In prior articles, I’ve gone over the necessity of consistently generating leads. I’ve shared that my own goal was always to generate 400 new leads per month. This article will turn the attention to the quality of these leads.

In this day and age, agents seem to be putting all their eggs in the basket of inexpensive leads. I have found, however, that inexpensive leads tend to be of lower quality.

Here is an interesting finding from my business:

Leads of lower-quality seem attractive because they are generated without spending a lot on the „front end“ to generate them. However, what seems to be happening is agents are spending more on the „back end,“ which is the process of attempting to convert leads to sales after the leads are captured. This „back end“ marketing includes sales letters, special offers, drip e-mail campaigns, postcards and more.

For my own business, the ranking of the quality of leads is as follows: (Ranked from highest to lowest quality)

1. Referrals

2. Endorsement from a joint venture partner

3. Leads who register to attend a class

4. Leads responding to an advertorial advertisement

5. Leads who respond to a „pay-per-click“ ad or „solo“ e-mail

6. Leads responding to a home buyer magazine advertisement or classified ad

7. Leads responding to a craigslist (or similar) advertisement

The problem is that most agents are now focusing on Craigslist or classified advertisements which attract the lowest quality leads. They then struggle to convert these leads into appointments and/or home sales.

To be successful, an agent’s marketing campaign must include leads from each of the sources listed above. I would evn suggest that more resources be invested in the top four or five categories, in order to capture higher-quality leads. The amount invested will be higher, but the higher-quality leads will mean less invested per lead to convert them into clients/buyers.

Follow this advice, and you’ll soon notice that you have less competition in your market. This is because the majority of your competitors will still be focusing on inexpensive ads that attract-lower quality leads. How many agents in your area are setting up joint venture marketing campaigns? How many are running advertorial ads? I’ll bet there aren’t very many.

Why is this the case?

Because focusing on the lower-quality leads will ultimately mean fewer sales. Fewer sales means money will get tight and agents won’t be able to afford ads to attract higher-quality leads. You will have a long-term economic advantage by putting your focus on higher-quality leads.

The bottom line is that a lead is not a lead. There are different qualities in the leads you generate. You should create a comprehensive marketing campaign that focuses on generating higher quality leads and let your competitors fight over the lower quality leads.