STOP “TOUCHING” YOUR LEADS AND START TALKING WITH THEM....
Your Facebook lead generation budget should be going to these 4 core places

Recently I talked about the Top 5 Places You Should Spend Your Lead Generation Budget…  This was a really popular article. I completely understand why it was so popular… it’s because it’s so important.  We are constantly inundated with shiny objects all around us, vying not only for our attention, but also for our money.

The fact is… most of the time, what we should be spending our money on… really doesn’t change. Not as much as the world around us changes anyway.

The problem is… we are led astray by other people’s idea of what we ought to do with our money… told that a multitude of (useless) things are important… and fed ideas that sound good, but in reality, are detrimental to our real estate businesses. 

The struggle is real. We are unsure of exactly what our goals are for our businesses, and thus we are unsure of exactly what we need to do to get us there, and thus we are tossed around like a boat without a rutter in the sea of shiny objects galore.

I’m going to make some projections in this article… and assume that the basic, foundational goal, for your business is to get more closings. Clearly, you have got to determine exactly how many closings you want to get, but in general, most real estate agents want more closings.

Then the issue comes up…. how do I get “quality” leads. How do I find people who need to buy or sell real estate? And this is when we start jumping around like a mexican jumping bean. Directionless. Reactionary.

We are told to go on Broker Opens. Hold open houses. Go to Chamber events. Make cold calls. Go door knocking. Start a farm. Throw up a website. Run Facebook ads. Join Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Periscope, Meerkat, Blab, … and so on and so forth.

By the time we come up for air, we are 6 months down the road of life and have nothing to show for it, except for either an ulcer (from all the stress of keeping up with everything) or no one knows us anymore because we invested all of our time into “being a real estate agent because that’s what our broker (or other ‘successful’ agents) told us to do.”

So here’s the deal…

There are 4 core pieces to your lead generation budget… and quite frankly, they haven’t changed since last year. But, I’m going to dive into each one with a little bit of a different perspective this time…

Social Media

Oh my land sakes, agents go two directions on this one… they think they have to be everywhere, on every platform, because they’ve been fed a bed of lies that ‘getting their face out there’ is important. Guys… getting your face out there is a lie. Just slap it aside and start ignoring it.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Clearly you can’t lie in bed all day and expect to meet anyone or bring in new business. But, don’t miss the forest for the trees here… we do these random (and ridiculous tasks) with no clarity, no strategy, no plan… and call it ‘getting our name out there.’

Getting your name out there will not bring you business. But… building relationships, and going deeper on those relationships, will build know, like, and trust relationships with people who will use your services.

Building profiles on 50 different social media platforms is a waste of your time. An insane waste of your time. In fact, if you are focusing on more than two social media platforms, you are diluting your efforts.

Focus on Facebook. Why Facebook? Because a quarter of the world is on Facebook and your clients are most likely on Facebook too. Because Facebook has the insane ability to both target your ideal client while simultaneously building know, like, and trust relationships with that ideal client.

You’ll need to invest some time and some money to make all of this happen. Eliminate the other time wasters and you’ll find your time.

Training

Here’s the deal… and I see this all – the – time. Agents… YOU must be diving into and learn to love training… especially training outside of your comfort zone.

So you aren’t tech savvy. Then guess what… you need to learn how to be comfortable enough with the tech you should be using, that you don’t feel like a fish out of water.

I do not mean that you need to learn to code a website. What I do mean is that you need to know how to use your smartphone, your MLS, your IDX, your CMA software, your website, etc. to the point that you could comfortably show someone else how to use it.

YES! This is important!

You need to know how to comfortably use what you own, so that you can use what you own! As I said before, even if you are delegating most of these tasks to assistants, you must have a strategic understanding of what you are implementing into your business.

How is it going to enhance your business? How s it going to improve you? How is it going to change what you do now?

I’m not just talking about tech stuff… I’m also talking about concepts and strategy as well. I have conversations with agents all over the country who declare that “I have to be ‘realestating’ and I don’t have time for that <insert whatever that is here>.” And then they proceed to tell me why they should be able to simply outsource Facebook or blogging or emailing or whatever else they’ve somehow decided isn’t important in the grand scheme of things.

"CEO’s don’t outsource strategy, so why are so many real estate agents okay with outsourcing the most important element of their business?"

You probably agree with that statement. But, the problem is… you’re wrong. Seriously. You won’t get the opportunity to ‘realestate’ if you don’t focus on your main priority… building relationships (otherwise known as lead generation)… and if you have no idea how Facebook or blogging or emailing can possibly build relationships… then you must must must get training. You must understand the strategy.

Stop looking for everything you can outsource and start looking at everything with a new perspective. Signage, lockboxes, flyer creation, transaction coordination, data entry, coordinating showings… THOSE should be outsourced (but they are what agents mean when they say ‘I need to be realestating’)…. but Facebook, blogging, and emailing? THOSE are relationship focused elements. If you want to build a real estate business with people who already know like and trust you then guess what, you have to show them who you are and Facebook, blogging, and emailing are your main priorities.

