In the ever-fluctuating landscape of the real estate market, certain principles remain constant, one of which is the significance of a real estate agent’s sphere of influence.
The sphere of influence becomes even more crucial in a low inventory market, where competition is fierce and properties are in high demand. Let’s delve into why a real estate agent’s sphere matters more in such challenging market conditions.
Trust and Personal Connection
A real estate agent’s sphere typically consists of past clients, friends, family, and acquaintances. These are individuals who have already established a level of trust with the agent.
This trust becomes invaluable in a low inventory market where buyers and sellers may feel anxious or uncertain.
Clients are more likely to rely on someone they know and trust to guide them through the process, especially when there are limited options available.
Off-Market Opportunities
In a low inventory market, not all properties are listed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Some sellers prefer a more discreet or selective approach to selling their homes.
Real estate agents with a well-established sphere often have access to off-market opportunities through their network. This can give their clients a competitive edge by allowing them to explore unadvertised properties.
Word-of-Mouth Referrals
In challenging market conditions, word-of-mouth referrals can be a game-changer. When clients have positive experiences working with an agent, they are more likely to refer friends and family who are looking to buy or sell.
Animal Series is shown above. To see more,Click Here.
These referrals can generate a steady stream of business, helping agents thrive in a low inventory environment.
Local Market Expertise
Real estate agents who have built a strong sphere tend to have deep roots in their local markets. They know the neighborhoods, schools, property values, and market trends inside out.
This level of local expertise is invaluable, especially when helping clients make informed decisions in a competitive market.
Negotiation Skills
In a low-inventory market, multiple buyers often compete for the same property. This situation demands sharp negotiation skills.
Agents with a robust sphere can use their connections and local knowledge to negotiate effectively, increasing their clients’ chances of securing the property.
Preemptive Opportunities
Real estate agents with an active sphere are often the first to know when a potential seller is considering listing their property. They can seize preemptive opportunities, connecting buyers with sellers before the property officially hits the market.
This proactive approach can lead to successful transactions in a market where timing is crucial.
Agents who cultivate and leverage their spheres effectively are better equipped to navigate the challenges of a low inventory market and excel in this real estate landscape.
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
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
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
So, what are your business marketing plans for spring 2024 real estate marketing? Sure, a lot of the decision-making will center around what’s happening with the economy.
Market soothsayers are hedging their bets when predicting what the Fed will come up with during the March meeting. The latest jobs numbers seem to be the fly in the ointment at this point.
“But Fed officials have repeatedly indicated that they want to be sure that inflation is coming down sustainably before they’ll consider cutting rates, and a more balanced labor market is part of that,” says Molly Grace at BusinessInsider.com.
If you want to play it safe, fall back on the tried-and-true marketing methods. One of the best of these is farming.
Let’s take a look at three farms that we think are worthy of your consideration.
Baby boomers in highly rated school districts
Baby boomers turn 60 to 78 years old this year. Last year, the National Association of REALTORS’ surveys found that baby boomers now make up the largest share of both homebuyers and sellers.
In fact, this cohort makes “… up 39% of home buyers – the most of any generation – an increase from 29% last year.” That’s an astounding statistic. A 10% jump in real estate activity in one year? From a group of people who have been stubbornly sitting on the home they’ve lived in for 15 to 20 years?
They’re moving, and you should be at the forefront of your market to capture this business.
Then, there are the Gen Xers and Millennial moms and dads who are still in the child-rearing phases, longing to get junior into a good school district.
That’s the perfect starting point for an agent looking for a new marketing method: farm those baby boomers living in decently ranked school districts. I would market to all of them, but most particularly, those who live in multi-story homes.
Stairs are hard on the knees and we’re betting they can’t wait to get into a home without the climb.
The Absentee Owner Series is shown above. To learn more, Click Here.
Absentee owners
While being a landlord isn’t quite as painful now as it was during the pandemic, the economy still isn’t where it should be and many Americans are pinching pennies.
Because of this, many landlords are thinking about cashing out. This is such an easy audience to market to because most of it is done via direct mail.
It’s somewhat quick and easy to set up and landlords (most of them anyway) are eager to learn about the market and what their rentals might be worth right now.
This one requires consistency in nurturing, however. Consistent mailings will keep you top-of-mind but don’t neglect the Just Listed and Just Sold postcards that are pertinent to the landlord’s property.
Spring will be here before we know it, so let’s get ready!
