In the 333rd episode of the Mail Right Show, Jonathan Denwood and Robert Newman discussed lead inflation, including why you should understand it, how it will affect the way you look at digital leads as a real estate agent, and how to combat it. Robert Newman founded Inbound REM, an inbound marketing agency, and is a 14-year real estate SEO industry veteran. On the other hand, Jonathan Denwood is the creator and CEO of Mail Right, a platform that combines various digital tools into a single, user-friendly package.
What is Lead Inflation?
The term “lead inflation” refers to the increase of leads created for each buyer and seller. In most cases, there are numerous sellers and buyers, so, on the market, free leads were generated around each transaction for each vendor or buyer, resulting in inflation of digital leads. Furthermore, the quality of each of the 12 to 15 digital leads generated by selling or purchasing a specific property has reduced inequality or increased prices.
Competition For Digital Leads
Every other real estate market segments are highly saturated. Many new marketing companies are willing to take a chance with all the money they’ve made in marketing, so there’s more competition for the same fewer leads, and more expert marketers are looking for that competition. To acquire the same result that you commissioned, you must either pay money or order a larger volume.
Combat Lead Inflation
The lead inflation might have caused you to leave the lead buying business as it got too expensive, and you can no longer afford the leads you used to buy, so here are some suggestions for what you can do if this happens to you.
1. Creating A Video – Leads are about the personal connection; if you want many leads, answer a question for someone or demonstrate your expertise in a way that makes the person watching your video believe that they want or need to talk to you. Authenticity also goes a long way. Communicate who you are, and you will attract individuals who are interested in conversing with you.
2. Digital Outreach – Increase the amount of time you spend on the personalized side of digital outreach. To stay in the competition, do better digital outreach and digital lead generation.
3. Effective Direct Marketing – You can use a direct mail drop to send postcards to people. Although a postcard is old-fashioned, if you want to make an impression on someone, you must do something extraordinary to get their attention, and a postcard is one such option. The second is to collect the database of potential leads. Personally, my target would be a wealthy and successful area to obtain every single resident’s name. You can use REDX or other mailing and list providers or data providers to get the data. The data may include graduation dates, alma maters, and birthdays, which you may write on the postcard to honor their significant days.
4. Build Up a Database – Have a process of getting people you have spoken to, and utilize personalized outreach and marketing to those who already know you and have already built some trust with you. Because in a challenging market, it’s going to be much easier to get a qualified lead at a reasonable price from those who already know you, and it’s an area where not all but many agents aren’t excellent.
5. Offer Something of Real Value – Offer actual value, not just market reports. Even if you can use those market information, make an effort to add some personalization. Offer it as an email attachment with a video and use the tool to personalize the video. Also, personalize and organize your database outreach, and you’ll get a better return on your investment.
In addition, you should not have the negative attitude of some experienced brokers when it comes to open houses. These agents are jaded since they haven’t devised a systematic plan when it comes to presentation and the objective of running or sharing open housing. They would say the email they collected is fake, and you’d respond by saying you’d like pricing at the end of the day; this way, the agent will double-check that they’re providing you with the correct email address. And then, you need a plan of action about how you are going to contact these people after they open the house.
