Where have all your leads gone?

So you don’t have enough leads, right? The phone isn’t ringing; your canvassing isn’t working; your print advertising is costing the same as your phone bill, but nothing is working.

In just the last few days, I’ve spoken to agents who are:

•  Spending £700 to get 2 rubbish leads – every month – on Google Adwords
•  Chucking away £1800 a year on radio adverts that don’t bring any leads in (don’t talk to me about ‘brand awareness’ – she can’t afford it and neither can you)
•  Getting valuation appointments from a ton of canvassing at an average cost of £800 each.

And the list goes on.

 

The answer to your dreams?

You may have heard about my brand new D.R.E.A.M System Programme, which starts very soon.  Some really innovative agents have already joined me, leaving only a few spots open. If you’d like to be considered for a place, you need to get on a call with me so I can ask you some challenging questions. Here’s where the process starts –click here for the next step (no commitment for either of us).

You may decide instead you want to solve the problem yourself. If so, read on and get ready to roll your sleeves up…..

 

Your lead generation solution in three steps.

I asked a client recently – let’s call her Nancy – about her marketing.  She explained that most of her marketing budget went on canvassing, but that she was really disappointed by not just the quantity, but the quality of leads it produced.  The only people who responded were attracted by the ‘Sell your house for £995’ headline and if they did become clients, they were usually more trouble than they were worth.

I asked Nancy to tell me about her ideal client. This is the summary of the persona she described:

Tom and Claire

mid 40s

Kids at private school

Professional

Educated to university level

£50k – £70k joint earnings

Social and digitally savvy

Probably Apple users

(I added in that last bit…)

Tom and Claire were actually a bit like Nancy and her husband, and many of their friends.  No coincidence there, as we do tend to attract clients like ourselves, in terms of demographics, life chapter and values.

“Nancy, what do you do with canvassing leaflets and flyers?” I asked her.

 “Oh, I throw them straight into the recycling,” she retorted, as if it were obvious.  (It was, actually.)

“Then why do you expect Tom and Claire to not only keep your mailers, but to respond to them?”

Turns out she hadn’t really thought it through.

Then came the next question for Nancy; I asked her how she would approach a search for a professional service provider; say, a solicitor. She told me she would first go to family and friends, then social media, and possibly Yell reviews.

“So you wouldn’t Google, ‘solicitor in Anytown’?” I asked.

“Of course not!” Nancy seemed shocked. “You can’t use a Google search for something so important – you need to find out about their reputation before you get in contact with them!”

I agree.  But that means that two of the avenues – or marketing channels – to attract the Tom and Claires of this green and pleasant land, are now not available to us.

 

What kind of client magnet are you?

The trouble is, many estate agents build their businesses based on advertising and marketing that attracts entirely the wrong kind of audience.  If you plough all your marketing budget into getting found on Google and your latest, greatest design of leaflet, you could be spending a ton of money on becoming a wrong-client magnet.

 

So how can you target your ideal client?

Three steps lie between you and marketing success:

Market: first things first – who is your ideal client? Here are a couple of posts to read to work that one out: this one and this one.

Once you’ve worked out who it is, it’s time for step two – Message – figure out what they want to know.  Their biggest concerns may not be your valuation and fee (shock, horror), but may instead be more about timing and finding their next home.  How can you address in your marketing the things that are keeping them awake at night?

Finally, what Medium are you going to use to reach them? You need to know where they hang out (social media, email) and therefore the best way to reach them (for them, not you).

MARKET > MESSAGE > MEDIUM – in that order.

Want to know more about how I could help? Let’s have a chat. Find out how you too could put your lead generation on autopilot, click here and answer three short questions. You could be getting your phone ringing with hot leads before you know it.

Don’t just take my word for it… take a look at what my clients have to say:

Some very happy Sam Ashdown clients

What to do next: Do you get my Supertips? They’re jam-packed full of great tips and marketing strategies just like this one, and best still – they’re free! Get yours here -> www.samashdown.co.uk/samsupertips

Speak to Sam: If you’d like to know how I think you could improve your marketing, just answer a few short questions here and I’ll tell you if and how you could be more effective.

What to watch next: How To Generate More Market Appraisals – (Marketing for Estate Agents)