MLSs Truly ARE Business Generation Partners to Their Subscribers
We always love to share quantitative data that proves that MLSs truly help dial up business opportunities for their customers. ValleyMLS.com, an MLS that takes its job of generating views, leads and listing exposure very seriously, is a great example! According to ListTrac, the industry's most respected source for business generation reporting, proves the point that ValleyMLS is arguably the most affordable and most effective way to create business potential. For the last 30 days Valley MLS.com, the company's consumer-facing website has generated more inquiries than any other lead source. In the same timeframe, Paragon MLS, Paragon Collaboration Center and ValleyMLS.com have generated more saved listings than any other source by a large margin. And third, the IDX feeds that Valley MLS facilitates generated more listing views than any other source. These combined results are a great example of why MLSs are probably the most affordable business generation source for brokers, especially because all of these sources follow Fair Display Guidelines and the "Your Listing, Your Lead" philosophy. No referral fees or advertising fees are collected at all. If you're an MLS and subscribe to ListTrac, please share this type of information with your subscribers regularly. If you're a broker, take a second look at the business generation value delivered by your MLS. You will likely be pleasantly surprised! To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

The MLS is THE most powerful source of business generation
Generating leads and identifying more serious buyers can be a very expensive proposition. Some brokers and agents spend thousands to prospect for new business opportunities. However, many do not understand that the MLS system itself -- which features a myriad of ways to share and promote properties -- is arguably the best business generation source. And the best news? It does not cost anything more than your normal MLS subscription. And the bonus? The MLS does not charge you up to 40% of your commission like many third parties do. Take a look at data from ValleyMLS.com, for example. According to the ListTrac report (a free service for MLSs), the number one source of inquiries and saved properties is Paragon MLS. What does that tell us? The MLS is providing meaningful methods to work with more serious prospects and clients. Those that are saving searches and asking for showings are a lot more serious than the "looky-loos" lurking on other sites. As an MLS, it just makes sense for you to publish this type of data regularly to help your subscribers and participants know how much you are helping them generate business. If you're a broker, take the time to get familiar with ListTrac. Branded activity reports can be delivered weekly to your agents, affirming the benefits of your brokerage marketing efforts as well. Check out the training available from your MLS to take advantage of this valuable service included within many MLS subscriptions. If you would like to learn about other ways to position your MLS as a business generation partner and generate more adoption and engagement with your technology offerings, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]. To view the original article, visit the WAV Group blog.

Boost Your Lead Gen Strategy: The Ultimate Guide for Real Estate Brokers
We are living in an increasingly mobile, digital, and high-tech world. Homebuyers tend to be extremely computer savvy: nearly all of them begin their searches online, and millennials, those born between the early 1980s and the late 1990s, are one of the largest homebuying cohorts. Contrast that with the fact that most sellers are older, as are the best agents, meaning they aren't always comfortable with technology. Common top-of-funnel touchpoints for real estate brokers. See the full infographic in our ebook. What does this contrast mean for your brokerage, and most importantly, for your lead generation strategy? In this post, we'll talk about a few of the key ways you can optimize your touchpoints and not just manage, but capitalize on generational and technological literacy differences to make sure your funnel is always full. Shifting homebuyer demographics According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), in 2021, millennials made up 43% of all homebuyers. As affordability has decreased, that statistic has changed somewhat: millennials now make up 28% of all homebuyers, with baby boomers making up the largest homebuying cohort—for now. But one thing is for certain: the share of millennials buying homes will only increase, and even gen Z is starting to dip its toes in the housing market (4% of sales in 2023). Older means wiser, but not necessarily savvier when it comes to technology The typical agent in 2023, again according to NAR, is 60 years old. Generally, tech-savviness decreases with age, and most Realtors entered the workforce before even computers were common, much less smartphones. Plus, 60% of sellers are either baby boomers or older. This means that the greatest sources of seller leads (and the professionals entrusted with coordinating their transactions) are likely more familiar and more comfortable with traditional, analog lead generation strategies: lawn signs, direct mail, cold calls, and word of mouth. But did you know you can blend analog, physical lead gen methods with digital ones for even greater success? Without leveraging both, your brokerage will be at a serious disadvantage compared to brokerages that do. Optimizing physical and digital touchpoints so they work together Technology is every real estate broker's best ally when it comes to optimizing (and we dare say, perfecting) your lead generation strategy. But according to a panel at the most recent T3 Leadership Summit, brokers spend 65% of their tech dollars on middle-of-funnel solutions, which only account for 12% of revenue. In our free ebook on making sure your touchpoints work better together, we focus on top-of-funnel solutions and spheres of influence, where each dollar spent can go much farther. As a preview, here are a few tools you can add to your lead gen strategy right now to start seeing an immediate improvement: QR codes QR codes are an easy and inexpensive way to bridge physical and digital touchpoints. They are like a link you click on a website, but you can print them on any physical material you want: a yard sign, flyer, direct mail postcard, business card, t-shirt… you name it, if it can be printed, you can put at QR code on it. Instead of clicking the QR code, a lead can scan it with their phone, which will open to any website you like, including a brokerage site, agent contact form, listing page, free home valuation, or any other conversion tool you like. Text message codes Text message codes are another way to bridge the physical and the digital through your phone. With text message codes, a lead can text a predetermined code to a specific number and receive a link about a particular listing. When they tap the link, you can capture their information automatically, making it easier to follow up with them. Want to give it a try? Text 1003 to 46835 (text message rates may apply, US only) and see what lands in your messages! Text message codes are a perfect addition to all sorts of print media, like lawn signs and flyers. Voice codes Voice codes are a third way to bridge the physical and the digital by harnessing technology to reinvent how leads contact agents by phone. Traditionally, if a lead called your number, you would have to be available to pick up the phone, ask who was calling and what their number is, what property they are interested in, and more. With voice codes, leads can call a predetermined number, enter a code for a particular active listing, and hear a description. Their contact information is automatically saved by the system, making it easy to follow up with them. Voice codes are great for print media, too, and can replace agents' phone numbers on marketing tools like yard signs. Proven ways to boost real estate lead generation Broker business is all about leads. With seller leads scarcer than ever and incubation time increasing as inventory remains low, brokers need to use every tool at their disposal during the awareness and consideration steps of the customer journey to maximize lead generation for their agents. Are you ready to learn how? Download our free e-book for even more insights about all the steps you can take to get your lead machine humming faster and smoother than ever before. Click the ebook cover below to get started. To view the original article, visit the Constellation1 blog.

eXp Realty Launches My Link My Lead
eXp Realty doubled down on its commitment to support its agents with the launch of the business-generating tool, "My Link My Lead." My Link My Lead enables eXp agents to share links to eXp Realty's national search site and automatically refer the leads generated outside of the agent's market service area. This patent pending technology is exclusively available to eXp Realty agents to help them grow their businesses by leveraging exprealty.com's nationwide coverage. In addition, eXp Realty agents can also leverage the Agent-to-Agent Referral tool as an additional referring tool, referring leads in less than a minute. Glenn Sanford, founder and CEO of eXp Realty, discussed the latest key company updates at the recently concluded Shareholder Summit, designed to continue to drive tangible value to agents through technology, including the launch of My Link My Lead. "We are dialing things in, becoming even more agent-centric, particularly when it comes to how we use technology. My Link My Lead provides our agents with another stream of income as we build a true national portal, while also providing a high accountability high conversion platform supported by our internal team to convert leads to closed transactions in markets where the agent doesn't provide individual or team coverage," he said. "We are challenging our agents to step outside of their comfort zones this year and boldly navigate new technologies in pursuit of growth and progress," said Leo Pareja, Chief Strategy Officer, eXp Realty. "And that's exactly what we are doing as a company, beginning with the launch of My Link My Lead. As the most agent-centric brokerage on the planet, our top priority is to help our agents grow their businesses, and My Link My Lead was designed to do just that."

