Best Practices For Lead Follow Up
Home Value Leads has designed our sites to provide the best conversion possible. Once your site is generating leads, how do you follow up? Here is a best use guide to help you with ideas for lead follow up so that you can convert them to listings.
CALL THEM ASAP! If a lead provides you with a phone number, call them ASAP! Home Value Leads offers lead notification via text message. Make sure to set that up so that as soon as a lead comes in, you can follow up as soon as possible. Use the phone call to qualify the lead and get additional information. This lets them know that there is a real person behind the form they just filled out and helps to build trust and confidence. Looking for scripts? Check out the related article links at the bottom of this page.
Email Them - The lead will get a generic email as soon as they hit submit. Don't let that keep you from emailing them something personal. Reach out and ask them for more information about their property, ask them to call you, or send them some additional information. Let them know if they have any questions to contact you and provide your phone number. Always end your email with a question or an offer for them to respond to.
Partial Leads
Statistically, most lead generation sources only convert 1-2% of traffic into leads. This is because many people are reluctant to provide contact information over the internet. Home Value Leads has recognized this and still captures the lead even if all they put in is their address. This puts Home Value Leads conversion rate well over 50% and we have seen up to 75% conversion rates with our sites.
The challenge now is how to follow up with these people. If someone told you "The person at 123 Main Street is thinking of selling their home" but you didn't have their email or phone number, how would you approach them? Think of partial leads from Home Value Leads the same way.
County Websites - Use this as a resource to get a name for your potential seller using the property tax information on file. This will usually also provide you with more information on the home such as bedrooms, bathrooms, and the date that the home was purchased by the current owner.
White Pages - Once you have a name, do a quick search on a White Pages website to see if you can get a phone number for the person. If you do, make sure to call them.
Pay For Contact Information - There are several services that allow you to look up contact information for people. You’ve already spent money generating a lead, so don’t be afraid to spend a few bucks to get their contact information! Here are some services that our clients have used:
- Spokeo.com
- Cole Realty Resources
- Switchboard.com
- Intelius
- ThatsThem.com (Free lookup service recommended by one of our clients)
Mail - If you are unable to get any other contact information on a lead, mail might be your best option. Here are some ideas on things to mail:
- Postcards - Cheapest way to mail. Using a photo of your site as the front of the postcard and then put information on the back. You can include the potential value, or ask them to give you a call. Be creative and think about what would YOU respond to if you were receiving the post card.
- Letters - More personal, letters are often much more effective for follow up. You can also provide more information in a letter since it will not be visible unless they open the envelope.
Door Knocking - Visiting the home in person may provide better conversion for you. Go over to the home when the lead will likely be home and knock on the door. If they are home, present them with their home value report in person and offer to explain it to them. If they are not home, you can either leave the report or leave a door hanger of some sort saying to give you a call to arrange a time to drop off their report.
Social Media - You know their address, which means you probably were able to get their name from the county. See if you can find them on Facebook or whatever social media sites you use. With Facebook, once you add them as a friend, you can private message them without the message going to their spam folder.
GET CREATIVE - There is no such lead as a bad lead. If you have a way to contact them, CONTACT THEM! And once you have contacted them, follow up with them. Even though they may not be interested today, things change. Follow up with them and be the agent on the top of their mind when they decide that they want to sell.