Stop Paying for Leads You Will Never Call

Are you throwing money into a burning fire pit? In this episode of the Unstoppable Real Estate Agents Podcast, we expose a costly problem that many real estate agents face; buying cold leads without a follow-up system in place. Discover how to stop paying for leads you aren't calling, drive a massive return on investment from your database, and use relationship-based strategies to re-engage past clients this summer.

Key Takeaways

• The CRM Leak: Buying leads without a dedicated follow-up system is like buying a Ferrari without an engine. It looks nice, but it won't take you anywhere.
• Go Warm Before Cold: Your past clients already trust you. Nurturing these existing relationships is far more valuable than constantly chasing cold leads.
• Be Authentically You: Show your true personality over the phone and on social media because people want to do business with agents they can relate to.

Action Plan: This Week's Homework

• Audit Your Database: Look closely at your leads. Calculate your exact net ROI by evaluating your cost per lead, conversion rate, and total spend. If the math doesn't work, cancel the program.
• The Five Calls Challenge: Call five past clients or warm database contacts this week. Keep real estate off the table unless they bring it up first.
• Do a Social Media Pre-Check: Look at their social accounts before calling to find organic conversation starters like recent vacations or family milestones.
• Put AI to Work: Use your AI assistant to draft a customized follow-up system with text templates, email sequences, and phone scripts tailored to your personal style.

Resources & Links:

Real Estate OS Accelerator (REOSA): https://www.kimhughes.com/real-estate-os-accelerator/

Read the Blog:  https://www.kimhughes.com/stop-paying-for-leads-you-will-never-call/

Watch the Video: https://youtu.be/RezHPm-Xv-c

Additional Resources:

📩 FREE RESOURCE: Download my Complete Checklist – 72 To-Do’s to Dominate Success in Real Estate to supercharge your strategy! https://www.kimhughes.com/72-to-dos/

Visit my website for FREE Templates: https://www.kimhughes.com/resources/free-downloads/

Power Strategy Call – Best 30 minutes you will ever spend discussing the struggles in your business as we create solutions that will set you up for unbelievable success! Go to http://www.TalkwithKimHughes.com

