Where is your next buyer or seller prospect lead coming from? Many are getting them from their franchiser, sent down the line from the huge franchise websites with national home search engines. RE/MAX does a rotational lead referral thing with a required response time before the lead is given to another local broker or agent.
It works of course. But, is it the best long term solution? After all, I wonder how many people really like going to a huge site and working their way down to listings local to the area where they want to buy or sell.

How many really would prefer entering an IDX search solely for their target area? My bet is that most would rather be starting their search on a site that's locally-focused, with more than just a search function.

An approach that I believe is much more suitable for long term success on the Web is for franchisers to provide platforms and assistance to their franchisees and their agents that allow them to create a strong local Internet presence. Right now, it's all being left to the enterprising individual or independent brokerage to do this. Or worse, the local franchisee is spending money and time developing their local presence in addition to paying those hefty franchise fees to have the national presence and lead generation tools.

The first major franchise to recognize the opportunities in developing a huge network of local sites that generate their own leads will be in a position to grow at the expense of the others. And, it will work better than the current top-down approach. How does it look?

First, I believe that it should be local sites on blogging software, but that's negotiable. The point is that the goal will be to create strong local information sites, with great IDX search capabilities. These sites will begin to command top positions for local real estate search key phrases. The leads will be generated closer to the place where they are actually to be worked.

The major players should be cultivating these hyper local sites, as they can be taking position away from the competition on multiple levels. And, this doesn't mean a loss of control or value in the eyes of franchisees and their agents. Corporate level builds and owns the infrastructure, with common-themed blogs and standardized look and capabilities. They all can link back to regional and the national site, with automated blog post syndication upward.

It's past time to think outside the box, or not thinking of a franchise as a big box full of little ones. It's a network of locally visible and vibrant businesses who can bring more value from the bottom up than they can receive from the top down. This wasn't possible when the monetary clout of the franchisors could buy the business in print, and on radio and TV. This still works, but the Web changes everything.

Now, with the local brokerage able to generate local information of value, and place it out there for the world to see, the big players need to understand that there is still a place for them, but it isn't going to prosper and grow as the benevolent "giver of leads." Growth will come from creating for their franchisees the platforms and Internet presence to generate the leads.