Have you ever heard the phrase, “If you want something done, ask a busy person”? (Surprisingly, it has been attributed to both Lucille Ball and Benjamin Franklin.) Well, it seems pretty darn true to me. When I don’t have too much to do, I get lazy and I take my time. On the other hand, when I have a lot of things piled high on my plate, my efficiency increases tenfold.
I’ve found a few “cheats” or timesavers that help generate leads from our own office listings; plus, they have the added bonus of working like a charm.
Time Saving Lead Generation Tips
Here are three time savers that have also resulting in generating a pretty good chunk of leads off of some of our office listing leads:
- Create three photo collages when you obtain your listing photos. I don’t know about you, but we use a professional photographer for most of our property listings. When the photos come in, I’ve found it extremely effective to create a photo collage (three, in fact) at the time that I input the photos into the MLS. Using ribbet.com, I create a 4-photo collage of the property. I then make three separate versions of the same collage: one with text that says “Just Listed”, another with “Open this Weekend!” and a third that says “Just Sold!” I also include the address and other good stuff. (You can check some out on the @Broadpointproperties Instagram page.) I save them and then use them for Instagram and other social media posting throughout the listing period. Time to do this: 10 minutes. Time Saved: Tons
- Mail Just Listed Postcards with Lead Capture. Instead of being just another pretty face, my Just Listed postcards have a secondary goal: find others in the area that may be interested in selling their homes as well. Nothing builds trust with the neighbors more than knowing that you are the trusted professional who was selected to sell another neighbor’s home. These postcards (generally made by companies such as Corefact) capture prospective seller data when sellers go to a third party website and enter in a code number and receive an immediate online valuation. Great way to kill two birds with one stone! Time to do this: 10 minutes. New Clients Obtained: Lots
- Maximize open house leads by syndicating open house 4-1-1. You’re going to get mad when you hear this one and I know that I am going to get some nasty comments, but when we put your open house dates and times on Realtor.com, Zillow, and Trulia, we get tons and tons of traffic to our open houses—most of which includes buyers who are not already represented by an agent. It’s a great way to increase your traffic, make your seller very happy. Hopefully, you’ll pick up a few buyers or sell the home that you are holding open. Time to do this: 5 minutes. New Clients Obtained: Lots
What other surprisingly simple things are you doing to get additional buyer and seller leads?
Jessica says
Great tips Melissa! You’ve always got great ideas.
Another good open house trick is to add your dates / times to the Craigslist open house tool if you’re advertising there. Steps on how to do it are listed in this post: http://blog.zurple.com/get-more-real-estate-leads-with-new-craigslist-layout
AdminMelissa says
Thanks, Jessica.
Richard says
Thanks for the tips!!…nice to see your teeth match your necklace also…
AdminMelissa says
Good thing I wasn’t wearing black pearls… LOL.
Mariano says
Can you clarify point 3 please. I’m reading it as, “We post the times of our (personal) Open Houses on the 3 websites because it doesn’t syndicate; so we add it ourselves.” Is this what you are saying or do you mean something else entirely? -Thanks!
AdminMelissa says
So, to clarify, we go to Trulia and Zillow and manually add our open house times to our listings. Then, when the consumer is searching Z and T, they see that there is an open house. 2 out of 3 ZT users are not currently represented by an agent, so it is a good way to meet new buyers and sellers. Also, for Realtor.com, add your open house time on the MLS. Same process, and same results. Hope that helps.