Old Rule: Delivering leads is the only job for a website.

New Rule: The best sites deliver leads and customer service.

If a boost in the quantity of leads is all you're looking to gain from your website, aim higher. Now, more than ever, the consumer-driven Information Highway is a two-way street, and a well-planned website provides almost limitless opportunities to grab quality prospects with information and services -- before they contact the competition.

Every web visitor today has a purpose, something they want to accomplish because surfing today is no longer fun, it's work. The secret to capturing these task-oriented visitors is to offer solutions that meet their immediate, up-front needs, then follow-up with concrete evidence of your professionalism using targeted information and personal service. Customer satisfaction -- and loyalty -- begin with this offer-and-response strategy.

Five Win-Win Response Offers

Show prospects you really mean it when you say, "Contact us!" Include your e-mail, phone, and web address in every online and offline communication that goes out of your office. Here are five response offers that will grab even the most uncommitted consumer's attention.

1. Turn other brokers' open house ads into a source of leads for you. Here's how:

   • Promote your "Always Open 24/7 Service" with a classified ad in the "Today" section of your newspaper.

   • Explain that your "Always Open" service is for busy buyers who can't make it to one, or more, of other brokers' advertised open houses.

   • Invite prospects to visit your website and submit the addresses of open houses they missed the previous week, no matter who is listing the house.

   • Agree to e-mail them property information on each listing, or updates, on similar new listings as they come on the market.

   Your offer of "24/7" open houses will pull active buyers to your website around the clock. Tip: On the back of your business cards, print the same open-all-week offer and give them to buyers who attend your open houses.

2. Use online and offline advertising to assist area families who are considering long-distance relocations. Upon request, offer a "Relocation Decision Kit" about the destination area, the outbound transferee can use it to make their accept/reject decision. Be sure the kit is stuffed with facts about the new place such as housing, community profiles, schools, cost of living, tax rates, and cultural attractions. As an added bonus, offer a personal referral to a real estate pro in the destination area. Naturally, your conversation will turn to listing their home when they are ready. Tip: A quick long-distance call to a destination area agent may generate a referral fee or better yet, a profitable and long-term B-to-B contact.

3. Create links on your site to quick and easy-to-use online calculators and other financial tools. In exchange for access to linked pages, the consumer completes a brief contact and real estate 'needs' form. The most popular calculators for buyers and sellers help figure home equity, costs of selling, moving, and renting versus buying, as well as trade-up and down-payment analyses. Tip: Examples of popular relocation calculators are online at CRS.com and they analyze affordability, prepayment, payment, net proceeds, capital gains, home estate tax, and at REALTOR.com for a Relocation Wizard, Community Close-Ups, Salary Calculator, and Moving Cost Calculator.

4. Build ongoing relationships with sellers by offering an e-market update service which tracks home values by neighborhood. Use an automated e-mail response system from your MLS, or service provider, to deliver up-to-the-minute information by e-mail with "Just Listed" and "New On Market" property data. Tip: Check MLS rules for sharing sold information that can be used as "Market Updates."

5. Pre-qualify prospects with an online, easy-to-complete questionnaire. You need only include the basic questions for a prequalification analysis or to estimate a seller's home value. Follow up with an offer of a personal consultation and information about the buying or selling process. Tip: Even though multiple-choice questions, consumers can answer with a simple click, which attracts more responses than questions requiring typed answers. Open-ended "assessment" questions tend to generate the highest-quality leads.

Turn every consumer response into an opportunity to provide service and build a relationship.

Consider starting off prospect relationships with this trust-building personal touch: Include names of team members and job duties on your site so prospects can ask for them by name.

Auto responders make it easy for you to routinely send electronic responses to a wide variety of prospect requests. Targeted follow-up can range from person-to-person e-mails, FAQs, or text links to longer, downloadable e-reports. Always include your contact information and a "call-to-action" in your message or signature. Calls-to-action can range from the most basic qualifiers, to check-off lists for more free reports and services. Tip: HTML e-reports utilizing graphics get more attention than text-only messages.

Published: April 20, 2005

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