Ep #76: Getting High Quality, Facebook Consumer Direct Leads

Chris Johnstone walks through a complete crash course on running Facebook ads for consumer-direct mortgage and real estate leads, covering targeting strategy, ad copy, funnel types, and follow-up automation. Best for LOs who want to add a consumer-direct channel to their business or are already running Facebook ads with poor results.

Takeaways you can run this week

• Set your Facebook audience to 200,000–250,000 people minimum in your local market — do NOT layer on interest-based filters at the start. Let the Facebook algorithm self-select your buyer by optimizing toward the people who actually fill out the form.
• Write ad copy that only 1% of viewers would click — example script from the episode: 'Have you put an offer in on a home only to find out there's already a pending offer? Our mortgage pre-qualification service can make sure that never happens again. Plus, we'd love to pair you with a realtor who can send you updates the moment a home hits the market that matches what you're looking for. Sign up for our free service.'
• Advertise real estate offers (home search, list of matching homes) rather than mortgage offers — 'everybody wants a house, nobody wants a mortgage' — then pre-qualify leads after the initial contact. Partner with a local agent before launching.
• Use a survey-style funnel (one question at a time, 'take this quick quiz to get mortgage ready') as a middle-ground between low-quality Facebook lead forms and expensive off-platform landing pages — converts better than landing pages and produces higher quality than native lead forms.
• Respond to every new lead within 5–10 minutes using automation: send a ringless voicemail immediately, a friendly text 10 minutes later, and a trust-building email with a testimonial in the footer at 20 minutes. Response rate drops 70% after day one.
• Commit to running at least 100 leads through your funnel before judging results — budget $5–$10/day consistently rather than $200/day for 5 days. All meaningful conversions happen after the 6th or 7th touch; 80%+ of sales people quit before the 3rd follow-up.

The playbook

1. 1. Partner with a local realtor who will receive and work the real estate leads you generate.
2. 2. Open Facebook Ads Manager and set a geographic target in your local market — language targeting only, no interest or demographic filters.
3. 3. Write dog-whistle ad copy tied to a specific pain point (e.g., losing a home to a competing offer) with a clear free offer (home search setup, buying guide PDF, rate calculator bundle).
4. 4. Choose your funnel type: Facebook lead form (lowest cost, lowest quality) → survey/quiz funnel (best middle ground) → external landing page via ClickFunnels/Leadpages (highest cost, highest quality). Match funnel type to your budget and follow-up capacity.
5. 5. Install the Facebook Pixel on your landing page so Facebook can build a lookalike of people who convert.
6. 6. Automate follow-up: ringless voicemail at 10 min, text at 10 min, email at 20 min, then drip sequence targeting the 4th–7th touchpoint where conversions actually happen.
7. 7. After accumulating enough conversions (roughly 100 leads), expand your audience to 500,000+ — Facebook will still only show ads to the matching 1%, lowering your cost per lead over time.
8. 8. For brand/content strategy: boost video posts at $5/day, then create a custom Facebook audience of everyone who watched 25%+ of the video, and retarget that audience with a lead generation offer.

Worth quoting

“Everybody wants a house, nobody wants a mortgage.”

“The most important part of follow-up — where the money really is — is in the fourth, fifth, and sixth phone call.”

Best for

LOs who are curious about Facebook advertising but have never run an ad, or those who have tried it and quit after a handful of unqualified leads.