According to Starberry, one of the UK’s largest providers of retail agency website and lead generation technology, estate agents experience the best lead-generating results over extended periods of time. While every estate agency wants to consistently generate new leads, if those leads are not managed in the right way and nurtured correctly, the likelihood is that the estate agent will lose the leads as quickly as they got them.
Ben Sellers, Co-Founder and CEO of Starberry, part of the nurtur.group says: “Around 55% of leads received don’t actually make it into CRM, which highlights the importance of having a process in place to nurture leads and take them along the right path. Many buyers might be in the initial stages of shopping for a property and may not be ready to commit, however, if the agent manages those leads in the right way and keeps contact with the person throughout the process, the percentage of converting that lead into business grows exponentially. Lead generation isn’t simply a moment, but rather a journey.”
He adds, “it is important for estate agents to stay committed to nurturing the needs of their leads overtime, and not just at the start. A solid process should be established to ensure that leads are managed at every touchpoint. Creating a journey and content that caters to varying needs, will prevent leads coming out of portals and straight into an inactive database. Ideally, the process should be strategically supported by automations that do not leave any lead unanswered. Automated email series and newsletters, keep leads engaged, in turn maintaining that relationship for conversion. Moreover, with automations – especially those supported by products such as LeadPro, estate agents can avoid annoying consumers with spam and only target them with segmented emailing.”
Sellers says that automation taps into the nurturing even more when recognising that every lead can have multiple ‘personae’. “An obstacle faced by estate agents, is that a single lead could have the needs of a tenant, landlord or someone simply enquiring into the industry, and automations allow for the segmented marketing that jumps this hurdle. A digital integrated marketing tool such as LeadPro, will help agents to manage incoming leads, and more importantly nurture the leads. Management is simplified as qualifications of leads are tracked across all external portals. Key information such as who the lead is, the properties browsed and the websites, as well as portals they’ve come from, heavily support future remarketing,” he comments. “The diverse enquiries tracked by LeadPro trigger automatic responses, ensuring no stone goes unturned. In addition, the data gathered from answers reveals to agents the needs and therefore ‘personalities’ of any given lead.”
“Having a better understanding of the lead and a process in place that can nurture that lead will ensure that more leads are converted, helping agents to increase their revenue and grow their market share,” Sellers concludes.
