Lead Generation — Quantity Or Quality? Whatever Works For You

Turns out I learned about the whole lead generation thing painlessly and without knowing what I was learning. The best part was how it led to meeting so many cool folks of the estrogen persuasion. As a newly unattached 40-something guy in San Diego, I hadn’t dated since Nixon was in office. It was 1999 — I didn’t need a primer, I needed a new chip installed. Talk about clueless? I missed out on three very nice ladies ‘cuz I didn’t know ‘Why don’t we catch a cup of coffee some time’ was a clear sign of possible romantic interest. I just thought women these days were big time coffee fans. Thankfully the higher tech ladies in the office, when they stopped laughing and could breathe again, gave me the heads up on what was what.

It’s the same thing in lead generation. The goal is different. There’s not as much coffee or dancin’, but it’s the same thing.

Early on, it’s my opinion the agent/LO must decide with what kinda leads they wish to work. I see it as two well defined choices.

A. High quantity — must sift through for the quality lead — stellar system needed.

B. Few leads — very high quality — high conversion rate.

The initial requirement was to develop a viable Purposeful Plan. The first two questions you must answer — Where are you now? Where do you wanna be?

I was single — I didn’t wanna be single.

First thing the office ladies told me was to join some online dating services. (I’m not the bar type.) Within 24 hours I was the proud member of four sites. Then they all looked at my profile and said it simply wasn’t cuttin’ it. Had to talk more about my kids. And it wouldn’t hurt to mention I didn’t live in Mom’s basement, did have my own car, made more than $10/hr, and knew how to use real silverware. Done. By the way, I absolutely refused to say how much I liked long walks on the beach. I had my standards, and wanted to keep my Man Card.

They actually voted on the pictures I was to upload. They also gave me the heads up on how to search, (prospect?) and how to deal with incoming messages (contact forms?). See? Just like the RE.net. Leads come in, and we respond. Also, we go out and hunt for new business. The dating ‘search’ was akin to blogging, company website, or whatever else is used.

The aforementioned is almost exactly analogous to our online efforts as RE agents/brokers/loan officers. We reach out — show our best side — generate leads.

There was order to the process.

1. Meet lead online. We do this all the time now, don’t we? A lead comes in from your blog, company website, or some other source. Back then, we went back and forth a bit using the site’s messaging service.

2. Communicate back & forth ’till you either met in person or parted ways. We email back and forth with leads, right? Some turn out cold, some maybes, and some are ready to go. They wanna meet you.

3. Meeting is cool — you’re now ‘belly to belly’ getting to know each other. Back then, I was scared #$%less my first couple times. That’s when my office mentors (womentors?) really stepped up for me. Told me what to do, say, avoid, etc. It was like they turned me from Neanderthal to Not Quite A Pig Man. ‘Course, don’t get me wrong here — I still didn’t have clue #1. When we meet online-generated leads, we know it’s our turn at bat. They’ve decided we’ve shown enough game to at least meet. We do our best to show them they were right.

4. Some meetings were short — no sale — not a match — seeya later. This is why my helpers told me to just meet ’em for coffee. No muss, no fuss, and absolutely non-threatening. My daughter helped me with that one too. Said I couldn’t come on ‘all BawldGuy’ at first. (Thanks BabyDoll) Some didn’t cotton to me, some weren’t my type, and sometimes we both knew it was a no-go from first sight.

Just like real estate.

5. Some meetings morphed into plans to meet again — bonding a bit — impending client status? If, after talking for awhile, the lead believes you know which way is up, they’ll agree to go to the next level. A buyer may agree to set an appointment, or even sign a buyer agreement. A seller may agree to a listing presentation. A woman may decide dinner is the next logical step.

6. This was when the Firestones began to hit the pavement. A real first date. The lead has agreed to pursue doing business with you. You take the listing — or begin showing homes in earnest. (Use ‘loans’ if you’re an LO.) If in their eyes you walk your talk, you’re on the way to what we all call a ‘converted lead’.

