Online Real Estate Lead Generation Fails

(PRWEB) December 11, 2004

“After a year of working with agents and brokers across the country with Internet leads it is apparent that the current state of most real estate organizations and their systems is sub par at best. Fortunately the boom times have not affected sales levels and brokers/agents have not been too concerned with online leads. Problems have been ignored and hidden. However, a day of reckoning is close at hand with competitors becoming more aggressive, smart and successful,” said Kempenich.

“Why does online lead generation fail? The answer is simple, management. Most real estate companies have systems and models 3 years or older that do not come close to business models needed in today’s constantly evolving Internet real estate economy,” said Kempenich.

“Typically when a company receives an online lead they will turn it over to their relocation department. Online leads are not the same as relocation leads. Online leads need to be aggressively pursued, pursued immediately and often, continually marketed to with constant follow-up and most of all they need to be – sold,” said Kempenich.

“Another poor performing popular system is having agents responsible for lead follow-up or agents self subscribing to online leads. A number of problems occur. Most of us have heard the 80/20 rule, (20% of the agents produce about 80% of the business, actually the number is closer to 95/5). Right away what that means up to 20% will actually be successful in converting online leads and those that are good at converting leads will shortly become to busy to affectively handle more leads. Agents are good at making initial calls but are rarely available for return calls, which will cause missed opportunities. Agents also have poor follow-up systems and many lack correct/best telephone sales skills to sell the online lead prospect,” said Kempenich.

What many brokers and agents lack is a true description what they do and what their job is. Most believe they are in a service/consulting business, which is false you are in a sales business. In a service business - you wait for someone to call and you ask, “How can I help you?”. In a sales business - you call and ask, “How can I help you right now, tomorrow, next week, next month, etc?”

Want some numbers? According to Nielsons NetRatings real estate sites were effectively targeting a highly qualified audience. According to the latest spring 2003 data release, 22.4 percent of the real estate sites’audience stated they were “definitely” or “probably” planning to purchase a new residence in the next 12 months. Nearly 32 percent were “definitely” or “probably” going to move in the next year, while 27 percent of the audience stated they’d be moving to a different home in the next year.

What do the numbers mean? Simply, that visitors to web sites are serious and most are willing and able. Also, there is tremendous value in leads is over the longer term while most systems are designed for the short term.

Most agents have the mind set that they only want to work with buyers that want to buy within 3 months. Agents will have to change and understand that the sales cycle is longer and a relationship needs to be establish for the long term so when the consumer is ready so is the agent. Buyers that are ready to buy within 3 months are going to use agents that they have developed a relationship.

Companies across the country are developing systems to better manage, incubate and distribute online leads and improvements are constantly made. For those that say online leads are bad have not see a correct system setup and only have management to blame.

What is the best system? The numbers will tell you, you must continually test and try new systems and you will know. For a game plan that you can initiate see our article, “It's not the quality of the lead - it's the quality of the lead management”

CondoBuzz.com is the nation's only network of 1000+ premium real estate web sites and domain names focusing on condos, lofts and townhomes. CondoBuzz web sites are consumer centric and locally niche focused with a very high search engine click-thru and quality consumer lead capture. Each individual web site is marketed and designed for a specific metropolitan area and one broker. With locally focused web sites we are able to provide better local content, more useful information and locally based real estate services for the consumer. Locally based web sites gives us the ability to target market and develop more focused traffic which will provide quality leads and sales for our partner real estate brokers/agents. Only 50-75 real estate companies/brokers are allowed into the program at any onetime. Brokers in the program can increase revenues by featuring their listings and MLS search on their assigned local web site. Also, brokers are able to increase their profits with the ability to promote other profits centers such as mortgages, title insurance, etc. For more information about the condo broker program call 612-623-8347 or visit http://www.CondoBuzz.com.

Kemteck Inc is an Internet business development company created in 1999, focusing on Internet solutions in the areas of marketing, communications and business development. The main headquarters is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For more information about Kemteck visit http://www.kemteck.com.

Randy Kempenich is the president and CEO of Kemteck Inc. a graduate of the Carlson School of Management from the University of Minnesota and has over 20 years of experience in business management, marketing and business development and is a licensed Real Estate Broker in Minnesota. The Kemteck team includes graphic designers, web developers, programmers, content writers, engineers, administrators and service professionals.

SOURCE: Kemteck Inc.

CONTACT: Randy Kempenich, President, Kemteck Inc., 612-623-8347, rkemp@kemteck.com

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