This is sure to touch a nerve, I have an uncanny ability to do that. It simply comes from telling the truth which, I am convinced, people are not accustomed to. I see so many agents running frantically and spending thousands of dollars on lead generation tools, systems sites etc. However the majority of it is in vain.
Allow me to explain.
See, there are roughly 50 million leads generated yearly but about 5 million homes sold. So, there are about 45 million leads that are either duplicated, bad, or whatever. According to NAR, roughly 8% of Buyers and 5% of sellers found their agent online.
Compare this too, 60% of buyers and 73% of sellers who worked with the agent in the past, were referred or knew their agent.
Read that again to understand this next point.
If the majority of your business is through referral, past clients, and SOI, why are the masses investing so much time chasing the online leads.
I have a theory. It is simply that they do not know what else to do. It is easy, put your credit card in and BOOM, leads start to populate. The same bloody leads that dozens of others are getting. Do you see it, you spend money to get leads, the same lead that opt’s in here or were tracked by their activity and now some latest system picks it up and identifies them as a LEAD.
Then this is where Speed to lead comes in. Oh the anxiety of never being able to shut it off.
With relational marketing, it is slower, methodical, and intentional. You simply nurture your relationships, stay in touch, and put on some events to mingle with one another. It seems much easier, so why don’t more people focus heavily here.
I think it comes down to immediate results. With online leads, you can have some level of immediate results, or well…ahhh you become busy. I focus on being Productive. Whereas it can take some time to build by referral.
I do believe that the majority are also Transactional Minded. They simply take the transaction and move on to the next. Never build deep relationships.
Also, it can be that they simply do not know what or how to build a relational business.
My friend Ricky Carruth is a popular coach with a massive following. He preaches Relationships and Relational Marketing and I agree with him. But again, people may be uncomfortable with asking for business or trying to build relationships.
This is one of the main reasons I created Explore My Town.
First, it is video based and since the entire world is going video-based, even Facebook, it makes sense to utilize the most popular medium.
Second, because you are making videos you can send them out to your clients with a weekly newsletter. My friend Keith taught me this and he does millions in production per year from his weekly video newsletter.
Third, the core of the methodology is B to B networking so you are equipped with a powerful way to build relationships in the community.
Couple this with scripting, editing and managed retargeting ads, and you will be seen as an influential leader of the community.
So there you have it. Why Relational Marketing over Traditional Lead Generation, and How to do it.
No matter what you do, start today building referrals and using video to do it. If you get jammed up, we are here to help.
Till next time,
Johnny Mo
