Generating leads is the lifeblood of your real estate business. Without leads, your business simply wouldn’t exist. That’s why it’s important to make lead generation your number one activity in your real estate business. If you want to buy or sell homes, you’ll need to generate leads on a regular basis. But the old ways of getting leads aren’t as effective as they once were. That’s why using real estate technology to your advantage can give you a leg up on the competition and allow you to grow your business faster and more efficiently.
Let’s take a look at some of the best new ways to leverage real estate technology to bring in leads.
1. Promote Your Own (Broker) Website Using Paid Ads
This one is obvious, but it’s important. Promoting your broker site (with your individual agent link) is important if you want leads to come directly to you — and not someone else in your broker agency.
Your broker should have given you a link to your own personal page with your name and contact information on it that you can include on your business card and hand out to people.
You can even incorporate Google Ads or social media ads to promote your broker website or your personal real estate page link.
2. Use Drones to Capture the Best Aesthetics of Properties
You’ve seen those amazing aerial shots of properties that seem to highlight all the property’s best exterior features in a single swoop, right? Well, those were likely taken by drones.
Drones are being used all over the country in the real estate industry because they can get images of the property we might never get on our own (unless you happen to have access to a helicopter — and most real estate agents don’t). That’s why it can be beneficial to invest in a drone to help you capture video of your properties that just can’t be matched by competitors.
3. Using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Program Designed for Real Estate
We all know that a customer relationship management (CRM) software program can help you manage all your leads (and their contact info). But it can also track the relationship between your company and your customers, tracking every interaction you have with each prospect and customer from the very first point of contact.
Having one for your real estate business means you’ll be able to better manage your leads and see exactly where they are in the buying or selling process. You can then gently nudge them toward the next stage in their real estate journey.
Without a CRM, all of this would be guesswork. That’s why it’s so beneficial to have. There are so many things a CRM can do for your business — even making certain tasks automatic and reminding you to stick to your schedule. A CRM can help personalize the entire experience for the prospective buyer or seller.
4. Live Stream Your Open Houses
Live streaming your open houses can help bring more attention to them, which, in turn, leads to more … well, leads. Make sure you’ve already set up a business social media page and that you’re actively engaging your target audience — buyers and sellers.
That means crafting engaging content that draws prospects to your page and your content. Once you’ve got some decent engagement, let your followers know that your open houses will be live. That way, the people who want to attend, but simply aren’t able to, can enjoy the open house online. You can even save the live stream for later and allow people to download and watch it well after the open house event has ended.
5. Leverage the Power of Social Media
Having an online presence no matter what business you’re in is crucial in the age of technology. The majority of homebuyers — mostly millennials — searched online for information about homes. That means that’s where you need to be — in a space where they’d likely search for information about properties they’re interested in. Meet your customers where they hang out online, and you’ll be able to reach them much more effectively.
Don’t underestimate the power of social media to drive qualified leads for your real estate business. While organic leads are generally a little harder to find, you can always combine that with paid ads to maximize your results.
Create a social media strategy that helps you reach your lead generation goals. Keep track of your progress so you know how effective this particular piece of real estate technology is when it comes to helping boost your real estate business.
6. Target ‘For Sale By Owner’ Properties Online
The “for sale by owner” sector of the real estate industry has been slowly changing and adapting to make it easier for people to buy and sell homes without a real estate agent. For example, anyone can access pricing reports. Not to mention, sites like ForSaleByOwner.com make it easy for homeowners to list their homes and prospective buyers to browse, all without using a realtor.
Tons of sites can help you find properties for sale by their owners (rather than listed with a broker). Just do a simple Google search for “for sale by owner” sites.
7. Use a QR Code on Your Business Card
Even business cards are getting a technology upgrade in the age of information. It’s so easy to share contact information, like websites and social media pages with QR codes.
You can even have a QR code printed on your business cards now, so people can simply hold up their phone cameras and get an instant link from you. No need to type anything up or copy and paste. It’s all so quick and simple. You don’t even have to give people your business card with this tech. Consider using it at your next event.
