Turn Internet Leads into Sales!

by Dan Rinzema

 What if you used these 5 Tips to improve your closings?

Internet customers are different than face-to-face customers. On one hand, they expect (and even demand) information fast (they are used to finding whatever they need with a click of a button), and on the other hand, internet shoppers are usually much earlier in the home buying process, so they can take longer to close. When you are dealing with internet leads, you need both speed and patience.

Here are five simple rules to help you turn more Internet leads into closed sales:

1. Respond to leads immediately.

As mentioned, internet shoppers want information instantly. Of course you can't be sitting at your computer 24/7, but there are ways you can increase your response time, which will increase your closing ratio:

1. Check your email regularly. We've actually had professionals tell us they didn't know they had offers on their homes simply because they forgot which email account they were having leads sent to – and didn't check it!
2. Use your phone. Many modern cell phones will alert you when you have emails and let you check them right on your phone. There are few things more impressive to an Internet shopper than a personal response with 2 hours, and that should be your objective.
3. At a very minimum, make time every day to respond to all Internet leads. Below we'll give you tips on how to do it quickly and easily, but in order for internet leads to help you sell, you must respond at "Internet speed!"

Tip: Most Internet lead generators (including MHVillage) will send out a lead to multiple email addresses. Your leads can be automatically sent to your office email and your personal email, and if you wish, even to multiple people in your office.

2. Respond even to "bad" leads.

As all of us know, sales are all about building relationships. Just because you don't have exactly what the customer wants, doesn't mean you can't help them. Just letting people know you have alternate options available or will keep an eye out for them, can start the conversation.

Here's a great example we saw just last week: A browser using MHVillage sent an email to a community asking about renting a manufactured home. This is a community that doesn't rent their homes. The community manager could have just said, "We don't have rental homes" and ended the conversation. Instead she responded, "While we don't have rental homes available right now, we do have a great lease-to-own program." That opened the door for a sale.

Tip: Keep an open mind – just because you don't have what the prospect is looking for today, doesn't mean they can't become a customer tomorrow. Look at every lead as a sales opportunity.

3. Have pre-written email responses ready to go.

You'll find that a lot of your leads are pretty similar – many internet home buyers ask the same kinds of questions. Have professional, articulate lead responses pre-written for your most common questions. Make sure that all responses include your name, your company name, phone number and website address. Having pre-written responses ready to go will save you time and energy, and they will help you respond faster. It also ensures that every response is clear, well written, and says exactly what you want it to say.

There are a number of ways you can make pre-written emails. One is to have your responses written in a word processing document so you can quickly cut and paste them into your email. Another is to use a text replacement program that lets you type in a few characters to produce a complete phrase, sentence, or even paragraph. For example, typing in "thnx" could generate "Thank you very much for your inquiry today, I am happy to answer your questions."

Tip: Here are a few free text replacement programs you can download:

• Texter (For computers running Windows)
• ActiveWords (Also for Windows, but limited to 30 entries)
• TextExpander (For Mac computers)

4. Make sure you customize your lead responses.

Having pre-written responses is a great way to save time, but they can sound a bit like a form letter. To guard against this, slightly customize each response before sending it. For example, once you have your pre-written response, make it more personal by using the lead's first name in the salutation and reference what they are looking for and where the lead comes from. Here's an example of an opening response:

Dear (name),

Thank you for requesting more information on the home at (address) that you found on MHVillage. I am happy to answer questions for you on that home.

You can easily cut and paste something like this into an email, and then customize it to fit the specific information in the lead.

Tip: Most leads contain specific information about the prospect and the home they're interested in, and they often include specific questions. Use that information to customize your response, and always try to answer specific questions.

5. Have a professional email address for leads.

If you are a professional in the manufactured home industry, you need a professional email address. Using a personal email address to respond to leads does not inspire confidence, especially if that email address is something like: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . (Don't laugh, these are slightly modified email addresses of actual professional email addresses.)

When you are responding to internet leads, use an email that includes your company name. Using an email address that ends with @MyCompanyName.com instead of @msn.com, @Yahoo.com, @aol.com or @gmail.com creates a much more professional image in the mind of a prospect. There are many companies (like www.anythingemail.com, for example) that will let you create very low cost email accounts using your company name. You may think this is a minor detail, but remember, in sales it's often the minor details that make the difference!

Tip: Remember Rule #1. If you do create a new email address, be sure to remember to check it regularly!

Dan Rinzema is President of MHVillage. With over 25,000 visitors every day, MHVillage is the industry's largest and most active Website for buying, selling, and renting Manufactured homes. Contact Dan at Five Mile Rd NE, Suite 100, Grand Rapids, MI 49525. Phone: (800) 365-1415 Fax: (800) 841-8062 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Website: http://www.mhvillage.com