Meet the Real Estate Tech Entrepreneur: Travis Thom
In our latest real estate tech interview, I’m talking to Travis Thom of Leads2Listing.com. Without further adieu, here’s a bit more from his own mouth…
What do you do?
I am founder and creator of www.Leads2Listing.com, a lead generating website built to attract Sellers for Listing Agents who wish to increase their listing volume and annual income. In addition to that, I am Qualifying Broker and Owner of my own Real Estate firm so, in essence, Leads2Listing.com is built by agents for agents. I understand the value of a hot lead, especially a Seller lead which can often be hard to come by since so many technologies and websites out there right now are built to attract Buyers, especially individual Real Estate websites — they only feature listings for Buyers to browse and usually very little information to attract a person, or persons, interested in listing their home and learning the current value of their asset. That’s where Leads2Listing.com comes in, to bridge that gap.
Why do You Do What you Do?
I initially built Leads2Listing.com as an in-house technology for the Agents who work for my firm. I really felt there was an opportunity to reach Sellers in a way that made them feel comfortable, while inserting ourselves as the experts and ultimately winning the listing. When my Agents began experiencing the high traffic that our websites were generating I realized this is a product that should be available to all industry members. Because I’ve worked as a Real Estate Agent myself for over a decade I really feel an obligation to share what works and what makes me successful with those who share my profession.
What are you most excited about right now?
I’ve always had a desire to transition from a user of products and technologies to a developer of products and technologies. Many of the products available to our industry are not actually built by Real Estate professionals so they often miss the mark of being really useful to us. Being in a position to understand what our industry truly lacks, as far as technology, is really exciting because I know I can begin to fill those holes one product at a time. In addition to that, though, it has been really rewarding to have our Leads2Listing users come back to us and tell us how many leads they’ve gained in such a short period of time. Knowing that our product is working for others, and not just our firm, has been amazing. For instance, one of our users in Texas has generated over 120 Seller leads in his first month. For me, knowing we’ve built a product that is genuinely tapping in to the Seller lead market, and working beyond expectations, makes me look forward to how I can continue to help Real Estate agents across the country with our business.
What’s next for you?
Leads2Listing is off to an incredible start but I want to add more features to make it an even more powerful tool for our users. We have our “2.0” version already in the works and are looking forward to how the extra features will generate more business for our users. We also have a second product outlined that we hope to launch by the end of the year.
What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?
My wife and I are expecting our first child, a daughter, in 7 weeks. At the moment, when I’m not working, my whole world is dedicated to making our little world ready for her arrival. The increasing strength of her kicks tells me I’m doing a pretty good job, so far.
Thanks to Travis for sharing his motivations and current projects. If you’re interested in connecting with him further, you can find him on Oh Hey World and LinkedIn.
We’ll be featuring other real estate tech entrepreneurs in the coming weeks. If you are an entrepreneur in the real estate vertical (past or present), and want to be profiled, please follow the steps outlined here. Remember, you can always discover other people in the Geek Estate community here.
Home Star
Posted at 11:41h, 09 AprilAny copy suggestions for facebook ads?
Travis Thom
Posted at 12:26h, 09 AprilHi Home Star, I just saw I did things a little backwards there… I replied to your question with a post above.
Travis Thom
Posted at 12:18h, 09 AprilHome Star , we ran a campaign using this ad and we received 32 leads
over a 4 day period. The best headlines ask questions. For example: What Is
Your Home Worth? …or… Do You Know Your Home’s Current Value? It makes an emotional connection with a Seller, creating curiosity and interest.
Try using text hat sounds more like a conversation, rather
than a sales pitch. We’ve found it drastically increases clicks as it
immediately begins to build trust with the viewer.
Using the “Learn More” call to action has been
proven to receive the most clicks.
Since most people use their mobile devices to view Facebook,
disable or remove the Right Column version of your ad to save money. Our sites are mobile responsive, but our tests show that the side ads get very little clicks.
The Desktop News Feed option is still a good option because it is bigger and will grab more attention.
So far this has been one of our best performing ads on Facebook. I like to use a check list of sorts for our ads and site to make sure we get the highest conversion rate. Here is the check list;
1. Does the headline ask a question?
2. Did we remove the default text about “Getting ready to sell?”
3. Do we have an inviting call to action- example “Find out how much your home is worth?” as a sub headline?
4. Does our photo in the ad match the photo on the landing page?
5. Did we mention that “Home values are rising…” in the ad description in order to peek the interest of a home owner more?
6. Did we make sure to have the “Learn More” call to action button on the Facebook ad?
7. Did we make the ad headline or the landing page headline city or area specific?
You don’t need to have all of these for the perfect recipe, but just make sure you try and test out some of them and see what works best for you and your market.
Home Star
Posted at 13:11h, 09 AprilWow, thanks @travisthom:disqus! One question: is there any way to change my username. I didn’t expect it to be used in the URL.
Travis Thom
Posted at 14:01h, 09 AprilYour welcome Home Star! Email me at Travis@Leads2Listing.com and I will get you all squared away with your site.
Home Star
Posted at 15:30h, 09 AprilTravis, some data is not going through. I sent test submissions and it’s missing some fields.
Travis Thom
Posted at 17:32h, 09 AprilHi Home Star, I just ran a full system check and everything looks fine on all our sites, however that doesn’t mean that something didn’t glitch on your site. I just sent you an email going over the details.
Bryn Kaufman
Posted at 16:21h, 10 AprilTravis, do you have any tips or white papers on what the home value package should look like that they are requesting and what script or strategy to use to turn the leads into appointments?
I was thinking of perhaps using an RPR report but wanted to see if you have some suggestions on what might work?
Also, is Facebook the best place to advertise vs. Google or Bing?
Travis Thom
Posted at 08:57h, 13 AprilHi @Bryn Kaufman:disqus, Yes we do have tips and suggestions on how to provide the best follow up to your leads. We also have a Facebook mastermind group for our users to share ideas and best strategies as well. I sent an email to you a few days ago about confirming your email subscription to us. In our series of emails that we send you after you confirm we provide our “Getting Started” guide and help you get all set up. We are excited to have you on board and we look forward to helping you with your seller lead generation.