We all know that most online generated real estate leads are less than desireable.  That's why there's only a select few that allow agents to pay per perfomance. (we're actually one of them) But, that still doesn't make our leads "better" than our competitors.  What if all online lead gen companies went to FREE, Referral Fee only, and did NOT sell the leads, would the industry be more likely to adopt it?  Recent history is begining to tell us yes. Does this business model deter in any way an agent from "harassing" a potential client because they've invested $25-$60 dollar for that phone number? Fact is, many lead gen companies pay top dollar for Sponsored Search for terms that most consumers use when looking to buy or sell.  It seems close to a monopoly.  But, while many lead gen companies generate between 2,000-5,000 leads PER DAY, it continues to demonstrate the real estate consumer is certainly online.

Industry stats say that the average time a real estate consumer takes before they are ready to call and/or be called and complete a transaction is 7 months.  This means, they will likely do quite a bit of research, talk to several different professionals, and talk it over for quite a while before they're ready to act. But, when they do, are YOU the one they call?  Or are they going online and leaving info to be contacted by a company that is aggressively vying for their business?  Fact is, more and more are throwing away the Phone Book because they can Google anything, anywhere, and be a specific as they'd like on their search. i.e. Realtor/Realtors/Real Estate Agents/Real Estate Professional,Real Estate Broker, Real Estate Agent in anytown, usa. Do you know how your clients type in the Google bar? If you did, you're well on your way to generating your own leads. 

So, many times, which is why online leads sell by the THOUSANDS PER DAY, is because many of them are legit from people who would like to act. Some sooner, some later. Fact is, there are many that do.  It usually just costs so much to purchase the leads, that once one pops, you're at break even. Not a good way to put food on the table.

So, question is:    If online leads were FREE to work, stayed exclusive to one agent, and only required a Referral Fee if closed, would consumers benefit from less scrupulous agents feeling pressure to convert their leads and get a bigger ROI from their ad budget?

Readers may enjoy other topics such as:

Online Lead Generation

Pay Per Click (PPC)

Internet Leads

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Real Estate Leads

Mortgage Leads

Search Engine Marketing on Google and Yahoo!

A Post by: Criss