Lead management services have been around in some format for years, of course, and many tech companies have been putting a lot of effort into delivering tools that tie the broker, office manager, and team leader. Agents historically (and still today) are inconsistent at best with responding to online leads (and are usually worse at follow-up). Brokers need to fix this!
CRM providers are responding to two trends we see emerging that are changing the landscape of lead management for brokers. The first one is confounding. Agents want syndication and online advertising but only respond to about 1 in 4 leads. When they do, it is normally a “one and done” call or email.
The second trend is the need for brokerages to increase their visibility, management, and ROI of leads – online and offline. As a broker, you need to benchmark and set goals for enterprise lead responsiveness. That means you need to see performance across the company, each office, and each agent in each office. We recently found a top-producing agent getting more than 39 leads a month from the broker who never responded!
WAV Group sees four key takeaways.
Office Reporting helps brokers better understand leads overall and leads to lead source. This is a fundamental requirement for managing your online lead strategy. WAV Group emphasizes that brokers use these reports to publish the facts about an online lead generation. If sites are not delivering any leads to agents, show agents the results, then turn off the data feed. Don’t waste your listing asset on partners who do not perform. Syndication to 200+ websites is an online marketing mistake.
Agent Lead Responsiveness helps managers understand what agents do not care about online leads. It helps the office manager open a discussion with the agent to determine a strategy for lead placement. Either the agent needs to commit to following up with the leads with broker support and coaching, or the leads should go to another agent or a relocation desk. Don’t waste them! The lack of responsiveness by an agent will tarnish the brokerage reputation with the consumer. It’s disgusting to think that a consumer would reach out to a broker on a home purchase and be ignored. Brands cannot handle this type of erosion in consumer confidence.
Agent Performance is another measure on the dashboard. Not all agents are alike. If some agents are converting more online leads, the manager can celebrate that success with the agent and find out what they are doing to have such positive results. In this case, the agent will train the manager on best practices so that the manager can train poor performing agents. Moreover, the manager has visibility in to the agent’s sales pipeline. By knowing how many consumers an agent has in various stages of the sales funnel will help the manager manage the agent more effectively.
It is clear that brokers must supply CRM and drip marketing to agents if they ever want to convert an online lead. It’s about time that more brokers take customer service seriously and respond to consumers who are inquiring about their listings.
There are a number of great solutions available today. RE Technology has a comprehensive list http://retechnology.com/broker/categories/products/crm
This is an excellent and honest assessment of human behaviour and how you can give people the tools and they still willingly by choice or ignorance do not deliver the Close; of the greeting appointment, listing appointment, showing of houses, or worse the one and done as you mentioned. Being a Real Estate Practitioner, for over twenty years has been a way of life. It is more than a Lifestyle, it is who I am. A consultant, a friend to my community, and a Businesswoman/Negotiator. This Profession is not for everyone although, I find that many will try it out for a while and then more commonly, they can’t find their keys after a while. Thank you for your insight to Lead Retention.
Holly Campuzano
San Luis Obispo, CA.
http://www.HouseFinity.Com
It’s crazy to think that any kind of lead would be ignored. As an agent, that is part of your job to follow up. If someone reaches out, they deserve to be contacted back. If it’s not a good match, that can be determined later.
Agree
This really hits the nail on the head. Agent performance is an interesting metric to try to track, with numerous variables at play. Really tho, at the end of the day, a lead is a lead and to the victor goes the spoils, right?