We take a look at the program one year later
One year has passed since the introduction of the CRS Qualified Consumer Leads program and the stats are pretty impressive:
- Nearly 40,000 leads distributed with an average home price of $300,000
- Almost 500 leads closed
- More than $2.3 million in commissions earned
And that’s with 10 percent of CRS Designees participating so far: Those numbers are ready to explode. For those who have used the Qualified Consumer Leads program powered by ReferralExchange, the results have been worthwhile—especially because CRS members are already eligible and can enroll for free through their CRS accounts.
How it Works
The Qualified Consumer Leads program is different from other lead-generation programs because the clients are seeking agents rather than properties. The program relies on online and search engine advertising to funnel clients through their consumer-facing website such as TopAgentsRanked.com or AgentMachine.com. Consumers complete and submit a form requesting agents, and are then qualified by trained reps to ensure they are serious buyers or sellers. Consumers are then matched with three qualified agents based on location, agent characteristics and specific housing needs. That’s where you come in.
Once you are matched to a prospect, you will be notified via phone, email and text alerts. You can then decide whether or not you want to accept the referral. If you accept, quickly contact these leads and explain who you are and how you were referred to them. If selected by the client and your deal eventually closes, ReferralExchange will charge you a standard referral fee of 25 percent of commission earned.
How to Sign Up
While non-CRS agents need to qualify for the program, CRS Designees do not, thanks to their advanced education and transactional experience. So if you want to sign up, simply go to CRS.com, log in using your username and password, hover over the CRS Referral Network bar near the top right of the screen, and click on Consumer Leads in the dropdown menu. That will take you to a sign-up form. After you complete the form, you’ll be receiving leads in no time. It’s that easy!
What CRSs Are Saying
Patrick Lilly, CRS, broker with CORE in New York City, is a longtime user of the service.
“It’s one of my most consistent lead sources,” he says. “I close five or six deals a year.”
Tips from CRS users
- Spend some time with your profile. CRS Designees have had better luck with an up-to-date, complete profile.
- When you get a lead, respond quickly, within hours, and provide a proposal.
- Remind buyers and sellers that they filled out a form at TopAgentsRanked.com or requested to hear from top local agents, and you are one of those agents.
- Tout your CRS credentials. Tell consumers that you are a Certified Residential Specialist, meaning you have more education and experience than most other agents. Make sure they understand how this separates you from the other agents who may be calling.
- Follow-up is key. Some consumers are in the early stages of the process and may not list or purchase for months. Be patient and have a plan for follow-up that involves sharing valuable information.
He gets leads at least twice a month in his high-volume New York City marketplace. For those he accepts, Lilly submits proposals, pitches to them and ultimately lands about half. And these are not paltry deals, he says. Sixty-five percent are listed at more than $1 million and he’s had several priced at more than $2 million.
Lilly recommends quick responses to leads—within an hour—and valuable follow-up that offers real market insight.
“We send out a proposal, as I’m sure everybody else does, but we also do a lot of follow-ups. We immediately let them know what their competition looks like and other sales we’ve done in their neighborhood, usually within a day,” he says. “We follow up with more information than what’s required.”
Kim Cameron, CRS, with RE/MAX Properties West in St. Louis, has also found success with the program. Her first lead was a listing 10 minutes from her office, which sold quickly and then led to more business.
“This $275,000 lead resulted in $970,000 in total transactions—my market’s average is closer to $200,000,” she says.
Over the past two years, she has received 42 leads, closed four and has two currently listed, along with 17 prospects in the hopper. Since ReferralExchange partnered with CRS to create the Qualified Consumer Leads program, the number of leads have increased, she says.
She too feels follow-up is key and recommends that CRS Designees who sign up have a system in place they can activate as soon as they receive their first lead.
“What we often fail to realize is conversion can often occur after the fifth attempt to reach a lead, about the same time many of us give up,” she says. “We don’t stop calling until they respond. These prospects are invited to our client parties, receive holiday cards, monthly market snapshots—anything we can do to connect until they give us a reason to stop.”
While some agents report instances where a seller already has an agent and is looking for a second opinion, or buyers who are not far enough along in the process to commit, Lilly says that in his experience, 90 percent of the leads are qualified and ready to move, and Cameron says that patience is the key to higher conversions.
Do you have tips for maximizing the potential of the Qualified Consumer Leads program? Share them on our CRSConnect Facebook page.
