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Wendy and Richard Copisarow - Re/Max Equity Group, Inc.
(e-Agent Territories: Beaverton, Lake Oswego, Tualatin, West Linn, Wilsonville, Sherwood, Portland, Salem, Keizer, Bend, Redmond, Tigard, and Clark County, Oregon)
We asked the Capisarows a few questions about their success using our service. Here's what they had to say:
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How long have you been in the real estate business?
My first job in the business was as a secretary at my mother's real estate office. That was a little over 25 years ago. However, just in case you're wondering, I really was a teenager back then! |
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How much of your business do you attribute to using e-Agent?
e-Agent leads can be attributed to about 10% of my marketing budget and about 15% of my sales. But more importantly, the quality and consistency of these leads require less than 5% of my actual time, thus creating a highly competitive overall return on investment. |
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Any specific success stories using e-Agent?
There are two stories that come to mind. The first was a million dollar relocating buyer who spent over double what he had indicated on his original lead form, and in turn referred me to three of his fellow employees who were also relocating. The second was a first-time buyer who, after allowing me to help her find that perfect home, confided in me that the good Lord must have been smiling down on us throughout our entire transaction. e-Agent really does help make dreams come true! |
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What are your tips for other e-Agents?
All agents should handle leads according to their own comfort zone and level of effectiveness. >From my own personal experience, I find that a timely initial response (combined with friendly and knowledgeable support) works wonders. And after calling on prospective clients, I always initiate my long-term direct mail and email campaigns. Constant follow-up and relationship building are key.
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Leads vs. Referrals - By Joshua Konowe, President
Often when we speak to prospectus clients, there seems to be a recurring theme that we hear from them: referrals versus leads.
Which is better (or worse)? It is a tough question for many agents to understand and many seem to get the two confused so here are the definitions:
Lead: A lead is contact information from consumers that are interested in real estate now or in the future; something you have to work hard to turn into sales/client or/and 'cultivate' them into potential sales. This lead information should be used for data mining purposes, kept on file until they turn into businesses.
-e.g. think of flower seeds you have to wait until they bloom
Referral: A referral is usually contact information that one agent passes to another through verbal or legal contract. For doing this "favor" the agent who passes the referral (potential client - not lead) may garnish between 25% to 50% of the commission for any transaction that takes place.
- e.g. think of already blooming flowers
Hope now it is clear to all of you that we are generating leads, not referrals using search engines, targeting those who are looking for real estate in your town/city.
Furthermore, I will try to help all of you to understand using simple math why an e-Agent like-service is better than taking a referral.
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Here it goes:
Jane Doe Agent calls you and wants to give you a "referral" and you oblige. That agent asks you for 30% referral fee (what is becoming the industry standard) for the same data we provide you with in the form of a lead - Name, Address, e-Mail, price Range, Phone - etc. Let's assume that the "referral" in question is worth $200,000 on the buy side (roughly the national average for any home in the US at this time). Let us also assume you end up getting the full commission split as a buyer's agent of 3%. You would end up handing 30% of the total commission ($1,800 is 30% of $6,000 - that $1,800 goes to the agent who handed you the "referral") to the agent who gave you the same amount of data as e-Agent provides to you in our leads. This leaves you with $4,200. Your broker will most likely take half of that (most agents are on a 50/50 split) which leaves you with $2,100 in total to take home. Now $2,100 is nothing to shake your nose at; however after your fees and everything else you are usually left paying for as an independent contractor (gifts for the client, time spent with the client, costs of phone calls, driving, gas, scheduling, organizing the closing, marketing costs…etc.) you will end up with less than the person who referred the referral to you and that agent got you to do all the work.
Nearly 20% of our agents are closing 1 in 10 leads or better, which means 90% or more of the leads they get will never amount to anything. Many of you will say that it is a terrible waste and you are correct in one regard. It is shameful that many people are not ready to buy even though they told you they were. But if it costs 20% of our best e-Agents $80 ($8/lead x 10 leads) to get the same information and a real client who closes a deal, versus $1,800…this is not even a contest. What if you are at the opposite end of the spectrum and you are closing 1 in 100 leads? Well, that is $800 for a closing versus $1,800 which is still 54% cheaper than taking one referral. Since over 70% of our agents are closing at rates better than 1 in 100 we know that all of you can accomplish this goal. Remember the math it is the reason services like ours are in existence.
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