16 Ways to Recession-proof Your Real Estate Business
Written By: Chris Linsell
Notes by: Rony Velasquez
#1. Set Up Your CRM to Stay Top of Mind with Your Clients.
What’s the #1 thing real estate agents can do right now to get ready for the rebound? Set up their CRM to stay front of mind with their sphere of influence.
Notes: Through our lead distribution program I have completely set up your contact database, as soon as you are part of our team all my over 3,000 campaigns and steps, and it comes with free leads. nothing is missing except you doing the work.
#2. Make Sure Your Contacts Know You as a Person First & a Real Estate Agent Second
Recessions are challenging for everyone. There are only so many corporate communications a person can receive before that impersonal, unemotional message is completely tuned out. That’s why, especially in times of stress, your clients must know you as a human being who cares about them, and not just a businessman or woman who wants to help with a transaction.
Notes: don’t forget to study our courses on closing techniques
#3. Use Slower Times to Organize & Prepare
When real estate activities start slowing it which gives real estate agents a chance to catch up on much-needed organization and preparation tasks. If your industry slows down as a chance to prepare yourself for the inevitable bounce back, you’ll get a lot done and feel better about it too.
Notes: Spend time watching and practicing all of my training videos in https://www.reaz.app/trainingvideos/
#4. Focus Your Marketing Attention on Your Sphere of Influence
Focusing more on your sphere of influence and developing a stronger referral base. These are people who already know and trust you; you don’t have to win them over for business—all you must do is be present at the right time.
Notes: The first step when joining our CRM is to organize your leads. For more information go here secondly who is the world can tell me when is the “right time” to contact them? NO ONE KNOWS, is about consistently following up “until” its the right time.
#5. Cut & Track Your Expenses
A great way to think about this is ROI or return on investment. For every dollar you spend in pursuit of your real estate goals, what are you getting in return? Is there a specific financial return? Is the return gained time? Convenience? If you can’t adequately justify to yourself what you get from the money spent, especially when times are lean, it is time to cut that expense.
Notes: Let me repeat, most of our leads in our lead distribution system are FREE
#6. Make the Switch to a Nearly All-digital Operation
If you haven’t done so already, a financial crunch is a great time to get your business out of the old world and into the digital realm. Client meetings can be replaced with Zoom or Skype calls, property tours can be replaced with virtual tours, and closing can be conducted digitally. In a time of uncertainty, finding ways to conduct business as usual without things being business, as usual, is crucial.
Notes: Practice working with Skype, Zoom, TeamViewer, and Videolicious.
#7. Develop Short-term Goals
Agents can relieve this frustration by focusing on short-term, weekly goals. Make your measures of success about work done rather than results. When people aren’t buying and selling as much, the resulting fruit of all your labor is delayed, which makes it a poor measure of your success.
Notes: In my training, I always say: “Time management is bogus; you cannot manage time” become a “TASK manager” create a list feasible tasks and don’t rest until you complete them all. The CLOZE agenda is a great place to get started.
#8. Maintain (& Improve) Your Relationships with Existing Clients
When the economy is changing thanks to uncertain conditions, it may be necessary to change your approach to servicing your buyers and sellers, but you should continue to service them. Your client relationships are key at this time of transition, so showing them that you can still help them in whatever market we find ourselves in is important.
#9. Build a Financial Safety Net
With the real possibility of fewer commissions on the horizon, real estate agents must build out a financial support structure so they can keep themselves afloat even without closings happening regularly. One way to do this is with home equity. Most real estate agents are homeowners, which means many of us to have equity in our properties that may be unleveraged.
Notes: you cannot have a financial safety net if you are not producing income. Just saying.
#10. Stay Informed About the Real Estate Market & Other Economic Conditions
It’s important to understand how an economic downturn impacts housing. While housing demand may vary over time, housing prices may still increase in certain price points or sectors. To best serve your clients, understand how the different price points and types of homes are impacted in your area.
