Let's have a quick show of hands: How many of you think online consumers will play a major role in your future as a real estate professional?

For those of you who didn't raise your hand -- or did so somewhat tentatively because you really aren't convinced quite yet -- let me throw a couple of statistics your way:

• Today, three out of four consumers begin their home searches online, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

• Consumers who begin their searches online choose a real estate agent much faster than their offline counterparts: 62 percent of buyers select their real estate agent within just one to three days.

• And, more than half of sellers -- 52 percent -- take only one day to select an agent.

The point of all this is, you'd better be where your customers are, because when they make a decision regarding their real estate agent, they make it fast -- very fast. Given these compelling facts, a better question is: If you aren't putting the Internet and the vast array of real estate-related services and technologies available to your advantage through an electronic-marketing (or e-marketing) program, what are you waiting for?

A study performed by Hebert Research for HouseValues revealed that large and growing numbers of consumers do considerable research online long before contacting an agent; typically, they take anywhere from six months to four years in the "thinking about it" stage. But once these consumers -- whose numbers increase by leaps and bounds every week, month and year -- decide to contact an agent, they are ready to hit the ground running. And not surprisingly, they want agents who have an online presence and know how to use technology to provide better, faster, time-saving services.

In the not-so-distant, pre-Internet past, agents had to cultivate these consumers the old-fashioned (and expensive and exhausting) ways: by endlessly working the phones, blindly mailing postcards and newsletters, and pounding the pavement to make personal neighborhood visits, etc.

You know better than anyone that agents many times abandoned these future prospects -- despite all the time they invested in cultivating them -- primarily because they didn't want to spend any more time on folks who aren't ready to buy and/or sell within the next 30 days. Most agents don't feel that they have the time to wait these people out. And let's be honest with ourselves -- most of us simply don't like to prospect!

But with the long and growing menu of technological tools, programs and services that have been designed specifically for real estate professionals, you can now use E-marketing to identify and cultivate prospects without missing a beat with the business at hand.

As just one example of how companies are working to make your job more enjoyable -- and more profitable, while putting you directly in front of motivated, online customers -- HouseValues recently introduced a new service called HomePages.com. HomePages is the first national home buying and selling service to combine aerial maps, in-depth neighborhood information, and nationwide home listings in one integrated website. The site puts aerial mapping technology to practical use by combining aerial views of neighborhoods, homes for sale, and recently sold homes with millions of data points on local communities.

Best of all, home buyers can connect directly with agents.

Here's a real practical example of how you can use online marketing tools to work for you. Let's say you hold an Open House on Sunday, and 10 people stop by. The first person who walks through the door is being transferred by his or her company; they start their new job in two weeks and have already sold their house back home. Not surprisingly, everyone wants to work with THAT buyer!

But wait … what about the other nine people who attended your Open House? Most agents are very conscientious and have guests complete a guest registration form or guest book. They have every intention of following up, but they usually put that guest registration form in a special place where it sits, and sits, and sits. (Sound familiar?) That is because they are working with that one client who needs to buy now. But what if, instead of treating prospecting as an "event," they treated it as a process?

It's easy when you take advantage of the power of technology. One simple way:

Work with that one prospect who truly has an urgent need, but at the same time place the other nine (of which three most likely will be ready to sell their homes within the next six months) on your E-newsletter list and/or a targeted online e-mail marketing campaign. That will allow you to conduct today's business as well as cultivate future business with Internet savvy buyers and sellers.

Remember, 74 percent of consumers begin their searches online, according to NAR. Keep that figure top of mind, every day. As a tech-savvy agent, in today's marketplace it is vital to provide the information consumers want immediately and cultivate them via email and an occasional phone call or drop-by until they are ready to buy or sell. If you don't provide them the information they want, they'll simply move on to an agent who will. If you don't stay in touch, they'll find an agent who will. It's that simple.

You don't necessarily have to use everything that follows, but here are a few of the e-marketing tools that agents tell us provide the best returns -- measured in new leads and new business:

• Electronic newsletter -- used to keep your name, photo, and contact information in front as many people as possible. You can send this out as often as you like to your sphere of influence along with past clients and new prospects.

• Automated, targeted e-mail marketing campaign -- many agents use these to quickly and easily provide past, current and future clients with valuable real estate information about the buying or selling process.

• Fast Internet server, with virus protection (trust me, this is critical!), updated at all times.

• Ability to send out listing information to potential buyers.

• Ability to email a CMA or sold property information to prospective sellers.

• E-post cards: Just Listed/Just Sold e-postcards that you can send in a heartbeat to your entire database.

• Market Update: this is a simple, easy-to-understand market activity report that you can send to prospects on a monthly basis.

• Interest rate updates and other key news affecting the home-buying and selling public. This can be included in your e-newsletter or fired off to clients and prospects as part of your targeted drip email campaign.

An important note: Make sure this is "permission-based" marketing; that is, be sure to ask the folks on your list if they'd like to receive the information, if they haven't already contacted you requesting it. And always give them the ability to unsubscribe.

And, don't forget to maintain a professionally designed, easy-to-navigate (nothing too fancy, in other words) website where you can capture contact information from prospects by offering reports, a CMA, or listing information.

If all of this sounds overwhelming, believe me, it isn't. You can start slow, at a pace you're comfortable with, by choosing the tools and services that best fit your style and current business needs. No matter how you choose to begin, I think you'll be amazed by how e-marketing can help you create a pipeline of Internet prospects while working on closing today's business.

Published: January 2, 2006

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

Claudia Wicks is Director of Real Estate Training and Content for HouseValues Inc. Her blog, AgentCEO.com, offers agents and brokers tips gleaned from her decades of real estate industry experience. Claudia is a licensed real estate broker in the state of Washington, where she has worked for the last 28 years as an agent, broker/manager and Director of Training for Coldwell Banker and John L. Scott. Learn more about HouseValues at AgentSuccessNetwork.com or call toll-free 866-952-5042.