Category Archives for "Lead Generation"

How we can take tips from Marty McFly to help our future selves

How we can take tips from Marty McFly to help our future selves

How we can take tips from Marty McFly to help our future selves

Anyone else notice that buyers today are a little more difficult? Perhaps even a little (or a lot) crazy during negotiations and/or inspections?

If NO, yay for you and the perfect world you live in. (And please tell me where I can find these unicorns!)

If YES, the struggle is REAL!

If we could go Back to the Future, what would Marty McFly do to help his future self ?

How we can take tips from Marty McFly to help our future selves
  • He would use his big ol' camcorder to document Doc Brown's processes. 
  • He'd write secret notes to be opened in the future (when Doc needs it). 
  • He expected history to repeat itself and used that to his advantage.
  • (And a bunch of other shenanigans that are beside today's point)

Marty was a content creating machine, before it was trendy.

The fact is our buyers don't always listen to us. During showings they're not focused on what we say because they're mentally arranging their furniture in the living room. Or they didn't comprehend what you said because it wasn't what they needed to know at that moment.

We need to inform them in a way they'll remember (preferably without repeating ourselves over and over) and creating content is the best way to do it!

If you create this educational content you can give it to them whenever they need it. For example:

  • A video highlighting what to expect during inspection
  • An email template outlining the next steps after contract acceptance
  • A thorough explanation of earnest money they could read/watch
  • A blog post/video/email sharing a story about a nightmare-crazytown buyer that asked for new carpet because they didn't like the color anymore (yes, this happened to me), and how that's not the point of inspections

I could go on and on but you probably get the idea. Then you re-purpose that content on every other platform you use (blog/YouTube playlist/social posts/drip emails, etc).

This is possibly the best time to start creating your educational content library. Because you might have extra time on your hands thanks to coronavirus. And because now is better than later, even if you're busier than ever before.

Your future self will thank you. 

Join the Club

We have several courses in Savvy Agent Club that focus on content creation. If you're not sure where to start on your own this would be a great asset to your business. 

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youtube for real estate agents

YouTube for Real Estate Agents

youtube for

real estate agents

Imagine if you could get 2-3 leads a day, for free, that are ready to buy (or sell) and they've already decided that YOU'RE their agent.

Wouldn't that be awesome?? (I mean, who is going to say no to FREE real estate lead generation??)

In this video, Karin Carr shared with us many principles she uses to generate leads (2-3 a day!) on YouTube (for FREE!) that not only work for her, but work for her students as well.

YouTube for real estate agents has so many opportunities available for EVERY agent!

If you'd like to join the 5 day challenge that opens up on 2/24/20: http://bit.ly/37IFCue 

If you'd like to skip the challenge and dive right into the course: http://bit.ly/37FCZtc 

Do you like FREE stuff?

Download these FREE business builders to help organize your business, improve your social media strategy

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Do you know how many buyer & listing sales you've had this year? Never wonder about numbers again.

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BEFORE YOU START ADVERTISING ON ZILLOW

read this before you start advertising on zillow

This article was inspired by a coaching client who asked me if they should start advertising on Zillow because $200 was open in a zip code they would like to be in. 

It all started because Zillow has been contacting agents with the good news that they've opened up spots in popular zip codes. Apparently they're getting more traffic and leads than they expected so they can let more advertisers in. 

But, before you invest, consider what you'll GET for your money. 

For example, if a zip code you want has only $200 available - how many live connections will you receive? 

Probably less than 1 per month.

Is $200 really worth .5 a lead? That's a HALF of a lead. Seriously. 

That means you'll be getting ONE lead every other month. WHAT?!?


Your Zillow rep (aka sales person) will sell you on the "nurture" leads. These are also sometimes called "other" leads. And, while all leads are welcome and nice to have, you need to understand that they are a lower quality leads and they don't convert like the live calls. 

The "Nurture/Other" leads include people that are unresponsive - which means the lead is OLD. Who even knows how long Zillow has attempted to reach this lead. Probably at least a few days, if not more. Those leads look like this:

Then, there's the "Nurture/Other" leads that specifically say they're not ready to talk to an agent. Maybe they said "OMG, DON'T CALL ME!" or maybe they said, "Ooops, I didn't mean to submit that on Zillow." Or, my favorite, "I don't know what you're talking about, I never asked about a property??" Those leads look like this: 

The live calls, or "connections" are the best quality of the paid leads through Zillow.

However, they aren't as amazing as Zillow would have you believe.

To give you some perspective, I spent $1168 on Zillow in the last month. 

With that investment,  in the last 30 days I've received 5 "connections" and this is where they're at today:

1 - was a bonus connection - it wasn't in the zip code we advertise in it. Thank goodness, because turns out she has an agent. She told us on the phone she didn't have an agent, but then when we drove 30 minutes to show her a rural property she mentioned in fact she DOES have an agent. Awesome. 

