Yes, there’s still time! Here are six ways to help you stir up more activity in your market before the year-end.

1. Stick to the plan (or create one if you haven’t yet)

A marketing plan does much more than let you know how much money you’ll spend for the remainder of the year promoting your services. Chief among the additional benefits is that it helps you fill your days with prolific and directed activity.

That forward-thinking stuff you need to create a plan forces you to carefully consider each option, both in terms of its financial impact and effectiveness.

“Big ideas fail without a plan, and your marketing plan is the one thing that will still drive innovation and help you meet sales targets,” according to Mark Ellis, a business writer at Business2Community.com.

If increasing listing activity is your goal, hammer out a marketing plan for the next two months and stick to it.

And, if you already have a marketing plan in place, review your plan for its effectiveness over the last year and make changes where needed.

Need some inspiration? Download our free Real Estate Marketing Planner.

2. Adhere to a regular prospecting schedule

Whether you door-knock, cold-call, chase after expireds and FSBOs or use another method of prospecting, ensure that it gets done by making it a part of your daily or weekly schedule.

Prioritize the task as well. It’s easy to keep putting it off when there are more interesting tasks to pursue, but it’s not wise. The more leads you steer toward that real estate sales funnel, the more prospects you can convert into new listings.

The Holiday scheduled campaign is shown above.

3. Nurture those relationships

People who sell customer relationship management software are fond of claiming that a CRM is the “lifeblood” of the real estate agent’s business.

Guess what? They’re right. Building and nurturing relationships is the key to increased commission checks, and to do it right, you need a way to keep track of leads, prospects, clients (both current and past), and just about everyone else you know.

While there are probably a million and one ways to set up a CRM, find a way that makes adding information and finding what you need easy. A way that works for you. Then ensure that you keep it safe, and back it up.

HOT TIP: We offer a free CRM, the Contact Manager, on ProspectsPLUS.com. With the Contact Manager, you can tag entire mailing lists or just one contact within a list, building one highly targeted list for your marketing materials.

In addition, you own your list, so you can export and download your CRM list anytime if you decide to move it. Check it out HERE.

Now schedule time on a daily/weekly basis to reach out to the contacts in this database and nurture these relationships.

One easy way is an SOI scheduled Campaign. It takes only minutes to set up and can run for up to two years automatically without you touching it. Other benefits in addition to making your life a lot easier? You don’t pay until each mailing goes out, and you can cancel, pause, or change the campaign at any time up to the night before mailing. Oh, and it keeps you in front of your market stirring up listings indefinitely.

4. Find a mentor or mastermind partner

“Coaching works,” according to the authors of a study, “Evaluating the effectiveness of executive coaching: Beyond ROI.”

If coaching helped former President Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, and athletes like Michael Jordan, perhaps you should also consider it.

Are you a new agent? Consider latching on to a mentor. Not only is this a way to quickly learn the nuts and bolts of the business, but to begin to nurture new habits that will help you immensely in the long run.

Mentors, coaches, and even mastermind groups can propel you to the next level in productivity, thus increasing your listing activity.

Check out our in-depth guide to finding a real estate mentor.

5. Fine-tune your response time to leads

You can’t turn a lead into a prospect that you’ll convert into a listing if you don’t respond to their initial contact promptly.

The short and sweet of it is that you have five minutes to respond to an incoming lead if you hope to reach the person live and get them into your sales funnel, according to InsideSales.com research.

In fact, the agent who responds within this period is nearly 25 percent more likely to snag the lead.

Wait a half-hour? You might as well forget about it and let the agent down the street who responds quicker have the lead.

The Looking For Listing Scheduled Farm Campaign is shown above.

6. Start farming, via direct mail, if you haven’t already

Farming is a low-cost, effective, and easy way to reach out to many people simultaneously and build relationships over time.

The fact remains that direct mail is one of the most powerful marketing methods available. Mix that with a focus on a specific farm, and you have something powerful working for you.

Learn more about how to kick off your farming efforts easily with a FARM Scheduled Campaign, HERE.

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PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine with rich, full-color content and a sharp, professional aesthetic. It includes compelling, direct, response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts and engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you. Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here

2. The Free 6-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 6-Month Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do and when. Four key market segments include niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here

3. The Free Interactive 6-Month Real Estate Business Review

The Free Interactive 6-Month Real Estate Business Review allows you to enter your business goals for the remainder of the year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closings, and so on are needed to reach your goals.   – Click Here

4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook 

Ready to take a vertical leap in your real estate career? If you’re looking for inspiration…and the tools and methods to dominate a market and go to the top in real estate…you’ll find them in this free book. – Click Here

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