REALTOR® Marketing is Changing with New Lead-Generation Service

Today, Listingbook announced MyQuickFarm.com, a new lead generation system that has the potential to change the way REALTORS® prospect online. This is not your mother’s lead generation. For as little as $1 per lead, real estate agents using MyQuickFarm.com will receive exclusive, high-quality leads and the tools to convert these leads.

MyQuickFarm.com

The $1 leads from MyQuickFarm.com include first name, last name, and email address. Once purchased, they are exclusive to the purchasing REALTOR®. A minimum of 100 leads is required (for perspective, Listingbook has already had an agent purchase more than 7,000 leads). These leads come from third-party sources as well as the Listingbook website (http://www.listingbook.com/home/).

We spoke with Todd John, Chief Operations Officer of Listingbook, to learn more. He walked us through the process. First, agents must have a Listingbook.com account. They choose a target area and purchase their leads. Leads within the target area are automatically sent to the agent via email and placed in Listingbook's patented client management system. The consumers (those nice folks who are the leads) are sent an email invitation, generated automatically on behalf of the agent, to open their account.

“The fact that we’re providing leads for only $1 is certainly remarkable, but there are other key features that set us apart,” he says. “What I want REALTORS® to understand about MyQuickFarm.com is the value it provides to consumers. With their free account, people will receive a daily Morning Report, a carefully-calculated (and, to the benefit of REALTORS®, automatically-generated) list of properties that meet their criteria.” This positive consumer experience, Mr. John says, translates into a positive relationship with the agent.

What do REALTORS® think of this new development? Brian Liberto of First Team Real Estate in Newport Beach, California shared his perspective. "Real estate is a numbers game. Buying leads can create a larger pool of prospects," Liberto said. "For example, I currently have more than 800 active prospects through Listingbook."

We also talked to Jack Hardy, of Century 21 Hometown Realty in San Luis Obispo County, California, for a perspective. “Right now, our brokerage gets 75 to 100 leads for every 380 premium listings on Trulia. In general, it works out to about $3 to $4 per lead. Of course, there’s no guarantee; any given month could see greater or fewer leads. I’m very interested in learning more about a reliable service that can promise quality leads for $1 per lead.”

It’s premature to say that MyQuickFarm.com will replace premium listings on Trulia or Zillow. A marketing plan that focuses on a variety of tactics (both MyQuickFarm.com and other sites) has the greatest potential for success. After all, each premium listing on sites like Trulia and Zillow can also be considered an ad for the agent and/or brokerage. Every time a potential consumer views one of these listings, they see an agent’s photo or a brokerage’s logo. In the case of Century 21® Hometown Realty, these listings result about 1,000 visits to their website, 23,000 listing detail page views, and 788,000 search result views per month.

More about Listingbook

We decided to see what the Listingbook experience would be like for consumers so we signed up for a free account. Signing up was easy. In addition to contact information, we entered details about the desired property. The subject line of the confirmation email was slightly confusing: “[Agent’s Name] has invited you to join Listingbook.” It became clear that this was a local agent who had been automatically assigned to us.

Our first Morning Report did provide a robust list of properties that fit our search criteria. More importantly, there was our agent’s smiling face and contact information. We would have no problem giving him a call to learn more about any of the properties. And, for people who are not interested in receiving further communication, unsubscribing is easy. All in all, it was a pleasant experience.

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