The rise of Craigslist and how you can use it to generate leads

By Laura Price, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Keller Williams Realty

“I’m persistent until prospects tell me to take a hike,” explained Bob Cenk, mega agent and Craigslist aficionado. “And I’m good at taking a hike,” the former mountain climber joked while on a panel discussing the best Internet strategies during Mega Agent Camp Wednesday morning. Just last year he made $700,000 off Craigslist alone and isn’t showing signs of slowing down – this year he’s projected to crest nearly $1 million in GCI.

After leaving mountain climbing to spend more time with his family, Cenk got into real estate and quickly realized he needed a free method to generate leads. So he jumped on Craigslist and started posting. Here are the lessons he’s learned and the strategies he’s currently implementing to stay on top of his game.

1. Capture their attention. Traditional thinking might tell you to describe the home, its price and the neighborhood in the title. Through trial and error, Cenk has found that those headlines actually send people away from your post. “Consumers usually go onto Craigslist only once, and they are automatically looking for ways to disqualify the home,” he says. The best headlines, he explains, are the non-traditional ones. Here are three that are proven to pull in leads. 

!!!! START PACKING … LET’S MAKE A DEAL!!!!

***** WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE ABOUT THIS JEM******

!!!! PINCH ME I MUST BE DREAMING!!!!

2. Simple is better. A lot of agents make the mistake of writing too much about a home. “That just gives the consumer another way to disqualify the home – which loses you a lead.” Cenk has found that the simple posts which merely describe his service are the ones that get the most attention. For a full explanation on how to post simple ads, watch the video below.

3. Consistency and persistency with marketing and messaging: “We’ve found that people typically don’t click to the second page.” The strategy: “continue to post throughout the day to stay at the top of the first page. As redundant as it seems, posting the same message over and over is effective.” Cenk was quick to remind the audience that once leads (hundreds a day in his case) start coming in, it’s important to leverage your time and add someone to your team to handle your posting, and follow-up for you.

4. Adapt. Through trial and error Cenk has successfully found his way to success on the site. Liking his adaptation to climbing a mountain, he said “when you climb and come to a rough patch, you go back down; train and then head back up a new way.”

Comments

[Troy Trumm]

Great info. Keller Williams continues to provide the best training information.

[David Matney]

Good article.