I've done "all of the above" If I call too soon, it seems to scare them a little. Right now, I'm using the drip immediately, then the next day, give them a call. I've heard both ways are the best. Do what feels right for you.

I was calling prospects for a while but I get about 20 sign ups a week so I rely on the drip e-mail.  The serious buyers do contact me direclty and if they respond to any of the drip mails they get a call.

Well as a RE coach on this site relayed to me: If you walk into a store and everyone ignores you, how do you feel?

I don't want to be bothered but I do want to be noticed. We are not really noticing people if you just let your website do your personal work for you.

Trust me, I thought the same, if there is a number we need to call right away and thank them for visiting your site, blar blar blar, without pushing, just let them know there is a live agent willing to go to work for them or show them properties.

It might be like the person who got a letter every day from her boyfriend that was far far away. Great, but she fell in love with the mailman. GEt me?

I have recently found something called MEEBOME that looks like you can have a online messenger on your site that you can respond to questions etc while you are online at your site. I can' find whose site had it now.

Lonn called it "the touch" just give them a quick call and let them know you appreciated them visiting your website and to please keep you in mind when they plan to buy or sell. No pressure. Just making personal contact. If you want you can just plan out one that you say to everyone on the first call. Then the drips can keep you connected.

It is hard to find people at home sometimes, but I am trying to implement this by degrees, it is against my nature to crowd people, I like to let them shop. But this is just an acknowledgement.

Are you asking if I am going to try to MEEBOME?

Mary, are you talking about Meebo? I had it on my site for a few days, but took it off. I found that you had to go to their site to login and leave the web site open. If you closed the browser window, it logged you off. I didn't find any way to login directly from the Meebo utility on my site.

Anybody else have input?

To answer the original post, I always make a "thank you" call if there is a phone number. If not, they go on drip right away. I am like Mary, the call is just to let them know that a real person is there to help them, I don't try to push them to look at anything right away, but you have got to make the call.

I have tried it lots of ways.  What works best for me is as follows.

Hi, I am calling from the online quality control department at RE/MAX.  You seem to have registered on one of our agent web sites, and I am calling to make sure the web site worked the way you wanted it to work.

(people love it when a business calls them to make sure their experience was satisfactory).

If they say no, I show personal interest, ask them how it could have worked better, and then transition to what kind of house they want....  

If they say yes, it worked fine, I ask an open ended test question to see if they want to talk more....  

How long have you been looking?  Have you selected an area of town that would be best for you?  What makes you want to move? Do you have your own Realtor yet?  

IF they stay on the line a minute or so then you can escalate to

WHAT KIND OF HOUSE ARE YOU LOOKING FOR.... (put on your realtor hat and go to town).

IF they indicate, as A GREAT MANY WILL that they have just started looking and are not very serious....

I tell them I understand and am not calling to be pushy.  I just thank them for visiting, and remind them that I can answer questions about any house for sale by any Realtor.  I always part by wishing them a nice day, and making sure that I ask them to consider me their real estate answer man if they run into any questions along the way.

This little TOUCH can go a long way toward having them REMEMBER my web site.  Next time the get a drip email, they remember the call.  One touch (web), two touch(phone), three touch(drip) SCORE!  

Fewer than one out of 20 will want to launch right into seeing houses.  Maybe less than one out of 50.  But if call right away, you NEVER MISS these gems.  If you don't call right away, I GUARANTEE that a higher percentage will tell you they already scheduled a showing with another agent....

I don't know how that works, but.... I had it happen too many times if I waited to call...  So call, touch, FAST.... Then let drip do its job!  

Lonn, great input, and follow up style.

http://www.namneet.com

Lonn, thanks for sharing your philosophy on drip techniques. Always honing the skills, here.

I have always found that a call is better than just the drip. We also set them up on a search within in our MLS system whcih will email them new listings as they hit the market that match a given criteria.

Wow these are all great tips, I have been calling people immediately after they respond to my website. What about actual leads and not just random site users that come to your site. Do you call all leads right away or wait until after the first day or first drip email to be sent.

Also is anybody certain that the Drip emails are spam compliant and do not get just get automatically sent to junk mail folders. I also like to send my own more personal emails highlighting the better aspects of working with a realtor. I'm new to real estate but I have a lot of customer service and sales experience, so I'm hoping to maximize my potential on Point2.

If they include a valid phone number, I call first and follow-up with an email.  The personal contact is important.  When I call, I explain that I will not "haunt".  I give my web address (if they found me thru another avenue) and say I'll follow-up with an email which will have all my contact info.  Working pretty good so far.  Leads I've received from Re/Max and another outlet are all active, searching and, at least, emailing me regularly with questions, mls #'s, etc.