Real Estate Lead Generation Companies Adapt To 2018

How Real Estate Lead Generation Companies Work

While there are a number of methodologies for generating listing leads, it really helps to start at the root and ask "What is a lead?" This is because not all companies see leads the same way, and therefor, they'll gather and deliver those leads to you based on their understanding of your needs. So, it's a great question to ask when looking around for a lead generation solution provider! Not all chocolate's the same and not all cars are the same. So when someone presents a lead generation lineup, it'll be good to go in with some insight on what would make the ultimate real estate lead generator.

This is a good practice for you in general as it may help you and your business to shift your thinking from "I'm looking for homeowners that want to list" to "I'm looking for homeowners in my farm that are most likely going to list and..." It's about getting specific with more identifiers while changing the game to where you're not waiting on homeowners to tell you where on the listing readiness timeline they are, but instead, tracking how ready they likely are based on actions they've taken. This is the value of quality lead generation (we'll get into that later). First, let's explore granularity of leads...

A Few Of The Many Homeowner Lead Types

Before we go into this list of types of real estate agent leads, it's important to know that this is by no means a comprehensive list. It's just intended to show the diversity of lead types. You may find yourself saying "Well, these three lead types are the only ones that matter" but the three will jumble depending on who you ask. You'll also notice that many of them seem to be directly-related to or fit within the category of another, but the description should help separate the value of the various lead types. More on that later. Let's explore the various homeowner lead types.

• Cold - These fall in the category of homeowners *capable* of being a listing client, but who may or may not be open to your brand
• Warm - These are homeowners that have demonstrated a willingness to view or hear your brand pitch
• Hot - These are homeowners that have demonstrated significant emotional interest in your brand's pitch
• Neighbor - A specific subset of homeowner lead type that allows your messaging to hone in on local service and values
• Friend - A homeowner that will listen to your brand pitch
• Family - A homeowner that will most likely list with you (assuming a familial connection)
• Past Client - Someone that will possibly list with you again (assuming positive results and continued communication)
• Referral - Someone that will possibly listen to your brand pitch
• Single Action - A homeowner that has taken a single action that leans them in the offrs algorithm towards the likelihood of listing
• Stacked Actions - A homeowner that has taken several steps, leaning them in the offrs algorithm towards the likelihood of listing
• Passive Inquiry - A homeowner that has made public inquiry or statements demonstrating a lean towards listing
• Active Inquiry - A homeowner that has directly and publicly inquired about listing services

Okay, so as we mentioned, the lead types above are by no means complete and many of them could be considered descriptors of other lead types (you could have a neighbor that's taken certain tracked actions but is also someone you've spoken with and discussed signing, so therefore a hot lead, etc.). But barring these legitimate overlaps, your farm's homeowner residents should fall within one or more of these categories. And that's the key takeaway here... all homeowners are real estate leads, it's only a matter of when they're ready to get down to listing. And more specifically... you knowing when that is.

Lead Conversion Methodologies Matter

This last point is important to consider when looking at real estate lead generation companies. We've listed out above the many, many lead types and there's plenty more that offrs tracks, but if a lead generation service provider only views seller leads in a black & white fashion (Lead = YES or NO), then you'll never know how best to approach your new lead. Worse yet, the lead generation provider wouldn't really know when or how to present your new lead to you! =\ How could they? If they're only tracking whether or not someone is a "Lead" and can't focus in on convertibility, then how would they know which ones YOU should focus in on?

That's why lead conversion methodologies matter, because if a lead generation service doesn't know that seller leads have to be converted, then not only are they just giving you a list of names without a score or label, they're likely giving it to you too late. Think of it this way... if all leads are the same, then which are the hot ones? And if you can't point out 10 hot leads on a list of 2,500 names, then you've got a 1 in 250 chance that you're NOT wasting your time with other lead types while your hot leads cool down or go elsewhere.

All The Things That Go Into Lead Generation

There are a lot of factors that go into real estate lead generation services and building a prediction model that can tell you which homeowners are likely looking at listing their home in the next 6-12 months (let alone doing so with a 70% national average accuracy)! Info is like saying "That is a rocket" where data is like saying "The rocket launched at 3:15 pm EST" and predictive analytics is like saying "The rocket launched at 3:15 pm EST and, based on the multiple check-in stages, it has a 70% chance of being at this very point in space/time" (quite a difference)!

If you're spending your days plotting through spreadsheets that are full of names and numbers, it might be time to get up to speed and see what Artificial Intelligence can do for your real estate business. It's not the future, it's right now and it's happening all over the nation thanks to SMB solutions like offrs. Real estate predictive analytics and homeowner listing predictions for use as key lead generation solutions is all happening right now (and not just for enterprise brokerages). Set up a demo with offrs now and learn what predictive analytics can do for you. Learn more about offrs in the industry.