Is Buying Real Estate Leads Worth It?

Video Transcription

Jared: What is up? Andy and Jared, back on the mic. I came to rock this party tonight. It's your turn to...
Andy: I did miss that though when Sean was filling in for you. I did miss the jingle.
Jared: Well yeah, the J and A show, dude. The jingle is real and the conversation is real. It's good to see you again, brother.
Andy: Yeah, absolutely.
Jared: All right, so just a quick topic and we're kind of using this parallellily, if I could even say that word, with our blog posts and some of our search engine optimization to kind of tell everyone exactly why we're talking about this but this is a true topic that I think comes up in conversation, not necessarily directly to you or directly to our sales reps but it comes up, I think, in their own heads. Right? Is buying real estate leads worth it? And I think that's..
Andy: Question mark.
Jared: Yeah, question mark and I think that's a really open ended question that you can go a ton of different ways. As someone that owns a real estate data company, frick yeah, it's worth it or fuck yeah, it's worth it. I don't say frick.
Andy: You may or may not be biased on this one.
Jared: Yeah. So this is a little bias for me but I will set the stipulation of, if you're not going to do anything with it, then no, it is absolutely...
Andy: Tiny disclaimer.

Different Ways to Buy Leads

Jared: Yeah. And I think we set that ahead of time and I want to be the best advocate for our customers and if it doesn't make sense and if it's not a fit, then best of luck crossing your fingers and hoping your cousin calls you to list their house. Know what I'm saying? But if you're a serious... We say this tongue in cheek to our work, "Hey, oh, well we only work with serious realtors anyway." And then they're, "Well, wait, wait, I'm a serious realtor." And it's to a point, you need to have a serious person that will realize that buying real estate leads is worth it. Now, there's a couple of different ways to buy leads, you can buy a ton of Facebook leads, online leads. That's an opportunity and option that Andy can help you there. You can send direct mail through those leads or you can call those leads or even door knock leads and so that's the premise of what I'm talking about here but bottom line is, if you're not going to do anything with it is not worth it.

Difference Between Data And Leads

Andy: I think there's also a big difference between data and leads themselves, right?
Jared: Sure.
Andy: The lead side of it... Because I think a lot of agents when they say, "Hey listen, is this the right time for me to buy data?"
Jared: Yeah,
Andy: It's them looking at it as, "Okay, well, I'm going to do Google paper click or I'm going to do Facebook ads, or I'm going to do TikTok ads.' Which by the way are hot right now.
Jared: Right. Yeah.
Andy: YouTube adds same thing. So that lead side of it and then you have to actually look at the conversion ratios. So as a coach, for me, I look at the conversion ratio side. So you're absolutely right. "Hey, if you actually get the data, don't let it sit on the shelf.'
Jared: Right.
Andy: However...
Jared: But the data is what turns into the leads, right?
Andy: That's it, right. So you're paying, let's just take an average Facebook lead for an average agent that really just throwing something out there, a seller lead on Facebook is typically going to cost anywhere from 15 to 35 bucks. You're paying Zillow a buyer lead for 300 and something dollars, every single lead, essentially.
Jared: Every single lead and it's not exclusive.
Andy: And not only that but the pull through ratio on those things is absolutely as the nine low. So when you get into those, the conversion ratios, a Facebook lead is typically going to be a response rate of probably 10%, give or take. Your true conversion ratio is going to be right around 1% to 3%, unless you have the automations, the build out and the discipline to actually execute on those things. Then if you look at what you guys do.
Jared: Right. I always say this and we talk internally about it. I am a real estate database marketing company. I'm not a lead marketing company. Our data helps execute those leads, if that makes sense. Either through your outbound calling, your email marketing, your SMS communication, your social interaction, or all of the above. What's the magic for a company, this share group as we are the data that ultimately can turn into that lead.
Andy: Yeah.
Jared: And so there is a lot of clarification and education of what's the difference between data and what's the difference between a lead as well because it's interpreted a lot differently, I think.
Andy: Well, I also think the typical, if someone was to order 3,500 records, however many hundreds of dollars that they're spending at that point, which honestly for what you guys do is extraordinarily...
Jared: $700 bucks or something.
Andy: It's really not bad. Know what I mean?
Jared: No, it's not.
Andy: So $700 bucks, typically, if you're actually making outbound phone calls, let's say that you just do one round of calls for every 20 conversations, you're going to set a listing appointment and if you're not well versed at scripts and dialogues and communication.
Jared: Right.

Is It The Right Time to be Buying Real Estate Leads Right Now?

Andy: So even if that was the case, you have 20 conversations in a given day. You're going to set one listing appointment, you set five listing appointments, you'll take three listings, the ROI inside of what you guys do, versus something that is maybe not automated or fully optimized, Facebook leads and you're just throwing the ads out there and the optimization is not there. It just doesn't make sense. So is it the right time to be buying data or leads right now?
In my humble opinion, the answer is hell yeah.
Jared: Hell yeah.
Andy: It's at the point where agents are starting to reel back, interest rates are continuing to go up.
Jared: Right.
Andy: Home prices are starting to decelerate in terms of appreciation a little bit more, which also means that agents can have a huge opportunity to take on market share when every other agent is sitting there retracting. This is your opportunity as an aggressive agent who wants to build out their business to truly go after market share and fricking dominate without hesitation. This is the time right now.
Jared: So when we talk about is buying real estate leads really worth it? Yeah, if you're believing in yourself and it's who you are as a real estate agent to do the work, to call the list to get the appointments. fricking A. There I said Frick again. Fucking A, it's worth it. So that's a really good point, Andy, man, and it's so valuable to have that conversation with you week in and week out because you're in line with what we are preaching to our customers just as you're preaching to your clients that there's not a really shortcut, it's not a magic potion, you do get lucky in some cases but at the end of the day, you have to put the work in to get the conversion but it is worth it because the ROI is so big when that internal investment is so low. So good stuff, man.
Andy: Yeah, man. As always.
Jared: Peace and love and let's do it again next week.
Andy: Yes, sir.
Jared: All right.