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Landin Smith leads the 6 person RE/MAX DreamSmith Team out of Denver, Colorado. His business plan operates under four real estate lead generation and conversion pillars.
He recently shared with us his secrets to his phenomenal rates of repeat and referral business. Landin is a strong believer in lifelong client relationships and “providing value before, during and after each transaction.” He details his real estate lead generation and conversion strategies below.
Create a Real Estate Lead Generation and Conversion Strategy Plan
I always refer back to my business plan. You should always have a plan outlining specific tasks to complete every day of the week. I like to have one cheat day where I don't do a whole lot, but four days a week I choose one of my four pillars of income to focus on.
I continuously calculate income and leads produced by each pillar to make sure I attain my monthly listings goal. I try to do everything that I can to derive at least four listings a month from each of these real estate lead generation and conversion pillars.
My four pillars are: Top 50 Prospecting, Competitive Market Analysis Listing Strategy, Geo-Prospecting, and Social Media Marketing to Real Estate Buyer and Seller Leads. You can choose how you want to organize your own business plan. I choose to incorporate these pillars directly in my calendar.
Real Estate Lead Generation and Conversion Pillar 1 - Top 50 Prospecting and Relationship Building
Every Monday I allocate time to Pillar 1: Top 50 Prospecting. I block out 3-5pm as time exclusively dedicated to this sector. I write out all my Top 50 activities under the calendar’s event notes to reach my goal for that pillar.
For example, I commit to writing three client notes per day, attending one lunch appointment per week, and doing three pop-by’s with a gift. That's how you make clients feel valuable. Additionally, I use this time to plan our six annual client events. I shoot to make 50 calls from our database per week, many of which are personalized invitations to these events. Some successful events we have completed include:
Mother's Day Spa Session
We rent a spa by our office for two hours, and about 60 women show up every year for manicures and pedicures. I meet them outside, give them a greeting, and catch up with them. I get to connect with the women in our database and it’s such a great way to honor mothers and women that work so hard and do so much. It ends up costing around $1,600 for 60 women, so it’s also a budget-friendly event.
Annual Golf Tournament
We hold an annual golf tournament around Father's Day. Usually we create teams of four and have a lot of fun on the course. We have a team member follow participants with a drink cooler and every[1]one enjoys making it a little competition. The winning team gets a prize and it’s a great way to en[1]gage with clients.
NFL Draft Party
Last year we hosted an NFL draft night party at Main Event Entertainment. We rented a room and aired the first two hours of the draft. The Broncos are a big part of Denver culture and seeing who gets drafted first is really exciting and a stellar environment to connect with clients. We have about 900 people in our database; we send out invites to 400 and get about 25 to 30 attendees.
Home Run Derby
We started this event last year and it was a huge success. Broadcasters in a booth call out names and play a walk up song for every hitter that comes up. We scoot the plate up for a kid's division so they can still hit home runs. Each division has prizes for whoever hits the most homeruns. We play music, start with a classic national anthem, and even have a fly-over with a drone.
Thanksgiving Pies
A more low-key client opportunity is our pie distribution during Thanksgiving. Clients will come into the office, connect with us for a while, and can choose either an apple or pumpkin pie. Sometimes it’s just that simple. It's just a great way to reignite client connections to kick off the holiday season.
Annual Christmas Party
Our Christmas party is Buddy the Elf themed. We hired an actor to play Buddy the Elf for around $400. This year, we rented out an ice skating venue in Parker, Colorado. The whole party only cost about $1000 for 160 attendees. Our top 50 program makes holidays special for our database.
In addition to our large events, we also hold small get togethers with a couple families and even engage with one-on-one relationship building. I don't ask for referrals all the time; every third or fourth time I see a client, I'll give them that reminder that I'm never too busy to work with any of their friends and serve them and help them.
Real Estate Lead Generation and Conversion Pillar 2 - Competitive Market Analysis Listing Strategy
For this pillar, my assistant gathers all of my CMA reports off MLS Matrix. You can find more information on how to do the same here. She formulates CMAs with an estimated list price range and a few comps so clients can see how their home compares to others.