RE/MAX Releases Upgraded Global Referrals Platform Powered by GryphTech
RE/MAX announced the launch of its new Global Referrals Platform at the annual R4® Convention in Las Vegas on February 28, powered by their technology partner, GryphTech. GryphTech has been a technology provider to RE/MAX regions for over 25 years.  "The RE/MAX Global Referrals Platform connects the entire world-wideRE/MAX network of over 140,000 agents. The solution provides a secure and easy to use platform, allowing agents to work together and communicate in different languages on behalf of their buyers and sellers in different countries, creating a truly global cooperation network," said Carlos Matias, CEO of GryphTech. The Global Referrals Platform will allow agents to send, receive and track referral requests from any agent in any country where RE/MAX has a presence. The platform supports multiple languages and currencies with integrated translation tools to facilitate communications between agents that speak different languages. Agents can now create their own personal network of agents in their local city or around the world by adding other agents they would potentially like to do business with. They can search by country, language, and area of specialization such as residential and commercial. To help expand their referral network, the platform's algorithm will present them with additional suggested agents based on a sophisticated scoring system using their profile preferences. Shawna Gilbert, RE/MAX Senior Vice President, Global and Commercial, is excited about the new way for RE/MAX agents to search for, connect with, and exchange referrals with other RE/MAX agents. "The process of making referrals around the world is now so much easier. The vast RE/MAX network can now access this premier technology and it's a major leap forward in further strengthening the connection between RE/MAX agents worldwide." The important details of each referral is easily included for review by each agent, including specific referral terms, and referral fees. The result is connecting high performing agents with one another, regardless of country or language, to provide their clients the highest level of service possible.

Common Friction Points When Generating Website Leads
Companies spend a ton of money on search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) digital advertising to get people (a.k.a. potential leads!) to visit their website—only to see them leave without providing their contact information. Why? Challenge: converting the leads you already have Many consumers have valid security or privacy concerns and aren't willing to give up their data. Some may not want to create an account if they're just casually poking around on your site (and when it comes to converting leads, you don't want it to be too easy!). And others may be worried about even more marketing emails bombarding their inboxes. In other words, a lot of the visitors you've worked hard to bring to your site will bounce and never come back, and this is a huge friction point in the online lead generation process. Streamlining online lead generation for real estate professionals At Constellation1, we know this is a common pain point, which is why we've built a streamlined process that helps capture leads effectively on real estate websites and move them all the way through to close using our suite of real estate technology solutions. To learn more, watch this short 10-minute conversation between Mehul Patel, Vice President of Product and Technology at Constellation1, and Jeff Kennedy, Vice President of Sales and Partnerships at Leading Real Estate Companies of the World. You'll hear about the common friction points in every lead generation process and how you can work past them with a trusted partner. To view the original article, visit the Constellation1 blog.

eXp Realty Launches Revenos, a New Buyer and Seller Referral Division
eXp Realty announced it is launching Revenos, a new division to drive high-quality buyer and seller referrals directly to eXp agents. eXp Realty's Revenos brings together established eXp referral businesses under one cohesive offering, providing agents streamlined referral opportunities they couldn't otherwise access. Revenos reimagines the referral status quo by creating industry-leading programs that connect eXp agents to ready, willing and able buyers and sellers. The new division includes eXp Relocation, eXp REO (Real Estate Owned), eXp Affinity, ExpressOffers, Making It Rain, and new programs. Revenos connects a thriving referral ecosystem through a robust network of industry relationships. Through this group, eXp agents tap into a powerful network to create more revenue possibilities for their own business. "Revenos is an unparalleled offering in the real estate industry," said Leo Pareja, President of eXp Affiliated Services. "It's integral to eXp that our programs are agile and speak to what is most valuable to our agents' businesses. We are focused on continuously iterating our value proposition in new and exceptional ways for our agents." Dawn Conciatori, Vice President of Referral Generation, will lead the daily operations of Revenos. Conciatori offers 20 years of demonstrated success as a dynamic leader in the real estate referral space. "I am thrilled to continue shaping the next era of referrals at eXp," said Conciatori. "Revenos puts more premium referral opportunities into the hands of our agents who are best suited to provide unique solutions to meet and exceed our client expectations." More information about Revenos can be found at Revenos.com.

Is the Organic Lead Machine at Your Brokerage Broken? Fix It with These 4 Simple Tips
In a high interest-rate environment like ours, listings are harder and harder to come by. Brokers and agents can't afford to let leads slip through the cracks. And yet, the organic lead machines at many brokerages are broken, or at the very least, not working as well as they could be. Is your lead generation machine broken? Take this short quiz to find out. Ask yourself the following: Is the number of visits to your website trending down? Are you converting less than 1% of your visitors to leads? Are leads left unactioned once you convert them? Do actioned leads go cold quickly? Did you answer "yes" to any one of these questions? Guess what, it's time to repair your lead machine. A few simple improvements can help you rev back up and keep your funnel full, no matter what the market is doing. Read on to learn how to solve each of these problems. SEO: The Solution to Declining Website Visitors When you check the number of unique site visitors (known as users in the free Google Analytics tool), how does the number trend over time? There will be natural fluctuations in your web traffic, and boosts when you publish new content or go on a marketing blitz. But if your traffic is generally stagnant—or worse, declining—it could be a sign that your site needs some search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a complex topic, but when it comes to real estate SEO, we've got you covered. You can learn more about the ins and outs of real state website SEO on our dedicated page, read our Ultimate Guide to Real Estate SEO for 2022, or learn three actionable tips to start ranking higher right now. Many brokers don't have the time or expertise to track key metrics like unique visitors, bounce rate, site traffic trends, and more. In fact, most brokerages are guilty of what Craig Rowe, Real Estate Technology Columnist, calls SEO negligence, ignoring SEO and its importance for generating leads. If you fall into this category, working with the right partner can take SEO off your plate and give you time to focus on where you shine—selling real estate. Low Conversion Rate? Tweak Your Website Design If your traffic is good, but your conversion rate is stubbornly low, there may be an issue with your website design. A widely cited statistic attributed to NAR® states that the true conversion rate for online real estate leads is between 0.4% and 1.2%. That means for every 1,000 people who sign up for your newsletter, create an account and save a property search, download your buyer's guide, or subscribe to your blog, only 4 to 12 of them will result in a closing. Remember, buyers and sellers are landing on your page for one reason: they're interested in real estate in your area. If you're letting your expertise shine and providing the right path to conversion, the leads will come. If the path is broken or isn't there, leads will lose their way. Here are three website design elements you can work on to boost conversion by providing trigger points consumers can engage with: Jazz up your homepage and provide a freebie Your homepage is what makes the biggest impression on visitors—it's the first thing they see! Make sure it wows them with a beautiful image, consistent branding, and a clear "path" to the action you want them to take: clicking a listing, searching for property, visiting your blog, etc. You can offer a free home valuation, CMA, or newsletter as a conversion incentive. Most consumers will be willing to part with their information in exchange for such valuable resources. Learn about the five most common problems with real estate websites and how to fix them. Improve your contact page and make sure it works Craig Rowe tells a story where he was trying to contact a large number of agents in a short period. More than half the time, their Contact Me pages were either difficult to find, didn't work, or didn't seem to capture his information. There was no phone number listed or other ways to contact the agent. If a journalist can't get in touch with an agent, how would a consumer be expected to? Your site needs multiple ways for visitors to contact you, whether it's a form visitors fill in, a chatbot, a call button, or various other options. Brighten up your blog and add calls to action Blogs are a huge asset to your website. They help with SEO and are a huge conversion opportunity through calls-to-action (or CTAs). By including CTAs, you encourage visitors to provide their information by offering a newsletter, a market report or CMA, or even an eBook about real estate in your area in exchange. Get creative! Unactioned Leads: Improve and Automate Your Lead Routing You're getting leads through your website. Phew! The inbound arm of your lead machine is working. What about the next piece of the puzzle? Do you know how many of those leads never get a follow-up? Can you identify where the breakdown is in the chain of communication? You can obviously route leads by hand—lots of teams do. But when you are already busy, and time is of the essence (responding within 5 minutes dramatically boosts conversion), smart automation and customized routing with a powerful real estate CRM could be the ticket to helping you track your leads, action them faster, and keep any from slipping through the cracks. Keep Leads Warm with Targeted Nurture Campaigns Not all leads are ready to make a move right away. By some estimates, online real estate leads may need to incubate for anywhere from 6 to 24 months. Two years is a long time to be sitting on a lead, but those are seeds you'd do well to plant now. What are you doing in the meantime? Keeping your leads warm requires regular contact points. These can come in many forms, like a newsletter, recommended properties emails, social media posts, drip campaigns, and more. The idea is to keep you top of mind while providing information that's relevant to wherever your lead is in your sales funnel. Do they need preapproval? Do they need to adjust their property or neighborhood expectations? Do they need to make repairs or curb appeal improvements before they list? If you're the first person they think of when they are ready to act, you'll have another successful conversion under your belt! With the right tools, these lead nurture steps can be automated, too. Watch the Leads Pour in After Making These Simple, But Powerful Fixes If you don't know what's wrong with your lead machine, you won't be able to fix it. Find out where your problems lie (e.g., traffic, conversion, follow-up), identify your gaps, then find the right solution to fill them. Constellation1 helps brokerages look at all these elements together, aggregate our findings, identify gaps, and tailor solutions to brokerages' needs. To view the original article, visit the Constellation1 blog.