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
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
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
If you sell real estate in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or some other snow-prone state, you may feel you can’t be as busy in winter as you are in spring. But, if you play your cards right, you’ll find winter can be just as profitable a time of year in real estate.
The first step to building a winter book of business is to let potential sellers know just how much they stand to benefit from selling when the weather outside is frightful.
The proof is in the numbers
More homes sell in spring than in winter, according to the NAR. No surprise there.
Unfortunately, this is where the media usually stops when they write about selling a home in winter. What they neglect to state is although home sales can be down in the winter,
…the likelihood of selling a home in winter is better than at any other time of the year, they sell faster and for more than asking price according to a Redfin study.
Fence Sitter Series
Interestingly, this statistic holds true regardless of market.
If you want to make more money this winter, you’ll need to get the word out to sellers. “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” isn’t just a song title.
Let other sellers buy into the myth of winter-is-bad
Dahna Chandler at themortgagereports.com wrongly assumes that “… most people shiver” when considering a winter home sale. “It’s likely the hardest to sell a house in most areas.”
Then, there’s Natalie Campisi at bankrate.com who, when explaining why “… fall/winter is the worst time to sell a house,” says that “December is when homebuying activity comes to a standstill and there’s little inventory available.”
“Little inventory” sounds like the real estate market in general over the past year. Besides, “little inventory” means less competition for sellers, which might be why homes in popular areas, in good condition, sell for more than asking in winter.
Our point is that this is the type of stuff that other agents are reading that scares them away as we approach winter.
It’s time to dust off your blogging skills and make sure sellers in your area know the truth: if you need to sell, this can be a profitable time of year to do so.
Winter buyers are highly motivated to buy
Fence Sitter Series
Think about it: Especially in frigid winter areas, to trudge around town looking at homes for sale takes a certain level of motivation.
It turns out that the rate of job transfers is quite high in the early part of the year. This winter, however, the pandemic-caused migration may still be underway. Those are two groups of highly motivated homebuyers.
Then, there are the nearly 3 million homeowners who are still in forbearance, many of them with mortgages not backed by a GSE. Will they sell rather than bite that bitter pill of the catch-up payment?
Let them know that they’ll do well to sell this winter.
Inventory is even lower
Our squeaky tight inventory of homes for sale doesn’t appear to be loosening up. When winter hits and sellers take their homes off the market, the competition will dwindle even more.
Urgency is the overall feeling you want to convey whether your writing a blog, and email, sending direct mail, or speaking to someone in person.
As all of us have learned in 2020, there is a lot that we have absolutely no control over. Urgency will get those fence-sitters off the fence and into the market.
Take your main “urgency” points and add them to a Fence Sitter Series postcard from ProspectsPLUS!, then send it out to your listing of Fence Sitters. If you don’t have a Fence Sitter list, you can create a list in minutes with the demographic search tool.
Direct mail marketing is such an affordable way to put something tangible into the hands of your potential clients. For instance, on ProspectsPLUS.com you can send 150 Jumbo sized postcards, standard class for only $121.00.
Consider the potential return on investment of these 150 postcards – and it’s truly all upside.
Make sure to include the Timing is Everything brochure in your listing presentation folder. In fact, here’s a promo code (FREEBROCH) for you to download the brochure for FREE, for a limited time.
If you send a newsletter, publish an article on the topic of winter selling creating the same urgency.
Then, start writing about ways to make their homes more attractive in winter via staging, sprucing up the landscaping, etc.
Winter doesn’t have to be the doldrums for your real estate business. All it takes is an effort to counteract the naysayers by getting the word out that selling in winter has definite benefits.
Fence Sitter Series
Send the Time is Running out postcard from the Fence Sitter Series to your Fence Sitter prospect list.
Use the Demographic Searchtool, from a desktop or laptop, to generate your Fence Sitter prospect list in just minutes.
Need help targeting a specific niche of buyers or sellers? Use our prospect list tools to create the ideal list (it’s easy) or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!
Follow the 3-7-27 Law of Branding and send a series of Fence Sitter postcards over a period of time. Use the “Schedule Orders” tool to schedule months of mailings all at once.
And, remember with scheduled orders YOU DON’T PAY until the order goes out!
Just click the “Schedule for Later” button and pick your mailing date – it’s that easy!
Because what GETS SCHEDULED, GETS DONE!
