Online vs. Old School Prospecting

Today’s conversation is not about whether you should use online lead generation strategies for your business. It is about how you prospect for new opportunities.

If you ask 1,000 agents what they dislike most about their job, 999 of them will say prospecting. No one likes the uncomfortable feeling of knocking on doors and talking to strangers because it feels like you are begging for business. We really like it when people call us, but if you sit at the office waiting for the phone to ring, you’ll be waiting a long time between paydays.

Because so many agents dislike prospecting, online lead generation companies have stepped up to offer solutions. In pursuit of an easier way to generate leads, many agents have turned to these services to fill their pipeline.

But beware: online leads come with their own set of pitfalls, including a hefty price tag.

I’m a firm believer that you need to prospect every day. I’m also a firm believer that choosing the seemingly easy path isn’t always easy. Paying for online leads is like fishing in the ocean with a huge net. You only want a specific type of fish, but you end up dragging in everything. Now you need to sift through the pile of garbage to find those few fish that you’ve been looking for. The question you must ask yourself is: how do you want to spend your time?

When I ask agents in my classes if they’ve had success with online leads, they often express frustration with the amount of money they spend and how time consuming it is to qualify the leads. There is often no shortage of leads coming in, but because only about 5% of the leads convert to a sale, they spend a tremendous amount of time chasing leads that don’t go anywhere.

We all know that when an online lead comes in you must call them within 5 minutes or you risk losing the lead to another agent. This “speed to lead” causes anxiety in most agents, not to mention how discouraging it is to phone someone who gets angry at you because they weren’t expecting an agent to call them.

It is emotionally difficult to handle that much rejection (especially when you pay for it).

To solve this problem, companies like Agentology.com can qualify the leads for you. Now it’s possible for you to pay to generate leads and then pay to qualify the leads. Let’s think about how much money you make on a closing and the costs associated with that file. Are you prepared to give up a big chunk of your commission to generate the lead, or is old school, low cost prospecting like door knocking sounding better now?

When it comes to generating opportunities, will you choose online or old school? I say if you have money but no time, go online. If you have time but no money, hit the streets and go old school.

Chris Leader
President
Leader’s Edge Training