Brokerage Marketing Secrets: How to Help Your Agents Get More Referrals
Brokers need to look beyond their office doors and find unique and affordable ways to help their real estate associates build successful businesses. There is growing evidence that the BIG venture capital funded real estate companies are becoming more transactional in nature and, thereby, losing out on what really matters--the human element. This is in direct contrast to the small business owner-operator brokers who create profits for their teams and are the true "backbone" for their agents. So, what value are brokers offering their real estate agents? Many are now partnering with cloud-based tech companies in an effort to stay ahead of their competition. They still provide training, support and technology. Many spend a great deal of money on advertising to drive people to their websites and keep their brand top of mind. The real issue is that about 10% of the top producers benefit from this strategy, while the remaining are struggling to stay afloat. From an agent's perspective, the burden lies on them. They are paying monthly brokerage fees, regardless of their sales volume. There isn't a reliable way to generate appointments consistently, and new technology is often a difficult and slow process to learn. Brokers need to start investing more in the people they have vs. acquisition Getting back to the basics is a good starting point. Real estate agents used to be looked upon as their neighborhood hub, the go-to person for advice, contacts and relationships. However, during these past few decades, this role has taken a back seat to the "tech platforms," which has eroded the key influencer to one of a transactional nature. What the industry needs now is for agents to take on the role of the community expert once again and establish relationships with people. For those who have committed to this path, however, it can be a lot of work. Imagine starting out now not knowing where to start. With the traditional system, one would need to set up and manage several activities, including, but not limited to: Research every community that you could potentially work in. Then find market trends and know the stats like days-on-market, absorption rate and percentage of list, etc. Email your database every week. Keep it personal by creating new content that adds value for them. Reach out to friends and family. Ask them for referrals. Post relevant information on social media platforms. Create YouTube videos. Door knock in hopes of catching someone ready for your services. Cold call strangers who don't know who you are and try to create a relationship within seconds. Feeling overwhelmed yet? There is a better way. Here's a solution that is working well for Rich Johnson, Broker and Owner of Windermere Homes & Estates, a leading real estate brokerage in San Diego, in partnership with Grant Findlay-Shirras, co-founder of Parkbench.com, a leading online platform that helps local professionals connect with their community. In a time when #supportcommunity has become a mainstay in today's economy, Parkbench has pioneered a new and innovative way for community residents and small business owners to connect and support each other. "Locals must support each other, and I created Parkbench to be the one-stop shop for people to do this and stay up to date with what's going on around them," Findlay-Shirras explains. Create and use blogs and videos to reach out to potential clients. The use of blogs and videos is paramount in today's marketplace as both sellers and buyers are starting their search, looking to consume content to learn before they start the process. As clients demand more from their agents, agents have to move with the trends or they will become irrelevant. The savvy home buyer/seller will know more about you and your business before they actually meet you. The content you provide on your website and social media is what will make your phone ring. Always provide value first. Educate your audience with what is going on in the community. For example: You can create an informative blog about the best parks in the area. Add pictures or a short video with highlights. You can create an article about home buying and point out the five hidden fees people should be aware of. Another helpful tool would be to write a blog listing the pitfalls to be aware of when hiring a house inspector. A common mistake real estate agents make is they talk about themselves and believe people will respond to their slick messaging. The truth is you must give people information and educate them first. People prefer to work with people they know, like and trust. "The use of videography has gained much popularity over the years, allowing real estate agents to become more 'humanized' to their audience and ultimately their clients," Rich explains. "Video marketing links the motivation behind the Parkbench platform, which is to create community and connection. This is central to our core values at Windermere Homes & Estates. My agents will be able to profit significantly from the use of this website platform for years to come," says Rich. Interview business people to expand your sphere of influence. Nowadays, all you need is a smartphone and a willing participant to create a compelling interview that will attract people to watch. This process accomplishes a few things: It gets you out from behind your desk and getting to know people in your area. You become the neighborhood "connector" that people will naturally migrate towards. It increases your database exponentially. But who do you interview? Again, the list is endless, but here are some good ideas: Local Small Business Owners. They could use your help to promote their goods and services, and rarely are you turned away. School Administrators/Council Members. One of the top questions people ask before considering buying a home is, "How good is the school district?" School quality has a big influence on people's choices when considering which neighborhood to move into. Community Associations. People who are involved in their community associations tend to know a lot of people and are good connections to have. They also host various events throughout the year that you can be involved in. For a comprehensive list of people you should contact, click here for a free ebook:"30 Local Professionals Real Estate Professionals Should Meet" Relationships. Relationships. Relationships. Agents need to focus on fostering relationships to get clients. The key to becoming the agent of choice in your neighborhood is to add value to your community members. At Windermere Homes & Estates, Rich and his team honor the true value of the human-to-human connection, or the "Human Algorithm," as they call it. They don't just pay lip service to this idea; they roll up their sleeves and get involved in their communities. Every year since 1984, all Windermere offices participate in a Community Service Day, an event where they help make a positive difference in their local communities. In addition, The Windermere Foundation has raised over $41 million dollars since 1989 to help low-income and homeless families in the communities they serve. Now that's commitment! As for Grant and Parkbench, "We are excited to partner with Rich and his team to help provide a local news source for the people who live in San Diego and the free marketing platform for local businesses. We encourage everyone to check out their local Parkbench website and learn about the people behind the businesses, the events happening down the street, the deals being offered, and much more. Together we can improve the economy and our quality of life." Are you ready to learn more? Do you want to be a community minded broker? Maybe it's time to rethink how you have been doing business. If you want to become the local market expert and increase your exposure within your geo farm community, reach out to Grant Findlay-Shirras or Rich Johnson for more details and become a Local Leader®. Next Steps: If you're an agent in San Diego, contact Rich to get access to Parkbench at no upfront cost to you. If you're a broker/owner or team leader who wants to give their agents a systematic and predictable way to create high quality leads in their geo farm that doesn't cost you any money, then contact [email protected] to learn more about "the local broker program." Free Resource Do you want to know the top 30 local professionals who refer the most business to agents? Download this free ebook and learn who they are and how you can connect with them. Also, you will learn how to add value to business owners so that you can build referral generating relationships with them.

