Real estate professionals have squandered a lot of money on bad "leads". That term - leads - has been burned into the vernacular of real estate agents because there are so many lead providers, and it's become an ugly term for far too many agents.
Consider working a reliable set of data to generate your own leads.
What's the difference between "leads" and data? There is more than a subtle difference.
The common denominator among leads companies is they have some sort of lead capture device, where someone responds to ad ad, visits a landing page, fills out something, or otherwise raises their hand, thus becoming a so-called "warm lead".
The problem with this, in our view, is three-fold:
- The company does 90% of the work for you, and you end up paying an exorbitant fee for marketing tasks you can do on your own. Our philosophy is you can paddle your own canoe and generate your own leads, by designing and implementing your own lead capture systems, rather than outsourcing this.
- From my experience and feedback I've received, leads are oftentimes not qualified. A good leads provider will separate the serious from the curious, but there's little economic incentive (in the short run) to qualify the lead. Better to sell the name of anyone that raises their hand, regardless of whether they are genuinely interested or have the ability to buy or sell. Thus, you can spend a lot of money on a warm prospect that is no prospect at all.
- Once these leads are generated, irrespective of their quality, they are oftentimes sold to multiple agents that cannibalize themselves and irritate the prospect, who is inundated with calls.
Enter data, the building blocks to generate your own leads.
Unlike "leads", data is merely information on a group of potential buyers or sellers you want to reach. It is building a profile of the ideal prospect you want to reach. These people have a set of characteristics that give them a propensity to buy or sell. Some common examples are owners of luxury homes, absentee owners, ownersof vacant land, expired listings, homeowners with 2nd notes, homeowners in bankruptcy or divorce, and so on - there are nearly infinite possibilities.
One set of data that has been very responsive has been a list of probate filings. The executor is often motivated to liquidate the property in order to pay for tax liabilities and estate-related expenses, satisfy creditors and distribute the remaining proceeds to the heirs. These heirs, by and large, don't want the house... they want the cash in the house.
Unlike "leads", data is not a group that has responded to an ad or clicked somewhere, and thus is much more affordable than so-called warm leads. Armed with data, you can reach out to people that match your criteria and generate your own leads in-house.
As a data provider, the analogy I like to use is we are like a hardware store. We give you the tools to build the house - or in this case, buy, sell or list the house. We don't pick up the hammer and build the house for you. But we give you the tools to build your own house, by identifying your best prospects.
Who is it exactly that you are trying to reach? Perhaps we can find your needle in a haystack. To bounce some ideas, call us at 800-307-9124 or send us an e-mail.
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