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Lead generation is critical when it comes to a real estate agent’s marketing efforts. If leads aren’t coming in then you will eventually go out of business.

In the past a real estate agent could depend upon tools like direct marketing mailers and response hotlines. Now social media and all it’s promises of great lead generation have come along and seduced a lot of agents without delivering any verifiable goods.

Don’t get me wrong…I like social media and think that it can be a great networking tool. But there are some key things you need to think about.

First off you need to stop saying things like “I need a Twitter account” or “Oh man, Pinterest is blowing up…I need to jump on their and get started using it for homes and stuff.”

That’s jumping the gun and putting the horse before the cart.

Instead you need to think more strategically.

Understand your prospects

Good lead generation always starts with knowing your target prospect inside and out. This means good research about this audience. Go door to door, call them on the phone, talk to them at the local groceries or park. Get to know them. A good social media lead-generation strategy is always established on good customer research.

Understand the local economy

How has the recession impacted your market? Is unemployment high? Foreclosures high? When it comes to social media you need to be sure you are talking to your audience with a sensitivity that respects the local economy. If you sound like you are out of touch then you’ll ruin your reputation.

Capture and maintain leads

Once you’ve understood your market and the economy, your social media lead generation strategy needs to look at how you intend to capture and maintain data on your leads. CRM programs like Batchbook can help you manage social media leads.

Give good customer service

You need to think about how you treat customers is going to impact your social media efforts. Reviews on your services could show up in places like Yelp. People are always looking online for opinions. What they read will definitely impact what they think of you. You have to make sure you are giving great customer service. Bad feedback can easily hurt your efforts.

Evaluate tools

The worse possible thing you could do is jump onto every new, shiny social media platform that comes online. Instead you need to think about what you are trying to accomplish, who your ideal customer is and where he or she will likely spend time online. Facebook has proven to be very effective lead gen social media for real estate agents, with Twitter a distant second. Blogging has also proven to be effective in generating leads. Pinterest has potential in that you could build boards of house or interior designs ideas people could follow. YouTube might be helpful, too.

Your Turn

The goal with your social media lead generation campaign is not to waste your time. And that’s exactly what can happen if you don’t approach social media thoughtfully.

So tell me: have you had any success using social media to generate leads?

On New Year’s Day I mentioned I was going to start a short 4-part series that concentrate on the four critical areas of real estate success: sales, prospecting, listing and negotiation.

Each post in the series will share with you the top ten posts we’ve written on that topic.

So far we’ve got:

• 10 Must-Read Posts on Great Real Estate Sales Ideas
• 10 Must-Read Posts on Great Real Estate Prospecting Ideas
• 10 Must-Read Posts on Great Real Estate Listing Ideas
• 10 Must-Read Posts on Great Real Estate Negotiations

Today I’ll focus on prospecting.

Remember, you actually have to read these articles and then put their ideas into practice if you want to take 2012 by storm!

But because you’re reading this I’m certain that’s what you’ll do, so sit back, sip some coffee and get ready to read some hard-hitting articles on real estate prospecting.

10 Must-Read Posts on Great Prospecting Ideas

What Can George Orwell Teach You about Generating Leads in a Sluggish Market? 

George Orwell, the English author of 1984, Animal Farm and other classics, has six rules of writing. You need to know this: These rules are all gems and can turn you into a ruthless copywriter. A killer blogger. A writer with dangerous copy chops. But what do they have to do with generating leads? Simple. Use these rules when writing ads and you’ll create tight little advertisements that boost your conversion. Read more.

3 Rules to Real Estate Marketing Success

People are self-interested. That means they don’t care about the car you drive. How many houses you sold. The number of awards you’ve won. What school you went to. Who you work for or how long you’ve been in the business. All they want to know is this… Read more.

36-Year Veteran Explains Her Mouth-Watering Success

Lisa Burridge is a lot like you: She’s a real estate agent who wants nothing more than to succeed. That was true 26 years ago when she decided to get into real estate. And it’s still true today. The only difference between then and now? Twenty-six years ago Lisa was making $6 an hour and working up to 18 hours a day… Read more.