1 - buyer rescheduled two different appointments with us but did take our advice to get pre-approved. Unfortunately, they don't have enough trade lines to get approved today. Naturally, we'll stay in touch and hopefully convert them to a sale in the future. 

1- showed the buyer one house, her brother is buying it for her family but can't provide a pre-approval letter. After days of inquiring on pre-foreclosures (aka homes NOT for sale) she's ghosted us. We will continue to call, text and email and nurture this lead. 

2 - were decent prospects that aren't ready to buy today, but might be ready to write within the next 6 months. 

SO, in 30 days, we have 2 good prospects. 

What do you think about those leads? Does it seem sort of low for the investment? I know a lot of agents in more competitive cities and they're paying THOUSANDS more, for basically the same results.

Now, imagine if you're spending $200. That half a lead isn't going to get you very far, is it? 

So, before you invest your hard earned dollars - be very clear about what you can expect in return for that investment.


Please note that if you're a brand new advertiser with Zillow, you can probably expect to be in a 6 month contract. Maybe even a year contract.

It's no fun spending money when you're not getting much of anything in return.

So, if you've been wondering if you should start advertising on Zillow (or any other online portal) I hope you take some time to analyze what you can expect to get for your investment. 

While I'm not against investing in Zillow or other online lead strategies (obviously, since I do!) I firmly believe you should have a SOLID STRATEGY to help grow your business. And paying for half a lead a month isn't a very good strategy. Paying for online leads without a solid strategy isn't going to help you grow.

While you're here, why don't you grab our FREE social media graphics and amp up your social posts to reach your online audience - maybe they need your help buying or selling a house! 

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better facebook ads strategy

Real Estate Agents Need a Better Facebook Ads Strategy

Real Estate Agents Need a Better Facebook Ads Strategy

This was a Facebook Live video done on the Savvy Agent FB page. 

Some background:

So, I was on a call with a couple of agents earlier this week and they’re spending pretty decent money with Facebook doing some lead generation ads, I assume, or I guess I shouldn’t assume because it sounded like they didn’t really know what they were doing. One of the real estate agents said, “Well, how do I know if my ads are working? I’m spending $1500 a month, how do I know if it’s working?”

There are many different answers to that question.

This particular person had a marketing person that was in charge of that. The answer for her was, “You need to go to your marketing person and have them explain what the strategy is and if it’s working.”

Personally, I don’t spend $1500 a month on Facebook ads. Actually, I have three or four ads running right now, just promoting listings. It’s a really simple strategy. In the last seven days, I’ve gotten 97 leads and I’ve spent $58.65. That’s pretty good return for the money spent.

But my strategy on that ad is very simple. The ad is basically exactly what I wrote on the MLS listing and it takes them to my IDX website. So, when the visitor is on my website, if they look at more than one picture, it forces them to register. Forced registration and I have their contact info!

Never spend money for someone to go nowhere.

In order for that ad to be profitable, and for me to say, “Yes, my Facebook ads are working,” then I need to get something for that ad.

Before you start any ad campaign, you need to know what you want in the end.

  • Do you want to get people to go to your website?
  • What do you want them to do once they’re on your website?
  • Do you want them to join a buyers group that you have on Facebook?
  • Do you want them to download a guide?
  • What is your ultimate goal?

In this example, my goal was super simple: I want leads on my listings for my team to work.

But, the other agent that we were talking to said, “Well, you know, I do videos, I do this, that, blah, blah, blah.” (Blah’s inserted to abbreviate the conversation.)

Also, she wasn’t really sure of what her overall strategy was. I said, “Oh my God, you have got to stop.” And then I drew a terrible picture. And that terrible picture looked, well, frankly, like female anatomy. It looked like Fallopian tubes!

In the video above, I pre-drew the picture so it’s a much better drawing. This is essentially a funnel: 

Better Facebook Ads Strategy

Not to be confused with a funnel cake, but it’s a SALES funnel.

A sales funnel is essentially the process of you getting strangers into your sales funnel and moving them down the sales pipeline to ultimately buying real estate. This sales funnel is going to be what helps you have a better Facebook ads strategy. It works for all advertising strategies too – not just Facebook ads. 

For example, think of strangers being above the sales funnel. All the people in the world that don’t know you are outside the top of your funnel. So, maybe you upload a real estate video to your Facebook business page.

You want people to watch the video because you want to show them that you’re amazing, naturally. In this example, you would target cold traffic to get people INTO the top of your sales funnel. And, because the people who already know you deserve a different message, right? It’s all in the strategy.

What do you do with someone once they watch a video?

Well, you don’t just forget them. You want them in a video views audience. Then you can serve them another ad after they watch the video. 

