Christina Ethridge

My “debut” post on InmanNext . . . Or “kind of” . . . .

I debuted today on InmanNext.

Well technically, exactly 2 years ago, I had something published on InmanNext. It was a 10 step proven Facebook Farming Strategy – for real estate agents. Did you read it? Take a moment and check it out. Comment there! Yes, it’s 2-years old, but the method is exactly the same today as it was then PLUS, I will respond to your comments with two more years of wisdom behind those techniques 😀

Now, the reason I don’t call that post my “debut” post is because I originally wrote it to share in a Facebook group I was a member of. It was liked and then I was asked if InmanNext could just copy and paste it into a post over there. Of course, I said yes 😀

Today’s post however – I wrote specifically for InmanNext. It’s about content. Well technically, it’s about content PLANNING. Are you a planner or a procrastinator? I’ve included 4 awesome tricks to always be a planner. Head over there, read it, comment. Let me know.

Christina Ethridge is the founder of LeadsAndLeverage.com, helping real estate agents capture, convert and close Facebook leads.

by Christina Ethridge 7 Comments

How To Convert Real Estate Leads And Close More Sales, Just Like A Mega Agent!

Featured Download: The Facebook Page Setup Checklist – specifically for real estate agents – get your Facebook page setup to capture real estate leads.

Do you know what the difference is between a “Mega Real Estate Agent” and “All Other Real Estate Agents”?

I’ll give you some hints . . .

It’s not the size of their teams.

It’s not the number of people they know.

It’s not how long they’ve been in the business.

It’s not the number of their leads.

It’s not “luck”

It’s their ability to convert real estate leads into real estate closings.

Convert.
Conversion.
This is the key.

So here’s the deal…

Converting real estate leads and closing more sales all come down to two things . . .

Follow-Up
and
Fulfillment

It’s that simple and, it’s that hard.

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Follow-Up

Apparently follow-up is so hard, 48% of agents never even follow-up once with a prospect. Not a single time. Never. I’m wondering how agents expect to close a deal when they aren’t even attempting to contact a prospect even once.

Not once!! Wow.

However, that does mean that 52% of agents follow-up with a prospect at least once. Well, at least half of real estate agents follow-up at least once. This is really a pathetic statistic. Makes me wonder why 48% of agents are “in the real estate business”.

Ok. What about twice? You know, you leave a message or respond to an email or text the first time, but what about a second time? Yeah, that’s even worse. Only 25% of agents contact a prospect a second time. They stop after the 2nd contact. Wow. Again.

Maybe they think the prospect, who contacted them initially, isn’t interested? Or has changed their mind? Or they don’t have an effective method for keeping track of who to contact and when? Who knows. But still, it’s not like it’s that hard to follow-up with someone more than once or twice. Really. It isn’t.

Ok, let’s go just a little deeper. What about a 3rd contact? Only 12% of agents make three or more contacts with the prospect. That means 88% of agents didn’t bother trying to follow-up with a prospect after the 2nd contact. Wow. Yet, again.

Here's the biggest kicker…

2% of sales are made on the first contact
3% of sales are made on the second contact
5% of sales are made on the third contact
10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

Do you know what this means?

It means that 88% of real estate agents share 10% of all sales, which also means that 12% of real estate agents are sharing 90% of the sales, simply because they contact their prospect three or more times.

It means you have GOT to get over your fear of offending a prospect by contacting them “too much”. Really. You’ve got to.

You are not badgering them. They communicated to you that they are an interested prospect. You must be there, when they are ready, willing, and able to consummate a transaction.

You can never follow-up too much. No, you can’t. Stop allowing your limiting beliefs to control you. If it’s too much for someone, they’ll tell you. They’ll say go away, or unsubscribe from your email, or something else.

The key is, do not stop following-up until they buy, sell or say stop.

Now that you understand what you need to do with follow-up, let’s look at fulfillment.

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Fulfillment

Fulfillment is what you are giving them. What questions are you answering, what needs of theirs are you meeting.

Their most important need is for you to be there when they are ready. This is accomplished through consistent follow-up. Their second most important need is for you to anticipate their questions and other needs, and provide answers, resources, and resolutions.

Fulfillment is much easier than follow-up, but fulfillment requires follow-up in order to accomplish it. Simply by following-up, you are meeting their number one need.

By following-up you are there to answer their questions, as they have them. By following-up you are anticipating their needs. By following-up you are able to provide answers, resources and resolutions.

