#1 Rule in Repeat Real Estate Lead Generation

June 6, 2016

Megan Swanson

The solution to generating repeat leads doesn’t begin with what you do to grab the attention of your past clients the second or third or fourth time around. It’s how you treat their attention in the first place.

Professional marketing guru Faris Yakob begins his book Paid Attention with the line:

“Are you paying attention to the attention being paid for?”

You pay for your leads with the money spent on lead generation, or through the time devoted to confirming a referrals faith in your services. No matter the payment, your time or money.

Yakob notes that nowadays the demand for attention has well outpaced the supply. You, as a real estate professional, are among many other real estate professionals vying and paying for the attention out there.

And we can give you endless tips and tricks on how to gain this attention, but it all will mean nothing unless you first understand the #1 Rule in Repeat Lead Generation:

First comes need, then comes lead.

Establish a Real Estate Need Before Gaining a Repeat Lead

Real estate clients nowadays are primarily interested in what you can do for them, not how you can impress them. Establishing a foundation through a firm online presence is the first step. Through a website that caters to high-end tastes whether or not it includes high-end listings, you will be able to attract first-time homebuyers and buyers well beyond this stage.

After creating a referral worthy website, your next step is following through with value worthy of return calls and referrals. When it comes to repeat leads, your fate lies in the hands of your value.

Ask yourself: Would your friends respond to your marketing campaigns? Is your value in line with what you actually provide? Do you follow-up with leads with the same dedication and content quality you provided before they completed their first transaction?

According to the National Association of Realtors 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, “a typical seller has recommended their REALTOR® once since selling their home. And 32 percent of sellers recommended their agents three or more times since selling their home.”

In order to attract your previous leads back to your business after a few months, years, or even decades, you will need to remain dedicated to addressing their needs, before considering them “leads.” And to do so, you need to address their motivations.

Repeat Leads Are the College Kids of Real Estate

You as a real estate professional did the right thing by first generating a lead, and then making a client out of this lead. Now you are faced with maintaining the relationship for an ambiguous amount of time.

Just as quickly as teenagers change their minds, opinions, preferences once they go to college, your leads will oftentimes do the same once they finish their first transaction.

A young married couple buys their first home and may eventually need to move into a larger home when their grow their family. A business person needs to make a move after several years in the same place. An investment purchase made several years prior needs to be sold in favor of a home closer to family.

These are all examples most likely occurring in somewhere in your client sphere today.

The NAR also noted in their 2015 Study that, “for all sellers, the most common reason for selling their home was that it was too small (16 percent), followed by a job relocation (14 percent), and the desire to move closer to friends and family (13 percent).”

This proves the point that the “need” for a new home is already built into your leads as soon as you complete their first transaction.

These motives are there when you first interact with your clients. And it’s up to you to pick up on the unsaid innuendos of where your clients will go in the future. Lucky for you, there is no mind reading needed.

Like Yakob said, you only need to pay attention to the same attention you paid for to begin with. In other words, there is no sense in pursuing future leads without first understanding their newest “need” or motivation.

Marketing to Real Estate Needs Not Real Estate Leads

Let’s dive right into how you approach these repeat leads with your newfound “need before lead” mentality. Revisit Yakob’s advice (yes, again, it’s that important) by asking yourself if you are paying attention to the attention being paid for.

Reassess the motivations of your audience post-transaction. Are they following any patterns? Can they be segmented? If you have a few segments to attract first time leads, then the chances are your repeat leads will also follow a few of the same life paths.

Monitor those journeys. Note the types of value they will need in the next few years. And then strategically invest in marketing that will continue to place your brand and the value you provide, top of mind.

Your investment now when the market is good will pay off in times when the market is either not so good, or you are in need of a referral on a rainy day.

Out of Ideas? Check Out BoomTown’s Top 10 Ways to Get Seller Leads

Use the Top Ten Ways to Get Seller Leads and adjust to fit the motivation and needs of your repeat clients. A few of our favorite tacts for repeat leads include interacting in neighborhood community Facebook pages, making the most of a real estate agent Houzz page, and creatively immersing yourself in your community or area of interest.

The most efficient way to follow the #1 Rule in Repeat Lead Generation is to keep your processes simple, but quality high. If you are busy infusing every action with personality and making sure every step in the campaigns provides value, then use a real estate CRM to automate the easy parts.

We promise, it’ll make all those repeat leads much sweeter if you learn to work smarter, not harder from the get go.