Lead Generation Video Interview
Great video from Trulia interviewing the lead generation division of Weichert Realtors. Michael Montsko gives the following statistics of customer expectations and actual industry averages.
Of the customers that submit their information online:
- 21% expect instantaneous response
- 44% expect a response within 40 minutes
- 100% expect a response within 1 day
The typical agent only responds 48% of the time - and the average response is 2 1/2 days.
Wow. That is a huge gap and a lot of leads falling through the cracks for the “average” agent. For those fast responders – guaranteed job security.
Is your INBOX making your sales efforts INEFFICIENT?
Increased response time—the best way to keep conversions from competitors.
Every Online Sales Consultant recognizes how critical customer response times are. They’re absolutely key to converting leads before your competition can. This is especially true in today’s ultra-competitive “email-it-now” business environment—where prospects and customers expect almost instant responses.
That’s why one of any OSC’s worst enemies is a cluttered and unorganized email Inbox. I know (from experience) that it’s not the easiest thing in the world to stay organized—and ready to pounce on hot leads—if you can’t even tell which message is your top priority. And with all your daily tasks, reminders and appointments chiming away, how can you possibly keep it all clear on screen and in your mind?
Remember, a lead is always a good thing, no matter how busy you are.
When email messages are overwhelming you and tasks seem to start spinning out of control, you’ll actually end up experiencing a negative emotional response each time you receive a new lead. Imagine that; instead of being excited at a new opportunity, you slump in your chair and mumble, “Here comes another lead; great—just one more thing to add to my list.”
I recently read—and re-read—David Allen’s book Getting Things Done. In it, he offers a fantastic new system for managing your time and increasing your productivity. He also serves up a great system for taming the ol’ Outlook Inbox using the same techniques.
The following is a brief overview on how you can take advantage of Allen’s innovative principles to change your email habits, so you’ll be perfectly and calmly prepared to handle every new message that comes your way.
Experience the business-boosting freedom of an uncluttered Inbox.
Simply put, I can’t tell you how freeing it is to have an empty inbox. The concept is to get rid of those “sticky” emails—you know, the ones that you can’t do anything about, aren’t quite ready to handle and really just distract you from responding to higher priority tasks. Allen’s rules basically boil down to three simple steps—see a new email, read it and decide what to do with it immediately.
Here are five choices for dealing with a message the moment it lands in your Inbox:
- Delete it. Seriously, this will probably cover most of your emails. Immediately toss out all those forwards, CC’s and messages that don’t even interest you. Become an email Zen master at one with your “Delete” key. Free up that Inbox for messages that will potentially make you the most money—not time-wasters like the latest funky YouTube videos.
- Answer it. If you can respond effectively in two minutes or less to a message requiring a follow-up, take care of it right then and there. It doesn’t matter if it’s a reply to a customer, an associate or even a personal email. Just make sure it doesn’t take you more than a minute or two.
- Defer it. You’d be AMAZED at how many of the emails sent your way aren’t even your responsibility. Ask yourself, “Am I really the right person for this job?” If not, figure out who is, and pass the message on. You might also respond to sender and cc: the responsible party, just to make sure everyone is on the same page. Of course, make sure that the responsible party is actually accepting responsibility—especially if you are delegating a task.
- Save it. Some emails won’t need action—but they don’t deserve the instant “Delete” treatment, either. You know, things like passwords, email newsletters, receipts or whatever. You might need these messages in the future, so create a folder or folders in Outlook to store these for future reference. The great thing about Outlook 2003 (and subsequent versions) is that you can perform searches to find those old emails anytime you want.
- Determine the next action. If a message requires action but a response will take longer than two minutes, move it to an “Action” folder. Then, create a new Outlook task for the next action item. This way, you get to keep a message AND get “permission” to forget about it until the task is at hand—later that day, later that week or later that month. It sure beats the heck out of opening up your Inbox every day and wasting valuable time and brainpower staring at a wall of emails asking, “What do I need to do with all these again?”
