If you’ve ever worked House Value Leads, you know the key to getting listings is conversion. If you don’t have a solid conversion system, you won’t get the listings.
Unfortunately, sometimes, you’re competing with top agents or agents who do more marketing than you. If you don’t have a strong conversion system, you often lose listings to more established agents.
Jason is a new agent in Massachusetts. Even though he’s new, he’s beating out established agents for new listings. He generates a lot of House Value Leads and uses his real estate book to win the listings.
Listing Scorecard
- Books Given Away: 30
- Listings earned with the help of the books: 7
- Biggest benefit of using the books: “It's hard to compete with the established agents that constantly have 20, 30, 40, 50 listings, and if you're in a certain town, that's who people think of to call. The books enable me to compete with established agents, even though I’m newer and don’t have a fancy track record."
Here's how he’s converting his House Value Leads into listings:
He mails them Home Evaluation Letters, along with his Book.
“I was running some advertisements out there on the internet for home valuation. What I do when people do that is I send them a letter and then a copy of my business card book from you guys. Probably about a week passed, and they said, ‘Hey, thanks for the emails and book and stuff. It's all great. Can you just come by one day, sort of informally, and kinda help us get an idea what the home is worth?’
When I actually met with them in person, they raved about how cool the book was and no one's sent them anything like that, and how humorous it was and entertaining, and it was packed with great information.
They said they were interviewing a couple other agents, so I gave them my listing presentation spiel: the walkthrough of how I'm different, how I do things, how I'm gonna get their home sold and that kind of thing. Anyway, so long story short, I ended up getting the listing. It was a $600,000 house.
This client referred Jason to his brother, so he listed the brother’s house.
“What's really cool, actually, is I went ahead and sold that house, and then this client referred me to her brother, who also had a house to sell in a different town, but I also went ahead and sold that house in a week. One little home evaluation turned into two different deals, so it's worked out really well.”
Jason generates his leads by running a Facebook ad offering a home value.
“It was a Facebook ad and basically said something to the effect of, 'Home values are always changing. Click here to get your free and instant home valuation.’”
The books have helped Jason get 5-7 listings so far.
“It's hard to say how many deals have resulted from me giving someone a book, but I would say it's like five to seven deals. The person got the book, mentioned the book, said they enjoyed the book.”
Listen to the Highlights Interview Audio below for more details on exactly how Jason is using the books.
Listen to the Full-Length Audio to get all the details.
Here is a transcript of the interview with Ben Curry and Jason.
Jason: I was running some advertisements out there on the internet for home valuation, and this particular couple submitted a request on my website for home valuation, and they indicated that they were just curious or whatever. What I do when people do that is I send them a letter, and then a copy of my business card book from you guys.
I send that out same day, and also, obviously, I use my CRM to email them and all that. Probably about a week passed, and they said, "Hey, thanks for the emails and book and stuff. It's all great. Can you just come by one day, sort of informally, and kinda help us get an idea what the home is worth?"
I went ahead and did that, and when I actually met with them in person, they raved about how cool the book was and no one's sent them anything like that, and how humorous it was and entertaining, and it was packed with great information.
What happened after that is I went ahead and did the CMA, the market analysis, and then another few days after that, they invited me back, and they said they were interviewing a couple other agents, so I gave them my listing presentation spiel: the walkthrough of how I'm different, how I do things, how I'm gonna get their home sold and that kind of thing.
Anyway, so long story short, I ended up getting the listing. It was a $600,000 house. That's what we listed it for; That's what we got. I just started as a real estate agent last year full time, so there was a lot of agents in the town of Mansfield with many various styles, so for me, the book was an equalizer: A credibility equalizer.
I wouldn't have had a shot (at the listing) if I didn't have that shot of credibility that the book gave me, so I really feel that that was a difference-maker as far as showing that I was serious about the business and that I was really committed to helping them get their home sold for top dollar in the best amount of time/least amount of stress, that whole thing.
Anyway, it worked out really well. We sold it in the first open house in the first weekend. What's really cool, actually, is I went ahead and sold that house, and then this client referred me to her brother, who also had a house to sell in a different town, but I also went ahead and sold that house in a week. One little home evaluation turned into two different deals, so it's worked out really well.
Ben: Wow, good for you. What kind of ad was it? Tell me a little bit about what the Facebook ad was, and what it offered.
Jason: Yeah, sure. It was a Facebook ad, and basically said something to the effect of, "Home values are always changing. Click here to get your free and instant home valuation." It was really simple. Nothing too fancy about it, and it went to another service that provides home valuations, and it comes to leads into my CRM, so I get the email and the text message follow-up. But the ad was pretty rudimentary. It was just like, "Hey, your home value's changing. Come check out what it's worth right now. Get an instant estimate." Yeah. That's pretty much it.
