Last year, Mike Parker published an article in RISMedia.com: “Online Marketing: Is It Time to Retire the Word ‘Lead?‘” What he wrote was a shot across the bow of the real estate industry, and a call to reform not just how agents work, but how they think.
Parker’s thesis was this: a name and a phone number, by themselves, don’t constitute a lead. It’s not a lead until you have some clue that tells you a person is interested in the product or service you’re selling. And the best leads, of course, occur when the customer himself initiates the contact and tells you exactly what he’s after:
According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, one of the meanings of “lead” is as “an indication, or clue.” A lead is an indication of interest and a clue as to how to sell an inquirer—that’s how I would define it. All too often, it appears that agents and brokers have lost sight of what constitutes a lead and instead waste their precious time and money attempting to respond to “junk” being called “leads.”
Parker related an email he got from a real estate agent in Illinois, who boasted of having the highest internet conversion rate in his office despite that fact that “less than half of 1% of all leads will (even) answer their phones.” The kind of “leads” this man was working with resemble stopped clocks–accurate for 2 minutes out of every day. Selling to people who haven’t expressed the slightest interest in you or your business IS possible, but it’s not anywhere close to being the best use of your time.
If your leads are 30% obviously false phone numbers; if less than half of 1% of your leads will answer the phone, you are not receiving “leads,” you are receiving cruel hoaxes masquerading as leads. The practice of calling such items “leads” should be discontinued.
We believe Parker is essentially correct–and when you’re correct about something as important as lead generation, you’re really correct. Good sales leads are probably the most important business property any salesman can have, in any field. Why is it, then, that so much online marketing directed toward lead generation does it the wrong way?
It has become common, for instance, to require website visitors to create accounts and sign in before they can view the information they want. Often, what they want is just the information: they aren’t really in the market to buy, and have no intention of listening to any kind of sales pitch. So they provide false information, or simply refuse to respond. Even when relying upon automated systems, dealing with huge numbers of bad “leads” taxes resources beyond profitability.
A lead occurs when someone gives some clue not only as to what he wants to buy, but that he wants to buy. It’s for this very reason that all information on RetireNet.com has always been public. Yes, it’s important to get people to view your Showcase; but looking at it doesn’t constitute intent (let alone ability) to buy, and so we don’t require visitors to sign up in order to do so. A lead from RetireNet happens when someone fills out a form indicating interest in the community, and not before. That way, leads coming from RetireNet.com are real leads, and not just hoaxes.
Filed under: Information
