Throwing Money at Tech - Too Many Catchers

The 2007 REALTOR® Technology Survey is out, and there's a lot of information in this 52 page report. Much of it will be of value to the ever-increasing number of vendors marketing technology solutions. Unfortunately, too many in our business jump on new "awesome marketing tools" and discard a previous "super solution" because it isn't working.

The Realty Times summarizes the NAR report in an article entitled Realtors Spending on Technology: Are They Getting Money's Worth? The median expenditures of agents and brokers on their web sites is discussed, followed by this quote from the article: "Yet, websites generated a shockingly low percentage of leads, suggesting they're more suitable for information-gathering by existing clients or prospects than as lead generators."

The article goes on to quote survey data that indicates the importance of repeat business and referrals. No problem with that, as this is a very important source of business for the successful real estate professional who's been around for a while. Following close behind these two business sources was the internet, with more than 60% considering it "very important" in generating leads. All other lead generation sources were far behind in importance. So, what's the deal with this great importance but "shockingly low" lead generation?

The Realty Times, a vendor of newsletter solutions, suggests spending less on your web site and investing in long term client communication with an electronic newsletter. Again, nothing wrong with the e-newsletter idea. In fact, I use one that's generated automatically every month from my blog posts, and it's free. But relegating your web site to an online billboard with little business value isn't the answer.

Probably 5% of all real estate web sites garner 95% of the leads. That's not a factor of luck or location. It's just a matter of planning and site design specifically for generation of leads. Both of these practices will bring you business. Don't short change one for the other, as the combination is a "killer solution."