Lead Generation for Real Estate Agents: The Indie Broker’s Secret Weapon

• Establish Time Strictly for Lead Generation
• Build Email Lists Based On Property Type
• Use Your New Leads In Relevant Ways
• Demonstrate Your Value When Recruiting
• Frequently Asked Questions About Company-Generated Leads

The goal of any real estate brokerage is to multiply the efforts of its agents. One agent may be able to generate 200 organic leads in a year, so having 10 agents means 2,000 organic leads. 

What’s challenging is that lead generation is difficult, which is why agents are reluctant to do it. Finding new people to talk with every week demands the right strategies, and once you start a conversation you have to know how to keep it going. 

That’s where you as an informed broker step in. Instead of hiring agents and expecting them to figure out everything on their own, why not do lead generation for real estate agents? It gives you leverage to hire great agents and removes some resistance for less experienced agents. 

This is the concept of company-generated leads. Keep reading to learn how to get started and why this strategy is so valuable. 

Establish Time Strictly for Lead Generation 

Though lead generation for real estate agents is necessary, it’s also one of the most time consuming and resource-intensive tasks. Most brokerage owners are too busy assessing progress with department heads, making decisions, and casting the company’s vision. 

That’s why brokerages need to reserve time to produce company-generated leads. If you don’t have an in-house system for this yet, it’s time to develop one. Lead generation for real estate agents doesn’t have to be a mystery or a headache. 

Use the following steps as an outline for your brokerage: 

• Build a team of lead gen experts within your company. Just because lead generation is essential doesn’t mean anyone should do it. Speak with your marketing team and top-producing agents; these individuals are your best source of info. Ask who would be willing to set aside some time to do company-wide lead generation for real estate agents. You can offer higher split fees to agents willing to commit extra time. After all, it’s real work you’re asking them to do. 
• Figure out how much time you can spend on company-generated leads per month. Lead generation is a key part of business, but it can’t be the only thing you’re doing. Evaluate any gaps in your teams’ schedules to figure out when lead generation for real estate agents can happen. It should take place often enough to produce results, but not so often that you overload your schedule. A good baseline is spending about two to four working days each month on lead generation. This equates to 16 to 32 work hours that can easily be divided amongst several staff members.
• Create a lead scoring and scrubbing plan before you start. One pitfall businesses fall into is assuming all leads are of the same quality. Sadly, some leads never intend to follow through; they sign up just to see what they can get for free. Lead scoring refers to any system measuring how cold, warm, or hot your leads are. Lead scrubbing is when you send emails to disengaged subscribers to either re-engage or part ways with them. You need a plan for both so you can continually refine who you’re speaking with. 
• Schedule the time and make it happen. Once your strategy is created, it’s time to schedule it. Stagger lead generation activities across your team’s calendars and office hours. This way you don’t have four agents all working on lead generation for real estate agents when three of them could be attending listing appointments or following up with clients. 
• Review your lead gen strategies once or twice per month. When your system is up and running, you’ll soon enjoy a steady flow of leads. However, don’t assume that what’s working now will still work in a few years. The media, content, and platforms people engage with are always changing, which means lead generation opportunities will change too. Spend some time each month reading about emerging marketing trends and new technology. Chances are you’ll find at least one method you haven’t used yet. Then, ask yourself if it’s a method your brokerage can use, and put it to work if so. 

If this seems like a lot, don’t feel overwhelmed. You don’t need to become perfect at it overnight–you simply need a system you can rely upon. Schedule out the time to tackle each of these steps, and you’ll be up and running in no time. 

Build Email Lists Based On Property Type

Whether you’re working with single-family homes, multi-family rentals, or everything in between, you need a way to organize your data. Consumers have also grown accustomed to personalized experiences–so much so that 86% of customers are willing to pay a company more if their experience is better.

Offer better customer experiences alongside organized data by building a list for each of your property types. A simple way to do this is setting up a landing page for each property category. This way, each time a prospect signs up for your targeted lead magnet, they’ll be placed on a list relevant to their needs. 

You can also draft emails that automatically populate with your latest listings. These emails can be sent out once or twice a month, or whenever it makes most sense for your brokerage. Your ideal audience will see new listings on a regular basis, giving you less work to do and making it easier for them to reach out. 

This approach also helps your agents start conversations on the right foot. A prospect looking for a new home isn’t the same kind of buyer as one looking for an apartment or condo. 

