Real Estate Lead Routing: Maximizing Speed-to-Lead

The 4 most effective real estate lead routing methods are round-robin distribution, first-to-claim, geographic routing and skill-based routing. Teams that respond to leads within an hour are 7x more likely to qualify them (per Harvard Business Review research), making routing speed one of the highest-leverage changes a team can make.

Below, we break down when to use each routing method, what results teams typically see and how to configure them inside your CRM.

What is Speed-to-Lead?

Speed-to-lead is the time it takes for an agent to respond to a lead. Responses range from text messages, to emails, to phone calls. But the bottom line is that the faster an agent initiates communication, the more likely that lead is to convert. Delaying a response can mean waning interest for the lead and even losing the lead altogether. 

Why is Speed-to-Lead Important?

Studies have repeatedly shown that faster response times result in better lead engagement.  According to Lead Response Management, businesses that respond within five minutes are 100 times more likely to connect than those that wait an hour. In fact, the likelihood of qualifying that lead is also 21 times higher within that initial five-minute window.  A study conducted by the Harvard Business Review found that companies that responded to leads within an hour were seven times more likely to qualify a lead than those trying to contact the lead after an hour. For real estate teams, where there are numerous competitors in the same area, the stakes to respond quickly couldn’t be higher. 

How Lead Routing Can Help

One of the most important ways to enhance speed-to-lead is lead routing.  Lead routing is the process of automatically assigning incoming leads to the most appropriate agent or team member based on predefined criteria such as price, location, property type, day of the week, custom tags and more. This ensures that leads are quickly assigned to the most suitable agents, increasing the chances of timely follow-up and engagement. 

In real estate CRMs, the criteria should be as simple or complex as necessary to meet that agent or team’s needs.  For example, leads can be routed based on:

• Price
• Location
• Property Type
• Day of the week
• Round-Robin Distribution
• Skill-Based Matching with Custom Tags

By using an intelligent lead routing system, like the one offered by Sierra Interactive, real estate teams can automatically get lead into the right hands, maximizing their speed-to-lead and chances of conversion. 

Lead Routing Benefits with Sierra Interactive

Sierra Interactive provides a sophisticated real estate lead routing system which teams can use to implement custom automations tailored to their operations.  Here are some key benefits:

• Improved Lead Conversion: Be the first to respond making it more likely to convert your leads. Sierra helps teams respond quicker, which is critical in a crowded market.

• Efficiency in Lead Distribution: With features like round-robin and first-to-claim, Sierra ensures that leads are effectively distributed among the team and contacted promptly. 

• Avoiding Lead Accumulation: There is no one-size-fits all approach to lead routing. As your team grows and changes, Sierra provides the tools to modify your lead routing, getting leads to the right agents at the right time and preventing lead backlogs from forming.  
• Customized Follow Up: With Sierra, you can create templates tailored to your communication style. These same tools can tailor follow-up tasks and reminders based on a lead’s behavior and engagement, ensuring your team has the right information to follow up with leads at the best times. 

Lead Routing Tactics

Sierra offers a variety of tactics for customizing lead routing logic:

• Round-Robin Distribution: This distributes leads equally among your team. This is especially useful when you have a team of equally skilled agents and you want to ensure a fair distribution of leads.  

• Skill-Based Routing: By combining lead routing criteria with custom tagging, you can route leads with agents who have the right skills and experience, increasing the chance of successful conversions.

• Instant Call with No Delay: Make sure there’s an agent on the line with instant call with no delay. The Sierra Dialer will immediately call the first agent offered the lead.

• First to Claim: After an inquiry, the first agent to claim the lead gets it.  This helps make sure a lead is contacted quickly. 
• Auto-Responders: Give your team some breathing room to craft personalized messages by creating unique auto-responses. 

Conclusion

Mastering real estate lead routing to maximize speed-to-lead is critical in the fast-paced real estate market. By understanding lead routing, implementing automations and adjusting them overtime, you can significantly improve your response time and conversion rates.  Start refining your lead routing strategy today and watch your response speed and conversions improve dramatically. Schedule a demo to learn more.