The “NEW” 3 Most Important Words In Real Estate is the title of a recent post on Real Estate Radio USA Blog. Location, location, location immediately comes to mind, but this is being pushed aside by the words conversion, conversion, conversion.

Barry Cunningham reminds us not to lose sight of the fact that Web2.0, Real Estate 2.0, the blogosphere, etc. is to make money and is not merely an outlet for frustrated journalists.  

It is not enough to have eyeballs reading our lastest blog post. We also need to be looking eyeball to eyeball with those folks.

Barry reminds us to know our numbers, concentrating on how many of those web visitors actually turn into buyers or sellers.

My husband, Dave Macklin, is a Realtor and he just changed blogging platforms, AllVirginiaBeachRealEstate.com. This current platform is with Mary McKnight at RSSpieces.com, whose philosophy is your blog should make you money.

Mary puts an enormous amount of effort into training her clients how to blog to make money. I can’t tell you how much I have learned from her in the past month and after only a few week’s Dave’s posts are being seen by more eyeballs than 1.5 years with the previous vendor.

˜Conversion, conversion, conversion’ also got my attention because I have a previous post concerning Interent lead conversion and how we often concentrate all our energy on generating the lead and drop the ball on the follow-up to convert the lead to business. I also talk about the success my Team of real estate Virtual Assistants has had helping agents convert their Internet leads into business.  Give us a call at 757-271-6047. We’d like to help you convert your leads, too!

We tend to put our efforts into generating leads and not much real effort into converting that lead into business that actually puts money in our pockets. We are all guilty of letting leads fall through the cracks because we are either too busy or because we really think that the drip email campaign we set up will do all the work for us. My experience as both a licensed Realtor and as a Virtual Assistant (myREassistant.com) tells me this is not the case.

When I was out in the trenches selling and had a buyer in my car or was sitting at a prospective sellers kitchen table, I would always ask, ˜Why are you in my car and not some other agents? or ˜Why am I sitting here in your kitchen and not some other agent? The answer was always the same, ˜Because you called me and no one else did.

I may have been lucky and made an appointment after 1 or 2 phone calls or it may have taken calling for 1 or 2 years. But, I never gave up. I always remembered what my first managing Broker ever told me when I asked, ˜When do you stop calling? She said, ˜When they buy, they die or tell you to stop.

I keep hearing that in this slower market we need to get back to basics. Phone calling is basics!! and it works.

These days, my Real Estate Virtual Assistant Team follows up on Internet leads for a number of our agent clients. I must admit, I wasnt sure how this would work at first. As I am in Virginia and my agent client is in Charlotte NC. But you know what? The buyers in North Carolina are the same as the buyers in Virginia. They have the same concerns, the same needs, and all they really want is for us to be attentive to those needs¦no matter where we are located.

Lets face it, those first contacts with a prospect are about connecting and giving what my husband calls ˜warm fuzzies and it really doesnt matter if the call is coming from VA or any other place, as long as it comes.

The agent I started this experiment with is Leigh Brown, www.LeighBrownAndAssociates.com. Here is what Leigh has to say about our Internet lead follow-up program:

˜The best investment Ive made in my business-EVER-was in my virtual assistant team. They were great anyway, but we discovered an amazing opportunity when Ruth Ann and her Team started doing the initial contact and follow-up on the website leads. Since the incubation period is longer than ˜normal leads, its too time-consuming to do a good job when youre currently working with clients. They have allowed us to actually convert ˜B and ˜C leads throughout the year, in a seamless manner. In fact, our buyers are sad to learn that after talking with Ruth Ann and her Team for 8 months, they have to go find a house with me!  Our conversion ratio on web leads is naturally higher than ever, and we are able to cull the leads before spending money on relocation packages.

Im sure that some of the credit is mine, but Im only as successful as the people who work with me as a part of my team. But the numbers do speak well-8% of my 2006 business was website related, in 2007 it was 23%.

So, I encourage you to pick up that phone, call those leads and dont give up until ˜they buy, die or tell you to stop. Or give me a call and my Team will do it for you:  Ruth Ann Macklin, www.myREassistant.com, ruthann@myreassistant.com, 757-271-6047.

Also read Speed Counts.

Glenn Houck, co-founder of LeadQual, LLC talked recently about Internet lead conversion and how important it is to respond to Internet leads quickly.

Houck explained Internet buyers (not just real estate buyers) are used to instant gratification. Information is plentiful and if the buyer doesnt get what they want from one website, they will quickly move on to another.  When completing a form, the buyer wants a response NOW, not sometime tomorrow or next week.

Buyers visit an average of 5 websites and complete 3 forms. It makes sense then, that a buyer will most likely do business with whoever responds first. If they dont hear from you immediately they forget who you are and what form they filled out. Responding within minutes is crucial.  When I was selling real estate, I used to ask buyers why they were in my car and not some other agents. The response was always¦you were the only one that called!

Consistent follow-up is also crucial. Most Internet buyers start looking 6-9 months before they buy. Emailing or calling them once after they visit your website is just not enough for you to be remembered. It takes constant communication until they are in your car looking at homes or until they tell you to stop.

As a new agent I asked, ‘How do you know when to stop calling (there was no Internet in those days)?’ I was told, ‘When they buy or they die.’ This is an excellent rule to follow if you want to increase your lead conversion rate.

Drip email campaigns, weekly offers of value, monthly newsletters, and phone calls will increase your conversion rate dramatically. Dont be discouraged if you leave messages and they dont call you back. The message reminds them who your are, it shows you care about them and they will return your call when they are ready.

As you have heard many times: Plan your work and work your plan. If you do, you cant fail! Need help with your plan? As your real estate virtual assistant, I can take care of this for you.  Give me a call at 757-271-6047 or visit my website, MyREAssistant.com to learn about lead management.