Harness the Lead Gen Power of Market Trends Reports
Market trends reports are the perfect way to set up touchpoints with your leads. Are they the most powerful lead-gen tool you aren't using? It's no secret that the real estate market is red hot right now. Inventory is at historic lows, bidding wars are the norm, and multiple all-cash offers are increasingly common. But no matter what the market is doing, one thing remains constant: people are obsessed with it. In November 2020, the New York Times reported that "Zillow-surfing" had become a common new hobby and that, "scrolling through real estate listings in far-flung destinations is a way to visualize an alternate life, whether you're trying to move or not." Whether it's scrolling through listings, exploring new neighborhoods, or trying to figure out the perfect time to buy or sell, potential buyers and sellers go crazy for market information. What better way to capture their attention—and their contact information—than with a beautifully designed market trends report? Read on to learn more about the ways your brokerage can harness the lead gen power of market trends reports and keep your lead funnel full in 2021. Buyers and sellers crave information. Satisfy that craving. These days, with the wealth of information available at our fingertips, we've been trained to crave, and to seek out, the information we want. Why not bring the right information right to eager homebuyers and potential sellers instead of asking them to look for it? A well-designed market trends report backed by the most up-to-date and reliable data in the industry is the perfect resource for getting real estate information into your leads' hands. Show them key statistics, active listings, and encourage them to get in touch with you when they're ready. Data-driven decision making Data is what drives every single real estate transaction. It drives agents and brokers, and it drives buyers and sellers, too. Buyers want to know if it's a good time to buy and what kind of house they can afford. Sellers want to know when to list to maximize their potential return. Recent homebuyers want to see how much their home's value has appreciated. So how can your agents share all of these data points with prospects and clients to ensure they can make data-driven decisions? A market trends report. Potential buyers can see median home prices by zip code and active listings, sellers can see how prices are fluctuating and how quickly they might expect to sell, and recent homebuyers can see how the price per square foot has changed over a given period. Important regular touchpoints When it comes to cultivating leads, consistency is key (without being spammy). By consistency, we mean regular contact, so that your brokerage remains top of mind when it's time to buy or sell a home. Being able to automatically send reports every 30, 60 or 90 days means that your agents can provide timely information at the right frequency without bombarding anyone. The right information about the right market conditions might just inspire someone to take action and get in touch, especially if your agents are also following up regularly with key information about interest rates, capital gains exemptions, and other useful tips. Email blasts are replacing direct mail Paper mailers and licking stamps are going the way of the dinosaurs. While a well-executed, targeted mailed postcard or flyer campaign can be wildly successful in certain markets, your business will get much more bang for its buck by giving your agents the tools to switch to email blasts and automated messages like a market trends report. Help your agents reach thousands of qualified leads in seconds and deliver useful information readers actually want to read! Market reports help demonstrate your expertise When your agents share market trends reports backed by Constellation1's industry-leading data, they look good, which makes your brokerage look good. Our data expertise and stunning design paired with your business's branding and customizations mean leads receive beautiful market trends reports with key, eye-catching information and a variety of ways to follow up and stay in touch. Users can easily subscribe to regular reports from your team. Reports provide helpful explanations to contextualize certain key statistics. Add market trends reports to your brokerage's lead gen toolbox today There are few lead gen tools as complementary (and carefree) as automated market trends reports. Give them a try today for your business. View a demo of the Constellation1 market trends report on our Showcase sight here. Our reports feature: The latest market data Historical market data going back 2 years Auto-emailed reports every 30, 60 or 90 days Dynamic data in a responsive design Unique URLs for easy sharing and lead tracking Current Constellation1 Websites customers can add market trends reports to their websites by contacting their account managers. If you're not a Constellation1 Websites customer yet, book your personal tour today to learn more about the real estate industry's best brokerage and agent website tool. To view the original article, visit the Constellation1 blog.

Realogy Unites Agent Lead Generation Programs to Harness the Power of Realogy's Expansive Network
Realogy Holdings Corp announced the centralization of lead generation programs under Realogy Leads Group. The Realogy Leads Group, supported by over 500 team members, unites Realogy's many lead generation programs across its franchise and owned brokerages, including Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate, Coldwell Banker, CENTURY 21, Corcoran Group, ERA, and Sotheby's International Realty. "Our unmatched size and scale enable Realogy to attract and develop valuable real estate programs with national partners that in turn deliver high-quality, high-converting leads to our affiliated agents," said Ryan Schneider, Realogy's chief executive officer and president. "By bringing together our many lead generation efforts within one aligned team, we believe Realogy can create even more opportunities for our affiliated agents, brokers, partners, and customers." Realogy Leads Group currently oversees multiple national real estate programs across several categories, including relocation management companies, mortgage lenders, consumer-based loyalty programs, and other service providers that support a consumer's real estate journey. Realogy Leads Group also manages a nationwide high-performance network of brokers and agents, recognized for exceptional customer service records, who provide outstanding real estate services and value to program consumers and, in some cases, a cash back or equal benefit upon a closed transaction where permitted. The group also supports broker-to-broker and agent-to-agent referrals within Realogy, leveraging innovative tools, resources, and products to help owners and agents move quickly in an evolving market and optimize conversion. Leadership and Looking Ahead Katrina Helmkamp, President and CEO of Cartus, Realogy's global relocation services operations, also serves as president and chief executive officer of the expanded Realogy Leads Group, driving strategic growth of both teams. Helmkamp joined Realogy in 2018, bringing 30 years of leadership experience in business strategy, operations, product development, technology, and innovation across multiple industries from consumer goods to technology and more. "I am thrilled to lead this organization and bring together all the teams within Realogy that for many years have been focused on driving high-quality leads to our affiliated agents. We are proud to provide unmatched value to our partners through these national real estate programs that pair consumers with highly qualified agents from the most recognized brands in real estate, deliver outstanding consumer satisfaction and conversion rates, and provide timely summary reporting," said Helmkamp. "We are confident in the growth of our existing programs and look forward to launching new programs with partners seeking the consumer experience, quality assurance, and national coverage that only we can deliver through Realogy's expansive network of affiliated brokers and agents." Within Realogy Leads Group, there are several dedicated teams, with a range of expertise from digital marketing, user experience design, operational excellence, and technology innovation to support the development, implementation, and promotion of new and existing national real estate programs. For more information about Realogy Leads Group, visit www.Realogy.com.

Growing Your Team Business with Productivity Software
The following is an excerpt from RE Technology's Success Guide to Team Software: Operating a team is pretty similar to operating a brokerage. The advantage that teams have over brokers usually relates to having more influence over the activities of the team. Quite frankly, beyond compliance related activities, most brokers have little or no control over how agents operate. Teams come in all shapes and sizes, but one shared commonality is a unified approach to how they operate and how they provide services to clients. For example, some top producing agents focus on listings, often carrying an inventory of 10 or more listings. At that rate, it is hard for the listing agent to also take on buyer clients. So, they create a team of buyer's agents to respond to leads generated on their listings, both digital and from yard signs. The biggest concern by the listing agent is the effectiveness of buyer's agents at converting those leads to grow the business. Another key common element between these team solutions is buyer and seller lead tracking paired with powerful follow-up actions that generate business. More than anything, these platform solutions offer the team leader the ability to empower team members with great follow-up software while simultaneously evaluating the strengths of team members converting opportunities into business. Another prevalent feature of these platforms is a focus on lifetime relationships with every client in the database. With the entire team able to see what the last touch was with the customer and how they responded to it, this component creates continuity with client engagements, driving home future repeat business and referrals. For too long, real estate teams have primarily targeted new business generation while allowing existing customers to stray from insufficient relationship maintenance. All of the tools in this year's Teams Success Guide facilitate collaboration between you and your team, helping your customers receive the best possible service. These platforms are proven to help you stay organized. You will be able to run reports on the effectiveness of your team members and have visibility into their activities. Each of these companies invest in dedicated staff members who deliver awesome support resources, ensuring that your team maximizes their productivity when using these platforms. But remember, you must make sure that your team of agents and staff attend those trainings and maximize the features of whichever platform you choose. Download Success Guide: Teams to learn more about Team software trends, how to evaluate Team software, and more.

