Without question, the vast majority of new leads come from the Internet. And given today's challenging market conditions, you want to treat these inquiries like they were precious new-born babes. Here are the online communication "Best Practices" you can easily implement to make sure each has the highest possibility of turning into a full-grown transaction.

BEST PRACTICE: How to Respond to Online Leads

The answer to this is simple, unless the inquiry explicitly asks you to call (which is different than just giving you their phone number), then you respond in the way they contacted you. If their initial contact is via email, you respond in kind -- ideally, using the "Critical First Response" email script covered in my March, 2008 column. Likewise, if a prospect texts you, then you simply text them back. By the way, you will see more initial online inquiries via text messages as the "Thumb Generation" reaches the age where they are considering purchasing their first home.

So, when is it appropriate to call an online prospect as your reply to their online inquiry? Here are the guidelines that will give you the greatest chances of converting them to serious clients:

• They explicitly ask you to call – if in their inquiry they provide their phone number AND ask you to call, then by all means do so;

• The inquiry comes from your highly targeted website -- if it is clear that the source of the lead is from your highly targeted website and they offer their phone number voluntarily (i.e. they were not forced to reveal it), then it is generally safe to call them right away. The reason why the source of the inquiry (in this case, your highly targeted website) is so important is because it determines whether or not they already started trusting you.

As mentioned in many of my previous articles, a highly targeted website is the most powerful online tool you have to start a relationship with the online consumer before they even contact you. Whereas most inquiries from third-party lead generation services or generic "one size fits all" agent sites are actually quite cold.

In any other situation you do NOT call them first. To do so you risk driving them away because in all probability they just wanted information, not some salesperson trying to set up an appointment. Most human beings feel vulnerable and defensive when they are on the phone with a salesperson with whom they don't have a relationship.

That is why the Internet is such a safe place for them to do their "information gathering" before they are ready to speak to a real estate professional. If you receive an online inquiry that does not meet the above criteria (for phoning immediately), then use the modified "Critical First Response" email covered in the March 2008 column that essentially has you ask permission to call. By taking that approach you have a much better chance of having a fruitful initial phone conversation, and of course conversion to business.

One last thing about your email response to online prospects -- always include your signature. An email signature is an information block (usually at the end of your message) that includes your complete contact information. In addition to being professional, it is a required disclosure by some real estate regulatory jurisdictions. Once you have established a solid and ongoing client relationship with the prospect, then including your signature in each email message is no longer necessary.

BEST PRACTICE: When to Respond to Online Leads

When it comes to online leads, there is no such thing as "too fast." Online consumers are a very impatient bunch (remember, the Internet connects people around the world in just milliseconds). They expect a very fast response to their inquiries. Ideally, you respond to email inquiries in just minutes of receiving them. This presents a logistics problem however, when you are out showing property, taking a listing or in the middle of a heated negotiation (or on vacation, shopping, playing golf, etc.)

So how do you manage to be responsive without having to sit in front of your computer all day? The most practical answer is to us a Virtual Assistant (VA) who specializes in online lead management. VAs do sit in front of their computer all day and therefore are in a position to respond immediately on your behalf. As mentioned in numerous earlier articles, the best place to find a VA with specific real estate sales support skills like these is . In addition to acting as your online proxy by providing immediate response to online inquiries, they can also help you stay in touch with those online leads who are not quite ready to move just yet (see below).

Should an inquiry arrive via text message, you at least will be in a better position to respond to it in a timely fashion since it arrives on your cell phone. Once again however, you could re-direct these messages to your VA to handle them as well.

BEST PRACTICE: Staying In Touch With Online Leads

It is well known that 19 out 20 valid online real estate related inquiries are in the "information gathering stage" and can be 3 – 18 or more months out from taking action. This means if you want to have any chance at all of doing business with this massive 95% segment of online leads, you need a way to stay in touch that doesn't drive them away.

Drip marketing is a proven strategy to turn these latent leads into closed transactions, IF you follow these guidelines:

• Give them value – each and every message of your drip campaigns needs to be perceived as highly valuable by the recipient. If you know the prospect is part of your specific target market, put them into a campaign that addresses needs and wants specific to them. If all you know about them is their interest in a particular property (typical for most third-party lead generation services), then provide them with ongoing, up-to-date information about the properties and neighborhoods in the general area of their interest. Remember, you want your prospect looking forward to your next message, not dreading it.

• Stay in touch, don't overwhelm – you want to stay your prospects to remember you for the right reasons. Avoid having your campaign contact them more than once a week. Any more frequently than that and you will likely push them away. On the other hand, make sure your campaign keeps in touch with them no less than once a month.

• Make it easy for them to say "no thanks" – at the bottom of each message (assuming an email campaign), include easy "on-click" opt-out instructions should they choose to no longer receive your messages. Online consumers do not like to feel they are trapped into receiving something they don't want. Also, since most email drip campaign systems track opt-out requests, you can see whether your campaign is do its job or not.

Online Consumers Are Human Beings Too

There is nothing magic about working effectively with online consumers. They are human beings just like you and me. The key is understanding human behavior in the online context, then leveraging that understanding into practical communication strategies that result in the highest likelihood of converting casual inquiries into closed transactions. That is the whole purpose of defining "Best Practices" —so you can see "Best Results".

Published: July 30, 2008

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Michael J. Russer (a.k.a. Mr. Internet®) is an internationally acclaimed speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry and small business. He is also the exclusive Internet columnist for REALTOR® Magazine, the architect of the revolutionary e-ProductivityTM system and leading voice for the use of Virtual Assistants in small business. You can subscribe to his free monthly leading-edge newsletter ePOWER NEWS by going to ePowerNews.com.