Need a Damn Good Referral System to Save Your Career?

Ever wonder why you seem to run into the same deal-destroying problems with prospects? Or hear the same bridge-burning complaints from your clients? Or maybe you’d simply be happy to learn how to find clients who always walk away satisfied after a transaction with you. Think about it: what’s it worth to you to find and nurture a handful–say, I don’t know, 100–clients who love you to death? Read more.

How to Become Highly Prosperous in a Shaky Market

Up to this point your ways of working may have been successful. But here’s something to think about: What can you, as a real estate agent, do that would challenge the status quo, overturn your market or even persuade a competitor’s client to work with you? Read more.

Lead Generation Strategies: Seeker-Oriented v. Attract Oriented

Last year Baylor researchers asked real estate agents, “When it comes to lead generation–what works?” These researchers discovered two things. Read more.

9 Things That Make Emails Seriously Effective for Prospecting

Despite the endless talk about social media–Twitter or Facebook, for example–-emails are still the workhorse of online prospecting. Here’s why.Read more.

What Do Journalism and Real Estate Prospecting Have in Common?

Prospecting has a lot in common with journalism. For instance, journalists are always approaching strangers. They’re always asking a lot of questions. And they’re interested in learning the truth. And, just like in journalism, a good prospector has to understand the 5W’s. Read more.

The Claude Hopkins Guide to Real Estate Prospecting

Here’s the deal. In the book My Life in Advertising“, Claude Hopkins tells a great story about a gloomy copywriter named Powers–a story with implications of everything you’re working right now, today… Read more.

Follow Up: Why Targeted Repetition Works So Well

As every great agent knows, it’s your consistency that will make the difference in making any follow-up program work. Even if you borderline on obnoxious. Understand, I don’t mean you have to be a jerk…but you may have to be that agent who refuses to “take a hint”. Read more.

Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.

Want fresh, new ideas on making your phone ring with prospects? Then grab this free 7-part online video training series.

People are self-interested.

That means they don’t care about the car you drive. How many houses you sold. The number of awards you’ve won. What school you went to. Who you work for or how long you’ve been in the business.

All they want to know is this: What’s in it for me?

The sooner you recognize that, the sooner you’ll jump-start your leads, pump up your production and revive your career.

Listen. I can’t think of any better piece of advice to give you as a real estate agent–heck, as a person–than what I’m about to share.

In fact, follow this piece of advice and I guarantee you that not only will business pick up for you–but your life will gain an increasing amount of happiness, confidence and fun.

Because what I’m talking about is really the secret for good living. It’s paradoxical and goes against the grain of what people will tell you. But here’s the deal: It works.

Follow this advice and the following three rules that follow from it and your leads and production will take a leap forward the moment you start.

The piece of advice is this: Don’t focus on you. Focus on people. Here are some rules to help you live that out.

Rule One: People Hate to Be Sold–But Love to Buy

People want control. Buying suggests control. Being sold is just the opposite. People feel under pressure. Out of control.

And what do people do when they feel out of control? Either fight or run. You want to avoid that.

So how do you put people in the buying mood? Simple. You identify their problems and desires…and then show them how you can solve those problems and satisfy those wants.

The Problem-Agitate-Solve formula is a perfect example of this.

If you want to attract sellers, tell them that you can sell their home for the most money in the least amount of time. Two things sellers want: A fast sale and high value for their home.

Thing is, if you don’t think you can do that for someone…don’t offer to. You’ll set yourself up for failure…and that’s not good for your reputation.

Now, if you want to attract buyers, convince them that you can help them buy the most home for the least amount of dollars. Convince them that you can get them in a home they never dreamed they could afford. Show them that you can find the a family-friendly neighborhood…or an urban, upscale home near the theater and museum.

The point is, find out what they love and want…and tell them you can help them satisfy those desires.

Rule Two: Emotions Drive People’s Buying Decisions…Not Logic

Even though top-notch trainers spout this one a lot, few people really get it right .

Regardless of what your client tells you…no one buys or sells a home with logic. No. People buy or sell on emotional reasons. That’s why it’s so important to connect with people’s emotions.