As Online Sales Counselors, our email is the primary lifeline to prospects and buyers. That’s why it so important to keep our “virtual” desk clutter-free—organization leads directly to higher productivity. Naturally, your Inbox will fill up while you are away from your desk. Just make sure that you zip through your Inbox and trim it down at least twice a day, so you’re back a square one and ready for the next lead, question or response.
This simple technique has eliminated LOADS of stress emanating from my bulging, unorganized email Inbox. Before, it seemed like every time I opened my account, I didn’t know where to start. Like I might as well have been chasing rabbits.
I highly recommend reading David Allen’s Book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity and purchasing the companion manual (GTD and Outlook) to help you restructure your inbox—and seriously streamline your prospect response times for increased sales.
So, how’s that Inbox looking NOW?
Making the most of every online advertising dollar
An ineffective advertiser and his (or her) money are soon parted.
There are many great third-party web sites that will consume a portion of your online advertising budget— Move.com, Newhomesource.com, iNest.com and many, many more. So, how can you possibly figure out which one is the best place to invest in online lead-generation efforts?
First, all sites are NOT created equal. Even though some may provide less leads, they might be more qualified leads that are more likely to convert to sales. Others may provide more leads but at a lower conversion rate. At the same time, some sites will direct more traffic to your website—because they have much larger audiences, for example.
A simple system delivering objective web-site comparisons.
Even though it may seem daunting at first, there’s a fairly simple system for ranking the effectiveness of lead-generation web sites. The key is to track conversion rates and metrics from the leads you receive by setting a value for appointments made and contracts written. It is a true, objective barometer of marketing success.
Here are a few examples:
Scenario 1
Say an online lead source provides 100 leads per month. Fifteen leads become appointments, and two of those result in contracts. Your overall cost per month for these sources is $2,500. At first, you might calculate that each lead only costs $25 from this source—but you’ll soon realize that unqualified leads are worthless. Only appointments (which become contracts) have value, so in this case, each appointment costs $166.67, and each contract costs $1,250.
Scenario 2
In this case, you pay $1,000 per month—and you receive 50 leads. Of those leads, you’re able to convert nine to appointments and one to a contract. When you do the math, you’ll see the good news: this time around, you’re paying only $111.11 per appointment and $1,000 per contract—for a better return on investment.
Of course, keep in mind that you can’t track everything from these sources. Often, a prospect will just print directions and stop by a property without ever submitting a lead.
Four more steps to online marketing success.
Based on my experience, I suggest four additional recommendations for measuring your online marketing:
- Be patient—give yourself at least three months. You need adequate time to accumulate accurate data and make informed decisions. Personally, I always negotiate for a three-month trial or discount period—and I never sign a contract longer than that if I’m not already familiar with the service.
- It’s all relative. Just because one source performs better than another, that doesn’t mean you should eliminate a source altogether. Just make sure you’re getting a good return on your investment and make on-the-fly adjustments as you go. Spend more with the better performers, sure, but spread the love far and wide to increase exposure.
- Examine other conversion results. Remember, appointments and contracts are the name of the game. Still, consider traffic directed to your web site and the number of directions printed from the advertising source. They’re ALL good indicators of interest.
- Monitor continually – You need to be tracking these results every month and adjusting as necessary. One of the benefits of online advertising is that you can adjust at the touch of a button.
The bottom line? If you’re not constantly monitoring metrics, you’re just “guesstimating” and hoping—and that’s never a good strategy for success.
Web Marketing Helps Ease Impact of Home Sales Slump
Here is a great article at Nations Building News with commments from Rob Neumann from Customer Velocity. Read Full Article >>
Relying upon what worked for them best in past market downturns, home builders have been stepping up their advertising in newspapers and print publications but may not be hitting their audience because prospective buyers have shifted decisively to the Internet…
Papers losing real estate ads to online
These articles keep popping up. Check out this one by Seth Sutel from the associated Press. Read Full Article>>
Here are some snippets:
What’s worse is that a lot of that advertising may never come back to newspapers even if the real estate sector recovers. That’s because a significant chunk of those advertising dollars are moving — you guessed, online.
“Is newspaper a high priority? No,” Antal said. “I don’t believe my buyers and sellers are going to be in that market.”
