Do you have an email database filled with unrated web leads? Do you want more information about how “real” these prospects are, and if they are likely to be one month away from a buying decision or six months?
Although the first action for qualifying new leads is always salesperson follow up, sometimes prospective buyers who register online don’t return a sales agent’s call or email. Sales professionals may assume that the web lead is not a hot prospect. The lead grows stale and falls into an abyss of mass marketing email messages with no personalization – not a great recipe for engaging web leads and converting to sales office visits.
So how can home builders assign prospect ratings to these leads?
A home builder email newsletter is a quick, easy, and affordable way to convert a database of unrated leads to a prospecting goldmine.
The email newsletter is like an instant focus group that gives you feedback about what topics are important to which buyers, and by reviewing those topics you can gain insight to where certain buyers are in their buying process. (See a sample email newsletter format here.)
Here’s how it works: create an email newsletter with several topics that are relevant to buyers at different stages of the sales cycle. Each topic should include a link to an article on your website, a post on your blog, or a landing page. Your email distribution service such as Constant Contact or aWeber (we like and use Campaign Monitor) will tell you which prospects click on which link.
Here’s an example of 5 different messages that you can include in your home builder newsletter to define a starting point for prospect rating:
“A” Prospect: “This Weekend Only”
Although this may appeal to anyone in the buying cycle, it is most likely to appeal to the ready, willing, and able buyer who is looking for a specific price, promotion (“We’ll help pay for closing costs”), or specific home upgrade (“Move-In Ready Plan A – Backyard landscaping package included if you purchase this weekend.”)
“B” Prospect: “Is Now the Right Time to Buy?”
Again, this may appeal to buyers at all stages of the buying cycle, but specifically we want to target the buyers who are ready and able but still not willing, due to concerns about the economy, home prices, job security, and other external factors. Linking to a post on your blog that references third party articles from trusted sources such as the Wall Street Journal and New York Times can help buyers feel more informed and increase confidence.
“C” Prospect: “House to Sell? 10 Simple Design Tips”
For a first home buyer profile, this might also be “12 Steps to Credit Repair,” but the main point is that it is a message that identifies obstacles that are likely to prevent a buyer from purchasing in the next 30 days. Use your email distribution program to identify the prospects who clicked on this message, then consider a six week email campaign to that group with more information about selling a home or repairing credit. By positioning you and your company as a trusted source of valuable content, you build the relationship that is more likely to covert to a sale once that house is sold or good credit is restored.
Although this technique will only work if a prospect open your email and clicks through, it can be a starting point to create marketing strategies and follow up plans and uncover some new opportunities. Create a weekly or bi-weekly newsletter to continue to rotate messages (a C prospect may not need to repair credit, but may be saving for a down payment) and identify new opportunities. Update these ratings in your CRM to give you a more robust, active database.
Home builder email newsletters are a fast, easy, affordable way to gain instant insight to your web leads, and create personalized messages that increase conversion to sales office visit and sale.
Further Reading:
A Basic Guide to Home Builder Prospect Ratings