And that’s how it goes. You serve another ad to that audience and move them further down the funnel. The whole point is to get strangers into your sales funnel (or what I like to call the circle of trust) and the people interested in doing business with are pushed to the bottom of the sales funnel when they make a purchase. The funnel gets smaller toward the bottom because not every person that gets into your funnel is going to turn into a sale.

And, it’s possible that someone who enters your funnel in 2018 might buy or sell a house with you in 2022. But, you have to have a good strategy to stay at the top of their mind for when they’re ready to do business with you.  

A simple sales funnel example:

Ad 1 – Serve your video as an ad to a cold audience (strangers).

Ad 2 – Then, anyone that watched at least 25% of your video you’re going to serve them a home value ad.

So, if they watch 25% of your initial real estate video, then that might be a sign they’re pretty interested in real estate. Then you want to serve them a very specific ad that has the opportunity for them to take action. In this case we used a home value ad. Once they register with your home value ad – you’ve got their contact info and you’ll work them until they sell! (Or at least put them on a drip campaign.)

This is a pay to play world.

Be strategic with your sales funnel and how you’re going to get them further down the pipeline. Now, of course, not everybody’s going to make it to the bottom of the funnel, so that’s why it gets a little bit smaller, but you can get so much more targeted as you get closer to this buying decision part of the funnel. Once you have this strategy in place, then you can actually say with confidence whether or not you know if you Facebook ads are working.

Today, I have a very simple strategy because I was too lazy to set up a complicated funnel. And well, frankly, maybe it’s not even me being lazy. Maybe it’s just that I’m so darn busy, all I had time for was to throw up those ads.

I want leads on my listings.

Just like you and every other real estate agent out there. And there is nothing wrong with that. It’s effective. I can say that 97 leads for less than $60 in seven days is worth the money.

Before you give Facebook any more money… actually, this rule actually applies for everything.

Before you give Google AdWords money…

Before you give ANY VENDOR any money, make sure you know what you want in return for that money. And then you have something to judge the performance by. You have your baseline expectation and with a little more experience, you’ll have cost per lead, cost per sale, you’ll figure all of those things out. 

The very basic minimum thing that you have to have…

…is a strategy of what you want to happen. Then, you can grade your performance and know ultimately if that money is worth your time or not. You can get a lot more advanced and nerdy about the numbers later, but please: If you don’t know if your ads are working, STOP.

Stop spending that money right now or talk to the marketing person who’s in charge of those ads. Somebody knows. And if that somebody is supposed to be you, shut the ads down and think through it, look at the numbers. You’re a business owner and you deserve to know that your money is being spent wisely so that you know if you should spend more of it or not.

We teach a lot about funnels in Savvy Agent Club. But, if you make sure you have a STRATEGY before spending any advertising dollars, that’s half the battle right there.

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free real estate leads

Get Free Real Estate Leads with Customer Reviews

Get Free Real Estate Leads with Customer Reviews!

Love it or hate it, people are visiting Zillow when they’re in the research phase of their real estate journey. They might be scoping their competition, or they might be looking for an agent. If you don’t have a presence on Zillow, you’re missing out on the potential of getting FREE real estate leads. 

Reasons why I think everyone should collect reviews on their Zillow profile: 

  1. It’s FREE! You don’t have to be a Premier Agent or pay Zillow any money to have reviews.
  2. Zillow is going to get more website visitors than your website, so why not capitalize it?
  3. People will message you directly because they loved your reviews. (Hello, FREE real estate leads?!?!) 
  4. Your competition probably isn’t going to put as much effort into it as you, so you’ll have an edge. 

 
You can, and should, get reviews from these types of clients:

  1. Past clients
  2. People that bought FSBO or some other way without you
  3. People that you showed properties to, but decided not to make a move
  4. Your friends that benefited from your free real estate advice

 
And, if you can think of anyone else, you should totally ask for a review! 
 

Maybe you’ve gotten out of touch with your database. 

Why not re-engage with them with a “hey, I was in your neighborhood the other day and thought of you” message? Then, when they respond, ask for the review. This is a double win because you’re reminding someone you once worked with how amazing you are, and then when you get a review, perfect strangers will also see how awesome you are. Which results in FREE real estate leads. (Isn’t that awesome?)
 

Make getting a review part of your closing system.

We talk about reviews at the very beginning of our relationship with people so they know that this ask is coming at the end. And, when you time it right, they’re usually quite happy to write a glowing review. 

But, does it have to be Zillow? 

You can collect reviews on other sites like Facebook, Google, and I’m sure many others. The key is to get the reviews – and get a lot of them. It’s best if they’re housed somewhere that gets a lot of real estate traffic already so you can get some traction with your reviews. Having the most reviews on www.yourname.com isn’t going to help when you get 7 website visits a month. 

Recycle those reviews!