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The $17,000 leak hiding in your CRM and the five phone calls that can plug it this week. So let's talk about your lead generation. Um, this is always a topic in my office with my clients. When I do a podcast, we talk about lead generation because you've got to have really good lead generation to be successful. Welcome to the Unstoppable Real Estate Agents Podcast. I'm your host and real estate productivity expert, Kim Hughes. Join me as we focus on real strategies and implement real solutions designed for you to achieve major success in your business and life while getting you organized. So I was talking to one of my clients about two months ago, and she was complaining that she was spending all this money on generating leads from, you know, the big companies, Zillow, Realtor.com, and all of those. Yet none of those leads were any good. And so I told her, I said, well, you know, okay, before you call them and talk to them about it, let's you and I talk about it to find out if we can figure out where the problem is. Well, we identified the problem very quickly because she said to me, and I am reading my notes, but she said to me that she got about 180 leads. And I asked her, I said, out of 180 in one month, you had nothing, nothing, nothing panned out. And she said, Well, I only called about 20 of them. And I said, Okay, out of that 20, what happened? Nothing. Okay, you numbers, you gotta play the numbers. You've got to understand that it's a numbers game. So what she ended up spending was $1,400, $17,000 a year that she was spending on leads that she's not calling. So I'm gonna be very upfront, and this is probably something you've not heard before, but I'm gonna tell you stop paying for leads if you're not following through, because you're just throwing money out the window. You might as well just throw that money into your fire pit and light it on fire because that's what you're doing. There is no return of investment if you do not pick up the phone or text that lead that's coming in that they're furnishing to you. So it's really not their fault. It's your fault that they're that you're not taking the time to follow through on these leads. So, what I'm gonna ask you to do is to pause all that. So if you can identify and raise your hand and say, yeah, I'm that person. I'm that agent. I pay for leads and I get so busy, I just don't get around to it. Or by the time I do get around to it, I feel like it's too late to reach out to them. Okay. So I'm just gonna ask you to look at your contract and stop it, put it on pause, whatever you can do, and let's readjust, okay? Because when we do that, it's going to help us understand the mentality that we have when it comes to our leads. Now, here is something that nobody is telling you that when you sign that contract with whoever, Zello Realtor.com, when you buy leads without a follow-up system, it's like buying a Ferrari without an engine or a Ferrari without a fuel pump. You can park it in the driveway and you can admire it all day long. Your neighbors will come over and just, oh, and ah, and everything else, and you're just gonna be very proud. But then it doesn't run, so you don't drive it. So you're just throwing more money out the window. So this is where I want you to look at your leads and what is it that you're really paying for? So each company that you have an agreement with, most of them are going to offer you a zip code for a price. Okay. You need to keep in mind when they say to you, you're the agent that we're offering this zip code to. Now you've got 20 minutes, and if you don't take this zip code, I'm going to the next agent. Well, then that starts building up fear of missing out. FOMO, FOMO. You don't need that in your life. You are a good agent. You know what you're doing, but you need to kind of figure out your lead generation because that is the lifeline of your business. Okay. So I want you to stop the payment, come back and look at your database. And I want you to go through that database and I want you to pick five people. Just call five people. I don't want you talking to them about real estate. I don't want you asking them, how's the house treating you or anything like that? Just keep real estate off the table unless they bring it up. Because the reason why you're calling these people is to re-engage, to reconnect, to nurture these relationships. These are people that have already bought with you or sold with you. They already know you, they already know how you run your business and everything else. So let's tap into that audience before we go to a cold audience. Okay. But I'm going to go back and tell you the lead generation system should be the number one thing that you work on. Okay. This is a great way to use your AI. So what you could do is go into your AI and tell it, I have purchased leads, I get, I pay this much a month, I'm guaranteed this many leads, and I have no follow-through system. I want you to give me a system or an action plan that I can put in place. And here is my, here is the way that I do things. I want an email and I want a text and I want a phone call script so that when it gives you all of this. So, you know, when you get a lead, you have a maybe an hour to follow up. Okay. Let's say it's been three hours and you haven't followed up. Go ahead and do that. You never know what they're doing. They may have filled out something and they got busy doing something else and didn't expect a phone call right away. Um, so you know, if as long as you make that phone call or that text by the end of the day, I think you'd be fine. Um, and just tell them, say, I'm so sorry. I was tied up with a client or I was tied up at a closing, I was tied up at my son's school. Be honest, tell them what you were doing, and then just say, hey, I would love to talk to you, you know, and tell me what you're looking for, what are you looking to do? Let's get a plan in place and let's talk. And just be very casual about it. It's not, you know, we don't live in a society anymore that is so stuffy, you know, and everything. You need to show your personality when you're talking to these people and, you know, let them know who you are and what your personality is like because the one thing you don't want is to pick up a phone and talk to someone in one way. And then when you meet with them, you're a totally different person. So just be you, okay? They either are gonna like you or they're not. And if they don't, then you don't need them in your life. Let them move on. Focus on the people that want to do business with you, the people that want to be around you, and the people that trust you with their biggest investment of their life, most likely. So when we do this, I want you to really think about how much money you're spending on these leads, and then how many of them are you following up on? And out of that amount of people you're following up on, how many of those became a client? And then if they didn't become a client, why was it? What caused that to fall? Is it because their best friends now are realtors and they just went with them? Is it because you didn't follow up? Is it because they're not ready to make a decision? What is the reason? And then put it into their notes in their CRM, set a reminder so that you don't forget to reach out to them again once that whatever is going on passes or comes up, you know, kind of thing. And I want you to understand that, you know, you're not the only one that does this. Every agent does it. And so, you know, you may sit there and think that somebody in your office has, oh, well, they have all these people to make these phone calls for them. And that's great, you know, and that's the way they want to run their business, that's the way they do it. But here's the way I want you to think about doing it is instead of people hiring people to make phone calls for you to get an appointment, take the time to call them yourselves and build a relationship to get the appointment. Okay. That is the biggest thing is we need people to create relationships instead of, okay, well, that person, you know, didn't answer and moving on to the next one. Okay, I've closed that client. Now I got to go find the other one. It's in your database, it's in your CRM. All you need to do is believe that your clients, your future clients, are in your database. So when you are calling your past clients, you know, they don't need all these um, you know, real quick little emails that your CRM generated, you know, that are generic. You need to invest the time to build out a system that's going to work for you and your leads. And then you need a really good follow-up system to handle it so that when those leads do come in, you know how to handle it. You've got your text messages, you've got your emails set up, you've got this done. Everything you need to do to keep in touch with that lead, you can because now you're organized. And if you're not gonna get organized and you're just gonna keep throwing money out the window. So at the time