7 Ways to Simplify Your Real Estate Website to Increase Lead Generation
Marketing and psychology go hand in hand. As a real estate professional/marketer, you've probably asked yourself why consumers behave a certain way or why someone does the things they do. For example, a lead that doesn't do research because they rely on you, an inspector that misses the attic because it's probably good, or an agent that doesn't persistently follow up with a lead because it isn't good. Many of these behaviors are caused by human's natural tendency to choose the path of least resistance. People want to take the easiest route that uses the least amount of thinking and energy.

5 Steps to Build Out Your Real Estate Mobile and Text Message Marketing Strategy
Marketing is getting tougher and tougher--there's no doubting that. One strategy you can consider is SMS marketing, the process of sending short text messages to your ideal customers in an attempt to engage them with your campaign and get them to convert. Even though average open rates for SMS messages beat email by a whopping 28%, your real estate company sells homes for a large price—unlike small-ticket items that can be purchased on a lunch break. So, how can you make text message marketing your biggest driver of website traffic, leads and sales? Here are the five steps you'll need to build out your mobile real estate marketing strategy, as well as two brands who are already killing it with their text messages.

Boutique Brokerage Uses RPR Widget to Capture Leads
A Rhode Island brokerage has figured out a successful way to steer the conversation with broker tools from RPR. With six offices throughout the state of Rhode Island, independently-owned Lila Delman Real Estate considers itself a boutique, high-end/luxury specialist brokerage.

The 'Four Pillars' of Brokerage Technology Tools
It's no secret that real estate brokerage business models are continually evolving, and tech innovation is happening at warped speed. In the fast-paced and highly competitive real estate industry, it can serve as a helpful reminder for brokers to focus on the "four pillars" of brokerage technology tools. Let's break down the "four pillars" of technology tools for your brokerage: 1. Drive Revenue With the industry's leading recruiting module, we make it easier than ever to target the agents you want to recruit and build rapport and meaningful relationships faster. With contact record details protected in the agent databases, agent adoption is greater and leads to more engagement with more of their spheres of influence, resulting in more business transactions. Additionally, our industry leading lead generation volume and conversion rates catapults new business opportunities leading to increased returns on investment. 2. Increase Capacity An advanced CRM productivity solution such as Elevate BOSS™ allows agents to stay on track with tasks associated with each stage of the pipeline for buyers, sellers, and renters. Daily coaching emails (morning reports) designed to focus the agent on the highest and best use of their time while reminding them about the customers that need attention now is a sure-fire way to maximize effective selling time and increase production capacity. 3. Save Time Currently, the typical agent manages 10 different and disparate technology vendors. The Elevate platform combines an agent's core services into one solution, providing best-in-class IDX websites, CRM, CMA, email and text message marketing, document storage, pipeline management, activity coaching, social media marketing and lead generation, plus much more. Time lost is time wasted, and agents need to maximize their time on the activities that matter most, driving the behavior that produces the most desired financial outcome. 4. Save Money The typical brokerage manages more than 15 different vendors, incurring costs exponentially higher than what can be available in one, consolidated, simplified solution. By providing IDX websites, advanced productivity CRMs, email and text marketing, recruiting module, document storage, CMA creation wizard, blogs, automated content, social media marketing, online lead generation, lead routing and lead scrubbing concierge services, there is NO OTHER platform in real estate that combines all of this functionality into one, singular solution. With an unrivaled price point, Elevate BOSS™ saves you money and time while improving production capacity and driving revenue to increase your "company dollar." Are you ready to meet the BOSS? Elevate BOSS™ helps brokerages concentrate on what matters most. Consider your current technology tools, products, and services and compare them to what Elevate BOSS™ provides. Are your current solutions meeting all your needs? If you are unsure, spend a few minutes with the Elevate Brokerage Development team to discuss your business challenges and determine if our solution can benefit your brokerage. < Schedule Your Gap Analysis Now >

2 Secrets to More Lead Conversions, Straight from a Top Team's Playbook
Lauren Bowen leads one of the most productive real estate teams at Robert Slack. She's increased conversion rates and productivity while the company nearly doubled in size. The secret to her team's success? They stalk their real estate leads... or, more accurately, they let their lead generation solution do it for them. Targeting the Most Likely Buyers Anyone who has spent any time on the internet has been "stalked" by an online ad. You visit a site once, and for days or weeks after, an ad from that site follows you around the web. This is called "ad retargeting," and marketers love this advertising strategy because it is so effective. The Lauren Bowen Team employs this strategy to great success via realtor.com's Local Expert program. Local Expert users can create three types of ads: For Sale ads, Just Sold ads, and Branding ads. Those ads are then displayed to buyers in your chosen area on realtor.com. Once they leave the site, those same ads are displayed in their Facebook feed. "This not only helps bring a buyer to the house, it also shows the seller that we are putting it in front of numerous buyers for them," Lauren says. Tip: Because Local Expert offers detailed campaign analytics, you can impress your sellers by telling them exactly how many people have seen their home's ad. Dialing Up Lead Volume for a Higher Conversion Ratio Lauren's team may have stumbled on another secret to improved conversion rates when, thanks to the success of their realtor.com program, they decided to increase their volume of leads. This lead to a curious phenomenon. The team's number of lead conversions not only increased—as expected with more overall leads coming in—but their conversion ratio increased as well. That means the team is converting a higher percentage of leads than they were at their previous lead volume. "We've almost doubled our conversion ratio with the same leads," says Lauren. See Lauren THIS THURSDAY at Inman Connect NY Want to hear more real estate lead wisdom from Lauren? On Thursday, she'll be sharing her expertise during a panel discussion on the Team Track at Inman Connect New York. Check out her panel, Lead Distribution: Who Gets What?, on January 30!

Test, Iterate, Win Leads: How One Brokerage Perfected Their Lead Gen Program
What do you do when your brokerage's lead generation program is not where you want it to be? If you're like Coldwell Banker Wallace & Wallace, Realtors (CBWW), you don't get discouraged. Instead, you try something new, test it and tweak it until you hit your desired lead conversion goals. When CBWW's self-run lead generation program was getting low agent buy-in and few quality leads, the brokerage turned to realtor.com. They started with a pilot run in a handful of offices, and expanded company-wide as the leads rolled in. Agent buy-in and lead conversion rates have "gone up dramatically because of the quality of leads," says George C. Wallace, CBWW broker/owner. We spoke with George to find out how CBWW implemented and perfected their lead generation program with realtor.com. Read the interview below to find out how they not only increased the number and quality of leads coming in, but also how it's also helped them retain agents and even rescue the foundering careers of other agents. How did you hear about realtor.com's lead program? We were part of the peer group within the Coldwell Banker franchise with 20 other likeminded, similarly sized companies from across the country. We first heard the presentation at that meeting about 18 months ago. We first had a couple of managers try it at their offices as a pilot test case just to see how it would go, and how it worked, and so forth. Once we saw the results and began to investigate it more, we decided to launch it company-wide. How did you educate your agents—was there a learning curve? We decided to bring in realtor.com to do the training, and we started with about about 50 people who went through the orientation. We learned from our mistakes and made corrections, and more agents got involved. We're also offering additional training beyond what realtor.com does. We like the rules and the set-up and the training. I think it has led to increased conversion rates with these best practices, and we also created some of our own. So you have the leads pre-scrubbed by realtor.com. Where are the leads coming from? We weren't putting any in—they were just coming direct from realtor.com. Did you have leads coming to you prior to using this service? Yes, from several sources. We had it set up where we had our own internal department with ISAs who would chase leads, with that person calling and trying to make those contacts. We tried to scrub the leads ourselves and set them up on drip campaigns. But our conversion rate was not what we wanted it to be. Nor was buy-in from the agents where we wanted it to be. We tried a couple of different models; one of the models we tried was where we charged an agent a referral fee. They wouldn't have to pay anything upfront to belong, and we tried it that way for a while. Agents said, "Wow, we had to pay a lot of money." We just didn't get the buy-in having us administering this instead of realtor.com. As a third-party administering, there was more pushback. How did the changeover impact the buy-in and conversion? It has gone up dramatically because of the quality of leads. Customers are further along through the process with realtor.com capturing the lead compared to when we're doing it ourselves. It boosts morale and it has helped a lot of people. Those in the program are very positive about it and they're very exuberant about it and they're willing to tell their story. Does having success stories with the program help in your recruitment and retention efforts? Yes. They are saying, "I'm getting these leads. I'm converting these leads. I'm having fun with it." They're sharing that and it certainly has helped us recruit. It's helped us retain. In that regard, it's helped save some agents—there is no question. We have had agents that are resurrecting their career. Some weren't involved in lead generation programs and their business was sliding and they didn't have momentum going to win back customers or capture new business. We've been able to infuse this new opportunity to get them some leads. It's helped generate good outcomes each month and get their moxie back. They are building their sphere of influence and that helps generate some other business. I've heard this story several times and that's been a great added value. It gives them new life and new hope and new confidence, and they're like, "Wow, it's just fun business again." They're building their career or they're trying to build back their career, so it's quite a real, key role. It's a good way for them to brag on social media about how busy they are. Learn more about realtor.com's lead generation opportunities here.

