In the 431st episode of Mail-Right Show, Robert Newman and Jonathan Denwood discussed generating leads in 2024 that will help agents thrive in today’s competitive landscape. Robert Newman is the founder of InboundREM, a content marketing, story-telling-based platform. Meanwhile, Jonathan Denwood is the joint founder of Mail-Right, which builds beautiful websites on WordPress and provides CRM, landing pages, email, text outreach, and more in one great value package. This episode provides the knowledge and tools that agents need to know to generate a warm lead.
Understanding How The Successful Lead Funnel Works In 2024
Things are changing, and the information now differs from what would have been given to people in 2022. This is called the buyer-seller journey. Many people can feel upset about their expectations and what they receive from a system like MailRight or InboundREM. This is common for anyone assisting real estate agents and brokerages with digital marketing. However, agents who understand the buyer-seller journey and the different stages and methods of outreach during this journey will find it crucial in 2024.
Today, the quality of a lead goes through many stages. Getting just a name and phone number is no longer enough, and it hasn’t been for many years. There are many ways to add value to a lead. If there is a successful method to get people to share their information, but the value isn’t clear yet, like offering a free e-book, then a multi-step process can add value to the lead.
Leads are categorized as cold, warming, or hot. Before a lead is ready to buy or sell, it is important to have 10 or more valuable interactions over 12 to 18 months.
An example of catching someone early in their intent to buy could be offering the best home buyer’s guide for 2024.
Storytelling Works Connected To Turning Cold Into Warming Lead
Joseph Campbell had this union-based concept. Based on archetypes, every story, film, mini-series, and novel has about five different fundamental storylines. A lot of Western culture and Western written material, and then in the 20th century, film and television were based on the hero’s journey, where the hero goes through different stages of the journey. These stages can also be applied to the buy or seller journey.
Many agents do not realize that not all digital leads are the same. The quality of a lead depends on where it comes from online. For example, a lead from a Google search usually shows more interest than a lead from Facebook or other digital sources.
But even then, many of the people you initially contact will be on a journey. This can be hard for many agents, especially if they need a commission check ASAP. It is hard to understand this when in a desperate situation. However, agents who are not under such pressure and have some flexibility might not explain it well, but they understand instinctively that they and their leads are at different stages of this journey.
It would be best to put the consumer in the hero’s position on the journey. To understand this idea, knowing that people connect through archetypes is essential. After studying many cultures, Carl Jung found that these archetypes are common everywhere, regardless of place or culture. This idea has proven to be true over time. Despite the growth of the internet, Jung’s theory still holds. All cultures, whether Asian, American, Irish, or Nordic, share archetypes. This shows that storytelling is universal and explains why religions spread widely.
The idea is based on the hero’s archetype. People like Joseph Campbell discussed these archetypes and created stories about the hero’s journey. This journey is like the story of Christ: starting with significant challenges and opposition, then, through hard work and some luck, achieving something great. This storytelling method can help someone move from being a “cold” lead to a “warm” one. The journey involves facing hard times, being given tools to succeed, and, in 2024, the difficult task of buying a home. The goal is to provide tools to help them be the hero in their own story.
You can first offer something to get their name and email. Reach out to see if they are more interested than usual, but do not overdo it. Add them to an email list and send a helpful newsletter. Every few months, send a special email with extra valuable content. Keep them on the cold list of your CRM system.
They are likely more interested if they visit the website and log in after searching. Based on their searches, send them focused content or ask for more information to provide customized outreach. As they show more interest, send personalized content through Bombomb or call them if they are on a special list. Remember that there’s the initial part of the journey, the medium part, and then the part where they indicate to you that they’re active in the market and want your help.
Moreover, if a study were done today, it would show that people like thermometers or bank accounts. More touches are needed. A touch can be a video; video is the best because it can count for many touches simultaneously. When someone watches for 30 or 45 minutes, many objections can be answered in a single video without direct conversation. Modern marketing has changed. Everyone can now make TV commercials and infomercials and must share information cleverly so viewers do not turn away.
If you do things successfully, like what infomercials do, you will often handle 5 or 10 objections. But the old way big companies like Coca-Cola market, using commercials, billboards, and cans, isn’t just about getting direct responses. It’s about making people familiar with their name or brand psychologically. Most people don’t know this kind of marketing can take 10 or 20 times before it sticks. For instance, a site might show up 780,000 times in searches but only get 22,000 clicks. People might think those 780,000 views are useless, but they’re warming up potential customers. It could take 10, 20, or even 30 views before they’re ready to engage.
The more important or directly sent something is, like an email to someone or a video, the quicker that person becomes interested. They go from cold to warm to hot, which means they might want to talk with you for a long time about what you said.
Hot leads – you need to do personalized outreach
You must be familiar with two things: pulsation and oscillation. Some people schedule a talk, have a good conversation, and then disappear for months. Later, they returned for another chat and then vanished again. If you’re eager to make a sale, this worries you because you want to convert them. However, pushing too hard might drive them away. It is better to wait, keep providing valuable content, and let them decide. Some may not return, but many do.
Realizing your potential clients are on the journey is the key to it. It will not work out if you force them, and they’re at the wrong point of the journey.
Forcing people usually makes them resist, and that is not good. The idea is to consider why people might say no and answer them. So, in the end, there are no reasons left to say no. It’s about two things: Did you see the value? If yes, do you want to proceed? If not, I don’t worry much about objections anymore. Sometimes, showing less interest often makes people more interested in giving you their business.
Why doesn’t this guy need the business? Why does he need to chase me? The answer is pretty simple. Number one, that person generally doesn’t need the business. Number two, the reason you don’t need the business is that you have been so successful with your sales strategies that you usually have enough people in the queue.
Many people get fixated, looking for a certain level of outcome, a certain level of website, or a certain level of service, and their budget doesn’t meet their fixation. They have to go to other providers or try different things and not have much success.
Moreover, talking about getting attention, people find you through ads or content online, like Instagram or videos. To keep their interest, you send newsletters, post videos on Instagram, and connect with them about 5-10 times while they decide to buy or sell. In the newsletter, you might share a deal of the week or an interesting property and make videos about them for Facebook and Instagram. You also share news about the real estate market monthly, focusing on the local area because local markets matter in real estate. This shows you care and know your stuff, not just looking for money. You also share local activities, which builds relationships with other local businesses. Retargeting is a cost-effective way to make people who didn’t buy something from your website become more interested. You can use Facebook, Instagram, and Google to do this. They help change people who don’t know your product into interested people. When they visit your website or search for things there, they show they’re interested. Then, you can contact them more by calling or sending emails.
When it comes to taking a warm lead to cold, the focus is on repeatedly showing value. The goal is to attract people to your content without pushing them to contact you immediately or overwhelming them with requests. Instead, you’re simply offering helpful information. For instance, if you’re interested in real estate, lifestyle tips, or finding the best local restaurants, I can suggest great schools to visit, nice parks to explore, and activities that match your interests in the area. Then, if you want to talk about houses, focus on the useful. If people are interested and paying attention to you, share information with them through platforms like YouTube, Facebook, email, or Twitter. The goal is to build a connection where they trust and value what you provide. It’s like building a relationship: first getting to know someone, then liking them, and finally feeling comfortable enough to approach them for advice or help.
That’s how you will make someone warm up to you. They’re usually better than a referral regarding how good they are as potential clients, the ROI they bring, and conversion. When you get that person’s information, let’s say from an advertisement, you build up the importance of that person, and you become the person they trust as an advisor.
