Getting Clients: New Year, New Lead Gen

By Katherine Mechling

It’s a brand-new decade, which means it’s the perfect time to rethink your strategy for lead generation. Read on for two new tactics that will be sure to help you fill your 2020 pipeline … and one tactic you should leave behind in 2019.

DO: Join Location-Based Online Communities

“[Places like] Reddit and Discord are essentially the new up-and-coming forums for lead generation, although the process is a little more tedious than cold calls or emails,” says Jake Lizarraga, writer for REITS.org. Through these websites/apps, you can join groups devoted to your city or neighborhood of expertise. When someone in the group asks a relevant question — like “Can anyone recommend a good electrician in the area?” or “Is the market favoring home buyers or sellers right now?” — you can swoop in to offer a friendly and informative answer, gently establishing yourself as a trusted authority on the neighborhood.

DO: Take Advantage of Facebook Pixels

The Facebook Pixel is a piece of code you can embed into your website. Operating quietly behind the scenes, the Pixel will note when a new visitor comes to your website and then track them when they leave; when the visitor next opens up Facebook, they will see your ads. This way, if someone comes to your website just to check things out but leaves before actually getting in touch with you, you can ensure they don’t forget about you. Pixels also keep track of who has visited your website how many times. Says Jack Choros, content marketing expert at IronMonk Solutions: “Optimizing Facebook Pixels is an absolute must for 2020 … because it helps you differentiate between people who are just landing on your marketing funnel for the first time and people who’ve gone through the full funnel, people you know are committed to working with a REALTOR®.”

DON’T: Mindlessly Pay for Leads

“After 30 years of experimenting with hundreds of shiny-object programs promising better lead generation, I’m cutting back substantially on Zillow and other pay-for-leads systems,” says Michael Edlen, broker associate with Coldwell Banker in Pacific Palisades. “The flow of leads and conversion rate in our market is quite low.” In certain situations, the return on investment from agents using a pay-for-leads platform like Zillow can make fiscal sense. But all REALTORS® should take careful stock of their individual situations before blindly accepting the idea that more money spent = more leads generated = more money earned.

Katherine Mechling is senior editor of California Real Estate magazine.

More from the January 2020 Issue:

Pro Tip: Sharran Srivatsaa on Sustainable Business Growth

Money Corner: How I Increased Production by 186 Percent in One Year

Marketing You: "You're Selling Experiences, Not Houses"

Tech Hub: 3 Video Trends You Should Be Implementing in 2020