ReadyChat is a leading provider of live chat marketing services for the real estate industry, with a full range of lead generation, lead qualification, and lead transfer solutions. The company’s proactive live chat services offer website monitoring 15 hours a day, seven days a week.  Qualified leads are transferred live by phone directly to the brokerage’s designated sales associate or representative.

“Studies have shown that 67% of homebuyers will select the first agent or broker who contacts them,” said Justin Shum, president and CEO of ReadyChat.  “Our services empower brokers to be the first to engage with and establish a relationship with online prospects so they have no reason to search elsewhere.”

“ReadyChat’s focus on providing an easy way to capture qualified leads from website visitors makes it an ideal solution for our brokers who want to maximize their online investment,” notes Robin LaSure, LeadingRE vice president of corporate marketing.  “The benefits extend from the consumer who experiences a highly responsive approach to the agent who ultimately receives qualified leads.  The broker is able to satisfy both audiences, while driving more business for the company.”

About Leading Real Estate Companies of the World^®

Leading Real Estate Companies of the World^® is the largest network of top independent local and regional brand-name brokerage firms in the residential sector of real estate. The 550 firms affiliated with Leading Real Estate Companies of the World^® are represented by 4,600 offices and 140,000 associates in more than 30 countries worldwide. The organization’s leadership is demonstrated by the fact that its affiliates comprise 15 of the top 25 real estate companies in the country. Collectively, LeadingRE affiliates produced nearly 800,000 home sales valued at $225 billion in the U.S. in 2010. In addition, LeadingRE locally-branded affiliates hold the Number One position in sales in 40% of the top 96 markets in the U.S., more than any national franchise organizations. 

If so, there is an endless supply of software vendors and service providers for you to consider. Depending on your lead generation goals and objectives, a managed live chat for real estate service may be more effective and efficient. In this post we will examine the major differences between a managed live chat service vs. a “do it yourself” live chat solution.

So, what is meant by “managed live chat”? Managed live chat is a business practice of transferring day-to-day related live chat operations as a strategic method for improved efficiency (i.e. outsourcing the implementation, execution, management and optimization of your live chat campaign/service to a 3rd party). Let’s address some commonly asked questions for you to consider.

How do I choose the right solution for my real estate website?

This would depend on your objectives and the results that you are trying to achieve. What makes live chat such an effective channel for sales lead generation and customer service is the ability to be available to service your online visitors in real-time. Unlike email, you will need to have a dedicated person (either yourself or a staff member) to be available during key business hours and when your website has the highest website activity – which can vary throughout the day or night. One major aspect to consider is will you be available 8-12 hours a day to be able to respond to live chat inquiries from your real estate website? If not, how much would it cost for you or your office to hire and train a team of in-house operators?

How is a managed live chat service beneficial to your real estate business?

As a busy real estate broker or agent, you’re busy managing clients, listings, contracts, marketing plans, and the list goes on. Although live chat can be a highly valuable website feature for improving lead conversion rates, it is a major endeavour to manage and operate yourself. Not only can it be difficult to understand which solution would work best for your needs and objectives, but implementing and executing an effective live chat for real estate system requires a level of expertise in order to achieve optimum results. Having a managed live chat service provider with expertise in real estate will greatly impact website visitor interaction and conversion rates, and your overall return on investment.

How much does it cost for a managed live chat for real estate service?

Costs can vary from one provider to the next. Quality and expertise are major factors in pricing for managed live chat services. We’ve seen service providers’ quote anywhere from $199-$999 / month for managed services – depending on the features and coverage you are looking for (e.g. 8 hours per day / 24 hours per day). Software-only solutions are significantly less as you will need to only purchase the live chat software license, which can range from $40-$400 / month. But then again, there is the staffing and availability factor involved with a self-managed solution.

We hope this article was helpful in answering some initial questions you may have asked yourself when evaluating a live chat solution for your real estate website. If you would like to learn more about ReadyChat’s managed live chat for real estate services, or have any questions regarding the information above, please feel free to give us a call 1-888-693-0351.

Beginning April 23, ReadyChat will provide Search Realty Corp. with chat services that generate leads and add an immediate personal touch to website interactions.

