5 Strategies to Generate Seller Leads and Build Better Relationships

It's no secret that seller leads represent an enormous opportunity for your business. But are you struggling to attract and convert them?

Just like with buyer leads, generating and converting seller leads is all about relationship building. The internet and digital media have drastically altered the way we interact with prospects, but the need to build relationships is as important to real estate as it ever was—it's only the way we build relationships that's changed.

The best way to build relationships with seller leads is to increase your visibility, provide a strong value prop, and stay in consistent communication. We compiled a step-by-step process of proven strategies top agents use to attract and build relationships with seller leads.

1. Choose the Right Geographic Farm

You have to differentiate yourself from your competitors as the trustworthy expert in your target area. The real key here is target area. Here are some things to consider when you're finding an area to geographically "farm" for seller leads.

Average selling price

Profitability is determined by the number of deals you close and the average price of each transaction, so do the math when you're looking at the average home price in a certain area. Are you currently seeing success in a pricing niche? Choose a target area that mirrors that area. If not, play it safe and focus on neighborhoods where homes sell around the average price for your region.

Opportunity

Find an area with a significant opportunity for home sales: enough to make the return worth your efforts, but not so many that your marketing is spread thin. Ideal turnover rates will vary from city-to-city, but a general rule of thumb is to target an area with at least a turnover rate of 6-8%. (Some will even say to double that recommendation.)

Competition

Take a look and see if there are any other agents active in your area. There are two situations here, and both present a solid opportunity:

1. The neighborhood doesn't have any agents dominating the market
2. The area has a clear "agent in charge" (usually attributed to a lack of options)

2. Brand Yourself Effectively for Seller Leads

Your goal is to build a solid and meaningful presence in your target neighborhood. Your strategy is based on building relationships and positioning yourself as a source of knowledge, which takes time, investment, and most importantly, consistency.

1. Keep your marketing consistent with your value proposition. Building a strong reputation takes repeated positive interaction through your geographic marketing.
2. Position yourself as the neighborhood market expert. Make sure you have a solid grasp on hyper-local pricing trends, buyer demand, and can communicate these statistics effectively to your prospects. Your prospects want compelling stats on the market in their area and hyper-local "Sold stories" with happy endings.
3. Invest your time in relationship building. Attend neighborhood events, volunteer, and put yourself out there. The community will return the favor.

3. Create Compelling, Seller-focused Marketing Materials

Mailings and postcards like "just listed" and "sold" cards are still an effective way to supplement your digital marketing efforts. Consistency is key in your branding and your outreach.

Mailing to too many homes, or too frequently will keep your costs high, but if you're careful to target your outreach appropriately and create a plan around frequency (e.g., one piece every three weeks), you should see a good ROI.

• Read now: Elevate Your Content with High-Converting Guides

4. Build a Solid Online Presence and Geo-Target Ads for Seller Leads

To identify seller leads online and collect their addresses, an effective strategy is to employ a home valuation page.

Create a home valuation page that converts potential sellers. The promise of a free estimate and market report are easy ways to find new seller leads and are perfect conversation starters.

Potential sellers are searching online based on their specific geographic neighborhood. This is a huge opportunity for you to gain exposure and reach them with digital ads that show your brand, value for that exact neighborhood. These folks want to do business with the specialist in their area, so it's crucial to stay visible.

• Reach out directly to the homeowners in your area of focus with geographically targeted ads.
• You can easily and very efficiently select your target areas and farms for ads to reach the right audience.
• Use ads to drive prospects back to your seller conversion page or home valuation page so they will register for an estimate and market report, and you get their property details and contact information.

5. Stay in Front of Seller Leads with Automated Marketing

You've targeted the right type of leads with ads. You've sent them to register their information on your home valuation page, now it's crucial to keep up with your contacts and nurture the relationships.

Having a system to keep your clients organized and leverages technology to follow up with seller leads makes this process simple.

With BoomTown, leads who register on the home valuation page are automatically logged in the back-end of the system. (Even if they only enter an address, the system has a simple reverse-lookup tool to instantly populate the missing information.) A seller dashboard lets you organize leads and even quickly create a CMA with direct links to Realtors Property Resource (RPR) simply by clicking on the lead's address.

To stay top-of-mind with potential sellers who aren't ready to make the move yet, it's simple to set them up on a drip campaign that keeps them informed on neighborhood stats, market trends, and the price of homes that sell nearby. This type of communication keeps your farming consistent, automated and effective. You'll know just what to send and how to send it.

Bringing Your Seller Lead Strategy All Together

A seller lead campaign that blends your online and offline marketing efforts is always the most effective. Prospects have a physical introduction to your brand (maybe even in person!) along with a tailored and convenient digital experience. Your offline efforts can be a nice complement to your online marketing. For example, include links to your home valuation page on your postcards and consistently drive traffic there.

It's all about looking at your chosen geographic area, building your subscriber base, and continuing to create opportunities.

To view the original article, visit the BoomTown blog.