Notes: Learn how to use Matrix to get market data, the last 7 days of Actives, Pending, Back-up and closed transactions and hot sheets will give you a great insight into the current market. Learn to use Matrix
#11. Don’t Stop Marketing
Now is not the time to become a secret agent. The last thing you want is to drop off the radar completely in your market. The longer you’re gone, the harder it will be to get back to where you are now, much less move ahead. Try turning down your active lead generation campaigns, and even some of your more involved (and expensive) property marketing efforts. Instead, focus your efforts on brand awareness and social media marketing so that your prospects can learn who you are and what you stand for.
Notes: Phone calls, Emails, and Text messages are still free. It’s up to you to utilize them.
#12. Push Pocket Listings
The real estate agents who thrive in challenging conditions are the ones who can leverage their unique advantages. If you’ve got pocket listings, this is one of those advantages.
For those pocket sellers who’ve said, “Find me a buyer and I’ll consider it, otherwise I am not putting the house on the market,” it’s an all-out search. Start hitting up your sphere of influence looking for the right match. Reach out to fellow real estate agents to see if anyone has the right buyer.
If you’ve got sellers who have given you the “I’d only move if I got an ungodly amount of money” line, sometimes the best approach to take is to treat them like buyers. Think about it: They’ve indicated to you that they’re open to moving if the right sale price came along, but what if you found them the home of their dreams, thus motivating them and knocking down that sale price requirement a little bit?
#13. Look for New Market Opportunities
When the housing market shifts, it very rarely shifts all at one time and all in the same direction. Typically, a downturn in prices and demand for homes in one sector of the market, say, luxury property means an uptick in prices in demand in another. If your area of the market is quiet, start by expanding your reach a little outside of your normal transactions.
Notes: Also try other lead sources, for example, if you have ONLY been doing open houses, consider doing telemarketing, If you have only been doing telemarketing, consider working your sphere of influence, Etc.
#14. Become an Expert in Your Brokerage-specific Tools
Many of us work for big-name brokerages that provide us with some powerful tools for running our real estate business. However, most agents don’t take full advantage of these tools, usually, because they aren’t sure how to best use them. In times when business is slower, set aside time to learn the ins and outs of your brokerage-provided toolkit. These tools may be the difference between simply surviving and thriving in a tight market.
Notes: Have you seen all the training videos for the BHHS resource? Here
#15. Adjust Your Current Listings’ Marketing More Aggressively
Your pricing strategy is going to need to change too: prioritize speed to close over the final sale price. Of course, you still want to get the most you can for your sellers, but the longer a property sits on the market during lean times, the harder it becomes to sell at any price. Get your sellers the best deal possible now so they can use their proceeds to get into their next place sooner.”
Notes: What is your marketing strategy? Do you have one? Here’s a sample of one
#16. Consider Teaming Up
As a solo agent, you reap all the benefits of your hard work. On the other hand, you also shoulder all the risks if things in the business go quiet. Joining a real estate team can provide you with a source of leads, a greater sphere of influence, and the financial support you may need to make it through particularly tough patches. Yes, there is usually a financial sacrifice for this stability in the long run but staying in the business and making a little bit less is much better than leaving the business altogether.
Notes: If you are going to partner up with someone, please do yourself and all of us a favor, have an airtight Partnership agreement, I always say “marriages are made in heaven and divorces are made in court” Make sure you have a good partnership agreement, you can take a look at mine as a sample but I highly recommend you create your own.
About Chris Linsell
As a Real Estate Writer for The Close, Chris is one of our resident experts on real estate topics ranging from marketing, lead generation, transactional best practices and everything in between. As a licensed agent in the state of Michigan, Chris has been a part of hundreds of transactions from modest rural starter homes to massive waterside compounds. When he isn’t writing, you’ll find Chris fly fishing the trout streams of Michigan or on the stage in his community theater’s latest production.