Email

I don’t even know where to begin on this one. I’m constantly seeing agents asking for pre-written email drip campaigns that work.

Let’s be clear on this. There are no pre-written email campaigns that work for every agent, for every consumer, in all markets. None.

In fact, pre-written canned crap doesn’t work. Now… I’ll bet either you’ve used, or someone you know, has used some of the most popular email ‘touch’ campaigns that are available for sale to real estate agents and you, or they, have raved about how it got some of your list to reply, or comment, or whatever.

If you want to build know, like, and trust relationships… you’ll get some (outside of the industry) training on how to truly leverage email. Period. Which will mean that guess what… you will have to talk to your list (your ideal client) every single week. And quite frankly, a whole lot more often.

The problem with ‘inside the industry’ is we have a whole lot of opinions… and vendors creating products for us thinking they are filling a void… when in fact, they aren’t helping at all because they don’t understand the science of email marketing themselves.

You need an email marketing software of your own. You must be talking to your list every single week, without fail. Not ‘touching’ but talking. Having a conversation. And this is just the beginning.

Online

We throw up a template site and call it good. We hire out a custom site, spend hours engaged with the designer, get it up… and call it good. We throw our name on a broker provided site… and call it good.

Why do we do this?

Because we have no idea exactly how a website can drastically change our business. MOST real estate agents have no idea… including agents who generate most of their leads via their websites. Most of them are simply throwing oodles of money to Google PPC and Facebook ads. On the surface, that sounds good. Digging deep, that sucks. There is no end to the constantly increasing ad costs. There is never an increase in conversion rates. There is no point of even thinking of ‘resting on their laurels.’ Why? Because they never built a self-sustaining, self-perpetuating, self-lead generating website.

Of course, there are key features you must have in your website…

Mobile responsive

Lead capture optimized

Content marketing focused

But what do these mean? Why are they important? Does it really matter?

Mobile responsive is pretty obvious… with culture going the direction of carrying their computers in the palm of their hand, you have to make sure your website is easily used on the different mobile platforms.

Lead capture optimized… this one is up for debate. I’ve seen what most of the top real estate website vendors call lead capture optimized… and they simply aren’t cutting it. They THINK they are though! The problem is, they are a tad incestuous… always looking inside the industry, instead of outside the industry, on what is actually working. ACTUALLY working… based on data. Not what “looks pretty.” There is a difference.

If you’ve got a few forms on your site, or subscribe buttons, or IDX requiring registration, you are only part of the way there. In every moment of your website users journey, they should be given a multitude of opportunities to get more value… not just “request a showing” or “request a CMA.” And those moments should be PART of their journey, not a disruption of their journey.

"Instead of trying to explain to people why you are different, leverage your website to show them you are different."

And… if you are using your website as your click-thru destination from your Facebook ads… you are definitely not on the right track. You need to up your game… and that comes from the 1st core element… trainingYou need proven conversion landing pages that are in alignment with your ad. This isn’t about ‘branding’ this is about conversion. Don’t get caught up in thinking that ‘looking consistent with my branding will bring me business’ because it doesn’t. Focusing on conversion, does.

Content marketing focused… what does this even mean? To many agents, it just means ‘can I just have someone give me canned crap that I can throw up on my website and call it good?’ To that I say… don’t bother. Just shut down your website. It’s not going to do anything for you… in fact, if you put up canned crap, even if you ‘edit’ it with your ‘keywords,’ it’s still just canned crap and the consumer knows it.

Content marketing is… you, creating content, that is highly valuable and relevant to, and for, your ideal client. Do they have problems? Are you solving them? Do you have opinions about things the media says about real estate in your market? Are you sharing those opinions?

Instead of trying to tell people why you are different, show people how you are different… by talking to them. Having a conversation with them. Educating them.


 Written by Christina Ethridge - the founder of Leads and Leverage, helping overwhelmed business owners eliminate the marketing chaos and get more customers. Simplify your marketing & bring in more sales. 
READ MORE
[Block//Headline]
[Block//Short Post Description]
settings
Read more
arrow_drop_down_circle
Divider Text
© 2013-2023 Leads and Leverage
arrow_drop_down_circle
Divider Text
Leads and Leverage
1869 E Seltice Way #392
Post Falls, Idaho 83854
https://leadsandleverage.com
christina@leadsandleverage.com

 This site is not a part of the Facebook™/META website or Facebook™/META Inc. Additionally, this site is NOT endorsed by Facebook™/META in any way. FACEBOOK™/META is a trademark of FACEBOOK™/META Inc. 
Disclosure: This site uses affiliate links - you may click on something recommended and when you do (and if you choose to buy it) the vendor will pay out a small amount in exchange. For example, Amazon items I recommend, they'll pay me a few pennies if you purchase that item within a certain time frame after clicking my link.
[bot_catcher]