Ben: Wow. OK. One of the challenges people have doing home valuation Facebook ads is a lot of the leads are not doing anything. It seems like you generate 30 leads, and three of them say they're interested in selling their house. A lot of people feel like they're spinning their wheels. Do you get a lot of leads like that? The “just curious about what their house is worth” type of leads?
Jason: Yeah. I would say, I don't know, 95 percent are not interested in doing anything. In my case, one ad led to more than one deal, but in this particular case, led to two deals, so if I spent 1,000 bucks in Facebook ads, it leads to many multiples of that as far as profit, so for me it's easily worth it.
But you're right, there is a lot of people that are not gonna be interested, but I just consider those leads as well, because they're long-term where I can have them in my CRM, continue to call once a month, email, that type of stuff. To me, there is some level of interest, obviously, if they did that. Maybe they're not selling today, but maybe a year from now, two years from now.
Ben: Yeah. How much is your cost per lead running? If you're spending 1,000 bucks, how many leads in general are you getting, besides just the ones that say, "I wanna sell." Just total leads altogether?
Jason: It varies greatly per town. In some towns, the leads are two and three bucks; other towns are 16-17 dollars.
Ben: Okay. That's still pretty affordable. I mean, in my opinion, if you're under 10 bucks, you're doing a good job. If you're two to three dollars, that's really cheap.
Ben: All right, so let me go back to a couple of questions I normally ask. How many books do you think you've given away so far?
Jason: How many have I given away? Probably something like 30 or 40 books. Something like that.
Ben: OK. So far, it sounds like you've gotten just two deals out of the books you've given away so far?
Jason: I mean, it's hard to say how many deals have resulted from me giving someone a book. But, I would say it's like five to seven deals. The person got the book, mentioned the book, said they enjoyed the book.
Ben: I mean, you're doing stuff. The thing is, you're giving gas to the engine. The book's not doing 100%, but it's helped you get six to seven listings. It's been some sort of help at some level with those.
Jason: It's definitely part of the process, yeah. I haven't heard anyone say, "I didn't really like it." Everyone pretty much is just like, "That book was awesome. Thank you." They said, "The way it's written, it's not something that was regurgitated from information on the internet. It's more humorous, and it's enjoyable to read, but at the same time, it gives out great information, so I enjoyed that."
Ben: OK. I didn't know it was humorous. I'm glad that people are finding it moderately entertaining to read, rather than just dry, boring information.
Jason: Yeah, exactly.
Ben: That is good news to hear. What kind of leads have you given it to? The house value lead, it sounds like. What else?
Jason: You guys have great information on how to distribute the books, like doctor's offices and drop them off at expired listings, but I simply have just given them to when I'm going to ... when someone submits a home valuation request, to those people.
Mostly people that have contacted me. I really haven't done all the other stuff you recommend. I'm sure if I did, I'd get a lot more business, but for me, I just use it as a handout to people that have indicated that they have some level of interest in selling a house. It's usually just an internet lead.
Ben: OK. I get what you're saying. Awesome. All right. What else have you done with some of these leads besides just give them the book? Do you use our listing presentation, or what else do you do to convert them?
Jason: I have my own listing presentation that was given to me by the company I work for, Keller Williams.
Ben: Oh, cool.
Jason: I have a letter than goes along with the book, and then I have a pre-listing packet that I actually email, and I have my listing presentation, and I'm also big on hand-written notes, so whatever stage it is, I write, "Nice to meet you. We just met," or, "Nice doing business with you." I'm writing a lot of handwritten notes, so that's been important for me.
Ben: Oh, excellent. I've heard good things about the hand-written notes, even though I've never done them. A lot of things I should do in real estate differently or better, but I've just never taken the time to do it. Have you seen the hand-written notes actually makes a difference?
Jason: I mean, like you said earlier ... it's a good way to put it ... it's part of the process that sort of shapes the client's opinion of you. It shows that you care, that you are invested in it, and that you wanna get results for your client. The small touches matter.
Ben: Yeah. OK. Well, that's good. I think so many Realtors, and I've been guilty of this as much as anybody else, are just looking for what works. We're looking for something that's guaranteed, and unfortunately, there's not really anything guaranteed. It's a numbers game to a certain extent.
Jason: Yeah.
Ben: It is what it is. Do you feel that the books have helped increase your conversion rate, maybe, on listing appointments?
Jason: I think so. Yeah. I mean, they usually get the book before I actually meet in person with them through mail. Everyone mentions them and, like I said, has very positive feedback about how they enjoyed it, and that the information presented was helpful.
Ben: OK, good. All right. Here's a question, because a lot of people have run into this as a big challenge. It really holds them back from using the books: What do you say if someone asks if you wrote the book yourself?