Use Your New Leads In Relevant Ways

Train your agents to harness the email data you’ve obtained from your lead generation for real estate agents. First, look at what list someone signed up for. This will give you a ballpark idea of their goals, budget, and in some cases how soon they want to make a decision. Review how many people signed up for which lists. This clarifies who your biggest target audience is. 

Second, set up an automated introductory email. The week new subscribers first join your list is when they’re most receptive to your message. They’ve seen some of the value you can provide, so you have to solidify it. Your intro email can include your best performing blog posts, popular listings, and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and the respective answers.

Third, send them a personalized email a few days after your automatic one. Thank them for joining your list and mention that you’re happy to be a resource to them. Don’t try to make the sale or push for an appointment right away; you want to get started on the right foot. 

If they don’t respond within a couple business days, reach back out and ask about setting up an appointment. Simply having an inflow of new subscribers will give you plenty to work on and keep your calendar full.

Demonstrate Your Value When Recruiting

Real estate remains one of the most competitive industries in the world. If an agent is going to leave their current brokerage to come to yours, you’d better have great reasons for them to do so. 

Showing prospective agents that you generate leads in-house is an impressive perk. Most agents have to produce their own leads, which is a time-intensive process. Agents who understand the work that goes into your lead generation for real estate agents will be wowed by the value you bring to the table. 

Make sure you balance this perk with the other reasons your brokerage is valuable. After all, you should have a supportive company culture and strong leadership as well. When agents see that you’re investing in their success so the entire company can grow, they’ll want to step aboard.

Frequently Asked Questions About Company-Generated Leads

Deciding to generate leads as a company rather than expecting your agents to do it brings several challenges. In addition to effective lead generation for real estate agents, you need to set aside enough time for it. That’s not to mention training department heads on how to do it as your teams become more autonomous. 

If you’re scratching your head on how to get it done, have no fear. We looked at the most commonly asked questions about company-generated leads and researched answers. Take a look now: 

How Can I Generate Leads Quickly?

You can do lead generation for real estate agents quickly by running targeted social media ads. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest allow you to select users’ interests so your ads are seen by relevant audiences. 

After developing your ad creative and setting a budget, make sure you have a quality landing page to send visitors to. A landing page is the webpage ad viewers land on after clicking your ad. 

Landing pages typically include an incentive to stay on the website, such as a downloadable eBook or whitepaper. Users can then offer their email address or contact information in exchange for the resource, resulting in more leads for you. 

What Strategies Would You Use To Generate Leads?

If you’re generating leads for the first time, it’s important to use proven methods. There are several time-tested lead gen strategies, including paid ads, SEO, learning how to master content marketing, referrals, and giveaways. You don’t have to use all of these at the same time, but it’s wise to be using at least one or two regularly. 

Content marketing is one of the easiest lead generation strategies to start with. Other than graphic design and web hosting costs, you don’t need any money to get started. Writing blog posts that are informative and useful attracts more and more of your target audience over time. 

Giveaways are another useful method of lead generation for real estate agents. Offering a valuable prize in exchange for leads’ contact information can net you several hundred new subscribers in just one week. Make sure that your prize is relevant to your audience; otherwise people won’t want to share their email address. 

How Do I Generate Leads Without Ads?

If you want to generate leads without ads, there are multiple methods available to you. One of the simplest ways is driving traffic from your blog to email opt-in forms and landing pages.

People who enjoy your blog posts naturally want to hear more from you. Instead of writing blog posts and simply hoping people will return to your website, capture their email addresses. This can be done by integrating your email service provider (ESP) with your blog page, in the form of a widget. 

A widget is a section in the backend of your website that allows you to plug third-party features into the public-facing section of your site. Configure the API settings of your ESP with your website, and then verify that it looks good on your site. Now whenever readers check out a new blog post, they’ll have the opportunity to sign up for your email list.

This grows your lead base over time without daily effort on your part. Using the right email marketing tips–like email subject line best practices and the best time to send an email–is really where your leads turn into relationships. Read our ultimate guide to email marketing for all of our strategies.

Taking The Lead

By now, you know that doing lead generation for real estate agents is no cakewalk. After you’ve invested time planning your efforts, you must execute and ensure leads are coming in as expected. 

It’s also worth talking with your agents to ensure the leads are high quality and drive valuable conversations. Use the recommendations in this blog post as your foundation to find prospects who need what your brokerage offers.