Lead generation software can be the backbone of any successful lead generation program. Your business relies on real estate leads and you need to turn them into clients to stay profitable. The best lead generation for realtors should help you get leads, track them, and follow up. But when you get a bunch of new software in your inbox, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. This post aims to give you an overview of some of the best lead generation software for realtors out there based on my experience and research.
Real estate lead generation software is an innovative marketing solution that combines technology and real estate leads. It’s very important to learn what free real estate lead generation software is, how it differs from expensive software, and how it helps agents get more clients.
Generating real estate leads is the number one priority of any realtor. It is where their income stems from and it helps to formulate more leads and make more sales in the future. But with so much information out there on generating leads, realtors still have trouble deciding which system to use. Free real estate leads are harder to come by which means you have to get a little creative. Here is a list of options for getting new agents or lead generation software for agents
If you’re searching for lead generation software for your real estate business, it’s important to look at all of your options first to find the one that will give you the biggest return on investment. Here are some of the most popular options that are available.
What Are Real Estate Lead Generation Companies?
A real estate lead generation company is a platform that helps agents attract prospective clients (either buyers or sellers), known as leads, to a certain agency or broker. A lead generation company will run ads and market to prospective clients when they visit sites such as Google, Zillow, or Facebook and look for houses. Then the company will sell you that person’s contact information if you purchased leads in the area that they’re looking in. However, these companies don’t guarantee that these leads will close or that they will even respond to you when you contact them.
How Does Real Estate Lead Generation Work?
Real estate lead generation is a marketing and advertising process which stimulates interest in either a house for sale or a realtor to work with. This interest is then turned into a sales pipeline with the goal is to turn the lead into a client, who then closes a deal by either buying or selling a house through an agent.
Agents and brokers generate leads in different ways, including via social media, referrals, their own network, open houses, and from lead generation companies. Leads are what keep a real estate brokerage in business. A closed lead provides a commission check to the agent and a check to the brokerage.
How Much Do Real Estate Leads Cost?
Real estate lead generation companies offer different prices depending on the location and number of leads selected. Some have onboarding fees of a couple of hundred dollars and others have no upfront fees but charge monthly fees of hundreds of dollars or more, plus per lead costs which can range from a few dollars all the way up to thousands of dollars. Typically, leads in popular housing markets are more expensive to purchase because the company knows the listing prices are high and commissions from successful sales will also be considerably higher.
Usually, you pay for leads monthly and can decide on a set budget or change it up depending on how business is going.
Is Buying Real Estate Leads Worth the Cost?
Most agents know that, in order to keep up with today’s buyers and sellers, they need to have an online presence. Buying online leads is worth it if you don’t already have a big network or referrals but want to grow your business. You have to decide what your monthly marketing budget is going to be and how to best allocate the funds to decide if it’s worth it to buy leads. Investing in lead generation is only worthwhile if you’re going to be diligent and consistent with following up on each and every lead.
How We Chose the Best Real Estate Lead Generation Companies
As part of this review, we looked at over a dozen real estate lead generation companies before deciding on our top picks. We evaluated each company based on the number and types of leads they offer and lead quality, as well as features, pricing, customer reviews, and more before deciding on our list of the best lead-gen companies available.
1. Infusionsoft
Infusionsoft is quality lead generator software with about 125,000 users. The web-based tool and real estate lead management software is specifically designed to aid small businesses in building effective business-customer relations while generating leads.
Highlights:
- Features marketing automation, social media, email and lead generation tools
- Marketing and online sales solution specifically built with small and midsize businesses in mind
- Personalised coaching services to get you started
- Easy to use
- Simply click and command diverse options from mass messaging via text to automatic emails
Cons:
- A/B testing unavailable
- Minimal customisation if any
- Setup requires some amount of experience
2. Pardot
A part of Salesforce company, Pardot is a lead generation software designed for businesses with a significance focus on B2B (business-to-business) marketing and sales automation. It’s superb for agencies seeking to enhance Salesforce CRM insight and efficiency.
Highlights:
- Includes a lead deck offering real-time updates on prospects’ activity
- Customisation feature to help tailor the tool according to requirements
- Integrates superbly with Salesforce CRM
- Great customer training and support
Cons:
- A/B testing available but only for Pardot PRO users
- API access also reserved for PRO users
- Trying to restructure wrongly done campaigns almost impossible
3. Marketo
Marketo provides online-based platform for email marketing to companies and organisations of all sizes, not only to engage, but also preserve existing customer connections. The lead generator software integrates marketing automation, sales insight, budget management, website personalisation, lead development, analytics and social marketing modules.