Winning More Listings through Teamwork and Technology
"We're just not into selling," isn't something you expect to hear from a real estate team. But that's exactly what Gabriel Dusharme and Brian Voigt of The Voigt Advantage team have to say about their approach to business. Instead, the pair prefers to focus on caring for their clients and guiding them through the home buying and selling process. That care extends to the technology they use to get their clients' homes in front of as many buyers as possible. In this interview, Dusharme and Voigt share how they leverage technology to drive a positive client experience.

Success Story: San Diego Team Triples Their Transactions with Software Switch
We're back with the second entry in our "Success Story" series. This week: Scaling your business with the help of the right technology. The "right technology" is what made the difference for Kyle Whissel and his team. One year after changing software, the team nearly tripled their number of closed transactions. What caused the need for the tech change, and which platform did the Whissel Realty Group switch to? Read on to find out!

Are you wasting your Lead Generation Dollars? Check out this new end-to-end Lead Conversion system from BoomTown
Lead generation is a critical part of a successful sales process. While many spend thousands on lead gen every year, few have figured out how to maximize the conversion of those leads. We hear horror stories from consumers that tell us it can take as long as three days or more for agents to respond to one of their inquiries. If you want to make sure that every one of your lead generation dollars are maximized, BoomTown has just announced a new service called "Success Assurance" that combines lead generation with lead qualification and lead nurturing. The end result? Brokers can deliver transaction-ready opportunities to their agents to significantly increase their chances of closing more transactions faster. Check out the press release below: BoomTown Announces Two New Solutions: Success Assurance and Marketing Central New solutions will allow clients to enjoy even more ways to fuel their pipelines and ensure no opportunity is left behind CHARLESTON, S.C., July 24, 2019 -- BoomTown, the leading sales and marketing platform for real estate professionals, is excited to announce two new solutions, Success Assurance and Marketing Central self-service advertising. Success Assurance offers the perfect mix of tools and services to handle lead generation, lead qualification, and lead management, serving transaction-ready prospects to agents. Specifically, Success Assurance: Combines BoomTown's CRM technology with RealContact's texting capabilities, and a new calling service Acts as an extension of a real estate team, with an ISA-like concierge responding to new leads 24/7, within 90 seconds Enables agents to work with transaction-ready leads Leads are engaged and nurtured for up to one year from registration Clients can customize scripts, monitor conversations and jump in at any time. "In just ninety days we've already seen 170% ROI," said Joe Garafolo of Waterfront Realty Group. "Knowing someone is reaching out right away is a huge relief and not having to waste time with bogus leads is very important for top-producing agents." BoomTown is also introducing Marketing Central, allowing clients to generate more leads and listing opportunities through a self-serve advertising portal. Marketing Central offers clients the ability to: Build advertising campaigns through channels such as Instagram and Facebook to highlight active listings, promote open houses, and showcase successfully sold properties Create dynamic ads for real estate (DARE) to generate content that a lead would be most interested in Prove value to seller clients by showing how many prospects have viewed a listing "Marketing Central allows brokers to easily leverage ads to generate more listings and increase lead volume, and Success Assurance provides the teams and tools to handle lead generation, initial lead response, qualification, and nurturing for up to one year, maximizing ROI from lead generation efforts", said Grier Allen, CEO & President of BoomTown. "Success is seen by both growing your database and ensuring your leads are responded to quickly and nurtured effectively, so we're excited to support our clients' growth with these powerful new solutions." Learn More. About BoomTown BoomTown exists to make real estate agents successful. 40k+ of the industry's top professionals trust BoomTown to grow their real estate business with easy-to-use technology that creates opportunities and turns them into closings. Capabilities include a customizable real estate website integrated with local MLS data, client success management, a cutting-edge CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system with custom marketing automation, personalized advertising and lead generation services, and a mobile app for agents on the go. BoomTown's service offerings extend far beyond technology with coaching services from peers who have catapulted their growth with the system, lead qualification services to contact, qualify, and nurture leads, and dedicated advisors to offer personalized support at every step from onboarding and training to optimizing your business and planning for strategic growth. Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Charleston, SC, BoomTown has additional offices in Atlanta, GA, San Diego, CA, and San Francisco, CA. For more about BoomTown visit boomtownroi.com.

Single Property Websites to Impress Sellers and Generate Leads
Is a single property website something you want to use? As the costs to have multiple websites have dropped over the years, it costs little more than hosting to have a website for each of your listings, but are they worth the effort? If done well and the right lead generation tools are used, these sites can both help you to get listings and to get leads for buyers. Here's how.

Hosting Events to Build Your Real Estate Business
A party with a purpose... You need many different lead generation sources to create a dependable stream of new leads. Online leads and referrals are dependable, go-to options for the first two, but if you're still looking for another reliable lead source, hosting lead generation events may be a good option.

Buyers are Wages; Listings are Money in the Bank
There's nothing wrong with real estate buyers, or even working exclusively with buyers. However, if you want to create savings instead of just checking, real estate listings are the way to build wealth.

Trends in Online Marketing and Lead Generation
Online marketing and lead generation is a constantly evolving science. In the early days of the internet, simply putting a property online with text was a big chore that required agents (or their development partners) to have HTML programming skills. The next big evolution happened around 1999 when the industry launched the first Internet Display program called IDX. This allowed agents and brokers to publish all of the listings from the multiple listing service on their websites and enable consumers to search. This was quickly followed by the emergence of national property advertising portals like Realtor.com, MSN, Yahoo! and others. IDX and listing portals delivered a great savings to the real estate industry, which was focused on newspaper and magazine advertising at the time. It was not uncommon for listing agents or brokerages to spend between as little as $300 or well over $1,500 in the marketing of a property. Online home search grew in popularity among homebuyers as access to internet connected computers grew. The next huge growth in this category came along with the consumer adoption of internet connected mobile phones and tablets. Today, more than 50 percent of all property searches happens on a mobile device. Nearly concurrent with the adoption of mobile, popular social media sites have became conduits for accessing real estate information including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and now Instagram and Snapchat. The options consumers have today for looking at property is almost absurd. There are millions of agent websites, hundreds of thousands of brokerage websites, and hundreds of property portals. The abundance of these options has created some interesting consolidation. It is estimated that the top 10 real estate portals in America are visited more than 500 million times a month. Given that there are only about 5.5 million transactions a year in America, it makes you wonder what all of those people are doing. Agents and brokerages are recognizing that digital marketing and advertising is changing from "spray and pray" to highly focused and localized marketing. To accomplish this, solutions have emerged that support real estate marketers with geotargeting to a particular house, neighborhood, polygon, or Zip Code. Within those geographies, real estate marketers can tune their marketing for attributes like age, renter vs. homeowner, or any number of filters that narrow the audience. Another major development is the connection between customer management solutions and online marketing. There is an appreciation that one goal of online marketing is to help build a database of potential customers. This famous sales strategy of collecting contacts and staying in touch was famously dramatized in The Wolf of Wall Street where Leonardo DiCaprio encourages his sales team to stay in touch with the customer until they buy or die. Some research has emerged that provides some good guidelines for real estate agents who hope to develop a digital marketing farm. A good target is to focus your efforts on a group of 2,000 to 2,500 households. With a steady focus of targeted digital marketing, agents should be able to develop a sales funnel that will yield about two trades a month. The important ingredient to developing this volume of units from this number of transactions is the frequency and quality of your marketing and lead conversion efforts. Always remember that digital marketing only works if you respond inside of five minutes to an inquiry—or ideally inside of one minute. Consumers expect you to be ready to serve them right away. Want to learn more about online marketing and lead generation? Download our latest Success Guide today!    