“Search Realty partnered with ReadyChat because we knew their expertise and focus on the real estate industry would make outsourcing our lead generation seamless,” said Sterling Wong, president of Search Realty Corp. “Service is key when it comes to selling real estate, and many websites are missing the personal service needed to form new customer relationships. We believe ReadyChat’s managed live chat service is the solution.Now our customers will have more options to engage with us, which means more leads and sales opportunities for my salespeople.”

ReadyChat was founded in 2011 and serves more than 100 real estate firms throughout North America by providing online engagement tools for company websites. ReadyChat toolsinstantly engage website visitors through chat services, and help companies turn browsers into qualified sales leads that generate top results.

“The conversion rates on our client sites are so much higher than others because our services were created by real estate industry experts withthe consumer’s experience top-of-mind,” said Jacob Reese, VP of Chat Operations, ReadyChat. “We provide homebuyers with first-class, personal service that they will associate with our clients, which iscritical when it comes time for that customer to choose an agent or brokerage.”

About Search Realty

Search Realty Corp. is a real estate brokerage that utilizes the best tools and technology to serve the needs of today’s home buyers, sellers and real estate agents. Each month, more than 15,000 people make nearly 135,000 page views through the 100 websites in the Search Realty network.

About ReadyChat

ReadyChat is a premiere full-service live chat provider that serves the real estate industry. The ReadyChat team helps new homebuilders, real estate brokers and agents develop, manage, and execute an effective live chat system and service to help improve website lead conversion and overall customer satisfaction.

For more information on ReadyChat partnerships, contact EhsonRahmatti, VP New Business Development at ehson@readychat.ca or 1-888-693-0351.

Homebuilders, real estate brokers and agents will have immediate access to new and familiar online marketing and sales services when ReadyChat launches a new website on April 30.

ReadyChat’s improved site will expand instant communication services to include appointment setting and lead qualification services while retaining popular chat tools for real estate clients. Other site enhancements include regular content focuses on industry trends, sales and marketing tactics, case studies, and streamlined processes for real estate lead generation and marketing information.

“We’re confident our new site will provide the expert knowledge and services real estate builders, developers, brokers and agents seek in an easy-to-navigate form,”said Justin Shum, presidentand CEO of ReadyChat.“At ReadyChat, we’re always ready to provide our customers access to online engagement tools that generate top results.”

About ReadyChat

ReadyChat is a premiere full-service live chat provider that serves the real estate industry. The ReadyChat team helps new homebuilders, real estate brokers and agents develop, manage, and execute an effective live chat system and service to help improve website lead conversion and overall customer satisfaction.

For more information, contact Ehson Rhamati, VP Sales, at ehson@readychat.ca or 1-888-693-0351.

When it comes to online new home marketing and lead generation, customer service is often overlooked as a viable channel for lead generation and marketing. In our line of work, the customer service channel is THE KEY source for deep customer and prospect engagement and, in our opinion, is vital for successful lead generation and overall home sales. Here’s why…

Costumers judge your brand by how you respond to their needs.

Customers judge your performance as a brand with every interaction, through all channels, including every click they make on your website. When it comes to your website’s online experience, how do you measure up to your competition in the eyes of your customer? Consider these facts from LeadQual – a leader in lead qualification and response via phone.

According to LeadQual (stats taken from LeadQual website):

• The average Internet consumer visits 5 websites and competes 3 different contact forms,
• 50% of Internet leads are never followed up on, and;
• 90% of consumers are very satisfied when they are personally contacted on the same day they complete an Internet form.

When it comes to your online experience, it doesn’t just end with your website. When a lead submits their information through your website, how well you respond and follow up with leads is vital for online lead conversion to sale. This is where most builders fail to provide customer service and transition web leads to in-person visits with sales staff. Many builders simply do not have a company-wide procedure to follow up on web leads. This is more dangerous than you would think as it sends a powerful message that you simply don’t care enough about your customers, or perhaps you’re too busy to really care about their needs. Whatever the reason, a negative experience is a leak in the revenue ship that needs to be plugged.

