Real estate agents can position themselves for success in 2023 and beyond by concentrating on these seven areas. Agents that are proactive and committed to their craft will be well-positioned to achieve their goals in the ever-competitive real estate industry, whether it’s through effective marketing and branding, creating a strong network, or honing their knowledge and skills.
Marketing and branding:
More than ever, it is crucial for agents to have a strong internet presence. This goes beyond just having a website, but also a vibrant social media presence that is ever-producing new useful content worth following, and a collection of raving testimonials. Agents must meet their clients where they are, on their phone or pc through their socials. Agents that can stand out in a crowded market will attract more business as clients these days are often researching and following agents long before they make a decision to work with them.
Networking:
Gone are the times of solo agents doing everything themselves. Collaboration and an abundance mindset are key if you want your business to not just survive but THRIVE. Real estate is not just local anymore, it’s statewide, nationwide, and WORLDWIDE. Instead of having a scarcity mindset and staying away from other agents, you need to network with agents not just in your brokerage but outside it especially if your brokerage’s reach is limited to just your city or state. Having agents in other states and countries and lead to referral business for you. In addition, learning marketing strategies from their markets that might not be currently implemented in your local market might help you have a leg up on your local competition. Having a network of real estate professionals like loan officers, contractors, title agents, insurance agents, etc will make you the go-to for all your clients’ needs. A great place to connect with others is by joining local professional organizations and attending industry events.
Lead Generation:
The base for any sales-type business is lead generation. Agents need to develop consistent and effective lead-generation strategies. If old-school cold calling and mailers work for you, keep at it. But if that’s not working or a strategy that you don’t want to do find a strategy that does work for you. It can be text ads, voicemail drops, internet ads to video content/ads! Video is huge these days, if you are not producing video content either in short or long form, Tiktok, FB reels, Instagram Reels, or Youtube. You are missing out on a lot of opportunities and free leads at that.
Follow-up and follow-through:
Lead generation without follow-up is pointless. If you don’t actively follow up with leads or follow through on your interactions with leads, then you’ve just wasted time, money, and potential income. To handle incoming leads, agents must have a system that they utilize to organize, filter, and respond to leads. In today’s world, a lead that hasn’t been responded to within a day or a few hours is a dead lead. Learning how to use customer relationship management software can be of great help for automated responses, marketing campaigns, and keeping leads warm.
Market Knowledge: Always learning about your market, watching listings, and staying on top of developments, trends, and numbers will prove to clients that you are the local expert. If clients ask you how the local market is and you don’t know how to respond, they will second guess using your services.
Negotiation skills: not only important when negotiating an offer with the other party, but before that opportunity even presents itself. First, you need to sell yourself to the potential client as to why they should use you as their agent. If you fail to effectively communicate or show them why you would provide value as their agent. Then you won’t even have the opportunity to negotiate an offer for them. As an agent, you need to learn how to read clients, between the lines of what they aren’t actually saying, their body language, and how to best communicate based on each client’s behavior type. Selling real estate is easy but managing human emotions and expectations is one of the most challenging aspects of being an agent.
Professionalism:
Upholding a high standard of integrity and professionalism is crucial for gaining the respect and credibility of clients and colleagues. Abiding by your own moral principles and rules, treating everyone fairly, and being dependable and responsive to your clients and colleagues. Remember that it can take years to build your brand and reputation, but it is easily ruined overnight.