Converting Online Leads Into Clients
Once your website begins to generate new leads for you, the tough part is over. However, you still need to effectively convert those new leads into clients. There are several key differences between the average prospect and one from the Internet. Understanding these differences will save you time and frustration and most importantly will keep you from making the mistake of neglecting these valuable new leads.

The Online Consumer
Online leads usually represent people in the early stages of research who are just collecting information for a potential purchase. It's often anywhere from 6 months to over a year before a new lead is ready to sell or purchase their home.

Prospective online clients are generally in an information-gathering mindset. They're accustomed to collecting information freely and anonymously and are often reluctant to provide valid contact information. Because of this, many agents become frustrated with their online prospects and consider them a waste of time. In fact, some surveys indicate that as much as 90% of all agents don't respond to their online inquiries.

This is a huge mistake as statistics show that online homebuyers are every bit as likely to use a Realtor in their purchase. The key is to utilize the right tools to efficiently follow up with them regularly during the months after the initial contact.


Client Management Tools
First, you'll need to get a feel for how close your leads are to buying or selling their home and sort them into different groups accordingly. It's not practical to constantly call, mail, and email every single lead you get. You want to focus more on your hot leads that are almost ready to buy, but still maintain contact with the others to see how they're progressing.

This can be quite painless and inexpensive with the right tools and methods such as your included drip email program. This program allows you to keep in touch with these potential buyer and sellers. It keeps your Realty and your name out there in front of them.

Whether you're sending your leads free market reports or updates of new properties on the market, try to address each of their specific needs as much as possible. A family looking for a 4 bedroom home in the suburbs shouldn't receive emails about your new studio or 2 bedroom apartment in the city. If your emails don't contain anything useful, they'll quickly associate it with all the spam that floods their email box everyday and all future emails will go straight to the Trash folder.

A monthly newsletter is another good way to maintain contact with previous clients and leads who are still in the early stages of their home search. your RealEstatePowerSites.com website comes with a easy to use mechanism to prepare and mail out a newsletter. You can brand it and it even includes ready to add articles realative to the real estate market.

Prompt and Personal Response
You should check your email several times a day and respond to inquiries promptly. Your website is designed to generate leads when a good marketing approach is included. It is up to you to cultivate the lead. When someone submits a contact form through your website or sends you an email, they expect it to reach a live person and to receive a personal response. You don't want to disappoint them with a canned response to their specific questions and requests. The Internet is an impersonal and anonymous medium, but the real estate business is not. It's important that you take this opportunity to begin establishing a relationship with your visitors.

Your initial contact can very well determine whether your relationship will flourish. Always keep your replies courteous, professional and grammatically correct. Keep your emails concise but make sure they include all of the requested information and address all of your visitor's questions. You're probably not the only one the prospective client has contacted but if you can give a personal response that provides relevant information, you'll be way ahead of the pack.

For local prospects, it's a good idea to follow up with a phone call soon after. These prospects have more resources available to them and it's likely that they'll quickly be contacted by other agents.

Out of town prospects that are relocating to your area are probably working with a longer time frame. They might not be ready to start their search in earnest yet, but it doesn't hurt to begin building a relationship early.


Drip Email
Drip email is a program that periodically sends your visitors prewritten emails about their chosen subject. Upon sending the internet form through your website theircontact information is saved in your database. The emails are sent in timed intervals which you can easily adjust. Initially it is all setup for you and ready to go to work. It opens the door for you to cultivate the lead in the time frame that is necessary. In this case, a visitor to your website may request to have an article emailed to them through an online form, and it would be automatically sent to them without your interaction.

You can also set up an autoresponder for your basic contact form. The only time you should be using an auto responder for your general email is when you won't be able to return emails for an extended period of time. For example, if you're going on a 10 day trip, you can have an auto responder set up to let your clients know that you won't have email access until a certain date and to provide an alternate way of contacting you for emergencies.

Final Tips
Always include a link to your website in all emails
Never use ALL CAPS as it makes it a pain to read and is often perceived as shouting
Never email your clients and prospects by adding their names to the CC (carbon copy) field. Your clients and prospects do not want their email addresses shared with everyone on the list. Use BCC (blind carbon copy) instead, so the email addresses are hidden.
Make sure everyone on your email list can easily unsubscribe. Either a link or instructions on how to opt out should be included with every email.