Do you ever get the idea that an entire cottage industry exists for the sole purpose of fleecing agents out of their hard-earned commission dollars? Ever feel like a new technology company springs up every 15 minutes with the latest, greatest new clever idea? And all the pitches are the same: a room full of drones on phones, calling agents from the NAR membership list, promising great success!

“Just give me $1000 for this super-duper short-sale program, and you will make millions!” or maybe, “Sign up for our unbelievable system and you’ll do 50 deals in 50 days!” or “If you’ll just buy our incredible website, you will have hundreds of customers falling out of the sky!” or “Let us put your website at the top of all the search engines — guaranteed!” or “Buy our leads and you’ll make a fortune!”

And it goes on and on. It’s nearly impossible to know which ones work and which ones don’t. And, of course, each company wants you to invest just one commission a year in the hopes of receiving back many times that amount if all goes well. Let’s be honest… we’ve all thrown away good money hoping to make money with one of those companies. Yes, me too.

As a new agent, I spent money with several large national companies buying leads. They were expensive, they were poor quality, and the same leads had been sold to several other agents. But I was in a long-term contract spending $1,200 a month for poor quality leads and an education. After a very expensive education, I managed to learn two simple lessons:

Lesson One: Only Leads Matter! Lots of leads means lots of money. No leads means no money. It really is that simple. There is not a single problem in your real estate practice that you can’t solve by having more customers. Think about it. Lots of leads gives you endless options. From cherry picking your clients, to managing your schedule, to keeping your costs in line, to being able to relax and enjoy your job. A good lead count covers a multitude of sins!

Lesson Two: Don’t Buy Leads — Make Your Own! Companies who sell leads have no incentive to make them high quality. In fact, their interest is in quantity, not quality. If you’ve ever bought leads you understand this oh, too well. Don’t buy leads — make your own. If you eat out, you have little control over the food quality, or the cost. In fact, most restaurants force you to buy more food than you can eat (or should eat). On the other hand, if you cook at home, you control the quality and the quantity. You control the menu and the meal time. Make your own leads and you are in control of your own business.

When I learned those two lessons, I looked for technology to help me make my own leads. When I couldn’t find what I was looking for, I finally decided to build my own technology and start making my own leads. No more buying leads. When I did, everything immediately turned around for me.

I had more business than I could handle so I recruited other struggling agents to join my team. Soon the team outgrew the small Century 21 office where I worked, and FavoriteAgent.com Team became the first FavoriteAgent.com real estate company. By the end of the first year, our company had become the largest in our market with over 50 agents. When we grew to 100 agents we began to open other offices.

As you know, rumors of success get around. Before long, agents started calling me asking if I would help them build the same technology. For several months I tried, until I finally realized that you can’t really teach somebody how to build technology over the phone. Finally, I offered to just build it for them, and then let them pay me to use it like licensing software.

Since then over 20,000 agents have used our technology to build their businesses. I thought I would share a few of their letters:

Jerry & Judy Ryan

We Were Almost Bankrupt…

Early last year, our real estate practice was on the verge of bankruptcy. My wife and I have been in real estate for ten years, but as with many other agents, the past two years were very bad for us. I even met with a bankruptcy attorney to discuss our plight. I was sure our business was doomed.

We were desperately searching for a solution to our financial troubles and had even considered getting out of real estate. I don’t intend to brag, because I truly believe our success has come not only from the LCM Gateway technology, but also as answer to some serious prayers, but these numbers will make my point.

In June-July of this year (our best two months ever) , we will earn about $62,000 in commissions, all in spite of the oil slick right off our the coast of our beautiful Pensacola Beach. Wow! How’s that for illustrating the importance of just focusing on lead capture?

Jerry & Judy Ryan
Pensacola, FL

Jason Jarstfer

I Was Ready to Quit Real Estate…

As a new agent, I was broke and ready to quit real estate due to the lack of business after only four months. Then I found the LCM Gateway technology, and my business has never been the same.

I’ve used the LCM Gateway for two years. When I started using it, I was a rookie agent and had only sold one home. After my first full year with them, I was named the top producer in my company of 21 agents (and again the following year) and was ranked in the top 3% of agents in my metro area.

All the other agents in our region are saying it is the slowest year they’ve ever seen, but I’ve had more business than I can handle. So much that I recently hired a full time administrative assistant and started my own team. The LCM Gateway solved my “no-business” problem! Thanks!

Jason Jarstfer
Radcliff, KY

Kyle Wilson

One Simple Change Made All the Difference…

When I started in real estate, I struggled to close one deal a month. I had a standard template website and thought I was “advanced” because I used pay-per-click advertising. But I closed only a few deals from it. At the time, it was the best I could do.

When I heard about the LCM Gateway technology, I was skeptical. They suggested that simply by replacing my old website with the LCM Gateway I could capture 25-30 times as many leads! I decided to take the leap of faith, and within two days my lead count exploded. I was spending the same ad dollars, but generating literally 30 times more leads than before.

I had to cut back on advertising just so I could keep up with the leads. Soon I started building a team of agents. We closed 126 transactions our first year and 130 our next, which was a “slow market” according to the so-called experts. And we achieved that with a fraction of the advertising budget of our competitors using traditional marketing methods.

Needless to say, I highly recommend this system to anyone serious about increasing their transaction volume while decreasing their current marketing budget.

Kyle Wilson
Boise, Idaho

So, what worked for me, also worked for them, and it has worked for lots of other agents. Just listen to them in their own words in this short video.

I think they say it better than I could do. Now I started this article by saying that technology sucks, and I think for the most part it does. If your technology isn’t bringing you business, then I say you need to seriously rethink it. I know I did. So have many other agents.

Let’s be honest: What difference does it make if you have the slickest website in the world if you are about to go out of business and it isn’t contributing by producing leads? It is either part of the problem or part of the solution. The same goes for every other piece of technology that some fast-talking salesman got you to try. If it isn’t producing, fire it! It’s either adding to the bottom line or it’s taking away from it.

If ever there was a time when leads matter, it is today! The business is tougher than at any time in our history. True, the number of home sales is down 10% from a couple of years ago. But, the number of agents is down by nearly 30%! That means that it is a better time than ever before to be in the real estate business, assuming you have the leads.

Because I’m an agent and a broker, I understand the tough times agents are going through today. But, I also know how powerful our technology is and how agents who are using it are having their best months ever, in spite of the awful economy.

So let me ask you this: Are you struggling, not having enough business to pay the bills? Are you tired of trying idea after idea, each of which requires you to make a big investment and a long-term commitment and then hope it works? Then do this — try my LCM Gateway.

Our new LCM Gateway is a state-of-the-art lead capture technology for less than the price of a cup of coffee a day and it has no long-term contract! And as my way of thanking you for reading my blog, I’m offering it to you at a substantial discount.

I’m willing to prove to you that it works, by offering it at an extremely low price and with no long-term contract! No kidding. So if you’re struggling… if you’re wondering where that next transaction is coming from… stop wondering and check it out for yourself. Your practice will never be the same.