Modern home buyers have so much information and choices that generating leads and getting them to take action is much more challenging than it used to be. Agents struggle to cut through the noise and oftentimes even existing leads seem to slip through the cracks no matter what you do. This is especially true for the top of the funnel real estate leads which might opt out if you don’t act quickly and professionally.
Top of the funnel leads aren’t the hottest leads in your database. In fact, they might be the coldest ones. Typically, you can’t expect them to convert right away but you can definitely speed up this process.
The most important takeaway is you need to build awareness and educate cold real estate leads so they get interested in what you have to offer. As these leads are in the early stages of the buyer’s journey, you can’t reach out with a sales pitch right away. A different kind of messaging is needed.
Let’s take a look at some helpful tips to move cold leads down the sales funnel and closer to the purchase.
How to convert cold real estate leads faster
1. Add your leads to your mailing list and establish the first touchpoint
Every agent has faced this situation: People opted in but haven’t replied to any emails or calls. They seemed interested at one of the open houses or signed up via your website but disappeared from your radars eventually. Every salesperson has faced a dozen similar situations that seemed promising but turned into a dead end.
So what you need to do is to start warming up your leads with emails. Email is still the best way to reach prospects and, in fact, people want more email communication (72% prefer receiving offers via email).
Add real estate leads to your CRM and mailing lists. Send an introductory email offering your latest market report, neighborhood guide, or take a look at some of our other email ideas. Keep your message short and remember to include:
- a strong call-to-action (e.g., download a neighborhood guide or market update, etc.);
- links to your social media profiles;
- link to your About Us page, should people want to learn more about you (here’s how to craft a remarkable About Us page).
Next, keep sending cold real estate leads your content to stay in touch all the time. There’s a 70% probability of selling to an existing lead so you want to keep them in the loop.
2. Use targeted real estate content
Most of the time, cold real estate leads are in a state of ‘just looking around’. Because there are so many market choices, they don’t have to rush into making decisions right away. Chances are big they’re still at the research stage and just want to find good answers to their questions.
As you can imagine, a hard sell won’t help unless you’re ready to put everyone off. In the meantime, targeted real estate content is a great way to fuel your email campaigns and show how valuable you can be to people. It also can’t hurt to keep building your local reputation so they hear more and more good things about you while they’re on the fence.
3. Refine your messages to get cold real estate leads warmed up
Securing your place in your leads’ inbox is no easy undertaking. Each of your emails builds you a reputation so you’d want to tweak your messages all the time to make them even better.
Here are a few tips on instantly making your emails more effective:
- avoid phrases like “just checking in’, or “it’s been a while since we last talked.” It usually takes at least 10+ contacts to close the deal so it’s a good idea to find alternatives to the standard sales language;
- show the value and benefits to your subscribers right away. The best places to do this are a subject line and opening sentences. Jump straight to the point and explain what’s in it for them.
- find a good enough reason to get in touch. Share news, market updates, neighborhood info, or your latest blog post or podcast answering some of the most pressing questions people encounter.
4. Use retargeting to recapture interest
One of the most effective techniques to redirect people back to your site is retargeting. Only 2 percent of your website visitors convert on the first visit so you need to circle the remaining 98 percent back to your site.
Here’s how retargeting works:
We’ve got a whole post here detailing how you can set up a retargeting campaign to compel people to opt in: Retargeting for Real Estate: a Complete Guide to Bringing People Back to Your Site.
5. Spot the sales-ready leads in your contact database
While doing due diligence work with your email and follow-up campaigns, remember to watch for open and click rates closely. It’s true that email marketing can take a very long time but the best leads are already in your database – so you have to find them.
If you see that certain leads are engaging with your messages all the time, consider following them up directly. When you think how hard it is to find new leads, you might want to maximize the power of your database you have already today.
Monitor campaign analytics, identify interested leads by watching click and open rates and follow people up – that’s all it takes.
What’s next?
Are you disappointed with how much effort you spend on real estate lead generation, only to find your contacts opting out of communication? Try these tips to make the process less painstaking and more effective.