Jason: That's a good question. No one's asked about, but I think ... gosh, what would I say? I'd probably say something like ... Oh, no. I don't know what I'd say. No one's actually asked that. You did have an article somewhere on your website or somewhere, saying, "Here's how you would respond to that."
That's a good question. I wouldn't lie and I wouldn't say, "Yeah, I wrote it." I wouldn't say that. I'd probably say something more tactical like, "Great information, isn't it? Yeah, it's something we give to all of our clients."
Ben: Yeah. Or you could say, "I hired a ghostwriter." Or, "I worked with a ghostwriter to write it." That's good. You have such a presence that nobody has asked. Do they actually assume that you wrote it 100 percent yourself? Do some people kinda, maybe, assume you ghostwrote it, or just, you never got any vibe on any of that?
Jason: No. No one's really brought it up. I think people just assume that I either wrote it or I somehow created it. It hasn't really come up. No one's said, "Did you write this? Where did you get this from?" No one's really gone there.
Ben: OK. All right. I got a couple more questions, then I'll let you go. What do you feel is the biggest benefit that you get from using the books?
Jason: Like I mentioned earlier, being newer, it's hard to compete with the established agents that constantly have 20, 30, 40, 50 listings, and if you're in a certain town, that's who people think of to call.
When you're on a listing appointment, or you're trying to impress someone through your pre-work, your pre-listings, for me, it's all about the credibility, and knowing that you're a serious, professional real estate agent, and you take the business seriously, and you're really committed to helping people achieve their goals, whether it's buying or selling or whatever the case may be. For me, it's definitely all about the credibility boost.
Ben: OK. I see. Awesome. This is a little bit of a similar question, but I'll ask it: What has been the biggest breakthrough that using the books has brought to your business?
Jason: Biggest breakthrough ... I guess I just answered it in saying that credibility is really the big thing, which it is, but it's also, for me personally, the level of confidence that I have something to offer that isn't just a canned thing off the internet, saying, "Here's why I'm different."
Because everyone does those same types of things, and I haven't seen other agents in my market. Or maybe they use them and I'm just not in those private meetings obviously, but, I haven't really seen other ... I haven't seen another agent use them. They obviously probably are here and there, but to me, I feel good about giving it out and handing it out, so for me, it's a confidence boost that I have these books, and it makes me feel more of a professional.
My mother was a real estate agent for 30 years, so I've been running this business sort of ... not on purpose, but over all this time as a kid and everything, so I have ... building my case to be a really great top-of-the-line agent.
Having this experience, having been around the business for a long time, and having the books, it's part of the equation to make me confident. Because when you show up to a listing appointment, I think homeowners are very receptive to whether you're… People, whether they say it or not, they're sitting there and they're judging you right off the bat.
They're like, "All right, what's this guy's story?" For me, it's about sort of making my points, whether with what I say, or with the presentation materials that I hand out. It's all building my case so that they sign the contract. Having the books, it gives me confidence to share with people why they should hire me, and it really makes a difference as part of building me up as a free agent why homeowners should hire in this area.
Ben: Yeah. I see what you're saying. OK. All right, last question, and then I'll let you go: It sounds like you're doing pretty well and things are working, but a lot of agents, unfortunately, things don't work and they try different things, get a lot of rejection, seems like nothing's working ... What would you say to somebody who's really struggling to get listings, to get business, and it seems like nothing is working?
Jason: Yeah, good question. I'm certainly not a top agent by any means, but what I found and what the success for me going forward is I think there's that statistic out there that 90 percent of agents are out of business in five years. The National Association of Realtors publishes something like that.
What I've found is what the big secret to success that I found and what I feel will be is commitment. You're either fully committed to the business and you'll do whatever it takes to succeed, or you're not and you'll fail. A lot of people wanna start part-time. A lot of people aren't willing to do the nitty-gritty. I've knocked on doors. I've cold called. I've done those things.
Like I said, I'm not a mega-agent by any means. I just started last year, but I feel like if I commit myself every single year to get better and generate more clients, which will lead to referrals ... if I stay committed year after year after year in taking a long-term view, I think that's where success comes.
There are some agents that just show up on the scene and are successful. Most of the time, you'll see the ones that are doing the most business have been doing it for 10, 15, 20 years, and they have this sort of automated referral stream in many cases. Some agents do business strictly by referral, and I don't know that they're on the internet and advertising and things like that.
I think if an agent is out there struggling, you just have to commit. If you commit and you have a good training system ... I work for Keller Williams; We have incredible training. I think that will trickle in and will start to smooth out eventually.
Ben: Yeah. I think that's a good point. If you're not committed to your business, how can you expect someone to commit their listing to you? It's — in most cases — a six-month agreement, so it's a big commitment on their end.