How do you do that? Start with the seven deadly sins: fear, greed, vanity, lust, pride, envy and laziness.

Some people want to keep up with the Joneses [envy]. Others want to be better than the Joneses [vanity]. And still others want away from the Joneses [fear].

Your job is to spot the dominant emotion…and stoke it.

How do you do this? Ask questions and listen. Then ask more questions. And you know you’re getting close to a dominant emotion when they start to share feelings.

It’s that dominant emotion you’ll need to focus on when you need to close a deal.

Rule Three: People Use Logic to Justify Their Buying Decisions

Don’t stop with the emotions, though. Once they close the deal, their rational side will kick in to start questioning their decision. That’s when you need to cut off any kind of remorse right away.

Here’s a couple ways you could do that:

“Hey, we couldn’t pass up the $8,000 tax credit on this house.” Emotional reason: It’s 125 square feet bigger than Joneses.

“Hey, it’s almost $200,000 more than we wanted to spend, but we couldn’t pass up the finished basement on this baby!” Emotional reason: I wanted a bigger house than my boss.

“Sure the mortgage payments will spread us thin, but it’s close to better schools.” Emotional reason: The neighborhood was getting dangerous.

You get the picture? Good. Now, master these three rules and your career and life will gradually get better and better.

Like what you read? Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add.

And if you like what you read, subscribe to the real estate marketing Blog by email or news feed.

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Lisa Burridge is a lot like you: She’s a real estate agent who wants nothing more than to succeed.

That was true 26 years ago when she decided to get into real estate…

And it’s still true today.

The only difference between then and now? Twenty-six years ago Lisa was making $6 an hour and working up to 18 hours a day…

Today she’s closing close to 500 deals a year and employing a team of 4 buyers agents.

In other words, she’s making a whole heck of a lot more money…and working less.

What’s In It for You

Recently I got on the phone with Lisa. See, Lisa is a client with our company and part of her success is found in the lead generation tools we provide her…

Tools that have helped her generate a shockingly 900 plus leads a month. Month in. Month out…

Tools that have helped her convert a ridiculous amount of leads into clients…

And tools that have helped her become one of the top real estate agents in America for three years running.

This agent is that good.

3 Things That Are True About the Super-Successful

But talking to Lisa reminded me of three things about the super successful real estate agent that’s true for anyone who wants to succeed. Those who want desperately to succeed:

1. Suffer from an incurable addiction to attention. By the way, this is not a bad thing. It’s a gift. And used in the right way it will turn you into an unstoppable, top-level networking giant. See point 3.

2. Nurse an unquenchable fire in their belly to succeed. I’ve seen this time and time again with those who are successful. They speak about a fire…a passion…a dominating drive to win. Without it, obstacles like time and difficult people will stop you cold in your tracks.

3. Network like mad. Extroverts and networking are like the hands that fit into the gloves. They were made for each other. And it sounds to me that Lisa Burridge was made for it. You’ll see what I mean when you listen to the interview. [Note: This doesn't mean that introverts can't become killer networkers...just means they'll have to work at it a little bit.]

These three things are true for people like Tiger Woods, Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan…and Lisa Burridge.

You Didn’t See This Coming, Did You?

Now, here’s something that might shock you: Lisa Burridge set up shop in little ol’ Casper, Wyoming…

Population 50,000.

Granted, Casper is one of the best places to live in the U. S. [Or so says Money-CNN.] And it’s average home price is $166,351…which means it’s a market that is in a good mood to buy and sell homes.

Yet, moving 500 homes in any market is simply a mouth-watering feat.

In fact, whenever you hear of successful agents by volume, you usually think of cities in states like New York, Florida or California.

Not Wyoming.

Anyway, here’s what you should know: You can listen to my interview with Lisa Burridge AND can get your hands on some of the tools that Lisa uses.

For free.

What kind of tools am I talking about? For example, a little booklet on how to turn shy prospects into cash-in-hand buyers [Warning: PDF].

Or take a peek at the lowly property brochure that in tandem with her sign riders is alone generating over 300 leads a month.

