The 411 On Lead Generation

When Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s Connie Alexander walks into a listing appointment, she has a secret weapon. Beyond her high-quality personal marketing materials and her impressive track record, Connie possesses a weapon that leaves clients in awe — and it’s as simple as making a phone call.

After the initial small talk and a conversation exploring the seller’s motivation for their home sale, Connie begins to discuss how she’s going to market this prospective client’s home. And a few minutes later, that “prospective” modifier has usually been removed from that description.

During that marketing portion of her presentation, Connie asks the seller to get their phone and call a number she gives them. Then she sits back and enjoys the show. The seller’s eyes react in amazement as they listen to detailed recorded information about their home. Minutes later, Connie’s pager sounds, and she hands it to the seller. On it is the seller’s phone number from which they made the call. Once she explains that every ad for the client’s house will direct people to this toll-free number, they’re as good as sold.

“Lately there’s a trend of sellers interviewing a lot of agents before hiring one,” Connie says. “With the this technology, I don’t have to worry about who I’m competing with.” For Connie, this confidence isn’t arrogance, it’s the simple fact that this technological advance sets her apart from the competition with a system that requires very little time to operate.

Prospective clients can call 24 hours a day to hear recording property information, request special reports and much more with the assurance that they will not have to talk directly with a salesperson. The beauty of this is its “call-capture” technology, which not only provides Connie with the phone number of each caller, but also their street address, if listed. It also tracks the advertising source that generated the call, letting her know which ads are working best.

The Perfect Personal Assistant

In addition to its powerful effect in listing presentations, Connie appreciates the ability to free her from answering countless questions about homes. While she continues with her day, callers can listen to up to five minutes of recorded information on each property. The automatic page feature alerts Connie to anyone calling repeatedly, immediately identifying “hot” prospects that Connie can call back promptly. Here’s how it works:

Everywhere that Connie advertises homes, she includes her toll-free number with an extension unique to that house and ad. That means the same recording might have many different extensions to reach it — one from the yard sign, others from newspaper or magazine ads, another from the “Just Listed” message Connie sends on her PowerKard, another from the E-mail farming she does, and so on. With unique four-digit extensions for each ad, Connie can easily decipher which tactics are generating the best response.

Less Resistance = More Leads

One of the keys to success is the fact that consumers do not have to talk with a salesperson directly. The 800 number breaks down that resistance by indicating that the number is a 24-hour automated service that the prospective client can call at their own convenience. Without the threat of having to talk with a salesperson, prospective clients are much more willing to call. Less resistance means more calls, and more calls mean more hot leads.

In fact, more often than not, reports show that the bulk of calls made to an 800 number come after hours, for two reasons: One, it is simply more convenient for people to call at night after work; and Two, because they feel there’s less chance of having to talk with a salesperson after hours. That means many of the calls received are consumers who Connie wouldn’t have otherwise heard from.

Any of those callers who contact Connie’s number are effectively raising their hand and saying, “Look at us, we’re interested in buying a house.” Then, with their phone number and address in her possession, Connie can immediately call or mail her marketing materials at just the time that they have indicated they are interested in buying, selling or both.

Increasing the Call Volume

House ads aren’t the only way to drive calls. One of the most effective ways to identify prospects on the open market is to offer a free special report such as the reports in our Gateway materials. All you have to do is place an ad stating, “Free Special Report for Home Sellers! ‘29 Essential Tips That Get Homes Sold Fast (And For Top Dollar).’” Include your name, 800 number and extension and always make sure to indicate that there is no one to talk to and no further obligation.

That’s exactly how Marv Kombrink of Geneva, Illinois’ Kombrink Team uses his 800 number. Veterans of more than five years, the Kombrink Team even sets up unique mailboxes for accessing the latest mortgage rate information and unique special promotions and offers. Saying they’ve “almost perfected” the system from using it so long, Matt Kombrink says that once they print out the “call capture” information, they automatically mail a letter discussing the current market and add that address to their database.