Better Analytics for More Effective Marketing

Website analytics can tell you a lot about your online customer interactions and how they behave on your website. This is highly valuable data if you are continuously looking to optimize your online customer experience on your home builder website. At ReadyChat, we are results driven and analytics play a big role in what we do. But while analytics programs can help you understand your customers’ activity, it fails to provide insights into their way of thinking and individual needs. At any given moment, the customers using your website will be experiencing a range of different qualities of service, and consequently will be going through a range of states of satisfaction.

Open forms of communications such as live chat, social media, and email can provide deep insights into individual customer needs… something analytics software can’t do. Customer service should always be two-way and as such, allows you to identify a users frustration or individual needs, and most importantly allow your staff to engage in meaningful conversations related to the individual needs of a customer.

Identify High-Value vs. Low-Value Customers

In order to act on individual customers’ experiences, though, you need to consider what the appropriate action is for that unique customer. Not all customers are equal, and high value customers will warrant different treatment from low value clients. For example, a high value homebuyer that submits a sales query by email should be contacted by phone, within the hour, while your brand is still top of mind. But a low value client who has register to receive your newsletter will not warrant this level of service (and consequent expense) and will probably be contacted by email.

With 90% of homebuyers beginning their home search on the Internet, online customer service has never become more important for home builders. There are many factors that influence a positive customer service experience that are constantly overlooked by builders. One key take-away from this article should be the importance of how your customers view your brand and customer service both online and offline should be incorporated as part of the sales process.

While getting a lot of traffic to your site is great, it is critical to be able to convert anonymous online visitors into sales leads. With proactive live chat invitations and a live chat concierge service a website is converted into a true sales center for Builders and Realtors®. With live chat for real estate a website visitor can receive immediate service and answers to their sales related questions. This approach is the most effective way to create a true consumer centric website and yields dramatic results.

“Our goal is to provide the opportunity for every small to mid-sized real estate firm with the ability to implement and execute a chat solution that may appear to only be accessible to large organizations.” said Justin Shum, president and CEO of ReadyChat. “By outsourcing the live chat process to ReadyChat, our clients are able to maximize sales opportunities from their websites while lowering overall costs associated with staffing during regular business hours and thereafter.”

About ReadyChat

ReadyChat is a premiere full-service live chat provider that serves the real estate industry. The ReadyChat team helps new homebuilders, real estate brokers and agents develop, manage, and execute an effective live chat system and service to help improve website lead conversion and overall customer satisfaction.

For more information on ReadyChat partnerships, contact Ehson Rahmatti, VP Business Development at ehson@readychat.ca or 1-888-693-0351.

A large aspect of our business relies on the ability to not only capture website visitor’s contact information, but to qualify them as a valid sales opportunity (essentially purchasing within 3-6 months) and schedule in-person meetings with our client’s sales people. Sure this can be done by a series of follow-up phone calls and emails exchanged between the sales people and customers, but this usually takes several days, or even weeks to coordinate. There are more efficient ways to do this. Yes that’s right, your home builder marketing plan needs to include live real estate chat!

As you may or may not know, live chat has the ability to communicate with your online customers via real-time text-based conversations from your website. It’s like having a human concierge helping your online visitors find information easier and quicker than the traditional “do-it-yourself” model of traditional home builder websites. Further, and more importantly for sales, live chat can significantly shorten the sales cycle by eliminating the need for follow-up of web-leads. How? Well, consider having a conversation with an online prospect the second they visit your website. The prospect can have their question answered right away by a live chat agent and then an appointment to visit your sales center can be scheduled during the initial conversation. Consider the following comparison of between the traditional web lead follow up procedure and live chat interaction.

Traditional Phone & Email Follow-Up Time:

*Stats taken from a recent study by InsideSales.com of 700 companies

Step 1: Customer fills out online form (initial contact)

Step 2: Salesperson responds by email (approx. 19 hours, 31 minutes)

Step 3: Salesperson responds by phone (approx. 36 hours, 57 minutes)

Step 4: Meeting successfully scheduled with Customer (approx. 57 hours)

Total: 3 days

Initial Live Chat Interaction:

Step 1: Customer accepts invitation to chat

Step 2: Live Agent uncovers customer needs and provides information.

