The ultimate guide to getting more estate agency valuation leads
Are you struggling to get as many valuation leads as you would like? Well, you won’t be for much longer! We’ve pulled together our lead generation guide for getting more valuation leads for your estate agency. We’ve 10 fantastic tips we’d recommend that you do to ensure that you get the maximum number of leads.
1. Target properties already on the market
If you are looking for people who are definitely looking to sell, what better place to start than with properties that are already on the market? It is not uncommon for a vendor to switch estate agents if they are unhappy with their current one or not receiving the enquiries that they hoped for. There are two main ways to target these properties.
a. Touting letters or postcards
b. Prospecting visits
Touting letters or postcards
Whilst you could do this manually, the most effective way to do this is to use an automated service like that offered by Go-Get-Digital. You choose your target postcodes and we will then monitor these, sending out targeted letters or postcards at every likely-to-switch trigger point. These include at 4, 8, 12 or 16 weeks, at a price reduction or a withdrawal of sale.
Find out more about our automated service.
Prospecting home visits
Prospecting through home visits is often something that agents feel nervous about before they do it. But once they see the number of instructions it generates, they realise it’s one of the most powerful tools they have.
If you are considering prospecting homes which are on the market, make sure you read our top tips as to how best to do this first.
2. Shout about your success
Shouting about your current stock or properties you have recently sold is a great way to get new instructions. We’d suggest that you do the following.
Recently listed
· Share this property on your social media channels, especially Facebook. Include photos, the location, number of bedrooms and price. Ideally, we’d recommend boosting this property to the local area by putting £20–50 behind the property so you reach a larger audience. You can read our full social media tips here.
· If you have any unusual or stand-out properties make sure you are sharing these with local or national press. PR is a fantastic free way to promote your brand – you can check out our tips for getting in the press here.
· Send out 20/20 cards to the houses on either side of the property you have listed letting them know as they might know someone looking to move to the area and it showcases your success. Our Go-Digital-Hub included in all our packages includes these cards for you and can send them out automatically.
Recently sold
· Send out 20/20 cards to the houses on either side of the property letting them know that you have sold the property and that they can be expecting new neighbours soon. Our Go-Digital-Hub included in all our packages includes these cards for you and can send them out automatically.
· Share your success on social media channels.
· Ask your client for a testimonial so that you can use their recommendation to help you win more business. Include this on your website and social media channels, or maybe a brochure.
3. Get social
Whether online using social media or in person, being social and building relationships is one of the fastest ways to increase the number of valuations and instructions you receive.
We’ve all heard the saying ‘people buy people’ and it’s true, especially with something as personal as selling one’s house.
Social media
Regardless of whether it is Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, the key is in the name – social. So, just as you would in real life, make sure that you are including helpful information as well as your sales patter, and that you are engaging with potential prospects not just selling to them.
Include properties you’ve listed and sold, but also local information that could affect house prices and focus on the people in your company as well as your services.
Social media can play such a key part in your lead-generation strategy that we’ve created an entire blog focusing just on this. It includes the type of content you should be sharing, how you can increase your reach, how to boost your engagement and how to generate more leads. You can view it in all its glory here.
In person
· Attend local meetings, join the school committee or support local events. Getting in front of your local community is a fantastic way to build relationships and to win business.
4. Improve your website conversion
There is no point spending time and money sending people to your website, if your website isn’t set up to maximise your conversions. When potential clients come to your website, you want them to take action and to get their details.
Take a glance at our top things you need to have to ensure that your website converts.
5. Create a local presence
Making sure you have a strong local presence and that you are showcasing your local knowledge is key for success.
Some suggestions as to how you can do this are below.
· Make sure you are listed on Google Maps and focus on appearing in local search. Check out this blog for more details on how to do this.
· Promote local events. For instance, support your local school by creating boards that promote their local fete and pay the school for every board that they put up. It is win-win as boards will have both the event details and your branding.
· Consider partnerships with other local businesses or see if you can negotiate your client’s local discounts.
· Get involved with local groups on Facebook offering advice and support.
6. Use viewings to your advantage
One in three people looking at properties to buy also have a property to sell so make sure you are using property viewings as a chance to win potential clients as well as showing them around the house.
Follow our guide to how to use property viewings to win instructions.
7. Get referrals
Asking for referrals is a great way to get high-quality leads and there are lots of opportunities to do this. As long as you ask politely, and in a non-pushy manner, you are likely to have some luck, for instance, “I don’t suppose you know anyone else selling who needs help do you?”
The following instances are a good opportunity to ask:
· After you have sold someone’s property.
· After someone has said no to you. You might have been out prospecting, for instance, and if you got on well with the person but they said they are not looking to sell, you can still ask if they know anyone on the street who is.
· After a viewing. These are people who are moving; they may well know other people who are also looking to move.
You might also want to consider partnering with other local businesses – can you both refer each other? Is there a partnership opportunity?
8. Use reviews to build your brand
Positive reviews can only be a good thing to share about your company and can help convert individuals on the fence. If you receive a negative review, try to use it as an opportunity to identify a weak spot in your company and look into how you could have improved on that person’s experience – using negative reviews wisely will help you strengthen and improve your company so are valuable too.
Companies such as Feefo or Trustpilot can help you manage your reviews and showcase these on your website.
Top tips for asking for reviews:
1. Always ask for reviews after a positive experience.
For instance, ask once the property has sold or after an offer has been accepted. You should always ask for a review at the same point in the process for clients for consistency.
2. Make it as easy as possible to leave a review.
Don’t expect the vendor to spend time finding the website, logging in, etc. – send them a link where they can, within a couple of clicks, leave a review. You could even give them examples of what other people have said as reviews for inspiration.
3. Make it personal.
If you’ve worked closely with your vendor, highlight the personal benefit to you as an individual for them leaving a review and ask them to mention your name. People are more likely to leave a review because of a relationship with an individual person than for a company.
4. Consider an incentive.
You could offer a monthly draw to win a hamper for everyone who leaves a review to encourage people to do so. Be aware, if you offer a review incentive, it has to be for any review and not just for a positive review as this would be bribery.
9. Appear in search
Appearing on search engines is a brilliant way to increase traffic to your website and to increase your leads. The most commonly used search engine is Google.
There are three ways to appear on Google search:
a. Organic or free listings which require search engine optimization (SEO) to appear near the top. You will locally be focused on appearing for local search such as ‘Estate agents in [your location]’. Take a look at our top tips for appearing in organic local search for more details on this.
b. PPC or Google AdWords are the paid adverts at the top of Google. You will need to create a free Google AdWords account to create adverts and appear here. The good thing about PPC is you can spend as much or as little as you want to and test if it is working for you before spending more. It is important to clearly define what success looks like to you before spending money on Google AdWords – is it just someone visiting your website, is it a certain dwell time or is it someone booking a valuation.
c. Appearing on Google Maps. You will need to create a local map entrance to appear here and then you will need to verify your location to Google. This is normally done by providing an address that Google will send a postcard to, with a unique code on, and which you then share with Google. There are more details of this here.
10. Use the portals
The chances are that you list your properties on Rightmove and Zoopla, and these portals work as a fantastic shop window for you. Working closely with the portals can help you to increase the leads that you generate and you might want to consider some of the following options.
· Premium listings to make your adverts stand out.
· Zoopla AdReach to create Facebook adverts and generate leads if you are not familiar on how to do these yourself.
Rightmove or Zoopla valuation alerts to generate leads in a specific area.
Now that you know how to generate more leads, make sure you've read our top tips to convert more leads into instructions.
