There are several ways to generate leads such as social media, referrals, open houses, and lead-generation companies.
The last option involves companies that run ads and market you to potential clients. They sell you the contact information for potential property buyers or sellers in the area you have purchased leads for.
Due to the uncertainty of the quality of leads bought, people who buy real estate leads are always taking a risk. Nevertheless, with the advancement of technology in predictive analysis, the software can assist real estate agents in finding clients easily and closing deals if successful.
That said, it is important to analyze the cons of buying leads. The drawbacks include:
Quality Is Hard To Gauge
It is said that over 60% of people purchase property from the first broker or agent they interact with. There is, however, no guarantee that the real estate listing leads purchased will be of high quality.
The reason is, people in the business like to interact with a person, as opposed to machine prompts, even when doing research online. Likewise, a high-quality lead may not be interested in an email from someone they do not know, rendering some leads useless. It is therefore tricky and risky.
Fierce Competition
Most of the time, leads are not exclusively sold to you. You have to be ready for competition with fellow agents as you will be wooing the same leads and potential clients.
You have to stand out from your competitors through persistent, relevant, and convincing emails, phone calls, and texts. Moreover, it would be ineffective to buy leads that have been sold over and over and probably closed by your competitors.
Lack of a Way to Verify Sellers
To investigate if real estate listing leads are good or not, you will need referrals from trustworthy purchasers. However, not many real estate agents divulge their trade secrets, including word of mouth testimonials.
It’s Expensive
Buying an expensive list doesn’t always pay off. There is no guarantee that you will get what you pay for. It is advisable to consider the most cost-effective leads before purchasing and integrate other ways to engage with your audience through your day to day tools.
Lack of After Sale Support
If something goes wrong, there is no way the supplier can help you. For example, if you are flagged as a spammer or even receive corrupt files, you may have no recourse. Basically, you have to be keen and professional when contacting clients, and hope things go your way.
So, Is Buying Leads Advisable?
If you buy real estate leads you can’t be 100% sure that the list will have a positive return on investment.
That said, a major benefit of buying leads is that it is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to get clients, especially for new agents and realtors.
The bottom line is that with careful planning and research, buying leads is a risk worth undertaking.
