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How to stop playing Cat and Mouse with internet leads

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Marina Brito

Clients who trust you won't run away

“Hello?

Is this Marina?

I’m calling because we’d like you to be our Realtor… “

This phone call marks the beginning of my dream come true…

My dream is about changing the world of internet leads as we know it. More specifically, my dream is about changing the way Real Estate agents interact with internet leads (i.e. potential clients that find agents through the Internet).

My dream is about rising above the Cat and Mouse game

If you are in real estate, you might be familiar with the cat and mouse game of “Internet leads”. This cat and mouse game is about agents pursuing potential clients (i.e. internet leads) while the potential clients do their best to run away from the agents.

And I don’t blame them for wanting to run away. Internet leads (or “actively looking buyers” as the Big Real Estate Websites call them) want to run away because to them, it seems that on the other side of the safety of the computer screen there are pushy sales people that will try to sell them on something they are not ready to buy.

Potential buyers want to run away even when they are ready to buy

Internet leads (i.e. potential buyers) want to run away even when they are ready to buy and have found a home online that they’d like to see.

When they want more info about a house they saw online, they don’t have much choice but to connect with an agent to get more information about it. But they are still worried about getting pushed around by a sales person that they don’t know or trust.

So when the potential buyer connects with an agent, she is defensive, untrusting and just plain annoyed with the entire “agent tries to catch client” process.

Some agents feel annoyed by the process too

Well, what do you know? Agents who pay for or otherwise receive internet leads from the Big Real Estate Websites are just as annoyed with the “catch a client” process. At least I am.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. We seem to be in that Cat and Mouse game because the information about what we sell (i.e. houses) is practically public information. Every website, and every agent has access to the exact same inventory. The result is that home-buyers simply don’t see or understand the value that a good agent can bring to their home transaction. To them, all agents are the same.

This is where my dream comes in:

Several months ago, I set out on a quest to change the Cat and Mouse Game

I was tired of being at the mercy of Big Websites with deep pockets who attract homebuyers and then have agents pay for the option of being contacted by an “actively looking homebuyer in my area” – yes, the same skittish potential clients that I was talking about earlier.

Well, today, I can say that my dream is becoming a reality

Earlier this year I released the first version of my website: www.HomebySchool.com

Throughout this year, Home by School has provided me with some side benefits, such as:

Connecting with other agents for client referrals, and
Increased transactions from the people who know me

The increased transactions were a bit of a pleasant surprise, since the goal of HomebySchool.com isn’t explicitly targeting them, however, those sales were quite welcome.

My main goal is to attract homebuyers from Internet-land

My dream’s main goal is to attract complete strangers, homebuyers from Internet-land who bypass the Cat and Mouse game. My goal is to have homebuyers call me directly not just for more information on a house, but to ask to be represented by me on their transaction.

Well, last week, it happened

Last week, I got a phone call. And it went just like this:

“Hello? Is this Marina? I’m calling the number on your website because we’d like you to be our Realtor… ”

I didn’t realize it at first, but a few hours later it sunk in: my dream was becoming a reality!

With this phone call, we avoided the Cat and Mouse game

At this point, I had changed the path of ONE person who started their search online and had connected with me asking for representation. No Cat and Mouse game, no icky feeling. Instead, there was a mutual feeling of:

“Lets work together to find your dream home”

With ONE phone call.

This phone call is proof that my system works

I’m so happy! These months of hard, hard work are starting to pay off. I never had any doubt that my new system would work, but without any proof, it was still just a dream. Now the dream is coming true, and momentum is building.

“Thank yous” are in order

I’d like to send a shout out to my hubby, Greg, to Mon, Poc, and Darkgoyle, for their patience, help, and support; to Tom for believing in me, to Sean at Psychotactics for the knowledge that he has shared with me (which has become the basis of my No More Cat and Mouse system); and to my dear Mastermind friends who have supported me and encouraged me along the way:

Thanks, Guys and Gals!

What’s next?

I am still working on HomebySchool and I am making it really, really cool. Once it’s ready, I will start sharing it with a few fellow agents so that together, we can change the Cat and Mouse world of Internet Leads – and get lots of more productive phone calls.

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About Marina Brito

World Traveler Extraordinaire

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