Highlights:
- Cool powerful features
- Unmatched workflow flexibility
- Classy lead nurturing engagement programs
- Delivers on long-term goals such as ABM and personalisation advancement
Cons:
- Landing page builder still requires a template builder
- Tough to precisely maintain cycle analytics
- External record unavailable
4. Zurple
Zurple is a real estate lead management software platform that was ranked 33rd among the fastest growing 5000 companies of 2013 in the U.S. This software allows lead behaviour tracking, generation of more leads and optimization of follow-ups.
Highlights:
- Automatic sorting of prospect behaviour into ‘hottest’ categories
- Only lead generation tool offering listing data and street view listing functionality
- At a fee you can access a specific territory exclusively
- Follow-up optimisation possible
- Mass importation of leads into the platform doable
Cons:
- Customer support required to permit customisation
- Lacks instant messaging or 24-hour support
- Result incubation timeframe needed
5. SharpSpring
SharpSpring is lead generator software offering a fully rebrandable platform, behavioural email automation, website tracking, and in-built CRM system, among others. SharpSpring offers easy to convert and highly attractive landing page templates.
Highlights:
- Includes in-built call tracking for connecting with offline leads
- Automation is simple to implement
- Zero long-term contracts
- Dashboard provides all you need to run the tool
- Excellent customer support
Cons:
- Social publishing such as SEO or social recommendations unavailable
- Progressive profiling feature absent
- Currently lacks a forward/back navigation button
- No visual work-flow builder
How to Choose Your Real Estate Lead Generator Software?
To select the real estate lead software that meets your needs and requirements, consider the following:
- Problems and challenges the tool is coming to solve-perhaps to boost productivity and profitability, track lead activity and leads, track the client base, manage relationships, track closing rates and opportunities among others.
- Implementation-note whether the tool requires a testing and training period before full operation and the cost related to that.
- Price-most of the top real estate lead software differs not so much by the features but the cost. If working within a budget contrast the features vis-a-vis what you need and select the top quality software that’s also affordable.
- Customisation-how flexible is the real estate lead software to handle all your real estate processes?
- Reporting capabilities-even with all the lead generation software features and functionality above board, the reporting capabilities of the tool could affect your performance. The tool you choose should have a comprehensive and clear reporting capability.
REDX is our best-priced option because of its a la carte pricing with no setup fees, which allows you to pay for what you want and nothing more. Its monthly prices are reasonable and you can combine leads for a more robust prospecting campaign. It was founded in Utah in 2003 as a solution for providing expired leads to real estate agents and has since been used by over 50,000 agents in both the U.S. and Canada. REDX provides lead data to agents for prospecting. It’s specific to the real estate industry and uses aggregate data from public records to source leads. Every lead that they provide includes contact information.
REDX focuses primarily on seller leads and includes pre-foreclosures, expired listings, for sale by owners, for rent by owners (FRBO), hard-to-find contact information for homeowners, and its Power Dialer feature, which helps you contact more sellers quickly. It offers online training, tutorials, and unlimited customer support.
REDX features include:
- Multiple types of real estate seller leads including expireds
- Geo-focused leads
- Full range of training and support
- Prospecting platform
- Help with lead conversions and lead management systems
- Leads are verified against active listings and the Do Not Call list
- Scripts built into the system
Agents can start using REDX right away by contacting customer support and watching tutorial videos for additional help. Pricing varies depending on the lead source. For example, for sale by owner (FSBO) and pre-foreclosure leads are $39.99 per month, GeoLeads are $49.99 per month, expired leads are $59.99 per month, and FRBOs are $79.99 per month. You can add the Power Dialer for $99.99 per month. There aren’t many reviews out there, but the ones that exist are positive and highlight that the expired leads are current and updated.
Conclusion
If you are thinking about getting an agency license or going into business as a real estate agent, some of the most important tools you will need are in lead generation software. When it comes to successful lead generation software there are many factors that must be considered in order to achieve success. Successful marketing strategies can make the difference between getting the leads you need and simply wasting your time and money.
Have you been thinking about optimizing your lead generation process? If yes, you’re not alone. A lot of realtors are wondering if they should be using any software to aid them with their lead generation. The truth is that there is no one best solution for real estate lead generation. It really depends on the realtor’s preferences and budget. Sometimes, it may be a good idea to start with leading solutions first before deciding which real estate software is best. By doing so, you can easily determine what works for your business and what doesn’t.