With over 80% of today's potential home buyers and sellers beginning their search over the internet, the vast majority are in an early stage of considering a home transaction. These people want information and want time to study the market. They specifically do not want to speak to an agent, as they are not ready to take action yet. Most agents are happy to ignore these "tire kickers" as a waste of time, because they aren't going to do anything any time soon. But they are a valuable source of leads that do turn into business!
Smart agents know that they need to fill the "top of their sales funnel" as well as work on prospects that are looking to complete a transaction in the near term. This means they know they need to collect names and email addresses from these early lookers and incubate them over time so they become the agent of choice when the prospect does want to speak to an agent.
A "stealth" website is a very effective way of doing just that. These are called "stealth" because they do not overtly brand the agent in any way (although some states have certain labeling or disclosure rules that mitigate against some of the "stealthiness"). Instead, they offer information of interest to the site visitor, often under the promise that no agent will call them.
While there are many potential kinds of stealth websites, Real Pro Systems prominently recommends three; one for home buyers looking to see what homes are available that meet their criteria, one for home sellers wanting to know what their property is worth, and one for FSBO homeowners to advertise their properties. In each case, the visitor registers on the site to receive specific information of value, and they have to provide their email address to receive the information they have requested. In turn, their email addresses are automatically enrolled in an appropriate drip email campaign and added to a monthly newsletter mail list.
Stealth website are nearly invisible to search engines though. They do not provide much content, if any. So how do home buyers and sellers find them?
Again, it comes down to basic advertising. Promoting the sites on every postcard, on the back of every listing flier, and even in small dedicated newspaper advertisements produces results. When supported by the promise that an agent will not call, home buyers and sellers will visit the sites and feel "safe" in providing their email addresses in order to receive the information they request.
Many Real Pro Systems agents actively promote their stealth sites in these ways and receive 50 or more leads per week from them alone. These leads percolate in the drip email follow-up system, and these agents get phone calls every week from prospects they have never met, but who now want to list a home or start looking at homes.
By their very nature, stealth website leads are typically buyer and seller prospects who would never register on a branded agent website. Yet by providing the information they request, and honoring their need to not be contacted directly, they can become serious prospects and then clients who will do business over time.