Stretching Your Marketing Dollars

One major hurdle in real estate marketing has traditionally been agents’ ability to determine where they are generating business from. This solves that problem. No matter how many different places you run an ad, the 800 number tells you exactly which ad prompted each and every call. Advertising rates are not cheap. Consider how, armed with this statistical information, you can reallocate your advertising budget to capitalize on the strongest lead generators and eliminate those failing to produce desired results.

Dan Olague of Puyallup, Washington is another agent who has done just that. For years, Dan advertised in the same magazines without knowing which ads were generating the bulk of his business. After implementing the 800 number, however, he began to analyze the data and found that one of the magazines with whom he had been advertising for a long time actually was not producing desired results. Using the call reports as an ally, Dan switched his marketing mix until he found the perfect combination that has not required changing for some time.

“It really helps,” Dan says. “It determines where I’m going to put more of my money. I’m not the kind of guy to jump to conclusions after just one or two months, so I’ll give it some time. But if something isn’t working for you, why continue doing it?”

Taking Phone Technology to the Next Level

Now that you’ve seen the capabilities of call capture technology, how else can you utilize the phone to your benefit? Well, the next step for Connie, the Kombrinks, Dan, or you, for that matter, is to incorporate Voice Broadcast technology into the mix.

Voice Broadcast is a messaging system that enables you to make multiple personal phone calls in an efficient, automated way. Let’s face it: Following up with prospects can be difficult and very time consuming. But with Voice Broadcast, you can follow up quickly and easily and make a personal impact. Imagine being able to call and touch base with existing clients and prospective clients — all at once, all in the time it takes to record one voicemail message! With the Voice Broadcast message system, you can leave voicemails at 10, 50, 100 or even 1,000 answering machines all at once and all in a matter of minutes.

The power of Voice Broadcast is only limited to your imagination. Here’s a quick overview of just how easy it is:

You record a message and send it to your designated groups of recipients. The system is designed to seek out recipients’ voicemails and answering machines. When an answering machine is reached, your message is delivered. If a live person answers, a polite “sorry, wrong number” is spoken and no message is left. Then, you’ll receive a report, by fax or e-mail, on how many numbers were reached and how many messages were successfully delivered.

You may not be addressing the person by name, but the impact of your call is still personal. Now those calls you didn’t have time to make can be made with one simple message. Some of the uses for this innovative technology include “touch base” servicing, follow-up, thank yous, and farming expireds and FSBOs.

Many people are skeptical when they first hear of Voice Broadcast. They question whether or not their message will sound authentic, how to record a generic message that sounds personalized, or what happens when a live voice answers the call. Our advice is this: Don’t worry about it. The people who developed this technology took great strides to ensure the recordings sound authentic, and we use this technology ourselves quite frequently with great results.

Marrying Call Capture Technology with Voice Broadcast

One drawback of the call capturing and its amazing lead-generating capabilities is the lengthy list of callers who require follow-up at the end of a day or week. The solution? Voice Broadcast.

Using your Voice Broadcast system in combination with call capture technology creates an unbeatable, time-saving marketing tool. What if you received 15 calls about a particular home? Calling all of those people back one by one could take quite a bit of time. With the Voice Broadcast system working for you, though, you can return all of those calls in a matter of minutes. Your 800 number tracks the callers’ phone numbers. Just take those numbers and send a voice broadcast message to them.

Now you’ve just returned all 15 phone calls with one easy message! This gives you an easy opportunity for personalized follow-up to leave a positive impression with your prospective buyer.

Step Into the Future

There’s no question technological advances like call capture numbers and Voice Broadcast are the way of the future, helping clear your slate and freeing you from the time-consuming activities that prevent you from the truly important facets of your career.

And once you experience that freedom, you’ll wonder how you ever conducted business the old-fashioned way. “It’s really a huge part of my business now,” Connie Alexander says. “I can’t imagine giving it up now that I’ve used it.”

We’d like your feedback on this article. Send us an e-mail at Greg.Herder@HobbsHerder.com to share your thoughts with us. Tell us how you’d utilize these advances in phone technology and whether or not you think they’d be valuable in your market, and why.

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