You’ve heard many times that consistent real estate marketing is important. And yet… as we come into the spring and summer selling season, it can be easy to shove it to a back burner.
Right now you may have plenty of buyers and sellers clamoring for your attention. Their needs may even be intruding on your evenings as you use those relatively quiet hours to prepare for listing appointments, complete listing and purchase agreements, line up showings for the next day, or meet with sellers to review offers.
It’s easy to abandon consistent real estate marketing when you’re busy running from one client to another. I know. Remember that I was once an agent, so I’ve been there and done that.
With consistent real estate marketing, you’ll never wake up “unemployed.”
When you spend every waking moment taking care of the clients you already have, one day all of those transactions will have either closed or faded away. And while you might enjoy taking a few days off, you’ll soon be wondering where the next closing (commission check) is coming from.
Since most real estate transactions do take some time to get from listing or showing, to offer, to closing, you could be looking at a couple of months before you see another commission check. That’s called having a roller coaster income.
Consistent real estate marketing puts an end to roller coaster income
Consistent real estate marketing keeps new buyers and/or sellers coming to you, asking for your help.
If you really don’t have time to serve all of them, you can refer them to a trusted colleague. You could also expand your business by hiring an assistant to take over some of the tasks that don’t put you face-to-face with your clients. Even a virtual assistant to handle things like MLS uploads would free some of your time.
Knowing that you have a steady flow of clients will relieve your stress.
There’s enough stress involved in making your transactions get from agreement to closing. You don’t need the stress of wondering how you’ll pay your bills if one transaction fails.
And here’s the added bonus: When you have more leads than you can handle, you get to pick and choose your clients.
When you don’t have any clients, you’re apt to jump at the chance to help any buyer or seller you can get. And as you know, some of them will not be a good fit for you. Some of them may not be a good fit for anyone.
For instance:
- A seller who refuses to clean the house but insists on pricing above market value.
- A buyer who refuses to get pre-approved, but wants to see a dozen houses every weekend.
When there are no other possibilities, you just might waste your time, money, and energy on folks like that.
When you have plenty of leads, you can choose the properties and people you work with.
For starters, you can say no to those buyers and sellers who are likely to be a waste of time. You can also say no to anyone who appears to disrespect the real estate profession.
Then you can choose your clients in keeping with your preferences.
Everyone has preferences, even within a niche. For instance, you may specialize in selling homes in probate, but prefer to work in a certain geographical area. Perhaps you’d rather assist probate sellers who live out of the area.
If you specialize in waterfront, you may prefer cabins over mansions, or the other way around. You might even prefer to sell unimproved lots.
If you haven’t yet chosen a niche, you still have homes and people you enjoy more than others. You may love helping first time buyers, seniors who are downsizing, or people who are moving up. You may love selling condos or prefer homes on acreage.
When you engage in consistent real estate marketing and develop an abundance of leads, you can choose the clients you want and refer out the others.
Lack of consistent real estate marketing can lead you to bad decisions.
- You might take chances with your personal safety by rushing off to meet a potential buyer at a vacant house.
- You could say yes to a drastic cut in your commission rather than let a listing to to someone else.
- You could go in debt, trying to avoid making your family tighten their belts when there’s no money coming in.
How can you engage in consistent real estate marketing when you’re busy?
Choose marketing methods that can be automated or delegated out.
For instance, you can select pre-written real estate prospecting or farming letters from the sets I offer at Copy by 
Marte. Then to get them delivered automatically either by email or postal mail, you or your assistant can follow one of these mailing plans.
Because referrals are so important to your long term success, you can use letters such as my event-themed keeping in touch letters to stay top of mind with your past clients and those in your sphere of influence.
Since social media marketing seems to be gaining a lot of traction in the real estate industry, you can choose a social media marketing wizard to keep you out there in front of potential customers.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.”
James Rohn
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“If you are aiming at the top, consistency is the name of the game.”
Olawale Daniel
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“Consistency over time is trust.”
Satya Nadella
What if you’re NOT overly busy?
Consistent real estate marketing is still the answer.
When business is slow, you have time on your hands, so use it to your benefit. Work on marketing and prospecting.
In addition, sign up to take a class to sharpen your skills. Then get started on some of these “14 Things to do to Make the Highest and Best Use of a Blank Week in Real Estate.”
I’ve known many agents who went to the office, then either played computer games all day or spent the time gossiping – or whining because they had no business. What a waste!
Robert Ringer wrote a book entitled “ACTION – Nothing Happens until Something Moves,” and that is so true. If you allow yourself to stand still, your career could be doomed. If you get busy, good things will begin to happen.
Before long, that roller coaster income will be something from the forgotten past.
Roller coaster Image courtesy of foto76 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Choice Image courtesy of jesadaphorn at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Letter delivery Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
