Depending on who you talk to, and where you are located, you are probably hearing that the market is flattening or at least changing.
In my opinion, this is a regional phenomenon with some areas chugging along and others not so much.
But for the sake of this post, let’s assume that your market has slowed down. So what do you do? It’s too early to shut down for the holidays and maybe a bit too late to run a big marketing campaign.
I’ve come up with five things that you can do that aren’t going to cost you a lot of money. They will cost you some time though. And if YOUR market HAS slowed, you Do have time to spend!
- Attend Marketing meetings – If your area has a weekly marketing meeting and you haven’t been going, then it’s time to re-evaluate that position. If you are a regular attendee of these meetings you soon discover that you often get advanced notifications of coming soon listings and you can often hear about buyer needs that you can use to help get that pocket listing of yours off the fence. You also get to meet agents that you may be trying to put a deal together with in the future. Oh, and there is usually bacon there too!
- Go on Broker Tour – If you aren’t going out to see other broker’s listings you are missing the boat. A solid knowledge of your market area is absolutely necessary to help you price listings, show homes to your buyers and generally improve your knowledge of the market. Plan on spending as much time as necessary each week to “see the inventory”.
- Attend office meetings – No one likes to go to office meetings, but your broker or manager spends a ton of time putting together an informative session that usually plays to less than a full house. If you DON’T go to your office meetings how are you going to know what is going on in the office and what the new programs are that your Company provides? And when the day comes that you need a favor from the broker are you sure that they will even recognize you? Go to the meetings. On time. Every time. Participate. And stay for the entire meeting.
- Sharpen your saw – What I mean by this is make sure that you are up to date on new laws, new forms, new disclosures and anything else that affects your business. Take time to check your technology too. Are there issues with your computer, phone or car that you have been putting off addressing? What about classes? Do you have your SRES? What about your ABR and SRS? Have you taken your biennial Ethics class? Is your license coming up for renewal? Get these things handled while you have time.
- Call your past clients – This is one of those things that I shouldn’t even have to mention, but it really is necessary. I usually hear “I don’t know what to say” when I suggest this to agents. Here is a clue: Talk to them about their FORD. Before you get all excited and want to tell me that they don’t have a FORD, let me remind you that it is an acronym for Family, Occupation, Recreation and Dreams. If you think about it, you already have these conversations with your friends. Do the same with your past clients and sphere. Who know, you may find out that they have a need for a REALTOR®!
So, if you find yourself with time on your hands, give one or all of these ideas a shot! Who knows, it just may lead to a escrow! And wouldn’t that be cool?
