Real Estate Buyer Leads: 12 Ways to Get More
Building and maintaining a healthy pipeline of leads is essential to building a thriving real estate business. While you might have plenty of clients at the moment, hikes in rates, market fluctuations, and even off-seasons can quickly cause your leads to dry up. By focusing on continuous real estate lead generation, you can scale your business and ensure that you’ll always be bringing on new clients.
How Does Real Estate Lead Generation Work?
Real estate lead generation refers to the process of collecting and attracting prospects to your business. You can accomplish that lead generation in multiple ways, including using lead generation companies and leveraging your website as a marketing tool.
Once you have a list of leads, you need to nurture them with the goal of converting them into clients. The lead nurturing process looks different for everyone, and it might consist of contacting leads by phone to have a conversation, sending them a series of emails with information about how you can help them to buy or sell a home, providing them with a guide to help them through the buying or selling process, and more.
Are Real Estate Lead Generation Companies Worth the Cost?
Real estate lead generation companies take the work of finding qualified leads off of your plate. These companies often partner with agents, giving you a steady supply of leads to fill your pipeline.
A lead generation company removes the need for you to search for buyers, allowing you to focus on nurturing leads and interacting with your existing clients. The company might gather leads and sort them based on factors like the lead’s geographic location, the services they are looking for, and any specialization that they are looking for a real estate agent to have. Then, the company offers these leads up to real estate agents who are a good fit.
In many cases, these companies sell leads, and you might pay a signup or annual fee, but there are other arrangements available, too. Some companies like Guidance Home Services only charge a fee after a lead has converted to a client and completed the closing process. While some companies only allow agents to maintain a relationship with those leads for one transaction, leads that you receive through Guidance Home Services are your long-term, so you could complete multiple transactions without paying multiple fees.
The Best Real Estate Lead Generation Companies for 2023
If you’re looking to try a new real estate lead generation company in 2023, these are some of the best companies for seller listings and buyer leads.
Best for Seller Listings: Offrs identifies homeowners who are engaging with real estate websites and who are preparing to sell their homes. This company uses over 250 points of data to determine which homeowners are most likely to sell their homes in the next year. Offrs guarantees 30 leads per month.
Best for Buyer Leads: Guidance Residential’s sister company, Guidance Home Services connects you to homebuyers and sellers and gives you access to highly qualified leads. Guidance Home Services works with real estate agents from any brokerage, and there are no sign-up or annual fees.
12 Ways to Get More Buyer Leads
In addition to partnering with Guidance Home Services, you can use the following 12 strategies to generate more buyer leads.
1. Narrow your focus
Rather than just focusing on a simple geographic location, consider developing a niche. By specializing in an element like historic homes, luxury homes, student rentals, condos or apartments, or first-time homebuyers, you can establish yourself as an expert in that niche and work to set yourself apart from the competition.
Having a niche also lets you concentrate your marketing on that specific focus. You can find leads who are a good fit for the services that you offer, and you can immediately demonstrate to them how you can help them achieve their goals. That immediate connection can help to convert more leads into clients.
>> Related Read: Real Estate Niches: What’s Lucrative & How to Find Yours
2. Create targeted social media ad campaigns
You can also connect with your target audience on social media. Social media platforms like Facebook allow you to create ad campaigns and target those using highly specific demographics. For example, you could create an ad designed to appeal to a certain buyer persona, and then target the recipients based on age, location, gender, interests, and more.
3. Don’t neglect organic social media engagement
In addition to social media ad campaigns, you can also use these platforms to create meaningful interactions with prospects organically. Facebook and LinkedIn both feature plenty of groups that can help you to connect with prospects.
You can also use social media platforms to engage directly with your followers. You can answer questions that your followers post, celebrate client wins in posts, ask your followers for input via polls, and more. The messaging feature available on social media platforms also makes it easy for your followers to reach out to you with questions, giving you a chance to start valuable conversations.
4. Use video to educate, introduce yourself, showcase listings, and share client testimonials
Real estate video content is a fantastic way to generate leads. By creating videos for platforms where your prospects are, such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, you can showcase what’s unique about your business and put a face to your platform. For example, spending some time in front of the camera can help prospects to get to know you, establishing a sense of trust so that they will be more likely to reach out to you when they’re in need of an agent’s services.
