While economic uncertainties continue and a changing global economy dominating the everyday headlines, it’s clear to many why real estate agents struggle to get ahead – especially in the aftermath of the housing crash. However, while these issues on the macroeconomic level are important to take note of, they aren’t the primary reasons that plague many agents from growing their business in 2017.
These are four primary areas where real estate agents struggle to get ahead of their competition.
A failure to market to two key demographics
“In 2017, the U.S. real estate market will be in the middle of two massive demographic waves that will power demand for at least the next 10 years.”
Millennials and Baby Boomers are the two largest American generations in history – and they’re both going through unique shifts in their lives. Baby boomers are starting to see their nests empty as they look to capitalize on hot housing markets and peek into retirement. Millennials are on the other end of the spectrum as first-time homebuyers looking to break into the market, start a family and put down roots.
The purchasing power these influential generations represent, paired with their impending largest transfer of wealth in history, shows they will continue to make waves in the real estate market across North America. Remember, these are the people that quite literally built and grew up in the digital age – meaning they live online! They understand the power of quality website content, mobile friendly communication, thought leadership articles and how all these elements work together to build a clients’ trust. Ninety-two percent of buyers use the Internet in some way in their home search process, so if you don’t have a clear and concise digital footprint – why would someone choose to go with you?
You can’t capture leads and when you do – you fail to nurture them
New prospects are the lifeblood of any real estate practice, or any business looking to boost sales for that matter. There has to be an engine in place to pull in prospects in the form of a powerful website, regular newsletters, e-mail correspondence and blogs – but to be able to convert those bites into a new client, there has to be a level of urgency to how quick you respond; typically within a five minute window from when they reached out to you. Real estate agents are constantly on the move, so if you can’t get back with a phone call or a text message – have your new leads automatically receive an email from you immediately to ensure leads aren’t slipping through the cracks.
Sometimes clients have been referred to you and are ready to move forward right away, and others are still doing their research and need a bit more education to move them down the funnel. Prospects don’t get nurtured properly when they aren’t seeing any resources made available for the specific stage of the buying or selling process they fall under. Is your content tailored to their stage in life and what they might be looking for? If not, they could be looking elsewhere online to serve their quest for knowledge.
You lose touch with their client base
How many times have you run into an old acquaintance, colleague or client on the street and decided on getting caught up over dinner, only to part ways and have nothing come of your plans? There is a wealth of possibility that can come from simply reaching out and saying hi to a past client – which is simply just good business practice, but might expose you to new opportunities.
Remember the “80-20” rule, where 20% of past real estate clients give you 80% or more of your referrals and repeat business? Having a real estate CRM can help you collect and organize all client information and will send you reminders to check in with your contacts, whether it’s catching up for lunch, a home visit, an invite to a client appreciation event or a simple ‘hello.’
Don’t be so busy building a new clientele that you forget about the ones that helped you get established.
You’re scrambled and all over the place
Whether you’re working under a licensed broker or serving as your own entity, a clear lack of organization will hurt your bottom line and continue to create missed opportunities. Not to mention how harmful it can be to your client relations and destruction of brand credibility. It can be easy to fall prey to the trap of being unorganized, especially when juggling multiple listing, new prospects, closings – and remembering what night soccer practice is.
Having a contact calendar and contact task list in IXACT Contact’s Tasks feature, will allow you to stay on top of your to-dos and to pounce on the opportunities to earn new revenue streams. If major time management issues continue, it can be difficult in retaining clients and will ultimately stifle your growth.
Don’t let your competition get the inside track on you in 2017.
Start your FREE 5 week free trial of IXACT Contact now.