Step 3: Based on customer needs, live agent schedules meeting with salesperson.

Step 4: Live Agent sends warm lead to sales person for meeting confirmation.

Total: 15 minutes

There really is no comparison between minutes vs. days here, and it is quite obvious that live chat can play a major factor in simplifying the follow-up procedure by eliminating steps such as email and phone response times. However, as a best practice, we encourage follow-up by phone once the appointment has been set by live chat so to confirm the meeting time with the customer.

Make sure you use live chat as part of your home builder marketing plan to shorten your home buyers purchasing cycle.

Just like in real estate, location and timing are everything. Live Chat is no different. Let’s examine some of the common factors that influence visitor interaction rates with a live chat operator.

Chat Button Visibility: The placement of a live chat button on your homepage or webpages will significantly impact interaction rates with your website visitors. We generally advise our clients to place click-to-chat buttons above the page fold (where the page cuts off on the bottom of your computer screen).  See example below.

Image: Live Chat button placed above the fold (before the screen cuts off)

Humanize Your Website. Having human images included in your chat button can dramatically increase click to chat and interaction rates. Studies show that the more human your website is, the more likely your visitors will be to convert (i.e. submit their contact information in the form of an inquiry).  It’s important to include any human images you can to represent a live chat operator. This image can be either a commercial image or actual image of your staff member responsible for answering customer chat requests.

See below for some human chat button examples:

Image: Click-to-Chat Buttons with Human Faces

Click-to-Chat vs. Proactive Chat. Proactive chat invitations are key to see any real ROI from your home builder live chat service. Without proactively engaging your website’s visitors, your site remains reactive like every other home builder website out there. By reactive, I mean you are waiting for your online customers to take the initiative to contact you for your business, when it should be the other way around. Engaging visitors with a polite invite for online assistance through live chat is an excellent way to initiate sales related conversations and conversions.

Timing is everything! Effective live chat engagement for your home builder website will depend heavily on when you choose to engage your online customers. If you are engaging too soon, then your visitors will ignore your efforts and close any chat invite. To capitalize on proactive chat, you must identify the best time to send an invite. A chat invite is best received when the visitor has had a chance to view your website and likely has a question in which you can then interact by sending a chat invite. When this occurs on your site will vary. The best place to check when to engage your online customers with a chat invite can be found in your website analytics. See when the majority of your visitors are abandoning your website. Based on our experience, most website visitors will leave a home builders website after 30-60 seconds (if they don’t see what they like or get the help they need!). If your home builder marketing team doesn’t have analytics setup, you might want to get on top of that.

Many home builders from large to small have already deployed a live chat service on their website or are considering it. Unfortunately, live chat is not the same as setting up a phone line. There are best practices that should be followed for maximum ROI and ideal results. We will be posting more tips that will help you either fine-tune your existing home builder live chat service or consider the benefits of adding one to your home builder website.

Consider these direct sales and marketing related costs you’ll likely incur this year:

1. Total commissions paid out to sales agent plus base
2. Commissions paid to broker
3. Cost of marketing collateral (brochures, flyers, etc.)
4. Cost of traditional advertising (Billboards, print adds, mailers)
5. Cost of web marketing (community website design and amortization, website hosting, SEO, PPC, Email, Social Media)
6. Cost to build, maintain sales center or lease back.

I’m sure I’ve missed some other costs, but these are the main ones that come to mind.

So, how will you be able to increase your marketing ROI in 2012? Below are some proven and sound Web marketing strategies for home builders to consider.

1) Offer something of value to improve conversion rates. You train your sales staff to hand out sales packages to each prospect that walks in to your sales center: why not offer the same package on your Website?! It’s simple, allow your website visitors to download floor plans or a community information pack by submitting their contact information through the website. This way, you are offering them valuable information in exchange for their contact details, which you can then send more marketing materials by email; even better yet, have your sales team call them. This is easy and most builders don’t offer this feature on their websites.

