If that number is your 24 hour hotline, like a proquest thing, I would definitely be consistent and give the option to dial "0" to reach you via cell. This way you are capturing info and still trying to give the personal touch. Best of both worlds.

If they are not signing in to view your listings, the best you may able to do is capture the internet IP address information of where they are hosted, similar to what Ultrastats provides.  This would give you a general idea of where they may be located, but not name or contact info.

Barb,

If you have the dedicate URL for each of your listings the "Sign-In" will have no effect for you. As those do not require (nor do I believe you can turn it on for those) a sign in.

As far requiring sign in for the other parts of your site..that's a mixed bag of nuts. I do require it. My thought is that if they aren't serious enough to provide..at least some fake information (which they can do with the forms as there is no way to truly validate - although you can reguire that the system send them a password to their email which is at least going to validate their email address - I don't do that part)..then they probably are just tire kickers. I want serious people who are serious about buying or selling real estate. Not someone who is going to get me on the phone or have me answering emails just because they are bored and want someone to talk to. I can provide them with a chat line if that is what they want 900-CHATLIVE or something! LOL

As Scott said, it is a mixed bag.  From previous discussions here, most seem to favor requiring sign in.  I require it on my PPC hits to browse the MLS, but not on direct visitors to my site, or handshake listings.  You may want to experiment with and without to see what results you get, then decide.

Barb does that 24 hr number have a message involved?  You might want to use a number on the sign that goes to a you not a machine.  Not sure how many people will leave a message after listening to all the info.

This is a very interesting topic and I'm enjoying the feedback responses. Especially Scott's insight. I've been pondering when the time is right to cut loose the 'tire kickers' lately. I mean... deciding when to send them to the slow drip campaign and stop wasting time being their 'free agent'. Also I've been trying to fine tune my responses between being underly passive and overly aggressive. In a nutshell, I'm trying to be the kind of sales associate that I personally enjoy doing business with. Helpful and informative, not pushy and over baring. But I'm finding that to be very challenging in this market with so many fence sitters. And I see that the agents around me that use the hard sell (used car sales) tactics getting results from the fence sitters. That's just not my style, and I hope that my kinder, gentler approach is the type that will sprout loyal repeat and referral business.

Anyhow as to the question of trying to follow up with your website tire kickers, if they don't leave you any kind of contact info (at least an e-mail address) I kind of see reaching out to them a waste of time unless it could be done in an automated response "Thank you for your interest in ..." fashion. And I think this sort of goes to the route of Barb's question at hand. Personally I feel that the internet tends to give people the impression of an anonymous freedom, and asking them to register an e-mail address is far less threatening than a phone number. They have the power of the delete button and spam blocking, so you are more likely to receive an accurate e-mail address than a bogus one. However that still doesn't answer Barb's question since clicking on a listing link is the instantaneous information that people are looking for and if they can't get it from your site, they can from someone else's.

Rob

[Rob sez: deciding when to send them to the slow drip campaign and stop wasting time being their 'free agent'. ]

I know it can be frustrating, but as long as the prospect is unrepresented, no harm in keeping the door open for them. People show up at the strangest times! :)

What you described as a response style is EXACTLY what I would want if I were in the market to purchase real estate without a clearly defined time frame.

Also, even fence sitters have family and friends who may be ready sooner than they are.

And yes, automate your responses.  I have templated responses in my Drafts folder that I fire off when needed as well.