Finally, you can always copy/paste the reviews you’ve received on Zillow (or any other site) to your own website. So, no matter how someone gets to your website, you’ve got the social proof of your awesomeness at their fingertips! Often times those free real estate leads are going to research the heck out of you so having a solid website in addition to awesome reviews is going to give them more incentive to contact you. 
 
How many reviews do you have today?

Why not set a goal to get 25 more reviews by the end of 2018? 

You can totally do it!

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Generate Real Estate Leads on Facebook

How To Generate Real Estate Leads on Facebook

How to Generate Real Estate Leads on Facebook 

Have you ever wondered exactly how real estate agents are getting leads on Facebook? In this video, we take you behind the scenes, directly into the Ads Manager, of Shane Torres! Shane's team sells more than 200 homes a year and Facebook leads are one of their top lead generation pillars.

Shane follows a very easy format on all of his ads which is a great example. You don't have to re-create the wheel on every ad - just get your message out there. 

You've heard the saying "Done is better than perfect"? And, while we all would appreciation perfection, getting some marketing DONE is going to result in more sales opportunities for us!

One of the best tips from this video is using the "Suggestions" for narrowing your audience. There's a lot of opportunity to test each audience to see if any outperform the rest. But, if you're just getting started with your real estate Facebook ads, then put ALL the suggestions in the audience. 

Pro Tip:

Don't include suggestions that would include agents. For example: Zillow/Trulia Premier Agent, or Realtor.com Pro, or National Association of Realtors. These suggestions are going to be primarily real estate AGENTS. And agents aren't likely to be a LEAD on your ad. Sure, they might sell the house to their buyer, but your goal is to generate leads. 

Ultimately, your goal is to generate real estate leads on Facebook so ANY ad you run should be focused on that goal. You'll want to incorporate a Facebook Ads strategy in your annual marketing plan and then test it until you find the ads that work best for you! And, if you're looking for additional Facebook Ads training, check out Savvy Agent Club which has several tech trainings available!

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Open House Marketing Strategy

How to Create a Marketing Strategy for Your Open House

How to Create a Marketing Strategy for Your Open House

In today’s competitive real estate market, the only way to best your competition and make it out on top is to have a solid strategy in place to gain new customers, while keeping your existing customers delighted. Open houses are a great way to meet new clients AND visit with your existing customers. If you don’t already have an open house marketing strategy, you’ll want to keep reading.

What does this look like?

A holistic campaign strategy. NOT a series of “one-off” ads.

Many real estate agents instinctively send postcards or emails to their customers to start. Often times on a whim. Disconnected from a master plan. The problem with this strategy is that a single postcard or e-mail won’t have much of an impact. Here’s a refresher on frequency, in case you missed it.

On the other hand, a campaign that sends out well-timed (and regular) communications with a strategic and consistent message is WAY more likely to catch eyes and make a noticeable impact. Don’t forget to apply your SMART goal strategy to this campaign.

Obviously, for an open house you want to have an awesome turnout and pick up some leads.

With that in mind, you know you want to get as much exposure for your open house as possible. And, relying on a newspaper ad or a directional sign isn’t going to cut it. Here’s what a strategic and consistent campaign might look like:

  • Send a “save the date” postcard
  • Follow up with an event invitation
  • Event reminder card
  • Another event reminder card
  • Promote the event on your social media sites
    • Boosted post
    • Ad to enter a drawing
    • Event reminder dark post (paid ad)

This is a great plan for an expensive listing or a mega open house. But, maybe it’s a little much for a regular old open house. An alternative campaign could be:

  • Knocking on the neighbors doors 5 days before the open house
    • Give them an open house flyer
    • Invite them to the open house
    • Ask if you can put a sign in their yard (if applicable)
  • If it’s in your budget, host a neighbors only brunch 2 hours before the open house
  • Send an email to your database
  • Promote the open house on Facebook

Don’t forget…

With each and every one of your communications, it is essential to include a clear call to action.

Tell your audience what you want them to do. Maybe it’s to visit your website and RSVP. Or maybe it’s to call your office. Or register for your drawing.

Whatever the goal is with that marketing piece, make sure you clearly state what you want your reader to do.

Hopefully, your open house is fabulous and the listing sells for top dollar. You can then expand on your open house campaign to stay in touch with that same audience, and generate more leads. For example:

  • Send a “just sold/under contract” postcard
  • Knock on the neighbors doors with an under contract flyer
  • Promote the sale on your social media sites
    • Boosted post targeted to buyers
    • Dark post targeted to sellers

Ideally, you would get another listing in the neighborhood and then you just rinse and repeat. But, maybe you have more buyers for that neighborhood? No problem! Just adjust your campaign to be a quest to find your buyer a house.

These are just some examples you might use. Marketing is getting more complex by the second (thanks, technology!), and you can certainly create and execute an effective open house marketing strategy yourself. After all, you ARE a Savvy Agent!

 

 

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