When it rains, it pours!  In this business we are either worrying about not having enough leads, or having so many that we don't know how to manage them.  And with online leads this is a particularly tricky problem given that nearly 95% of them will not be ready to take action for 3 - 12 months out.  This means they have to be "nurtured" by someone if we want to have any chance of turning them into a client.

It's All About "Process"

The secret to successfully managing your online leads (or from any source for that matter) is to define a comprehensive process that is executed every time a lead comes in, and ideally by someone else who is responsible for nurturing the prospects up until the point they are ready to do business with you in the immediate future.  There are several steps to laying out a powerfully effective lead management process as follows:

1. Identify Online Lead Sources - since an lead may be handled differently depending upon where it came from it is important to identify these sources.
    
2. Determine Initial Response - this defines how each lead will be responded to depending upon where it came from.
    
3. Determine Subsequent Responses - this details how you (or your staff) will maintain contact up until the point they are ready to work with you.  Once again, these responses may be different depending upon the lead source.
    
4. Set Up Contact Management System - a place where you or your staff can enter all your lead contact information, and ideally, what kinds of contacts have been made to date.
    
5. Set Up Lead Tracking System - this is crucial because if you can't track your leads you have no idea as to what works and what doesn't.  It could be a simple Excel spreadsheet that shows the source of each lead, when they came in, which responses / "touch points" were used to contact them, etc.  An even more sophisticated (and recommended) approach is to also track which of the leads convert so you can calculate the true cost of each lead per dollar of GCI earned for each lead source.  This will give you a strategic view of which lead sources are the most profitable and which need to be dropped.

Obviously, setting up and running such a system takes effort and skills beyond the capabilities of most REALTORS.  However, it is certainly possible if you have an on-site team like Chris Cormack of CCSells.com where her top-notch staff tracks every lead and calculates that lead's cost relative to the business it generates.  Or, if you have no on-site support like Amy Gerbe of MassHomeSales.com you can still have a virtual team handle your lead management functions for you.

A Case Study In Online Lead Management

Amy has online leads come to her from six different sources, two from her Website and four from 3rd party lead generation services.  This was too much to run by herself so she hired REVA Teams (www.revateams.com) to manage it for her.  Here's how it works:

• Each lead is received by both Amy and her virtual team
   
• Her team sends an immediate response to the inquiry in a way that is customized for each lead source
   
• Her team notifies Amy either via pager or PDA about those leads that require immediate response (i.e. included phone numbers).
   
• All leads are maintained in Amy's Web-based contact management system and when appropriate are entered into one or more drip e-mail campaigns
   
• Her team tracks all leads on a daily basis using an Excel spreadsheet

To view a PDF flowchart of how this all works, simply point your browser to www.onlineleadmanagement.com and follow the directions.  When you review this chart it will become immediately clear that Amy only handles those leads that are ready to do business now and her team handles everything else, thus freeing her up to do what she does best -close more deals!

When you think about it, online lead management is really not an optional part of your business.  Without it you will lose the vast majority of online prospects simply because they are not ready to act in the near future.  However an effective system, consistently run by your team (virtual or otherwise), will nurture the growth of your online leads resulting in a conveyor belt of new clients that you simply take to transaction.  Now, that's a great way to run a business.

Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry. He's dedicated to helping real estate professionals leverage their people skills into profit on the Internet. You'll see his column on REALTOR® Magazine Online every month and in the magazine quarterly. Send your Internet questions to help@askmrinternet.com or you can visit his Web site at www.russer.com

This article is reprinted in its entirety from the September 2004 issue of REALTOR® Magazine by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Copyright 2004. All Rights Reserved other than mentioned above. Mr. Internet® is a registered trademark and Ask Mr. Internet!™ is a trademark of RUSSER Communications.