5 Tips to Convert and Close More Real Estate Leads

The trick to a healthy return on your marketing investment is making sure that any leads you get as a result of your efforts convert and close.

Yesterday, broker and veteran Realtor Jesse Zagorsky shared his advice for handling clients that use property portals throughout their home search. To be sure, portals are a popular way for consumers to not only find a home, but to find an agent. But with so many agents competing for leads on portals, how can you ensure that the leads you do get convert into clients?

Today, we'll share a few of Zagorsky's most important things you can do to ensure your leads close:

1. Call fast—lightning fast.

If you don't get ahold of them when you call, text them. "You have to respond immediately, as the consumer will keep clicking on listings until they get someone," Zagorsky says. He attributes this to the "instant gratification expectation" that started with Millennials, but is now universally expected. "I don't think it can be five minutes anymore. I think you need to respond in 30 seconds," he says. "When you call them that quickly, you set the expectation that you are amazing at what you do. It sets you up in a really good light — they assume you'll be as good at everything else as you are at that initial response."

2. Don't put your leads through the ringer.

"When most agents call leads, they make the buyer jump through hoops to see if they're worth the agent's time," says Zagorsky. "In fact, it's the exact opposite that should be true. We are in a service industry and we should be grateful to focus on our client's needs first."

3. Get face-to-face as soon as you can.

"Nothing happens in our industry until you get face to face," he says.

4. Create an amazing client experience.

Zagorsky has a deceptively simple approach to this: "Once we've landed the buyer, we ask their favorite snack and nonalcoholic beverage. Then we bring a cooler filled with their favorites along when we head out to look at properties. It blows people's minds, and it's SO simple. It creates an experience that they didn't know real estate could be. People sometimes don't realize that the process of buying a house should be fun."

5. Be a strong negotiator for your clients.

"Reinforce with them that you are always going to look out for their best interests, and that you are uniquely equipped to do so," Zagorsky suggests.

What are your personal best practices for converting more leads into clients? Let us know in the comments below!