You know the moment when your foot hits the pedal and your car spurs into action? A lot goes on in those few seconds between pedal push and speed.

The same reaction occurs with your lead generation. And in the same thread, you have to initiate the reactions to begin generating leads. 

Let’s consider two scenarios:

Scenario A: You are starting out and desperately need to generate leads. Or maybe you aren’t so desperate, but they would be very nice right about now.

Scenario B: You and anyone else working with you are hitting a wall with lead generation. You’re doing just fine, but can’t grow unless you begin to generate more leads.

It is important to know each of these scenarios would greatly benefit from paid advertising. If you are not familiar, go ahead and listen to this podcast about the most commonly asked questions surrounding of paid advertising with our Online Marketing Guru, Chris Cousins.

The Good News?

Ben Kinney’s real estate venture is an example of starting from a very literal zero amount of leads or contacts. And then allowing internet lead generation to build an empire.

“Not having a large sphere and being a hungry real estate professional forced me to become an expert in SEO and an expert in internet lead generation, an expert in social media. And once I became an expert in those”

The good news? Many have done this before you.

The steps below will walk you through every step of the equation from pushing the pedal to speeding straight to your leads. But remember, “a goal without a plan is just a wish” and you need to follow these steps in order to go from Point A to Point B. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck gazing ahead with no clue how to get there.

Step One: Define Your Budget

Step Two: Educate Yourself

Step Three: Build a Campaign

Step Four: Re-Assess for Efficiency and Cost

Step Five: Execute Your Plan

Before you set out for “Point B” you need to define a budget. And to define a budget you have to know how many closed leads you’ll require at the end of the day to make your bills, before make bank.

Step One: Define Your Budget

You see, the number of leads you generate does not equal the number of deals closed. Marketing works in the same way as a filtered funnel so there are leads lost at each level.

• To define your budget you need to know the following numbers:
• Average purchase price and,  in turn, average commission.
• Minimum amount of deals you need to close to pay your bills.
• Client Acquisition Cost (how much it costs from handshake to closing table)

(Gross Income – Operational Costs) – Necessary Profit = Leftover for Marketing Spend

Definition of Necessary Profit: When you are building your business, understand marketing money is an investment into future income via leads. The more you invest in quality areas, the more you will yield over time. Consider this when factoring how much profit you take and how much you put back into your business.

Listen to This! We ask our clients to consider quarterly budgets as a good place to start. Since several lead generation strategies vary throughout the year, this allows you to allocate more money in higher volume times of the year.

Step Two: Explore the Lead Generation Options

Ben Kinney and many before you have already done the work. They started from the bottom with zero leads and produced well beyond 2,000. Now it is time for you to use the routes successful real estate entrepreneurs created and make them your own.

The internet provides endless amounts of free information on lead generation. (For example, articles such as the one you are reading right now).

The most valuable information though lies with your peers and mentors. Don’t expect anyone to do everything for you, but rather give you exactly what you need to do most of this yourself.

For example. BoomTown offers technology and paid advertising in our services. We provide you with the tools and experts to make you successful. Our paid advertising team will run your campaigns with our years of data and experience.

But it is still up to you to choose us. Or to choose the best option for you. 

And that is where your research comes in. Scour the internet, speak to your peers, and consult your mentor. What outlets are working for other people and businesses of your size? With budgets similar to yours?

Research your heart out, but always remember, the best advice comes from those who work with lead generation day in and day out.

Meet Our Lead Generation Team Here. 

Hear what BoomTown Clients Have to Say! 

Step Three: Build a Campaign

If you listened to the podcast about the Building Blocks of Paid Advertising, you’ll have learned the price of paid advertising is always changing.

Whether you are working with online paid advertising, print marketing, or building a better website for lead generation, the costs change throughout the year.

Again, this is why quarterly budgets are much easier to work with. Watch the video below to find out Why the Cost of PPC Changes: 

To build a campaign:

1. Assess your current lead generation strategies and your total spend for each effort. If you are solely working off of leads from your sphere, then keep in mind the Customer Acquisition Cost mentioned earlier.
2. From your research, decide what 2-4 additional outlets you want to pursue. We suggest Paid Advertising, Seasonal Print Marketing, Remarketing, and Door Knocking (or other outreach of some kind).
3. Decide if the cost of your time is worth paying a third party for online lead generation services. This oftentimes is where you save money. It is important here to know what your hourly rate would be.

If you need leads now, then you need to pursue the following lead generation options.

Paid Advertising: Here we are grouping a few options including pay-per-click and Facebook advertising. Both options prove to be your best bet for reaching the 2,000 lead mark and raising your lead levels. Now these leads range in readiness to buy.  

They are usually beginning their search and anywhere from 6 months to 2 years out. This is gold for someone looking to build out a pipeline. The longer you conduct paid advertising campaigns, the more data you have to use. And more data, means more meaningful insights.

Print Marketing: Mary Maloney, broker of Hometown Realty in San Diego, once found herself thriving during a recession. And from what? Print Marketing. Now she may have a background in marketing, but she also detailed to us in her podcast episode exactly how her team used print marketing to establish themselves as area experts. Listen in here.

Remarketing: Don’t give up on your one-time visitors so soon. Remarketing allows you to stay top of mind with visitors who came to your site before. The more you can put your quality services in front of these potential leads online, the better chance you have to be their first choice. Remarket to your leads with this guide.

Door Knocking: This is still a completely viable option for new real estate leads, particularly for an area in which you want to expand. Dylan Hale, an agent in the Raleigh-Durham area, is able to get 5 seller leads for every 1 hour of door knocking. Read more here. Use the Realtor Property Resource (RPR) tool available for free to all Realtors in order to creatively market yourself for new seller leads. For a step by step guide, head over to this post.

Step Four: Search Your Campaigns for Inefficiencies

This is your time to re-focus your efforts and review the plans you’ve compiled. Take each step into consideration for your campaigns.

Ask yourself:

• Is it worth hiring out any portion of these campaigns to save time and money?
• What components of your efforts are expected to produce the highest yield?
• Do you have enough time for each effort? It is better to do less with higher quality, than spread yourself too thin.
• Can you cut any steps out of the campaigns to make them more efficient?
• If for any reason your funds become limited, what can you do away with?

In order to answer any of these questions, or prepare a more detailed marketing campaign for next year, you need to track EVERYTHING.

Every dollar spent, where it went, and what it produced. These numbers allow you to spend your marketing dollars exactly where they repay you.

Step Five: Execute Your Lead Generation Plan

Get the ball rolling! If your plan does not work at first, then re-adjust, and move forward again. If you took the time to educate yourself to begin with, then you will be well prepared to pivot when one option doesn’t pan out as well as the rest.

The benefit to working with a technology partner such as BoomTown is that we are available 7 days a week with experts in every lead generation category ready to help you refine your strategy.

With options for small businesses all the way up to enterprise level, BoomTown is ready and waiting to make you successful. The power is in our people and processes. And the combination of both empowers you to make the best decisions for your business.

However, if you aren’t ready to transition your way of doing things, we do have the BoomTown Library filled with quick tips and advice.