Frequently posting videos can also help to keep your business at the top of your followers’ minds. Videos can help you to stand out from the competition and, when followers take the time to watch and engage with your videos, they will be more likely to see your future social media content.
5. Attract buyers with a blog
Blogs by real estate agents position agents as experts. A blog gives you a chance to offer value to your readers, and potential leads can discover you while searching for answers to their home buying and homeownership questions online. By writing blogs on the topics that your clients most often have questions about, you can connect with new leads, and this strategy doesn’t cost you anything.
6. Tap into online marketplaces
Online marketplaces, like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, are also potential sources of seller leads. Browse these marketplaces and look for local homes that have been listed for sale by their owners. You can approach these owners and offer your services, explaining how you can help them to sell their homes faster and for more money than they might make by listing the properties themselves.
As you browse the marketplaces, don’t limit yourself just to homes that have been listed recently. Instead, also consider the homes that were listed months ago, and that haven’t yet sold. These sellers may be frustrated by the process and ready for some help.
7. Host an open house
Hosting an open house gives you a chance to connect with homebuyers. By asking visitors to sign in when they arrive, you can capture their contact information so you can follow up with them later. Consider giving out goodie bags with items like hand sanitizer and calendars to encourage visitors to sign in.
You can make open houses more memorable by hosting a block party, encouraging other agents to host open houses nearby at the same time. You can work together and send buyers to the other open houses, delivering a memorable experience. Consider hosting online open houses, too, so buyers who can’t make it in person can see the house.
>> Related Read: 20 Successful Open House Tips for Realtors
8. Promote listings with Google Ads
Google Ads offers excellent targeting options, so you can use this platform to promote your home listings and connect with the buyers who are most likely to be interested in the house. To start, you’ll need to envision the type of buyer that’s the right fit for the house, whether that’s a growing family, a retired couple, or a young couple looking to buy their first home.
Next, you will need to specify the demographic information that you want to target, including the buyer’s age, location, and even income. Promoting the ads can help to not only get them in front of more potential buyers, but can get them in front of the buyers who are likely to be interested. When those buyers request additional information, you’ll receive their contact information and can add them to your pipeline.
9. Get active in your community
Networking in your community is also a valuable lead generation strategy. Consider volunteering and attending faith-based events to get to know people in the community. When people see you out and about at these events, they are more likely to think of your business the next time that they or a friend need a real estate agent.
You can also focus on connecting with local lawyers, home inspectors, insurance agents, and contractors. These professionals are likely to know people who are looking to buy or sell a house, and with an established connection, they may refer those leads to you.
10. Throw housewarming parties
When a client buys a home, consider throwing them a housewarming party. During the party, you will have the chance to not only celebrate and strengthen your relationship with the client, but you can also engage with the buyer’s friends. Those friends might become new customers, especially if they see how you value and celebrate your clients.
11. Send thank you cards and/or gifts
After a buyer or seller completes the closing process, follow up with thank you cards or gifts. Gifts like gift certificates to local restaurants or home supply retailers are always helpful, and they help to develop your relationship with your client. Extending this gesture of thanks and appreciation can encourage the client to contact you when they are next ready to buy or sell a home again.
12. Don’t forget to ask for reviews
Be sure to ask your current clients for reviews. Reviews provide valuable social proof, and seeing reviews can encourage an interested buyer or seller to contact you for more information. Reviews are also excellent material to add to your website.
You can easily ask for reviews after a client closes. Consider reaching out by email and including a link to the platform where you want a client to leave a review. You can also post on your social media platforms and ask former clients to leave reviews. When you request a review, be sure to explain why it’s important to your business, and then follow up and thank each client who takes the time to write a review.
>> Related Read: 10 Habits of Successful Real Estate Agents
The Proven Way to Get Buyer Leads
These 12 strategies can help you to continuously bring in new leads, so you can keep acquiring new clients. While these strategies are effective, they also require you to invest some time and effort.
If you’re looking for buyer leads, Guidance Home Services is an excellent option. Guidance Home Services sends leads to you, so you can quickly contact them and convert them into clients. It’s a great way to supplement the lead generation work that you do on your own. Join our real estate agent network today.
