Learn how leaders & coaches help agents determine their best real estate lead sources so that they focus their efforts and money on sources that generate income.
If I asked you today, “What is your best real estate lead source?” would you have an answer — or a guess?
Most agents guess.
They remember the last two deals they closed. They remember the one shiny portal that just delivered a buyer. Then they make emotional decisions about where to spend their money next. And that is the fastest way to kill momentum in your business.
Your best real estate lead sources aren’t the ones that feel good — they’re the ones that prove they work.
VIDEO: What Are Your Best Real Estate Lead Sources?
Why Most Agents Don’t Know Their Best Lead Sources
I work with agents and team leaders every day who say things like:
“I think Zillow is working.”
“Facebook feels slow right now.”
“I only got two deals from that this year, so I canceled it.”
That’s not data. That’s emotion.
Without a tracking system, you don’t know:
Where your leads came from
What they cost
How many converted
Which sources deserve more investment
If you aren’t sourcing every single lead, your business is flying blind.
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1×1 Solo Agent Weekly Coaching Program
This 1×1 Solo Agent Weekly Real Estate Coaching Program designed to help you increase your production and your commission income with strategies and systems for sustainable business growth.
Step 1: Build a Lead Source Tracker
Every agent should have a simple spreadsheet or dashboard that lists:
| Lead Source | Monthly Cost | Leads Received | Units Sold | GCI | Sales Volume | Cost Per Lead | ROI % | % of Total Production |
|---|
This report auto-calculates:
Cost per lead
Cost per closing
ROI per source
Percentage of total business each source produces
This one sheet changes everything.
Step 2: Stop Cutting Muscle in the Winter
Every January and February I see the same mistake.
Sales slow. Bank accounts get tight. Agents start cutting expenses.
The problem?
They cut growth activities, not fat.
They cancel:
Marketing
Systems that built the business in the first place
Instead of trimming what isn’t working, they slash what is working — simply because it hasn’t paid off in the last 60 days.
Real estate is a 12-month business, not a 30-day business.
In most markets, 60–70% of annual production happens May through August. Winter is not the time to stop investing — it’s the time to refine.
Step 3: Conversion Beats New Lead Sources Every Time
Before you add a single new lead source, ask:
“Are we converting the leads we already have?”
I coached an agent recently who went on 222 listing appointments and converted only 130.
That’s not a lead generation problem.
That’s a conversion problem.
Fix conversion and you don’t need more leads — you need better skills.
This is why so many agents say:
“Online leads are terrible.”
“Zillow doesn’t work.”
“Facebook leads are weak.”
No — the follow-up is weak.
Realistic Conversion Benchmarks
| Lead Type | Typical Conversion Rate |
|---|---|
| PPC / Facebook | 2% – 6% |
| Portal Leads (Zillow, Realtor.com, Homes.com) | 15% – 20% |
| SOI / Referrals | Often lower than agents think |
Conversion is a long game. Over time, your numbers normalize — just like flipping a coin hundreds of times.
Step 4: Play the “Move the Money” Game
Here’s a simple strategy that instantly increases ROI.
List your top 20 lead sources.
Identify your bottom 3 performers.
Take their budget and move it to your top 3 producers.
Repeat every quarter.
As long as a source stays in the top 3, keep feeding it.
When it drops? Move the money.
That’s how you scale intelligently — not emotionally.
Step 5: Track Leads at the Accounting Level
Most CRMs only track inbound activity — not profit.
Instead, use QuickBooks Class Tracking:
Assign each lead source as a class
Run class reports monthly
See revenue, expenses, marketing costs, and net income per source
Now you know exactly where your business is profitable.
Step 6: Audit Your Own Follow-Up
One of the most powerful coaching tools I use is simple:
I become the lead.
I fill out my client’s website form with a burner number.
Then I document:
How long it takes for someone to call
Whether I get a text
Whether the email is useful or generic
Most agents think they’re great at follow-up — until they experience it themselves.
The Real Answer to “What Are the Best Real Estate Lead Sources?”
The best real estate lead sources are:
The ones that produce the highest return on investment — proven by numbers, not opinions.
If you don’t track:
Cost
Conversion
ROI
Production by source
You will always feel like your leads “don’t work.”
But when you show agents real data — you replace emotion with confidence.
And confidence is what scales a business.