The Top 5 Must-Have Website Features for Lead Generation
A real estate website shouldn't just be a necessary evil. It should deliver prospects that go to the closing table. Unfortunately, too many real estate websites are more like billboards, attracting passing interest but not delivering closings. Does your real estate website have these necessary lead generation features covered?

Landing Pages for Real Estate Buyer Lead Generation
Last week, we put together a plan for seller lead generation, and this week we'll apply those strategies and build a plan for real estate buyer lead generation. But first, let's summarize the strategies from last week before we get specific for buyers: Set Out What You Need for Content Create Landing Page Answers Generate the Leads All of those steps and instructions apply to creating your plan for real estate buyer lead generation and its execution. Now let's look at buyer specific information.

Get More Leads by Posting Content Followers Want to See
Creating content for your social channels can sometimes feel like a challenge. Between selecting the right image for your posts and thoroughly considering the text that goes with it, you are left wondering how to get your content maximum exposure and engagement. With this social media guide, selecting the optimal message type, number of characters, hashtags, and emojis for each social network is going to feel like a breeze.

Success Breeds Success: How One Leader Builds Up His Agents
Dan Lee is a team leader and broker unlike others. "I don't consider myself a savvy businessman," he says. "I consider myself as someone who took the responsibility to provide for everybody else's livelihood." Lee's focus on cultivating his agents' success has led to his own success in retaining and recruiting top salespeople. In this interview, Lee shares his approach to keeping agents happy, why he doesn't hire until he has leads for a new agent, and why he's never had to fire an agent. Read on to learn more!

The Ultimate Guide to Leveraging LinkedIn to Get Leads
When real estate pros think of social media marketing, the sites that come to mind most often are Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. However, a recent study shows that, while sites like Instagram and Facebook are great for getting your audience to get to know your business, LinkedIn is the proven king of lead generation. Coming in at a visitor-to-lead conversion rate of 2.74 percent, LinkedIn has a conversion rate that is three times higher than both Twitter and Facebook.

How to Generate Leads with Instagram
Recently, I talked about how social media is a valuable tool for your real estate brokerage, and how you can put it to work for you on Facebook. But the thing about a social media strategy is that it rarely focuses on one platform alone! Each social media network targets a different market, and can have a huge impact on your lead generation—which can have a huge impact on how many homes you and your agents sell. Today, let's have a look at one of the more recent social media platforms: Instagram.

WATCH: How Newly Licensed Agents Get a Fast Start
How does Wemert Group Realty get their new agents out of the gate faster than the competition? By providing them leads from realtor.com® and training them on how to work those leads. Wemert Group incentivizes those leads, as well. Rather than giving rookie agents their best leads, new agents get "cut your teeth leads" that they have to work a little harder on and learn from. From there, they can earn their way to better leads or a higher price point. Want put your new agents on the path to success? Learn how with leads from realtor.com®.    

WATCH: Wemert Realty Reveals Their Source of Better Buyer Leads
Does more accurate listing data lead to more sophisticated buyer leads? According to broker Jenny Wemert of Wemert Group Realty, the answer is "Yes, absolutely." Wemert Group relies on realtor.com® for online leads, and compared to other sources, Jenny says that leads from realtor.com® are closer to purchasing a home. Watch the video above to learn more about how realtor.com® leads make a difference to Jenny Wemert's firm. Discover how your firm can get more high quality leads with realtor.com®.    

[Video] How Online Leads Powered Wemert Realty to 20x Growth
Wemert Group Realty is on track to close 800 transactions this year, up from 40-60 in 2008. What's their secret to 20x growth over the past decade? According to broker Jenny Wemert, it's realtor.com®. To learn more, watch the video above. Want to find out how realtor.com® leads can grow your business? Learn more here!    

Generate Leads Immediately by Signing Up for Realtor.com!
Jason Huerkamp is the ambitious founder and co-leader of the Huerkamp Home Group, part of Keller Williams Realty. Since 2002, the Huerkamp Home Group has grown exponentially to become one of the most dominant real estate teams in Minnesota. Jason is a savvy real estate investor and enjoys sharing this aspect of the business with others. In the video above, he talks about the speed in which his team started to receive leads when they signed up with realtor.com®. He tells us that he literally started receiving leads within 12 hours of becoming part of the realtor.com® program. Now that they are actively engaged in the program, they receive 15 to 20 leads per day. Jason also tells us that the conversion rates for the realtor.com® leads are really high as well. Jason uses the realtor.com® lead generation program as part of an overall lead generation campaign for his team. He uses realtor.com® to generate buyer leads AND seller leads. By creating nationwide exposure for his team, Jason is strengthening his position to attract clients for his properties and agents nationwide. If you would like to learn more about how your team can start getting leads almost immediately, click here: https://hub.realtor.com/team    

The Secret to a Faster Start for New Agents from Year One
For rookie Realtors, the secret to success is all in the systems that are in place to support them. At Kendrick Realty, that system centers around the leads they receive from realtor.com®. With those leads, new agents can immediately build a client base and start closing transactions within three to six months. Watch the video above to learn more about how realtor.com® plays a crucial part in how Kendrick Realty takes their new agents from zero to success in their first year. Click here to learn more about how realtor.com® leads can support your agents' success.    

Is It Possible for a Broker to Achieve 250 Closings Year One?
Getting started as a brand new brokerage is really difficult these days – especially in markets where there is very little inventory. I just watched this story from Kendrick Realty about how they did 250 deals in their FIRST YEAR. Instead of building a sphere and cold prospects, they started right out of the gate with realtor.com® and found interested online buyer leads. Combining the online leads generated from realtor.com with strong internal follow-up systems and training to help their agents learn how to nurture prospects generated from realtor.com, Kendrick Realty experienced a very successful first year. With great responsiveness and a team dedicated to nurturing relationships with potential buyers, Kendrick Realty generated 250 deals in just 12 months! Pretty impressive stuff! Watch the video below to hear their encouraging and exciting story, and see how you might be able to apply their winning marketing principles to your business:  

How to Generate Leads with Your Facebook Business Page
With more than a billion users, tons of targeted marketing tools, and extensive analytics to track your results, there's no doubt that Facebook is one of the best places to market your business. But that doesn't mean that Facebook marketing is easy, so success requires an understanding of the tips, tactics, and techniques used to generate leads from your Facebook business page. The good news is that you don't need to be a social media expert to start getting more from your Facebook business page. Our team is here to help, with a guide to generating more leads through your Facebook business page.