This is when I began to see things more clearly. Sure, I was ‘converting’ some leads, but not the kind of conversion I was looking for.

Some clients buy the first place you show them. Some wanna look awhile longer. But at this point, if the first ‘date’ went reasonably well, listing their home, or selling them one was probably more likely than not.

Short Digression

While doing the dating thing, I met ‘leads’ at the same Starbucks 99% of the time. The clerks quickly figured out what was up, and one of the older ones asked if he could give me his ratings. Sure, the Neanderthal in me said, ‘Why not?’ He would wait ’till I paid for the coffee, and the lady was looking elsewhere. At that point he’d flash one or two thumbs up, or down. Sometimes he’d wrinkle his brow while wobbling both hands in the universal sign for, ‘Dude, I don’t get it.’

One Sunday afternoon I went there alone to read a book and relax. Pretty soon I heard a familiar voice, and turned around to see my daughter and her mom. My ex said, ‘She’s gotta find a book, (this store shared a wall with bookstore) so why don’t you buy me some coffee?’ You’re way ahead of me, aren’t ya? Sure enough, as I’m leaving the cash register, I glance back and he’s giving me two thumbs as up as enthusiastically as he can, while grinning ear to ear. I then make the ‘X’ sign with my fingers — just as my ex turns to look.

To my immeasurable relief, all she said was, ‘Two thumbs up I hope’. My daughter had ratted me out. So much for the Daddy’s Girl thing.

End Digression

Besides closed transactions, long term relationships are what we want from our leads. Heck, we’d like to do a transaction that closes, right? We’d like to convert as many as possible, then get referrals from them. Sometimes what we’re doing to obtain leads works, but we learn the leads aren’t what we were looking to generate. This is crucial to recognize. Agents often find out their blogs and/or websites turn out many dozens of leads weekly, but the quality isn’t up to snuff — wasting much of their time if their system isn’t efficient. It’s not that they aren’t doing business, but the lead quality they’d like to improve.

Wasted time equals less converted leads.

The question for me was: Do I want quantity or quality? Do you as an agent want a dozen or more leads daily, having to go through them to find the precious few who’re actually serious? You did 4-8 deals a month, which is definitely not a sharp stick in the eye. Would you rather get a couple dozen quality leads monthly, and do 8-12 deals a month? I decided I’d trade bigger numbers for higher quality and an increased conversion rate.

I prefer the quality approach. That said, if agent ‘A’ does 100 deals getting 20 leads daily, and agent ‘B’ does 100 deals getting 15 leads monthly — the cat? Well it’s still skinned, right? Right. Who cares? It’s the same 100 skins. I’m not saying those who generate a myriad leads daily are doing anything wrong. What I am saying is when that road is chosen, the sifting process better be world class.

Russell Shaw is the perfect example of high quantity leads with a world class ‘sifting’ system.

It was the answer to that question that drove me to change dating sites. I dumped my initial memberships and joined a site with an entirely different agenda. An agenda more in tune with my own Purposeful Plan. The leads dwindled to a pretty low number, but each one was absolutely a potential long term conversion. The quality was substantially improved. These leads wanted what I had to offer and vice versa. At first I missed the ‘sifting’ process, but then my womentors threatened to mutiny if I went back to what they called the cattle call. Almost lost my Man Card for that.

Folks who read me and know me well, also know if anything, I’m results oriented.

The new site provided just a few quality leads. Also, by then I’d decided since the leads were of much higher quality, I’d move first meetings from Starbucks to Baker’s Square, a local neighborhood coffee shop serving incredible French Silk pie. Always trying to improve the odds for conversion.

There was a lady out there who also had a mentor. He’d guided her to the same quality oriented site.

The leads were greatly reduced in quantity. I met only about 10-12 ladies there, and only met 3-4 in person. A few leads women later I found myself eating French Silk across the table from The Boss.

That was five years ago this past June 15th.

I’ve been opting for the quality lead ever since. Go figure.