Entegral Blog

Having a multitude of lead conversion strategies and systems in place might seem like the right approach to converting leads - however, all your efforts might be moot if there is no accountability. We take a deeper look at how you can make sure accountability is a part of your real estate agency culture. Setting goals You cannot grow a culture of accountability without having a set of clearly defined goals. Lead conversion will fail every single time if agents do not know what they are working towards - are you trying to grow your business in a new area? Launching a new property management division? These plans and corresponding goals for your real estate team will serve as the backbone of your culture of accountability. If you or a member of your team falls short of a goal, it’s much easier to pivot and address problems if you have a strong foundation in place. Increasing productivity with management tools  This is not about policing your agents - after all, micromanag...

Mobile traffic is not new and in years gone by a mobile version of a desktop website would have been enough, however, in the age of smartphones, tablets and an agile society that wants information right now responsive design is the only way forward. You can argue that a mobi-site is suffice for your business but you would be wrong. Not only is responsive design a key element in a strong SEO strategy, it is also a deciding factor for many consumers on whether or not they will make use of your services. Here are the latest statistics that prove that you can no longer wait to switch your site over to a responsive website: As mentioned before - mobile traffic is not new, in fact  Statista has found that it has been ahead since 2015, however with the technology behind smartphones improving turning mobile phones into mini laptops and the increase in mobile traffic, websites that aren’t responsive are losing progressively larger portions of their audience each year. The ...

If you are looking to increase your business profile and by extension, your revenue, a large part of your marketing strategy should focus on healthy lead generation. Before you even start to generate leads, you’ll want to organize the ones you have. Leads should be segmented based on behaviour — one-size doesn’t fit all in 2018. Make sure that whatever lead nurturing techniques you are using resonate with the correct audience. Setting up a paid social campaign is a great way to get visitors to your site, and an easy-to-navigate listing page with a one-click form is an excellent way to capture a lead, but what’s next? If you don’t follow up with the lead, all the effort you put into securing it will be for nought. Segment your leads, provide them with customized content, connect with them on social and maintain an appropriate level of interaction with them. By doing this, you’ll be well on your way to achieving your goals. If the new year snuck up on you and you haven’t had...

When marketing your real estate listings and agency, often times real estate agents focus on generating as many leads as possible - but is that the best approach? Once you have generated all your leads, you have to spend more money and time to convert the leads you already paid for. You are just going round and round the cycle and spending money to hopefully create more business for yourself. Can we not break this cycle in 2018? Even the leads you are marketing are tired of being marketed at. So what is the solution? The answer is relationship building. Real estate is a relationship business, and maintaining that relationship is not only going to be way more cost-effective it is also going to ensure that your social proof will increase. Why? Because you are investing in people, adding value to their lives and adding value to your business relationships. You already have interested leads from your property alerts , social media pages and even previous clients. In 2018, buildin...

No doubt you’re providing the best service, but how do you ensure a quality experience translates into a positive review online? Getting a customer to take the time to share his or her thoughts can seem challenging, but there are a number of strategies you can utilize to increase the odds that reviews will be posted. Why do I need online reviews? Consumers are increasingly relying on the Internet to obtain information about businesses. Reviews not only serve as a guide to customers but also provide free advertising. Your customers can be valuable references for people they don’t even know, just by posting their experiences on your public profiles. Get followers on social media Having a following on social media speaks wonders for your brand. A strong digital following shows that customers are satisfied with your business and more importantly, they want to continue that relationship. After you’ve worked with someone, you should think about reaching out on social media to thank...

While online tools can serve as an excellent supplement to any real estate agency, they are by no means a replacement for traditional quality service. Here are five key components of good service that will never go out of style: 1. Go the extra mile Unfortunately, many real estate agencies these days do not make customer service a priority. As a result, they end up having mediocre service that leaves clients and customers frustrated. Therefore, if you choose to prioritize good service, you will differentiate yourself from the competition and customers will appreciate you for it. A little extra effort goes a long way, so show your clients that you care, and you will be creating a positive relationship that could last a lifetime. 2. Maintain strong internal communication If you don’t have your act together within the company, it will be immediately obvious to the outside world. So in order to achieve good customer service, start from the inside out. The first step is to organize you...

A study by Redfin asked the question - what is the true benefit of professional quality listing photographs? The answer was that listing a home with professional quality photos not only sell the home faster but for more money. Here are the top mistakes to avoid to ensure you have the best photos of your listing. Don’t be smart Yes, your smartphone has a great camera...but, not for real estate photography. Put the phone back and get an entry-level digital camera. Your listings will thank you. This is an actual listing photo | source Play with the camera or sign-up for a course to ensure you get the most out of your camera. Your business will thank you because you are not investing in yourself but investing in lead conversion. Why lead conversion? Who wouldn’t want to work with an agent that puts that much effort into marketing a home? Tell a story The Entegral Office Management System (OMS) allows you to organise your photos in a specific order - use this to your benefit ...

