Bob Corcoran

This week we've been talking a bit about calls to action you might use to turn casual visitors into active prospects. One of the most obvious calls to actions is a plain old "Contact Me" page on your website. Many times you might have linked to this throughout the site, but in any case you want a site visitor to be able to find this page right away when he or she visit your site. Putting the information in tiny type at the bottom of the page does not do the trick. Especially these days, when many wonderful online companies are virtually impossible to contact in person (i.e., Amazon.com), having your contact information as a top level navigational bar is very important. After all, do you want people to look at your pretty website or sell them a house?

In this internet age, people still like to communicate in different ways. Your contact page should give them that option. The means list a phone, maybe a cell phone, fax, and email address - even if you are putting that information on the top of a form where you are asking them for information. If you have an online chat option, list it there, even if you have repeated it throughout your site. By the way, if you have an online form for your visitors to fill out, make sure you respond quickly.

If your company is big enough to have different departments with different phone number, list them on your contact page. That same goes for email addresses. If you have 20 agents in your office, you don't want a long list on the page, but if want to direct email for Buyers, Sellers, Closings, etc. to the property place, listing a few is helpful. People feel more secure if they feel assured their correspondence is being directed to the right person or department.

Make sure you include your address, perhaps along with a link to directions to your business. Maybe this seems simplistic but including your location helps customers realize that you are right in their neighborhood. Even if you are part of a franchise, your address will distinguish you from your sister companies. This hardly seems like rocket science yet the address is hard to find on many sites.

These days, it is often possible to have your web leads feed right into your database. Make your sure to set up the form so it will be easy for information to land up in the right field while being customer friendly. For example, if you want your leads entered as "Ms. Margo Smith" (3 field), then have three boxes in your contact form. There will always be some visitors who don't want to reveal their identity so they will write "TUWXYZ" or "Margo" or "Minnie Mouse," (usually not in the right box!) but most visitors will comply.

Your webform should be simple, with a minimum of instructions, survey questions, or other things t o distract the visitor. It might include disclaimer that your will not sell or misuse the information. Of course, if you have some to send those who reply- i.e., Reply now for a free report on Selling Your Home High When the Market's Low - repeat the offer here.

Moving website visitors to buyers is what it's all about! Take a look at your website to make sure your contact page is easily accessible and inviting for visitors to fill out!

Commitment: I will start looking at my website to make sure it does its job.

Your job description does not include "encyclopedia." Even if you are a local area expert, intimately familiar with the properties in your town, you probably do not know how many bedrooms the home at 10764 Adams St. has or know the exact dimensions of the lot at 52 Morrison Ave. without looking it up.

If you handle a lot of property or do a lot of advertising, you or your staff could spend considerable time fielding information calls about property details.

Here is a case where Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology can be a big help to you. By dialing a hotline number, interested buyers can learn about properties of interest. When they want to talk in detail about a couple, they can press a key to get through to the operator. This technology can also be used make automated calls to real estate prospects to dispense information about mortgages rates, property availability, .or special programs. The IVR will, of course, have a strong call to action associated with it. You can be on the job collecting leads even when the office is closed.

Customers may sometimes be frustrated with automated home systems but an IVR can also give them access to property information 24/7 - a convenience in line with people who are suddenly struck with a house Jones at 3 am after driving around earlier in the day.

IVR technology is a perfect example both of how you can orchestrate work without having to do it all yourself and how you can incorporate technology into your business. It can give you a competitive edge that is worth trying.

Some things speak for themselves. Or do they? If that were the case, everyone would vote the sameafter a candidate lists his assets. In fact, politics, and political candidates, generate great differences of opinion among people who hear the same thing or read the same thing listed on a campaign flyer.

Around a political campaign, campaign strategists endeavor to change popular thinking about their candidate. Part of their efforts are to convert the opposed; there comes a point where they focus on winning the undecided.

Keeping that in mind, no TV ad, no print ad, no photocopied flyer omits the desired call to action: Vote for ________, your best choice for __________. Insert the name, insert the cause.

In real estate advertising, the point is the same. Unless you are doing public service advertising, if you are promoting yourself or your company, remember to include a call to action in your communications. You want to involve the reader or viewer to take an action that will result in their becoming your client!

You may be good, with the best reputation in town, but you still need to ask potential clients for their business.

Give me a call! Visit my website! Visit my open house! Fill out my contact form!

Make a commitment: I will include a call to action in my communications.

If I were a betting man, I'd say that the homeowners tax credit will be extended. That doesn't mean it will happen, of course, but the tax credit is hardly the only reason to buy a home. Interest rates on conventional loans are available starting at less than 5%. That is certainly a long lasting incentive for qualified home buyers. Add that to that the income tax advantages and the general life-enhancing benefits of having a place of your own, home ownership remains a good choice for many.

While the concept of homeownership sometimes sells itself, real estate agents still are salespersons. It is trendy to portray ourselves as "real estate consultants" and such, but we still must still sell ourselves and the properties we represent. Sometimes, we even need to sell the benefits of homeownership to a wavering potential buyer.

We need to be able to nimbly move from one benefit to another when dealing with buyers, regardless of credits, interest rates, or whatever subsequent new thing is further incentive to buy.

Make a commitment: I will keep finding a fresh approach to working with clients.

Consumers (and I) will tell you that most agents have room for improvement when it comes to following up with leads. It honestly boggles my mind. Research clearly shows that consumers work most often with agents who respond first to their inquiries.

Why do some Agents struggle to sell five homes in a year and others sell 100? Two words: Lead Management.

Frankly, getting leads isn't that difficult. You can generate leads all day and night through your website, advertising, word of mouth, yard signs - on and on. The tougher job is managing leads. In fact, converting leads is the number one issue affecting the sales profession across all industries - real estate is not alone.

That's why I believe the first investment an agent should make is in a lead management system - it is the kitchen for the restaurant. It doesn't have to be the latest, greatest high-tech gadget on the shelf. Ask yourself, "Is my system helping me achieve my sales objectives?" If not, it is time to invest in one that does.

Interacting with Consumers

Consumers - and certainly this is true with real estate clients - want it both ways. They want to look at what's out there for sale without being bothered by a sales agent. When they are serious about buying, they want an instant response to any inquiry.

That's why most successful lead management efforts include a drip mail campaign to keep your name in front of the prospect (and in your database), even when people leave only an email with no phone number. When they give a phone number, you can make initial contact with a quick call and learn valuable information that will help structure your plan for further contacts though emails and periodic calls.

If someone is shopping homes, actively or passively, it is likely they have filled out contact forms on other agent's site as well as yours. If these other agents are doing their jobs, they are also calling the prospects and turning on the faucet of drip emails. If you call first, you will reach a certain number of people who are ready to go. For those not quite ready to buy, you increase the likelihood they will work with you when they are ready if you put them in your database and continue to follow up by email.

Make a Commitment: I will take a look at how I am managing my leads and will make the necessary changes.
Deadline: _________