Listen. Just using these two resources alone and you could have one of your greatest years. But, of course, there’s more to it than that…

Just listen to the interview and you’ll see what I mean.

And pay attention–because you’ll discover insights and rules for succeeding in real estate that are simply not available to anyone who doesn’t listen.

Without further ado…here is the interview with one of the nation’s best real estate agents.

Like what you read? Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add.

And if you like what you read, subscribe to the real estate marketing Blog by email or news feed.

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Ever wonder why you seem to run into the same deal-destroying problems with prospects? Or hear the same bridge-burning complaints from your clients?

Or maybe you’d simply be happy to learn how to find clients who always walk away satisfied after a transaction with you…

Think about it: what’s it worth to you to find and nurture a handful–say, I don’t know, 100–clients who love you to death?

Who can’t stop talking about you…

And who send you so much business that you often wonder if there’s some kind of law against getting so many leads?

This would make you happy, yes?

Deep inside you and I both know that this kind of arrangement–referrals to the max–is the most sublime way to earn a living.

But here’s the sad part: you haven’t bribed or manipulated that situation into being doing things you are currently doing.

And probably won’t anytime soon. Man, that’s frustrating.

See, one of the chronic problems with sales, advertising, business and marketing–whether in real estate or not–is bad information.

Bad information in the sense that what you know about your client is off.

Way off.

And when you have bad information on prospects and clients, you will constantly concoct strategies that sail clear over their mark…

Or peter out well before they reach their destination.

Here’s the good news, though. You can overcome this failure.

How? Easy. Think like your prospect and client.

Learn everything you can about them. Better yet, spend a year or two in their shoes. Confront the issues and problems they see. Burn into your mind a feeling of what it’s like to live like them.

A 2004 Chicago Sun-Times article gives a vivid example of this in the auto industry…

Yuji Yokoya, a Toyota engineer, responsible for revamping the Toyota Sienna minivan for the North American market drove from Anchorage, Alaska to Mexico…

And from Florida to California…in a Sienna mini-van.

The Chicago Sun-Times says:

Crossing the Mississippi River by bridge, he [Yokoya] noted that the Sienna’s crosswind stability needed improvement. He observed excessive steering drift while traversing gravel roads in Alaska, and the need for a tighter turning radius along the crowded streets in Santa Fe. Driving through Glacier National Park, he decided the handling needed to be crisper. He also made an all-wheel-drive option a priority, along with more interior space and cargo flexibility.

Finally, he decided that the new Sienna would have to be a minivan that families, and especially kids, could live in for extended periods of time. Upgrading seat quality became a priority, along with “kid friendly” features such as a roll-down window for second-row passengers, an optional DVD entertainment centre and a conversation mirror so parents could monitor what was going on in the back seat.

As you probably know, the Sienna has “an excellent reputation for overall quality” and “long-term dependability”. Edmunds says as much.

And Toyota is simply a brand with hot cars and hot technology. Year after year it fires on all cylinders.

Getting into the heads of your prospects and clients will allow you to give prospects the best possible solution for whatever problem they’re facing…

To persuade effortlessly, bringing to the table vast hands-on experience with all kinds of markets. In all kinds of economic conditions.

But you’ll need to go beyond traditional market research.

Instead of just combing through numbers and plowing through a stack of reports, you’ll need to get off your duff and speak to your prospects and clients.

Do it with no other agenda than trying to figure out what they like. And why.

In other words, create a persona.

Watch how they work. See what a typical day looks like for them. Find out how they interact with their families. How a home integrates into their lives.

As you can imagine, this will take a little work. But it will pay dividends. It will make you a murderously good real estate pro who will book up quickly…

Because people like to work with wise, friendly people.

And once you lock into the ebb and flow of your prospects and clients, you’re business will be on the fast track.

That’s a good place to be, right? Right. And when you get to the point where you want more…where you want to slam the pedal to the metal…check out one of the plainest, but potent referral systems around.

It might be a good idea to just check it out now. Get familiar with it so you’ll be ready when you need it.

Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the real estate marketing Blog by email or news feed.