Not all home buyers are created equally - each has their own set of wants and needs, and if you want your marketing to be effective, you’ll have to know who you are marketing to. Before thinking about embarking on a marketing campaign or strategy, you must understand your target audience. In order to create the most effective campaign, each message must work together with the last and also be tailored to the same target market. Failing to do this could result in valuable capital being wasted with little results. Saying that ‘home buyers’ is your target audience is not wrong, however, you can be assured that trying to market to an audience this broad will only cost you more than generating the leads you want. As a real estate agent or any business owner for that matter, you must fully understand your audience. If you sell homes upwards of R5 million, don’t assume your target is anyone with a net worth of over R20 million. Someone looking to live in a sought-after golf estate wit...

The little details are what makes the biggest impact  - even more so when you have a service driven business like a real estate agency. Real estate is much more than just brick and mortar - it is about selling the neighbourhood, the lifestyle they will have in their new property, the dreams the investment will fulfil. And you, as real estate agent play a vital role in all of this - and whether it is a positive or negative role depends on the level of service they receive. You can spend thousands of rands on marketing, but if there is no service, the client won’t use you or recommend you. Remember how we spoke about word-of-mouth marketing and social proof? Those are vital to your business. So how can you improve your client-experience without spending even more money? Communication We get it - days are busy, filled with new listings, paperwork and everything else that needs to be done. However, communication is one of the most important factors that influence how a cl...

You’ll never generate more leads or attract more visitors to your website if it isn’t credible - but what determines the credibility of your website and what influences it? In our latest blog, we take a look at what influences your credibility and what you can do to build and maintain it. Visitors are skeptical from the get-go Scientists from Microsoft Research analyzed page-visit duration for 205,873 web pages (with more than 10,000 visits to each page). Using data from a popular web browser plugin, they were able to find the answer They found that 99 percent of web pages have a negative ageing effect*. When website visitors hit your landing page, they’re skeptical. They’re quickly scanning the page looking for a reason to abandon your site. Get your website visitors past the 30-second mark and they’ll spend a lot more time on your site. So how do you get them to stay longer? Credibility! They are looking for signals that show your organization is reliable, trustworthy, a...

Real estate agents know that converting leads into clients is a vital part of the property game - but it can be tricky. We take a look at how to maximise your lead conversions with a few tips and tricks. Before you can maximise your lead conversion rates, you will need to investigate how you handle fresh leads. For example, how often do you call? Do you call once or make multiple attempts? What’s your success rate in making contact? Are you nurturing those who aren’t ready right now? The clarity will help you focus on what is missing or what areas need improvement. You might need to diligently measure your performance over a period of time to get the right numbers - but knowing these numbers will make the difference in the long run. We take a look at three different ways you can improve your lead conversion Create a system If you don’t have the resources to effectively respond to leads, you are losing out on potential business. Having all your leads in one place also makes ...

To help you maximize your local visibility, we’ll be looking at some local marketing tips. Some are highly specific while others serve as more of a generalized guide, but if you’re trying to reach new customers in your area, grab a coffee and read on. Create locally focused content We all know that Content is Good, but it’s amazing how few locally focused real estate agencies don’t bother with content as a marketing strategy. It’s understandable but for those who put in the extra work, it could really pay off. Creating locally focused content is an excellent way to both increase your visibility to prospective customers and establish your agency as a trusted voice in the community. When it comes to deciding upon which types of content you should produce, think about it from the perspective of your clients. What are their most common questions? Are there opportunities for seasonal content? Take advantage of AdWords’ geo-targeting options One of the most powerful tools at mark...

Content marketing in the broader spectrum will ensure traffic to your website, however that doesn’t mean all the traffic to your website will be local - you might end up catching some international eyes as well, which is not a bad thing. But when you are trying to get local eyes on your website you need these local lead generation tips! If you really want to succeed in your efforts to generate local leads, you’re going to want to drive as much traffic as you can to the lead generation pages on your website - such as content pages or search result pages. Unfortunately, traffic doesn’t come easy and you’ll have to invest some time and money into your efforts. Let’s explore a couple ways you can start driving potential leads to your lead generation stations. Google Ads Content is a free way of generating traffic but if you want big gains, you are going to have to pay.One of the best ways to drive traffic is to invest in Google Ads. Google Ads (along with SEO) are great traff...

Converting online leads you get from your real estate website relies on how well you can market yourself - we take a look at some tips on how to convert those leads into clients. Getting your leads The Office Management System (OMS) from Entegral consolidates all your leads from your own website and MyProperty automatically, you can also import from external portals like Property24, Private Property, IOL Property and ImmoAfrica into your OMS inbox. How to convert leads into clients Typically, you will get an email address and the first name from your online lead. And if you are hoping to convert your lead you will have to rely on your marketing skills to do so. But before we look into how you can convert that lead, it is worth noting that the biggest mistake you can make is to ignore the lead for whatever reason . This is not just bad for that particular listing but also bad for your reputation as a real estate agent, and if you are part of a franchise for the brand as wel...