2) Engage your online prospects the moment they visit your website. You’re likely investing in traffic generation strategies to drive traffic to your builder website, but have you thought about how you will be able to convert that traffic into sales? Far too many home builder marketing departments spend thousands each month on traffic generation and neglect the actual web visitor to lead conversion process (NO, having a “contact us” form is not a good strategy). The fact is, there are more than enough options for buyers these days, so you need to be first to interact and communicate with consumers. Web-based communications, such as Live Chat allows you to do just that, by allowing you to reach out to your online visitors and connect with them in real time as you would normally in your sales centers. The Internet can be a cold place and there is no better way to warm up your website than with human interaction (whatever you can do to make your website visitors feel welcomed), or risk your website visitors to click away likely to never return.

3) Respond to Internet leads instantly. By now I’m sure you’ve heard that the sooner you follow up with your leads, the more likely they are to remember just who the hell you are and why they would want to communicate with you. Your online visitors want information fast, and if you can’t deliver it they way the want, they’ll move on in a heartbeat. Again, utilizing real time technologies such as live chat allows your online prospects to connect with you instantly and get fast answers to their questions. Furthermore, live chat is a two-way channel so info can be collected and relayed to and from your online visitors. This has opened the landscape for many of our builder clients by being able to interact with online leads instantly while having the ability to capture valuable insights as to individual buyer needs, online behaviour and intent to purchase.

Armed with these three strategies you should be able to easily improve your new home marketing ROI in 2012.

This seemingly simple step is critical to your sales cycle, as we all know; you cannot sell anything to someone you do not know or who does not trust you. So how do you expand your reach?  The Internet seems like the most logical place to start, it offers a powerful home builder marketing reach and strategies to gain more web traffic. Although many home builders invest in traffic generation strategies, many are faced with the dilemma and problem of converting this valuable traffic into qualified leads and revenue.

Improve Your Online Presence

With shifting consumer behavior, New Home Builders have faced some of the greatest challenges recently in finding the right channels to market and promote to consumers. The market shift has been primarily the way buyers search for information on builders and new homes before deciding on a purchase. The Internet now provides the consumer with more than enough information on homes and real estate, that even individual agents are becoming less useful to a prospective home buyer. Consumers are now more educated and will gather information online before ever visiting any of your sales centers or model homes. So what is a builder to do? Spend more on Internet marketing with unfavorable results with low visitor to lead conversion rates? No…the answer is quite simple actually.

Consider your home builder website to be like an online sales center. Prospective home buyers search for your homes and land on your website. In fact, your website is likely the most visited asset your company owns, yet every time someone visits your website, no one is there to assist them. You wouldn’t leave your sales center empty for customers to browse and gather information on their own would you? ABSOLUTELY not. So how is your website any different? Frankly, it’s not.

The traditional self-service model is just not enough anymore. Sure this works well for e-commerce sites and websites that sell software, but these are usually small purchases and the buyer knows exactly what they are getting. With a home purchase, it is entirely different. If you are serious about selling more homes and attracting more buyers into your sales centers, then it’s time to get serious about your approach to online sales and service. Just like your sales centers are full of eager sales and service staff, your website will need to apply the same principal.

Create Relationships Online

Most websites are automated and rely on the “self-service” model for customer service and sales support. How can you expect to build a relationship with a prospective buyer through an automated system? Instead of looking for new ways to advertise your homes, what about maximizing your existing website traffic by engaging your online customers in sales focused conversations and personalizing the online shopping experience – just like in your sales centers. The best way to achieve this is through live chat. Imagine having a live sales or support representative on your website meeting and greeting your visitors in real-time conversations about their needs? Yes, a real human being reaching out to your customers and servicing them one on one. Major industries such as the automobile and banking sectors have all begun to adopt live chat as a major channel for online customer engagement, sales and support. In fact, a survey conducted by Bold Software uncovered that “77% of chatters agree that live chat technology positively influenced their attitude towards the website and their organization.”

If you are looking for ways to attract and acquire more customers through your website – your most visited asset – then you should really consider establishing a live chat system and operation that will allow you to extend your sales centre online. Remember, as a home builder, you are in the business of personal selling and building trust through relationships. There is no better way to connect with prospective home buyers through highly personal conversations in a non-threatening way (like a phone call or in-person) than live chat.