Hard to Believe
According to NAR 48% of internet leads go unanswered and the other 52% are responded to in a matter of days, not hours. That is simply UNACCEPTABLE in today’s internet driven consumer environment.
I “secret shopped” eight clients yesterday. I randomly sent e-mails to five agents per company at lunch time. That was 40 e-mails saying I was interested in buying real estate in their towns and gave them a price range plus asked them to tell me about themselves and their companies. I was also specific about the fact I expected e-mail responses because I was not ready to talk to anyone on the phone yet.
40 e-mails. Specific instructions.
What have been the results in the ensuing 34 hours???
Keep in mind… every study tells you today’s internet consumer expects an immediate response. Furthermore, NAR states that 74% of consumers pick the first agent that responds regardless of their experience level or just about any other metric you might measure an agent by.
Drum roll please…
40 e-mails. Specific instructions.
Results please…
2 calls within the hour, 1 call within 5 hours, 1 call within 10 hours.
THAT’S IT!!
36 out of 40 have still not responded after 34 hours!!
I realize this is not a scientific poll, however, if you are a broker you should be asking yourself the following questions:
- Why am I not “secret shopping” my agents?
- How much money might I be leaving on the table?
- Why am I not holding people accountable?
- Why don’t I have a system for tracking this?
- Why am I risking all the investments I have made in driving traffic to my site?
- Why am I risking all the investments I have made to keep people on my site so they want to do business with my company?
- Why am I leaving all this in the hands of someone else?
Inspect what you expect!
Filed Under: PCMS Blog
About the Author: A nationally recognized expert in franchise business, Jose has been responsible for affiliating, through conversion or acquisition, hundreds of companies representing millions of dollars worth of royalty fees during his franchise business career. In addition, as an authority in the area of acquisitions, mergers, and exit strategies for the nation’s real estate brokerage companies, he is often sought out for commentary and advice on the franchise business topic.
Amen Jose!
It really is hard to believe isn’t it! I would have made the assumption that you would only get a few immediate responses, but to receive responses to only 10% after a day and a half!
Leads have always been ‘thrown away’ at brokerages . . . that hasn’t changed . . . but the industry can’t afford to operate this way any longer. Things are changing . . . and for the better . . . and more brokers are going to wonder who to blame!
I’m going to take a few minutes now on a similar exercise, and if the results prove interesting I’ll share them.
Take care,
Patty