8. Use a Predictive Analysis Tool
A predictive analysis tool takes historical and real-time data to predict future events. In the real estate industry, it can help predict the likelihood of a home being sold. That’s huge for home sellers, real estate agents, brokers, and real estate investors. That means you can analyze deals (and calculate the ROI) faster and more efficiently. Not to mention, you won’t waste more time or money than you need to figuring out if a property is worth your time.
BuildOut’s predictive analysis tool can help you better understand your customer’s journey and help investors find the right properties. The tool can also make smarter valuation models, helping agents communicate on a deeper level about property conditions with clients and prospects.
9. Use an MLS Designed for Commercial Properties
If you’re a real estate agent or investor that manages commercial properties, you’ll find that there’s no MLS equivalent for commercial properties. By using a tool like ProspectNow’s tool, you’ll have all the information you need to make an informed decision on every deal. You’ll be able to see every detail about a property beforehand.
With ProspectNow’s platform, you’ll have access to 100 million residential properties, on top of 42 million commercial properties. It’s a quick and easy way to search for commercial properties with property information, as well as contact info for the owner. You’ll also get the most accurate sales comparables, the fastest access to national listing data, and a streamlined user experience — even for the most non-technical users.
10. Implement AI Solutions
Missed calls mean missed opportunities. AI apps like DialZara provide lifelike AI phone receptionists that can answer calls from potential leads around the clock.
Using a chatbot in your real estate business can also help you boost engagement and get people the answers they’re seeking faster and with ease. Clients won’t have to wait around for an appointment to sit down and talk to you or wait for you to return their phone call. They can get their answers right then and there, which can give them a whole different view of your business. This makes you come off as more prepared, more in-tune with real estate technology, and therefore, better able to suit their needs.
Chatbots provide 24/7 support and even offer multiple languages, so even if you don’t speak a certain language, you can still assist that prospective buyer or seller.
11. Requiring Virtual Sign-Ins at Every Open House
Oftentimes, what will happen is you hold an open house, dozens of people come, and then only a few people sign the sheet. So all those other potential leads go down the drain. That’s why it can be helpful to require visitors to sign in before they can view the property. That way, you’ll get everyone’s contact information, whether they’re ready to buy a home now, or six months from now. Regardless, you’ll be able to automatically upload that information to your CRM.
From there, you can nurture your leads throughout the entirety of the buying or selling process. Use this real estate technology at every open house, and you’ll have more leads than you know what to do with.
12. Use Virtual Staging
When buyers start browsing for properties, oftentimes, they’ll look online and take virtual tours of properties. But a lot of the time, these properties are completely empty. That doesn’t allow the buyer to see themselves in the home, which can hurt the seller’s chance of making a sale.
So if you do virtual home tours, consider using virtual staging real estate technology that can help the buyer see how they might decorate it and how it might look once they move in. You’ll be in a much better position to sell the home when it looks like it’s filled with beautiful furniture. You give them a sense of the potential of the home, and that is essentially what helps sell the home.
BONUS: Virtual and Augmented Reality
Believe it or not, virtual and augmented reality is being used in the real estate industry. Now, real estate agents can use it to help buyers better envision their listings. Instead of driving from property to property, your leads can enjoy seeing properties via virtual and augmented reality.
Oftentimes, you’ll get international buyers who simply can’t come see the property in person. Virtual and augmented reality solutions can help the buyer see the property sight-unseen with confidence. Buyers usually feel iffy about buying a property when they haven’t seen it in person, but with this real estate tech, you’re essentially allowing them to do that without even being in the same country. Potential buyers can get a 360-degree view of both the interior and the exterior of the property before making an offer.
Generating Warm, Qualified Leads
Finding new ways to use real estate technology to generate leads will only help you close more deals. Consistently prospecting with the help of the tools listed above will bring in more leads and, subsequently, more business.
ProspectNow has been around for over a decade (since 2008). The data users can get from ProspectNow is a lot more expensive on competing platforms. By using ProspectNow, users will close more deals and therefore make more money! ProspectNow is a vital tool for their business success in real estate or real estate marketing. Additionally, ProspectNow is trustworthy, easy to do business with, and a provider of reliable data. Get your free trial today and explore new opportunities in generating leads with real estate technology.