Business strategy

What Sets Agents Apart in a Volatile Real Estate Market

Apr 24, 2024

The real estate landscape has seen a significant amount of volatility in recent months marked by low inventory, high mortgage rates, and the recent NAR settlement.

While these challenges can be daunting, some real estate agents are finding innovative ways to survive and thrive in this new environment. In this article, we will delve into the insights and tactics that are helping them stay ahead.

Diversified Marketing Strategies

Top agents understand the importance of a well-rounded marketing strategy. They leverage both digital and traditional marketing channels to reach a broader audience. From online listings and social media campaigns to direct mail and networking events, they leave no stone unturned to showcase their listings and their brand.

Hyper-Local Expertise

In a low-inventory market, local knowledge is power. These agents become hyper-local experts, knowing every neighborhood inside out. They can quickly identify opportunities, provide insights on property values, and guide clients through the intricacies of the local market.

Strong Networks

Relationships are paramount in real estate. Top agents cultivate strong networks, including other real estate professionals, home inspectors, mortgage brokers, and more. These networks can be tapped into for referrals, advice, and quick problem-solving.

The Join the Market Series is shown above. To learn more, Click Here.

Negotiation Mastery

In a volatile market, negotiation skills are put to the test. Top agents undergo continuous training to sharpen their negotiation techniques. They understand the importance of securing the best deals for their clients, whether they’re buyers or sellers.

Tech Integration

Technology is a game-changer in the real estate industry. Top agents embrace the latest tech tools, from virtual tours and 3D walkthroughs to predictive analytics. These tools not only streamline their operations but also enhance the customer experience.

Pricing Expertise

Setting the right price is critical in a low-inventory market. Top agents have a deep understanding of pricing dynamics. They provide sellers with accurate price guidance, ensuring that properties are competitively priced to attract buyers.

Adaptability

Adaptability is one of the most critical attributes of successful agents in the current market. They stay agile and flexible, adjusting their strategies as market conditions evolve. They can swiftly switch between a buyer’s market and a seller’s market mindset.

Strong Online Presence

Visibility is essential. Top agents have a professional website and robust social media profiles and maintain an active online presence. This helps them connect with clients and positions them as industry leaders.

Navigating a low-inventory, volatile real estate market can be challenging, but top real estate agents rise to the occasion. They position themselves for success through diversified marketing, hyper-local expertise, adaptability, and a strong market presence.

These agents are not just riding the wave but leading the way, helping clients achieve their real estate goals even in the most challenging times.

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 Magazin

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 Planner

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 Online Real Estate Business Plan

The Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for the year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closings, and so on are needed to reach your financial goals. – Click Here

4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

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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

4 Ways You May Be Turning Off Your Clients Without Realizing it

Apr 8, 2021

Referrals should be the lifeblood of every real estate business. Sadly, they aren’t. It truly isn’t difficult to provide the customer service that will leave your clients raving. It’s also easy to turn them off to the point they warn others not to use your services.

When a client leaves you or doesn’t use your services for future transactions, you may be guilty of committing one (or more) of the Four Cardinal Sins of real estate.

1. You turn into Amelia Earhart

One of the most common complaints from consumers about their real estate agents is that they disappear. And they don’t have an out-of-fuel twin-engine Lockheed to blame.

The practice is so prevalent that Google offers up these suggestions for searches:

Realtors…why don’t they answer their phones???
What’s with agents who don’t answer their phones?
Why are most agents so unresponsive?
What to do when your realtor ignores you
Realtor not responding to emails
Real estate agent not responding
Real estate agent not getting back to me
Am I annoying my realtor?

We find that last one especially sad. The solution is to get clear on communication expectations on the very day that a client agrees to become a client. Not only should you learn their preferred mode of communication (phone, text, email, etc.) but how often they expect to hear from you.

If they call, answer. At the very least respond within a reasonable amount of time.

2. You haven’t mastered the art of listening

All of us have heard about the agents who show homes to clients that are out of their price range or lacking in their wish list “must haves.” Both are a result of not listening.

Are you guilty of letting your mind wander, of multitasking in your brain while a client is speaking to you?

Sherrie Bourg Carter at psychologytoday.com suggests:

Good listeners don’t jump in with answers.
Your client should be speaking 80% of the time. The 20% of the time that you speak should be spent asking clarifying questions.

Tune out the grocery list, the angst over your next appointment and everything else that rattles around up there and listen to your client.

3. You’re a cut-corners-penny-pinching agent

It’s amazing that, in this day and age, there are still amateur listing photos in the MLS.

As a listing agent, the most important job you have is to market the home. Photos that don’t present the home in the best light possible are not acceptable. Especially when one considers how much that seller is paying in real estate fees.

If you can’t afford a professional photographer, you can’t do your job properly. Stop taking listings and become a buyer’s agent.

4. You are a listing-buyer

A common complaint that we read online is about the listing agent who beats the client up, repeatedly, over lowering the listing price.

Then, there are the listing clients who complain that their homes sat on the market while others around them sold.

Either condition can result when an agent “buys” the listing.

Your job as a listing agent is to recommend a list price that is close to or matches the current market value. As a real estate advisor, your job is also to counsel a client or potential client what happens to homes that are overpriced.

To take an overpriced listing with the hopes of a price drop, later on, is shoddy customer service. If you’re guilty of committing even one of these “sins,” you may be losing clients. Think about the best customer service you’ve ever received and vow to mimic it with every single client.

