By now, it's evident. Becoming skilled on the Internet will enhance your business in ways that will bring you more customers, more money, and more growth.

That's all very well and good for you as a REALTOR®. But how do you translate that into benefits for your customer?

Yes, certainly you have your web site, and certainly you include crucial related links to provide your future client valuable information such where to find local town businesses, discover news sources, hunt down school profiles and more.

All very vital. What else is missing?

Why, feedback forms, of course!

Feedback forms are a great way to compel customers to contact you with their relevant informational needs. You can customize the forms and provide the following:

• Fields to enter their name, address, when they plan on moving, the number of rooms and bathrooms they'd like, the square-footage, and the like
• Buttons that allow customers to pick their home price (between $100,000 and $200,000, between $200,000 and $300,000, etc.)
• Buttons that let the customer dictate the best way for you to contact them

How does this affect your customer?

Your customer visits your site, and decides to use the form you provide that allows her to specify what kind of house she's looking for, how many bedrooms, baths, and location. After clicking "Submit information", you'd then receive e-mail that contained all the customer data provided!

This is an excellent way to build up your lists for call backs and follow-ups, and takes care of your generic, usual house request. Consider http://www.pili.net/find.htm as an example. Additionally, you can add check boxes for folks to request school and local newspaper information, as the enterprising REALTOR at does.

But what if she was looking for a particular quality that you don't list on your feedback form?

For example, one person might have the square footage, desired price and style down pat. But she might consider it to be imperative that the house have stairs that can be converted to a riding chair so her elderly mother can navigate between flights.

Do you have a specific area in your form that describes stairs?

Probably not. But you can include a text area that states, "please enter any special needs you may have concerning your home search here."

Give some specifics before your text box. Add information that will compel your customer to give you as much critical data as possible.

Adding forms to your website is very easy. Even if you don't have a form yet, you can find a very simple script to create it at Matt's Script Archive. Your website designer should be able to incorporate it with no problem at all.

By doing the above, you're now making it easier than ever for your client to communicate to you electronically! Take advantage of it.

Published: March 11, 1999

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Barbara Ling, "The Internet Virtual Coach", is an Internet business and technology writer and trainer. She is the author of "The Real Estate Pro's Internet Edge." Contact Barbara at btl@virtual-coach.com.