category.

Part B: Real Estate Lead Generation Ideas For 2021

We will now shift our focus on the actual ways in which you can advertise your services in the real estate business. We are going to be covering a whole range of effective and easy-to-implement lead generation ideas which use a mix of both the above-mentioned strategies. This will ensure that you are covering the market on a large scale and are able to maintain an effective and continuous funnel of buyer or seller leads.

Traditional Lead Generation Ideas Effective Even Today

In this section, we will take you through those sellers' lead generation ideas that have been used for decades by agents across the country. Most new agents prefer to avoid these as they mistakenly believe them to be old-fashioned. the experts we spoke to firmly stated that although these ideas are traditional there is a reason why they are still being used — they get you the leads. two or three calls daily

Cold Calling Real Estate Leads

Let us start with the ones even veteran real estate agents feel a bit uncomfortable in utilizing. We understand that it takes a lot of effort to pick up the phone and call up someone to offer your real estate services. However, there are two suggestions to help you master this method and make it work for you.

• Have a cold call script — having a short yet clear and informative script really helps get over the jitters. This also ensures that you do not end up taking too much time of your leads during these phone calls.
• Have a small target daily — most agents try to do all the calling in one go, which either leads to inefficient calling or abandoning it halfway. It is better to limit yourself to two or three calls daily.

Target Expired Listings / For Sale By Owner Listings

These are the problem children of real estate leads, both expired listings and FSBO are avoided by most agents as there is a perception that these clients would be hard to persuade. However, smart real estate agents would agree that these are the best leads out there. The reason is that these are the most motivated sellers out there. They want to definitely sell their home and are also in need of a little tact from the real estate agent. All it needs is a little bit of persuasion to convert these leads.

Try Print Ads

One of the traditional tactics many agents use to create new leads is the good old advertisement. This could be in the form of ads could be in the form of flyers or bus bench banners. These ads create a personal appeal for the local homeowners and could result in inquiries coming straight to your inbox.

Organize Open House

Open houses are the best way to market your listing and yourself. It is also a great networking opportunity. When it comes to generating new leads, you can maximize your exposure by conducting an open house. At these events, you will meet many interested buyers or sellers. All you have to do is make sure you are getting their phone numbers and giving your information. These numbers can go into your CRM/database to be used at a later date.

Request For Referrals

No generating leads for the real estate list can afford to skip the referrals. You have to ask each of your satisfied clients to pass on your information to their friends and family who are interested in future real estate deals as buyers or sellers. As you are already trusted and vouched for by someone close to them there is a high chance of converting these new leads.

New Age Online Lead Generation Ideas

Now it is time to move on to the latest technology-enabled real estate lead generation strategies to employ. Although most of these methods are variants of reaching out to your clients to and inform them about your expertise, the benefits technology helps you fine-tune your target segment, improve the lead generation, and make it possible for higher conversion.

Run Facebook Ads

In today's market when you need to generate leads, there is no better alternative than social media. Unlike direct mail where you are just sending emails to a bunch of addresses, Facebook offers you a powerful tool to fine-tune your marketing strategy. As of the first quarter of 2021, the social media giant Facebook has 2.8 billion users across the world. There are 190 million users in the US alone.

The sheer numbers along with the targeting options on a granular level provided by Facebook on the basis of age, income, ZIP codes, homeownership, interests, social media behavior and more, enables you to target exactly those looking for a real estate agent.

Utilize Real Estate Lead Generation Portals

One of the biggest changes in the landscape of lead generation has been brought by the online real estate seller lead generation platforms, like Dorrmat. This provides registered agents a continuous supply of qualified and high-quality leads of home sellers. Dorrmat also provides a host of other benefits such as CRM and a branded landing page, which makes it a must-adopt strategy for lead generation.

Create A Real Estate Website

Everyone today is expected to have a social media presence, which includes real estate business professionals too. By creating a website where you can put up information about the real estate market or write articles that buyers or sellers will be interested to read can boost both your online presence and also establish you as an expert agent in your neighborhood.

Sign Up For Local SEO Services

If you have a website, then you must definitely opt for local search engine optimization services. The first place a homeowner searches for information is on search engine sites. When people search for homes 'near me' or ' how to sell my home' the optimization services ensure that you are one of the top results in the search rankings. The would generate leads in a reliable manner as the buyer or seller can directly approach you.

Summary

By now we expect our readers who were interested in learning all about generating leads to have got a good understanding of the ways to market yourself as agents. We would ask you to keep referring back to this ultimate guide as you go about incorporating these ideas into your real estate business. A good mix of the real estate lead generation ideas mentioned in this guide will ensure that you become a seasoned agent with a large number of potential clients, which can eventually translate to confirmed listings.