It’s one thing to get a lot of good, high-quality real estate leads, but converting those leads into lifelong, loyal clients is quite another. And working hard and spending a lot of money on lead generation can be futile if you lack a solid lead nurture plan. Here’s how you can make the most out of each lead you get:

1. Integrate the right technology tools into your business, such as a real estate CRM.

Without the proper tools and systems to help you generate leads and effectively manage and keep in touch with them over time, you’ll find a lot of quality leads slip through the cracks.

2. Assign your leads to drip marketing programs.

Use your CRM to assign each lead to a drip email and/or letter marketing campaign for that particular lead type (for instance, a for-sale-by-owner lead or a prospective seller lead). A good CRM will have these campaigns designed for you, so you don’t have to worry about writing marketing emails and setting up a campaign. Keep in mind that when a lead comes through your site, you can get your CRM to automatically assign them to a drip marketing campaign.

3.  Send a monthly newsletter.

A monthly newsletter positions you as a “home expert” and is a great way to stay memorable and continue to provide value to your leads over time. A good real estate CRM will come with a professionally written and designed e-newsletter that will go out automatically every month.

4.  Make periodic keep-in-touch calls.

In addition to sending emails and/or letters to keep in touch, periodic check-in calls are also very important. Don’t make the calls all about you. Instead, keep the focus of the call on the lead and what you can do to help them at whatever stage they’re in.

5. Send out “Just Listed” and “Just Sold” e-cards or e-flyers.

If you’ve listed some great properties that you think your leads may be interested in, send them a nice “Just Listed” e-card or e-flyer (they’re much better than those impersonal, sometimes cluttered, automatic reports sent from your MLS system).  And if you’ve sold a number of properties recently that are in-line with what your leads are looking at buying or selling, let those leads know about them – it can lend yourself a great deal of credibility.

Matthew Collis is part of the Sales and Marketing Team at IXACT Contact Solutions Inc., a leading North American real estate CRM firm. In addition to overseeing many of IXACT Contact’s key sales and marketing programs, Collis works with REALTORS to help them achieve their goals through effective contact management and relationship marketing. IXACT Contact is a Web-based real estate contact management and marketing system designed to help Realtors get more referrals and manage the transaction side of their business.