Lead conversion rate in the real estate industry sits below one percent, as T3 Sixty estimates. Sound rather rough? That’s because, compared to other sectors, it is. To put things in perspective, the software industry’s conversion rate sits comfortably at seven percent, the healthcare industry is eight percent, and retail boasts a three percent average conversion rate.
If you really dig deep, even under the best circumstances, the typical conversion rate of real estate leads sits somewhere between one and 3.5 percent. However, the amount of effort it takes even to achieve this conversion rate often has an excruciatingly poor opportunity cost attached to it.
With such a minute fraction of leads actually converting, it’s curious why we’re still pushing a broken model. Why do we still give agents cold leads?
The key to nurturing – a genuine voice
We talk about leads as “things.” We talk a lot about numbers and forget the most important fact: leads are people – with emotions, hopes, expectations, and questions about the huge upcoming step in their lives. The challenge is to establish and build these relationships in a genuine way, with a focus on time. When customer inquiries are responded to in longer than five minutes, the chance of working together plummets by 400%. Balancing longer conversations and working with more people each day, is a goal to strive for. A study found that 41% of potential customers were not contacted at all.
We know genuine lead nurturing is a simple message, delivered across many mediums. It’s about educating people and reminding them that you’re there to hold their hand as they walk through the largest financial transaction of their entire life. Great nurturing includes tips, sharing of ideas and stories, providing tips on remodeling their bathroom or getting the most out of their backyard space or why they should consider downsizing now that they’re empty nesters. Reaching out through email, phone calls, texts, and social media show genuine interest and build relationships on top of our face to face meetings.
Cold leads are OUT, and Intros are IN
In an effort to evolve the industry’s approach, we’ve committed to a new personal mantra: leads (people) need love. People need to be nurtured, like a sphere of influence. They need to be talking to real people, having real conversations, making sure they’re ready to transact before they are handed to the agent.
We spent months understanding those involved before creating a program to make a positive difference. To examine what wasn’t working we talked to brokers and owners, and understood the importance of leads to their business. We heard their challenges around staffing and distributing leads – a cost they weren’t thrilled with, but felt was necessary to support lead buying. They asked for simpler systems and workflows – using tools they already know and love. We listened to passionate agents and heard that their motivation is working with people and families and the joy they see in the home buying process. We conferred with advisors to the industry including Matthew Ferrara to understand the agent and customer journey.
Intros is the product of that research. We created a program focused on generating customer interest and nurturing.
Introducing a new era
Moxi Intros will generate leads, qualify and nurture them with real humans having real conversations with people, and when they are ready, will make a friendly introduction to agents. We have a dedicated call center, making personal introductions through live transfer phone calls, ensuring a smooth handoff.
Let’s sell more homes, together.
Find out more information on Intros here.