So now that you know how to convert real estate leads and close more sales like a mega agent, what are you going to do differently?

What are you going to implement that will jump you into the 12% who close 90% of the real estate sales?

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Featured Download: The Facebook Page Setup Checklist – specifically for real estate agents – get your Facebook page setup to capture real estate leads.

Christina Ethridge is the founder of LeadsAndLeverage.com, helping real estate agents capture, convert and close Facebook leads.

by Christina Ethridge 5 Comments

The 7 Questions You Must Ask Yourself Before You Run A Facebook Ad Campaign – For Real Estate Agents!

We take on a select few private clients for real estate focused online lead generation. A client of ours recently asked us about Facebook ad campaigns . . .

“Christina, I received this proposal today about advertising on Facebook. Do you see the value of advertising on Facebook? What should we be aware of or look for?”

Of course, my defenses immediately went into high gear… there are a boat load of “scam” artists out there preying on the unknowing. Preying on people who know they need to be in the Facebook “space”, but not understanding enough about it to know when they are being taken for a ride.

Maybe calling them “scam” artists is a bit strong.

It’s just that they are seeking to lock real estate agents into a high monthly cost for a service that is so generic, so unfocused on any specific industry that they have no understanding of the specific needs for that industry. In other words, not all things work across all industries. Not only that, they aren’t creating and testing, testing and creating with a specific niche focus. This does not bode well for the results they will produce, if any.

I also know that just about every real estate agent that has spent any time on Facebook, gets approached with the concept of advertising on Facebook. I see ads by real estate agents all the time. I have yet to see one actually done effectively. I have yet to see a real estate agent’s ad on Facebook that is converting to closed business.

Oh, I see very effective Facebook ads all the time, just not from real estate agents. I see a whole lot of listing advertising and real estate agent advertising. I don’t see any ad capture. I don’t see any that do more than garner some likes for a Facebook business page (a page that isn’t even active enough to be effective) or that are not simply focused on getting eyeballs to see the listing they have.

I knew I needed to provide this free and valuable resource so that real estate agents could run highly targeted, highly effective Facebook ad campaigns that actually bring them business, not just an impression (aka presence) on Facebook or a “like” on their Facebook business page.

7 questions to ask before running a facebook ad campaign — Another gorgeous area we visit on our traveling life adventure.

So with that said, here are the questions you, as a real estate agent, need to ask yourself before you run a Facebook Ad Campaign….

1. Who do you want to see your ad?

Don’t be that person that says “everyone”. That’s absurd. Do you want to target 13 year old girls? 16 year old boys? People who have no interest in your area?

How are you going to target your audience? By town name? Zip code? Fans of certain pages?

2. Where do you want your ad to be located?

Do you want your ad in the right hand column or in the newsfeed? Do you want both?

Do you know which one is better for your specific ad?

Do you know if your ad will reach both mobile and desktop users or just one or the other? Do you want to reach both?

3. How many people do you want to see this ad?

Does it matter how many people see the ad? Or, does it matter how many people click on the ad? Or, does it matter how many people respond to the ad?

Is it better to focus on as much as your single ad budget will allow or should you target fewer, more often?

4. What is your goal for this ad?

Obviously closed sales is the ultimate goal for your ad. However, what is your quantifiable, it’s working, goal? Is it Facebook page likes? Is it clicks? Is it impressions? Is it something else?

5. What kind of CTA are you going to use?

A Call to Action is important. The most important piece of your ad. Do you have an effective one? Is it powerful? Do people want what you are offering?

6. Are you going to A/B test your ad?

Do you know what A/B testing is? Do you know how to do it? Are you willing to invest the time? It pays huge rewards when you do.

7. Do you have a followup campaign for this ad?

What are you going to do for people who respond to this ad? Are you going to call them? Email them?

How are you going to convert them?

An effective real estate Facebook ad campaign doesn’t need to cost anywhere close to $150/month (the amount the company above quoted my client – and this was their “introductory” level). Not even close. A good campaign integrates with your other real estate marketing.

Does all of this overwhelm you? Would you rather be spending your time doing other lead generating or working with your clients? That’s where we step in. As real estate agents, we fully understand what you have time for and what you don’t, what you need to spend your time on and what you need to delegate. We are here for you. We’ve got your back. We have the solution. It’s called the Facebook Domination Secret. Check it out.

Christina Ethridge is the founder of LeadsAndLeverage.com, helping real estate agents capture, convert and close Facebook leads.