Is Broker Paid Marketing Making a Comeback?
The "100 percent model," where highly productive agents pay for all their own marketing, had edged out much of broker-paid advertising in some companies. This worked well for some agents, but many found they inherited overhead and tasks that took them away from selling. Now reemerging in some brokerages is a new version of company-paid marketing. But it is not the traditional brokerage from yesteryear with the mahogany manager's desk and a bullpen of agents. Frederick Herot, VP Customer Communication at realtor.com®, recently discussed newer concepts of broker paid-internet lead models with founders Luke Monroe, Lisa Sickman, and Dan Sundberg of Kendrick Realty. Their group fully pays for and provisions their agents with an abundance of leads and then coaches them to what is most often a six-figure income.

Love 'em or Hate 'em, AVMs Generate Leads. Here's How You Can Get Your Own
Regardless of how you personally feel about AVMs (Automated Valuation Models), there is little doubt that an AVM can produce quality home seller leads to real estate companies. Building your own "What's-my-home-worth" tool can produce more quality leads for your business. Today we'll explore why people use AVMs and how you can build your own.

4 Ways to Generate Seller Leads
We recently conducted a survey of real estate professionals and found that the largest portion of their marketing budget is spent on purchasing leads while only 13 percent of new business comes from there. In addition to the upfront cost, managing these leads requires time and effort and isn't yielding a notable result. So why not generate your own? Your website, email, phone and computer are all great ways to find interested sellers. Here are four easy ways to generate seller leads:

Real Estate Marketing Videos Generate Leads and ROI
Video is one of the most effective marketing channels for attracting customers, and it currently provides the biggest return on investment. A recent Inman article notes that when videos are included in home listings, inquiries from house hunters quadruple. Inman also notes that by including videos in emails, real estate professionals decrease email opt-outs by nearly 75 percent. How does video drive traffic to your website?

How Predictive Analytics Can Match Your Listings with Buyers
Imagine arming your agents with a list of warm buyer leads before they go into a listing presentation. Imagine using your own data to generate seller leads, or to match your listings with qualified. Thanks to predictive analytics, you don't have to imagine these scenarios. Today, we're continuing our month-long series on predictive analytics with a look at Buyside, a broker focused solution that's highlighted in our 2017-18 Technology Guide. What is Buyside? Buyside is a reverse prospecting tool that, as it name suggests, is fueled by buyer data--what type of property they're looking for, what price point, what neighborhood, etc. The solution pulls in and aggregates buyer information from a number of sources, including your website, property search portals, virtual tours, showing data and more.

Redfin Case Study Shows that Web Traffic Does Not Drive Sales
If you ask any REALTOR about the relationship between online website traffic and sales volume, they will tell you that there is a direct relationship. The conviction among Realtors is that companies that have the most amount of consumer website traffic sell the most amount of homes. This belief has stirred the root of Realtor® emotions, causing them to vilify the Zillow Group. A new entry of concern is Redfin, a company that has long battled with Zip Realty for online website domination. Redfin's IPO has been a great success that is causing competing brokers to contemplate their future in this online real estate landscape. WAV Group just completed a case study to explore the correlation between online success of a brokerage and transaction volume. The results of our survey indicate that winning online does not correlate to transaction success. The methodology for our research used the Seattle marketplace. This is Redfin's top marketplace of any city in America.

Local Prospecting with Search Engine Optimization
Real estate customers love using search engines to find information, whether they're scouting neighborhoods, visiting homes virtually or trying to find the right real estate agent. So for real estate brokers and agents, your position in search engine results ultimately plays a major role in the visibility of your brand. Search engine optimization is one of the most effective tools for helping prospects find you. Local SEO is a natural extension of your overall SEO efforts. Today, we're going to take a closer look at actionable local prospecting tips to help your real estate business shine online. How to Attract New Business Through Local SEO

White Paper: Generating New Business in Real Estate
In real estate, it can be tough to figure out the best way to generate new business year over year. There is a finite number of movers out there with more companies competing for their share. While we don't have the magic bullet on how to generate new business in real estate, we wanted to find out what you thought about it. What were you doing to bring in closes? What was working? What wasn't? This year, we surveyed nearly 400 real estate professionals on how they generate new business in the real estate industry. We discovered a wide range of feedback and insight from brokers, marketers and agents on how they invest their time, money and efforts. We took the findings and created an exclusive white paper on the best ways to generate new real estate business.

The Do's and Don'ts of Real Estate Landing Pages
A Closer Look at Unbounce's Conversion Benchmark Report We all know that in order to succeed in business, you must market yourself. You post to Facebook consistently, write blogs, send emails and even cold call. You're a marketing machine, but you're still not bringing in as many leads as you'd like. If you're sending your audience to your homepage, that might be the reason why.

4 Ways to Get More Seller Leads in Real Estate
Seller leads are valuable in real estate and as we learned in our recent white paper, Generating New Business in Real Estate, quality seller leads are a big goal for most real estate professionals. Because this is such a popular subject, Onboard has spent a lot of time and energy to learn how to better attract, engage and convert home sellers early in their process. We had a webinar last spring on Capturing More Seller Leads and explored the importance of seller leads in previous posts. Today, we will explore four easy ways to generate more seller leads, whether you are a small brokerage or part of a larger real estate organization. After 15 years in the real estate technology industry, these are proven methods that will work for anyone looking for more seller leads. Your Network Generally 50 percent or more of real estate business comes from an agent's network or referrals from that network. 64 percent of sellers find their agent through referral by a friend or family member 70 percent of sellers would definitely use the same agent again This is the source of the most revenue, yet the majority of marketing budgets are spent buying new leads or branding to mass markets. If you're going to invest, why not also invest in the pool that's delivering the most revenue? How are you keeping in contact with your former clients or social sphere today? Is it effective?

What Is the Best Source for Leads in Real Estate?
Last month, we released a white paper on generating new real estate business. We interviewed nearly 400 real estate professionals to find out what works and what doesn't in attracting, converting and closing more real estate business. This week, we'll take a look at lead generation. Specifically, where the best real estate leads come from. We measured the quality of lead based on what percentage closed. We asked respondents to think through their closed business from 2016 and indicate the source of that business. For this section of our survey, we were less interested in where they spent their marketing budget, and more interested in what produced the best results. We asked them, of the following choices, what percentage of closes came from each source: Network / Social Sphere / Referrals Digital Leads / Website / Online Lead Generation Open House Walk-In Traffic Purchased Leads Other Overall, respondents said 34 percent of 2016 business came from their network, more than walk-in traffic and open houses combined. Here are the results from the group at large: Where did new real estate business come from in 2016? We then segmented our respondents in three categories: real estate agents, brokers/owners, and marketers to see if there was a difference among these three stakeholders. Agents seemed to close more business from their network than any other group, saying more than half of total 2016 business came from their social sphere or referrals. The majority of business for real estate agents came from two sources: network and digital lead generation. Other sources, including purchased leads, did not seem as effective in generating revenue for agents.

Changing Buyer Behavior to Convert More Web Leads: A Q&A with San Diego broker Jesse Zagorsky
A dynamic leader who started his career in 2003, San Diego real estate broker Jesse Zagorsky is a self-proclaimed, unabashed geek when it comes to digital marketing and lead generation. In this brief interview, he shared how he has churned through various lead sources to find the one that works best for him, and how his team works to change web lead behavior starting on the very first call. If you were to go back and look at customers you have met online – when did it first come onto your radar? Were you an early adopter of online marketing? I was an early adopter – I was focusing on online marketing since I got into my real estate career in 2003. That was pretty much the beginning of online marketing. I have worked with every provider in the real estate space. Some were referral models and others were pay for lead programs. At this point, I must have tried every provider of online leads. You were an early adopter, but I imagine you have a lot of competition now! According to NAR's 2016 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 51 percent of last year's home buyers found their future property online and brought it to the attention of a real estate professional. Does this seem possible to you? Absolutely. I actually think 51 percent may be low. Even though we have instant access to properties as agents, so do our clients, and the reality is that buyers are looking at houses often before a REALTOR® has had a chance to look that day. I actually think this is a good thing. The value proposition has changed; our role as an agent is not just to find the house, as it is in executing all of the other elements of the process.