Lead Scalpers Are Why You're Not Double Ending Your Listings

EVERY BUYER goes to REALTOR.com FIRST to search for a house... EVERYBODY.... 

First impressions mean everything....keep that in mind as we continue....

 Don't Lose Customers To Portals 

Buyers that start searching the Internet looking for a home usually get allot of the same photos, video and media thrown at them. As soon as they type real estate or anything that hints that they want to buy a house a million sites and ads popup offering them a tour of all of the listings in S.W. Florida.

Listing agents that are fortunate enough to get their own leads will be glad to double end the deal. Most of you will not. There is a multi-billion dollar industry out there design to collect buyers information and resell it to buyer Agents and to Brokers that sell leads to other Brokers and to their Agents.  If not, eventually a lead scalper will get the lead and sell it to some other 3rd party looking to make a few bucks. 

 You Had The Buyer At Realtor.com Who Gets The Leads Here 

I have talked to Agents that subscribe to marketing campaigns that brag about exposing their listings to "20,000 sites and to buyers all over the world"... but who gets those leads? Guess what, chances are NOT YOU. The truth of the matter is that most of those sites have your listing information taken from the unbranded data and show it with an image of a person wearing a headset that says "non-agent spokesperson". The buyer calls an 800 number or fills out a form to give up their lead information, information that you will never see. The lead scalper that runs the site will send out a mass email to all of the people signed up to buy leads from them and sell them to the highest bidders. That bidder is usually an Agent or Broker that wants the 3-1/2% commision on the buyers side of the closing deal. Wonderful you sold the listing!... NOT SO FAST.....

Remember all buyers start at realtor.com... as the listing agent you had the buyer as soon as they searched realtor.com. If you didn't double end the deal, you lost them as soon as they left realtor.com. Why?
   Two reasons, First Impressions Mean Everything and Internet Shoppers love to research. For some reason the Buyer did not contact you from realtor.com or the contact information there is flawed and going to the wrong person. It could also be that the person relaying this information dropped the ball.
Check your realtor.com listing for Picture and Video quality. Remember that listings with all of the Photos, The Video link and with a Virtual Tour link filled in will always come up first in public search results. All others that are not Enhanced or do not have all of the Photos and Video used or do not have a Virtual Tour link will be listed last. Be sure your listings at Realtor.com are overflowing with Photos, Videos and Virtual Tours. Also ask somebody to go to realtor.com and fill out your listing contact form and then call the listing phone numbers to see where the leads are going and how long it takes them to get to you. Its important to make first contact from realtor.com, and to do it fast. Why? Because Internet buyers love to search the Internet for information about everything. The same buyer is going to leave realtor.com and go to Google, Yahoo and Bing to search the house address and mls number and every other aspect of the house that they want to buy. What is returned in the search? Realtor.com, that they have already seen, your franchise's website that they have already seen, no need to see those again. 

But look Zillow! and BuyLow and FastHouse... Cool compare properties by history and sales data and tax data, off the buyer goes to those 20,000 sites that a marketing genius talked you into. You just lost the lead to them and will not double end your closing. Look at the bright side, you did get 50 postcards for a penny or maybe a virtual tour for $25. Both submitted your listings to 20,000 websites. You really didn't need that buyer side commision of $4500 did you? And that website is going to sell the buyers information to your competitors for $20 a pop. A competing Agent will get that $4500 commision and use it to compete against you for listings. How can more marketing and exposure make you less money? It just did! More isn't always better is it?....

Funny in all of the market ups and downs in the last few years, the boards that do not share their MLS system with other boards have the most stable numbers, the best prices and the most robust market numbers. A much higher percentage of listing Agents retain both sides of the deal and the leads are almost impossible to find for sale outside the members of those boards.

Listing Agents can easily check to see if they are getting all of the leads for their own listings. Simply go to your MLS system and look at your production. See how many of your listings sold in the last 12 months. Then check to see how many of those were sold within your own board. In S.W. Florida a very high percentage of buyers drive to the area and buy from a local board member. Most of your sales should normally be sold through the local board. Out of all of the local sales, how many of your listings were sold within your own brokerage? And finally how many of your own listings sold within your own brokerage did you double end?

If any of these numbers seem off, you should review why your not getting the leads from your own listings. Be sure to check that your Internet marketing is not redirecting your leads to 3rd parties for scalpers to sell to competing Agents and Brokers. Be sure that you check to see if your Broker offers a referral program that you can subscribe to in order to better communicate your listings leads back to you. Test the forms at realtor.com and make sure that the buyers information is sent to you fast. Be sure your phone number and contact information is up to date at realtor.com and your franchise website. Always fill realtor.com with as many pictures as they will allow. Be sure to log into the Agent Enhancement area and add everything you can about the property. Buyers get only One First Impression, Make it a Good One. 
Retain your leads from realtor.com, don't lose them to Lead Scalpers! 

 Secret Tip Dude 

Super Secret Tip: Very  important. Your IDX system's contact information is seperate from the realtor.com contact information. Normally the MLS company that hosts your MLS website and data also feeds realtor.com with listings and contact information. Your board generally controls the IDX feed data including contact information. Always open a page in the IDX for your board and lookup your listings. Check to see if this contact information is up to date. I have found contact information on new listings to be years out of date. That means your old Brokerage will be getting your new listings leads generated from the IDX system. Check It Out! PlanetRealtor is a good place to check. Here is the link.. If the information on the IDX feed does not match realtor.com find out why from your board....  http://webapps2.planetrealtor.com/idx/pkg_IDX.pr_IDXSearch?sStateID=FL&sUserType=S&sSearchStateID=FL&sSearchSource=X

Double End That Deal And Buy Our Virtual Tours!
"Your Success Is Our Success"

Hope this help you to make more money!

Frank Colontonio

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