of this video and this podcast, it is May. And so one of the things that I'm gonna encourage you to do is now is the best time to reach out to a PACE client database. And the reason is we're in the summer. School has just let out. People are planning vacations, they're planning picnics and barbecues and parties and get togethers, and they're starting to, you know, get outside and all of that. This is a great conversation to have when you don't know what to say. So if you're looking for ways to um reach out to your past clients, you know, you may be a little hesitant because you think, oh, you know, um, what if they don't want to talk to me? What if this? What if that? Don't worry about it. Just pick up the phone and make and get into the conversation. And if they tell you, hey, I've already been with another agent, I've already sold another house and bought another house, I am so excited for you. And I am so sorry I was not there to, you know, guide you through that process. Whatever you want to say, and then you write it in your notes and then you decide: do I follow up? Do I wait one year? Do I wait five years? You know, what do you do? So your follow-up with something like that should be every month, they get your newsletter, they get your market stats, you're connected on social media. But before you pick up that phone to call that past client or that lead that's in your database, I would go look for them on social media and make sure you're following them. And then making sure you're looking at before I call them, let me kind of look and see what they've been up through the last couple of months. They may have had a baby, they may have graduated a child, they may have um bought a new car, they may have taken a fabulous trip, somebody may have gotten married. You know, there's a hundred things that you can look at on social media to get updated so that when you make that phone call, you have a conversation. You know, so like right now, people are graduating. So if any of your past clients have kids that are graduating, you should pick up the phone and say, you know, I know you're so proud, you know, and talk about that. I saw that you posted on social media that Johnny graduated from high school. He graduated from college, he got married, whatever that may be, you know, and engage with them and show an interest in their life, you know, and everything. It may feel a little awkward at first, but then people love to talk about their families. They like to talk about themselves, they like to, you know, talk about what's going on in their world. So tap into what is going on in their world. When you call them, you already have that conversation. And if you can't do that with social media to find out, then just start talking to them. Say, hey, you know, summer's here. Just thought I'd call and let you know I'm updating my records, and I would love to make sure that I have everything updated on you. And if you don't mind, email the same, phone, you know, of course, the phone is the same. Um, any, anybody graduating, anybody getting married, you know, any any great news that you'd love to share, you know, and then talk about it. Don't just say, oh, that's great, and then talk about something else. Talk about it. Say, well, how did that feel when your son walked across that stage, you know, and received his diploma? I bet that was amazing. And, you know, don't ever talk about yourself, talk about them. But if you have a relation that you can exchange a conversation with, that's great. You could say something like, Yeah, when my son graduated, to me, the best thing was when he jumped off that stage and threw me a kiss, you know, something along that line. Okay, so what we're gonna do when we um your takeaway from this podcast, I hope, is that you will sit down and look at your leads. So go back and look at your leads for the month. And then, you know, it doesn't have to be May 1st to May 30th. It could be April 1st through May 15th, you know, it could be something like that. So look at your leads and how many leads did you get from the program that you're paying for? Go into your database, pick five people to call, have a conversation with them, write down the time that you started, the time that you finished, and then when you get off of those calls, I want you to sit down and pull together your lead account dashboard. I want you to look at your actual return of investment of what you are spending, the net, not the gross, the net. Okay. I want cost per lead, lead conversion rate, average commission, total spent versus total closed. And then be honest with yourself. If that math does not work, I want you to cancel that lead generation program because you take that money and put it into your past clients. Take it and put it into building a system. And, you know, when you put money where the where there's a return of investment, it gets exciting. So think of things that you can do with your past clients, which are you can do client events, you can do um, like one client that I talked to this morning, she's now gonna do a monthly Taco Tuesday at her office. Now, her office is in her little downtown area. Um, so people are constantly walking back and forth, walking by. It's a very, you know, lively area. So that is something that's gonna get people to walk in the door, right? So think of what I can do that would be a really good client event. So for example, you may have a splash pad in your community, you know, it could be at your local park, and it's free. And you could say, hey, I'm hosting a and you've got to work with the community people on this. So, like we have one, and if I was gonna book it, I would call my Civic Center. So make sure you reach out to the right people to let them know that you're doing this and if there's a cost or if you have to reserve it and get all that taken care of first. But this would be a lot of fun. So if you have a splash pad or a swimming area or something like that in your name in your community, invite your past clients and maybe serve ice cream sandwiches or popsicles, or maybe you get um one of those ice shaving trucks to come and serve uh snow cones. You know, this is something that you could do. I mean, I wouldn't do the snow cones myself, but I could, I could load up a couple of ice chests, pack them down with ice real good and hand them out, you know? And that is what it's about is bringing the community together, bringing the kids out, let them play in this in the splash pad. And you could even, if you really wanted to get fancy, you could just, you know, furnish lunch or dinner or whatever, or do prizes, you know, while you're there. But make sure you're there and that you have someone with you to help you because you're gonna be walking around, you know, nurturing all these relationships where your assistant or somebody else that can help you are going to make sure that everything runs smoothly because you can't do this by yourself. You have to get somebody to help you. So, with that said, I want you to look at your numbers. I want you to put together a system for your lead generation. And I want you to be real honest with yourself about how it works. And if the math does not work, then I want you to close the account. You can always go back and buy into it, but they are never going to give your money back. So look at the at the numbers and look at the cost and the return of investment and then decide what is working for you. You might be able to save $1,400 this month because you're not calling those leads. So get on the phone, call those leads, make a system. And then if you're gonna cancel that, then take that money and put it towards something that your past clients can benefit from and that you can promote in your community. You may just do a community thing, like a neighborhood. Like if your neighborhood has a community pool, you could reserve that and, you know, maybe get a couple of neighbors together. Maybe there's a loan officer in the neighborhood, maybe there's, you know, um a title company guy in the neighborhood, and you all three get together and do a little hot dog thing out by the community pool one afternoon. That would be fun, you know. Not a lot of money, not a lot of effort, and it will have a huge return of investment. So I will close with this: that if you do not have a lead generation system and you're paying for leads, you need to stop paying for the leads until you get a system in place where you can follow up on every single lead that these companies are sending you. So go look at your database, make some phone calls, and enjoy the return of investment. See you next week. Bye. Thank you so much for tuning in. And if you know someone, and I bet you do, who would appreciate this podcast, please share it with them. As a reminder, this podcast can be delivered directly to your favorite device by using the subscribe links you can find in the show notes below or over at unstoppable realestateagents.com. Remember, it takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan. Have a great day.