As an agent or leader of a real estate team, you control how you operate, from the brand you build to the investments you make. How much you earn is in your power, as well—but, often, agents allow conditions out of their control to determine their income, instead of focusing on what fosters lasting, steady success.
Dynamics inevitably shift, but if built smart, your business can flourish even in leaner times, according to the latest RISMedia webinar, "Growing Your Business: Strategies to Scale Your Business for Sustainable Long-Term Growth," moderated by Sherri Johnson, of Sherri Johnson Coaching & Consulting, and sponsored by Homes.com.
The key is to maximize your time, so that your activities not only serve you today, but also in the future. Here's how:
- Build face time into your life.
Do you bring your children to school? Buy coffee each morning? Go to the gym? Activities already built into your day-to-day are opportunities to reacquaint others with what you do.
"The easiest way to find balance is to do something that you really love, and then weave it into the business," said Melinda Sarkis, leader of the Sarkis | Troyer Team with Coldwell Banker Global Luxury in Boston, Mass. (pictured right). "I'm very passionate about health and fitness, and [when] going to a class with a client, I get my workout in, we get to socialize together, and I'm putting myself in front of [the] client and however many other people are in the room."
While you're at an event or obligation, "[don't be] afraid to tell [others] that you're in real estate and that you'd love to have them be a referral source for you," said Suzanne Troyer, leader of the Sarkis | Troyer team (pictured left). "Leverage your position."
- Generate leads painlessly.
Do you currently have a listing? Work it! If you have at least one listing, you can multiply that into opportunities, whether face-to-face or online.
"If it's my listing, for example, I might have two or three agents from our group hold the open house so that they have the ability to represent the buy side of the transaction," said Dan Combe, leader of the Dan Combe Group with Ebby Halliday Realtors® (pictured right), noting that in Texas, agency is "intermediary"—generally, different agents from the same brokerage can represent both parties in a transaction.
"When you're listing a house, or have a buyer client, make sure that they are following you on social media, and, if they're okay with it, [tag them]," Troyer said, explaining that when your client is mentioned in one of your posts, you are then exposed to their friends and followers, growing your sphere.
- Use what you have.
Are you capitalizing on a CRM system? Your contacts' lives aren't static, so your database should be regularly updated, and built to keep you on their radar, even if there isn't an immediate need for your real estate services.
"The best location of leads is past clients," Combe said. "We maintain what we call a 'wedding list;' that is, who would you invite to a wedding if it had been your own or your child's? Keep those 50-150 people that are closest to you around, and refer back to them, because it's free business."
How about your website? Are you making the most of your online presence? For example, if a client is interested in a listing, "I'll pull up the property from our website and then send it to them that way, so it's pushing them to the website, and then they start signing up for updates," Sarkis said. "They get to see our bio, they get to see our featured listings that we have, things in the neighborhood…it always opens the door for them to start searching in other ways."
However you build business for yourself, there will always be ebbs and flows in the housing market—but, as shown by the speakers in our webinar, with creativity and the fundamentals in place, your business can endure for the long haul.
Begin with more ideas from the webinar:
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Great tips! The listing I think is the most important. You need to have your list of goals. How many clients are you planning to call for the day? Questions like this are a sure win!