Watch the video below to learn how to schedule a mailing in just minutes!
PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.
1. 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.
2. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide
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
3. 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
4. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan
Treat your business like a business it is vital to long-term success in this industry. Some agents may put together elaborate business plans, yet there’s something powerful about keeping it simple. Check out our one page Online Real Estate Business Plan. – Click Here
5. 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
6. The Free Online ROI Calculator
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”
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
When you reach the end of your life, will you look back fondly on the five years (based on studies) you spent on social media?
Probably not. I mean, it’s when our time is up that we decide, darn it, we should’ve spent more time on the truly meaningful things in life. Unless, of course, you find social media truly meaningful.
…but meaningful enough to spend 2.25 hours every day on it?
Ok, so you do it for your business. But if you don’t have a social media strategy you may be wasting valuable business time as well.
If you find yourself trying out idea after idea, hoping that someday one of them will work, or if yours is the type of “strategy” that leads to reading and responding to every post, following links and, generally, wasting time, quit it!
The “why” behind your use of social media
Social media—at least some platforms—seem tailor-made for the real estate industry. Take Facebook, for example. The user-demographics align with the average real estate consumer, it’s easy to use and, if you don’t buy ads, it’s free.
To not be on Facebook is just plain silly. But, to avoid having it suck your time you need to understand how to best use it and then get clear on your goals.
Here are some agent goals we typically hear:
To keep in touch with your sphere. Staying top-of-mind isn’t easy but reaching out on Facebook makes it easier.
To reach potential clients. Unless you are doing this strategically, it may be a major time suck. Hoping your posts get shared isn’t a strategy.
To keep up-to-date on the industry. To do this typically requires joining groups. If you aren’t careful, activities in these Facebook groups can wipe out a good portion of the day (or night).
To drive traffic to your website.
Manage your time wisely
Consider scheduling social media time. Like blocks set aside for follow-up and lead generation, set aside a certain amount of time that you’ll spend on social media. Then, stick to the schedule. Use an alarm, if you must, to remind you when to stop.
At first, the amount of time you wasted will be painfully obvious. When the alarm sounds and all you’ve done is read posts, you may need some motivation to remain mindful of why you’re on the platform in the first place.
Create, don’t consume
“There are so many talented entrepreneurs out there who focus on just consuming all day long instead of creating,” laments Jason Sadler, founder of IWearYourShirt.
Your first creation should be a social media strategy. Decide which platforms serve you best and let the others go, at least for now. For instance, Facebook is a must for agents who want to keep in touch with their sphere of influence and entice folks to visit their websites.
Instagram and Pinterest, on the other hand, don’t have the demographics that fit the average real estate buyer and seller and they are far more time-consuming than a quick, daily stop at Facebook.
Then, decide how much time you’ll devote to social media each week, set an alarm while visiting and leave when the time is up.
Skip the groups and communities, at least during work hours. They’re fine for garnering business advice and socializing with colleagues but save those visits for non-work hours.
Other strategies to consider:
Ditch the notifications. Do you really need the distraction of being alerted every time someone posts a comment on a post you’re following?
Use social media scheduling tools to automate the publishing of your content. Yes, there are cons to this as well as pros, but if you’re easily distracted and find yourself wasting a lot of time on social media, it’s a tool you may want to consider.
Take some tips from Laura Monroe, real estate marketing whiz, who explains her brilliant social media strategy.
She schedules her company’s social media posts the night before they will be posted. “ … that way I’m not distracting myself from important tasks!”
During the day, she avoids additional distractions by turning off notifications “until I have all my important work-to-dos completed first.”
Around lunchtime, she takes “time to engage, respond to messages, and reach out to my network. More scheduling in the afternoon, and more engagement in the evenings when I’m planning the next day.”
It’s a strategically-planned social media schedule that allows her to remain engaged yet still attend to her important business tasks.
Social media can be a powerful way to generate leads and keep in touch with your Sphere. However, only if the time spent is managed wisely and not allowed to dominate your workday.
Another effective way to keep in touch with your Sphere is to send the popular Chill Out postcard from the Content Card Series.
It’s a fun and informative way to let your Sphere know you’re thinking about them this summer.
Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list toolto 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 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.
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
Want to Refer a friend or colleague? Refer them, Here. THEY get a Free $25 Gift Card and YOU become their hero (BTW, you also get a $25 Gift Card too, now that’s what I’m talking about)!