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Up to this point your ways of working may have been successful. But here’s something to think about:

What can you, as a real estate agent, do that would challenge the status quo, overturn your market or even persuade a competitor’s client to work with you?

See, out of the 43 businesses that were showcased in the book In Search of Excellence 14 were out of business in two years. BusinessWeek then studied these 14 failed companies…and do you know what they found out?

“Failure to change” was the main theme for going out of business with these companies.

What does that say to you?

Are you in a position to change? To challenge the status quo? To shake up your market and be a trend setter instead of a passive causality?

6 Unconventional Questions to Help You Become a Market Shaker

Forget widely accepted principles such as blind optimism and arrogant self-promotion. Instead, break out of the box by asking yourself these unconventional questions that will lead you down a different, unused, but highly prosperous, path to success.

• What worse case scenario could happen, that seems impossible, but if it did happen, what would I do?

• What alternatives to marketing, technology, industry, prospecting, organization are out there…alternatives people are not thinking about?

• What pain are my client’s and prospects GOING to experience in the near future? And how can I provide a solution to that pain?

• What am I personally doing in my business or life that if I don’t change now could provide significant pain in the near future?

• What did other companies do during a recession or sagging growth to survive? How did they change? How did they adapt?

• Finally, what rules can I break? What rules can I rewrite?

The best performers in any industry are the agitators, the pioneers, the rule breakers and the game-changers.

In essence, it’s about staying fresh. So ask your self theses questions. Forecast the future. The ability to peer around corners will pay off big for you.

If you haven’t already, subscribe to the real estate marketing Blog by feed oremail.

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Last year Baylor researchers asked real estate agents, “When it comes to lead generation–what works?”

These researchers discovered two things.

First, those real estate agents who reported doing better–or much better–in their market than most agents reported significantly higher lead conversion rates to appointments.

Second, these same agents reported higher conversion rates from appointments to a transaction.

What was their secret? Well, their secret pretty much boiled down to 5 characteristics that make up a compelling real estate agent profile.

Let me show you what I mean.

Real estate agents who reported doing much better in their market tended to:

1. Have higher lead and appointment conversion rates.

2. Spend less on open houses as a percentage of their total spending.

3. Spend less on promotional items as a percentage of their total spending.

4. More productive when using open houses.

5. More seeker oriented in their lead generation activities

One way to approach this information is to use it as a baseline for your own lead generation investment. The question is: Are your lead generating strategies seeker-oriented or attract oriented?

Attract-oriented strategies tend to be activities like print advertising or signage where the real estate agent puts out the ad or the sign and then waits for leads to come in.

These types of strategies tend to be passive. You sit and wait.

On the other hand, seeker-oriented real estate agents typically invested in the proactive strategies like networking, referrals and IVR technology.

These type of strategies are active. Aggressive. They put you in control of your leads. And your career.

Yes, I know. Aggressive strategies are nerve racking for the timid. So, the question is: If you could be in control and guide your career to success, don’t you think it’s worth the risk of sticking your neck out there a little to be more aggressive?

I do. And I hope you do, too. You and your career are worth it. Let me know what you think.

Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.

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Despite the endless talk about social media–Twitter or Facebook, for example–-emails are still the workhorse of online prospecting.

Why? Clickthrough decay. Twitter time passes 10 times faster than email time.

Jakob Nielson says:

One of the big downsides of stream-based communication compared to email newsletters is the highly ephemeral nature of the postings: Once they scroll off the first screen, they’re essentially 6 feet under.

A look at clickthrough statistics for links posted to Twitter vs. those circulated in email newsletters shows a drastically steeper decay function: lots of clicks the first few minutes, and then almost none. In contrast, email continues to generate clicks for days as people work their way through their inboxes.

So, since more and more and more people are checking their e-mail on cell phones or smart phones and archiving, it’s wise to keep grooming your emails so their readable, relevant and powerful.

1. Reason Why. First, what’s your most compelling reason to send the email? If there’s no good reason for it, consider taking the day off.

2. “From” Line. The “From” line and subject line work in tandem. And an effective “From” line starts with name recognition. If you’re not famous in your market, then maybe your company is. Use the most famous.