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One of Seven SOI Scheduled Campaign Designs (shown above). Learn more, **HERE**

TO LAUNCH AN SOI CAMPAIGN:

Hit “CLICK HERE”, below, to get started on your SOI Scheduled Campaign (from a desktop or laptop computer).

And, remember, YOU DON’T PAY for each mailing until it actually goes out (cancel or change each mailing up until the night before it goes out. The price shown at check out is per mailing, not campaign total).

Launch an SOI Scheduled Campaign now, CLICK HERE!

Please reach out to our support team at 866.405.3638 with questions or if there is anything we can do t

o help you with your success.

PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month-Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Get More Listings, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence. –Click Here

2. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan

The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for this year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closing, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here

3. Become a Neighborhood Brand

Become branded in a specific neighborhood with a 12X15 marketing piece sent automatically each month to an exclusive carrier route. Watch this video to learn more or Click Here.

4. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

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The Real Estate Mailing List Guide outlines the top tools for generating targeted prospecting lists including Baby Boomers, Empty Nesters, Investors, Lifestyle Interests, High-Income Renters, Move-Up Markets, and more. The Guide also defines done-for-you marketing campaigns to match these markets. –Click Here

5. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Free Online ROI Calculator

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Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! –Click Here

7. The Free Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

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The “Crush It” Guide includes easy steps to launching an effective direct mail marketing campaign, how to create a targeted prospect list, the perfect way to layout marketing materials for success, seven opportunities available to target in your area right now. –Click Here

Are You Ready to Weather a Shifting Economy?

Business Strategy

Oct 14, 2018

Create a Real Estate Business Preparedness Plan

Everybody and their uncles have been blamed for the last shifting economy, despite the experts having a pretty good handle on its true causes. That whole subprime mortgage mess kicked it off but it wasn’t the only factor.

What the average American seems to be oblivious to is that recessions, like expansions, are a defining feature of a market economy. In fact, they’re two of the four phases of the “business cycle.”

We’re now in our 113^th month of economic expansion, closing in on the record 120 months that occurred after recovery from the “dot-com explosion.”

The “R” word is on many economists’ tongues, and it isn’t a question of if we’ll sink into another recession, but when.

But it probably won’t blow up the housing market

None of the economists interviewed by The Wall Street Journal said that the housing market will be the cause of the next recession.

This is good news for agents because, with the exception of the last economic downturn, home prices actually increased during the previous five recessions (stretching back 45 years), according to the Federal Reserve.

Be sure to point out this fact to your potential sellers who may be feeling a bit antsy about the future. Remind them that an economic recession doesn’t automatically mean a real estate recession.

Economic downturns do affect consumers in other ways, from dwindling investment portfolios to losing jobs. Spending, especially on big ticket items like real estate, drops.

Is your business ready should this come to pass?

Are you?

What are the indicators?

Sure, we all know what a recession looks and feels like, but what are the economic indicators that prove we’re in one?

While some economists figure we’re in a recession after two consecutive quarters of down-trending real GDP, the National Bureau of Economic Research begs to differ.

“Rather, a recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales.”

Right now, it’s tough to pinpoint any signs of a contraction in the economy. Optimistic retail trade groups see holiday sales rising nearly 5 percent this year.

We’re merrily rolling along with the highest employment rate since the 1960s, a projected Q3 jump in economic growth of 4.1 percent and rising personal incomes.

Lurking in the shadows of all this good economic news, however, are some niggling signs of a coming downturn.

Get familiar with your numbers

This may seem like “well, duh” advice to most small business owners. Real estate agents, however, are a different breed. Many seem content to wing it, without a plan, without a budget.

If you want to last, especially during a changing market, a plan is a must and it starts with setting up a budget. To do this, you’ll need to get a handle on your production numbers, how much you spend on various aspects of your business and how much you expect to earn.

Dani Vanderboegh Inman.com offers an excellent basic budget primer at Inman.com.

Getting your spending under control – at least enough to where you can consistently set aside money for a “rainy day,” it is imperative to be able to weather an economic downturn and remain in business.

Fine tune your marketing strategy

What else can you do to market yourself? If you’re not using direct mail, now is the time to put that system into place. If you’ve been putting off setting up a newsletter as part of a drip campaign, get to work on it.

In addition, create at least five different real estate lead generation sources. The more darts you have in your quiver, the better the chances you’ll hit something when it comes time to throw them.

Take some time to clean up your CRM and ensure that it’s working the way you need it to.

An economic downturn doesn’t have to mean the end of your real estate practice. Get busy on your business disaster preparedness plan by socking away money, setting up a budget and fine-tuning your marketing and you’ll be ready to weather anything the economy throws at you.

Start building your influx of new prospects by sending at least 100 monthly Community Newsletters to an area where you want more listings.

Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list tool to create the ideal list (it’s easy) or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!

PLUS: When you have time…here are 2 free ways we can help you STILL CRUSH IT in 2018!

1. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan.

The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month-Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Listing Inventory, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence – Click Here

2. The Free Online ROI Calculator.

Also…check out these cool tools

Three Click Postcards – Just snap a home photo & create a postcard all from your mobile phone

MLSmailings.com – Automated Just Listed, Just Sold Postcards

Market Dominator System – Become a neighborhood brand

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