We send these reports out to clients around a year after their property investment via email with the subject “Best Email You'll Receive Today.” Here’s an example of our email template:
Dear Client,
When you purchased your investment, you made one of the biggest and most difficult decisions of your life. However, fortune favors the brave!
Congratulations on being in your home for almost 3 years! Since you purchased your investment, the value had increased by $___-$___. That's a __%-___% return on your investment!
This is just a quick analysis from a distance. If you ever want a more in-depth report on the value of your home that would include any improvements you’ve made, please give me a call and I’ll be happy to provide that to you.
I do have two questions for you:
- Do you have a friend or family member who wants this rate of return that you could refer me to?
- Are you interested in making another bold decision and taking equity from this home to find your next dream home or investment property?
I’m always so appreciative of your faith and trust in me when it comes to your real estate needs. If you or someone you know would like to schedule a free walk-through with me you can use this link [insert calendy link] to do so.
All the best,
Landin Smith
I also attach a copy of the Comparative Market Analysis report. It's a basic market analysis with a summary of comparable listings, CMA Price adjustments with some pictures and their list range, and a pricing recommendation of where they could be today.
Clients may see that they bought their property for $310,000 and it’s projected to sell for $410,000 three years later, and that gets them excited. I get most of my listings this year from these market analyses; it is the best thing you can do.
Usually there is a delay of a couple weeks between when I send it out and generate a lead.
To speed up the turnaround time and personalize this strategy, I also send a video text at the same time. I record myself speaking and text the video to the client right after I send the email. An example script that I use is:
“Good morning, [Client],
Landin here. Hey, since you guys have been in your home for over a year, we wanted to do a complimentary market analysis for you and let you know where you're at in the market.
I know you’re probably paying attention on some property websites, but we also put together a personalized list of some of the best comps that have sold around you.
Go ahead and take a look at your email and the report that's attached. Hopefully that helps gauge your investment year-over-year. We’ve seen an incredible year of growth in your area, and some very impressive comps that are very similar in size to yours.
I hope that helps and if we can do anything else for you, just give us a holler. I'm never too busy to help. If you need contractors for any work done in the house, or any questions about the market, or how you can execute on opportunities that are out there now that the markets are shifting a little bit, just let me know.
Thanks. Have a great day.“
It’s pretty simple. I will also always give a phone call to my clients after I send this out and make sure that I'm following up with them, connecting with them, and just making myself available on the phone. If they have any needs I'm there to talk them through it.
That's what the call is for. It's not to be pushy and get them to sell. It's just for informational purposes. I want to make sure they’re in tune with what's going on in the market, and most importantly, with their home.
Real Estate Lead Generation and Conversion Pillar 3 - Geo-Prospecting
The next pillar is a great strategy. We distribute these to neighbors around our listings that sell. I print the Zestimate out for a home, usually chosen from 20 homes in a close range of a recently sold listing, most of the time on the same street.
I attach a sticky note on it that says, “Give me a call if you want to know why this is wrong. Based on my recent sale in the neighborhood, I'd love to update you on what's really going on.” I do this during the pending phase when the listing is under contract.
Curious neighbors that want to know why the Zestimate is wrong. It creates interest and people will call to inquire about why it's wrong.
Real Estate Lead Generation and Conversion Pillar 4 - Social Media Marketing to Buyer and Seller Leads
For our social media campaigns, every member of my team creates a certain video every week. We distribute assignments in our team meetings, and say I'm going to do this type of video and there's a video idea. One video may be on how to hedge against inflation by buying real estate investments while another talks about what a seller's market is.
Another person might talk about what appraisal gaps are and a fourth may create a funny video with a popular audio. The best thing you can do is plan 15 of these all at once and schedule them for release over 15 days. If you want to get technical, you can even change your outfit. It only takes an hour to two every two weeks to put these into production.
Social media marketing is growing in importance. Relationship building online through video to make people feel like they know you in your local market. And that's the whole idea: to be a trusted source online so that they reach out to you and not someone else when it's time for them to sell or buy. Those are my four lead generation pillars. Again, it's all generating a business plan and incorporating the pillars into your calendar, time blocking to make sure it all gets done.