3. Subject Line. Something that stands out in their inbox. Use this tool to test your subject lines AND “From” lines.

4. First vertical inch or two. Many people won’t see images—your header, wrapper, or photos—because their e-mail software turns them off. Or they may be getting your message on a BlackBerry or Treo or cell phone. Consider what’s in this precious real estate. And make it count.

5. Scannable. Since very few people read it all the way through, is it easy to scan your email? Can they get the point at a glance?

6. Headline. You do have a headline, don’t you? Okay then, if you don’t, then the first sentence is your headline. Does it make the point and provide a link for action? Is the call to action simple and clear, making a single point and with no more than a sentence or two at the most?

7. Precision. Omit needless words. All of them. Here’s a rule of thumb to follow: Once you reduce the email to half it’s length…try to reduce it again.

8. Call to Action. Will the person feel like he’s losing big if he decides to sit this one out? That’s the kind of feeling you want to give people.

9. Tone. Conversational. What do I mean by that? Does it feel like one person writing to another? As impersonal as e-mail can be, you still want it to feel like one person’s message to another.

So what about you: are you still using email to prospect? Have you given it up for Twitter or Facebook? If so, how effective have you become? Or has spam and the crowd noise chased you out? Is email dead and anybody who uses it wasting their time and money?

Share your thoughts. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Has this happened to you recently: you tend to become desperate in tight times by trying to aggressively pin down real estate buyers?

But did you know that removing pressure from the sales process will actually cause you to win more listings and prospects and sell more homes?

That’s right. A sales approach where you create pressure-free conversations with buyers is more effective.

However, to do that it’s essential that you eliminate behaviors and language that buyers can perceive as “aggressive.”

We all know what these are — continual e-mail and voicemail “followups” in which agents try to pin down the status of a potential real estate buyer– is one common example.

[And of course it's becoming more and more difficult to nail down a potential buyer in this market.]

The problem is that prospects react to aggressive–or perhaps we should say “overaggressive”–sales behaviors by withdrawing and evading us.

In fact, what you have to do instead of being passive or aggressive is this: you have to take the “middle ground” by being authentically unassuming, yet effective–and that this is the most stress-free and effective way to sell.

What do I mean by “authentically unassuming, yet effective”?

How to Discover a Whole New Effectiveness

For starters you have to shift away from assuming that every buyer is a fit for your any of your listings.

It’s sort of like the legal concept of “being innocent until proven guilty.”

You can’t afford to make any assumptions about “fit” until your conversation with the buyer indicates that you two mutually arrived at that conclusion.

The aggressiveness that turns off buyer sets in when you assume, every time you pick up the phone, that you have a solution for them.

Your tone of voice and language gives them that message long before they’ve even had a chance to agree that you have the home that they want.

But if you can manage to find that middle ground of not assuming anything while also communicating in a low-key, unassuming manner, you’ll discover a whole new effectiveness you could never have imagined.

Flawed Logic

Can prospects sense when you’re assuming too much? Sure they can–because most of us have been conditioned to present or talk about our solution as a way to engage prospects so they’ll reveal their problems to us.

But that logic is completely flawed.

When you launch into your speal to someone who doesn’t trust you yet, all you do is allow them to pigeonhole you as a stereotyped “salesperson.”

How to Become Unassuming but Effective

First, learn to start conversations by focusing 100 percent on generating discussions around your prospects’ problems, rather than pitching your listing inventory the second you hear an opening.

Second, learn to begin those conversations by converting the benefits of your homes into problems that your homes will actually solve.

Third, after you and your prospects have identified a desires or needs, you can then engage in a discussion about whether meeting those needs is a priority.

It’s only at that point that prospects have finally given you implicit permission to share your inventory with them.

Jumping in with solutions prematurely will only land you back in the trap of being perceived as “aggressive.”

What Do You Think?

Have you found yourself having to get aggressive? Do you approach this market differently since buyers have tightened the purse strings? Or are you in one of these bubble-proof markets?

Let me know what you think.

And if you like what you read, subscribe to the real estate marketing blog by email or news feed.

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