After a dynamic 2020, the year 2021 has presented the real estate market with… well… pretty much non-existent inventory. We’re also in a year of historic high home prices, as well as skyrocketing prices for new constructions and remodels. According to Random Lengths, the price of lumber is up more than 170% over the past 10 months (with similar price increases for steel and copper). Because of this, lumber prices alone have added roughly $24k to the cost of a new home. Wow. No wonder it’s a seller’s market!
Wouldn’t it be nice to be on the receiving end of multiple offers instead of stressing with buyers over the lack of options? Of course, the immediate need is to scout and inform homeowners about the perks of the current sellers’ market. This leads to your main objective of finding homeowners who are in a great position to sell. This includes:
- Homeowners who may be sitting on equity
- Empty nesters, or those looking to downsize
- Those with investment and/or second properties
Keep in mind: many individuals are out of the loop when it comes to the intricacies of today’s real estate market, and it’s up to you to educate them about it being the best time in recent years for them to sell their home!
Now, the question comes into play: “How do I get in front of these potential sellers in the first place?” The National Association of REALTORS 2020 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers tells us that 41% of individuals find their agent from a referral by friends or family, and an additional 26% of sellers use the listing agent they had worked with in the past.
It’s easy to assume referrals and repeat business magically happens, but that (unfortunately) isn’t the case. In order for referrals to become a regular part of business, it’s imperative to nurture all of the relationships in your client base and continually provide value.
So what do you do?
- Make sure your CRM is solid & use it frequently. For lasting client-agent relationships, you need to be in consistent contact with your clients – that annual Christmas card isn’t enough to maintain a top-of-mind presence. Without careful & thoughtful organization, it’s possible to drop the ball and miss out on a great opportunity. Having the right CRM software in place will allow you to easily communicate with your clients on a regular basis, as well as automate the process of staying top of mind.
- Don’t forget the personal touches. Long gone are the days of sacrificing a personal touch for the convenience of automation. When using a CRM, that tedious “happy closing day anniversary” email no longer requires scrolling through your software looking for past clients, typing up an email to each one, and hitting send. You can simply craft these types of emails in advance, tell the software to send them on specific milestone dates, and trust the CRM to execute those tasks so you don’t have to worry about forgetting!
- Stay in touch via social media. Remember: You don’t ALWAYS have to be in “business mode” when you log into Instagram. A simple comment on someone’s post about their cute dog, adorable family, or stunning vacation goes a long way for staying on someone’s radar.
So, what about the 33% of individuals who DIDN’T use their past agent or a referral to sell their home?… Clearly, you’ll need a way to reach those prospects who aren’t yet a part of your database. The short answer? Having a strong social media presence, combined with print marketing and online research is the perfect recipe for success!
- Use multiple marketing mediums. It’s no secret that different people resonate with different marketing elements. Some prefer emails, some gravitate towards print, and others are strictly influenced by the power of social media. As a real estate professional, you’ll want to appeal to everyone by mixing up your marketing through different mediums. A monthly email newsletter campaign paired with blog posts, postcard mailings, and social media content can help ensure that you’re consistent with your marketing (and that you won’t fall prey to the pitfall of “one and done”).
- Run online seller lead generation ads. Offer free home valuations and downloadable home seller guides using Facebook & Instagram Ads! These advertisements promise to reduce the friction of selling a home by offering help with important steps in the process. Ads like this act as a magnet for potentially stressed individuals who are about to sell, or are considering selling.
- Research Expired Listings & FSBOs. Whether the home was overpriced, under-marketed, or poorly photographed, you should always be prospecting those expired listings in your community! Clearly, these homeowners are interested in selling their home, but they might have missed the mark when it came to using the right agent to sell it at the right price. Contact them with powerful CTAs like “I will sell your house in X months (or fewer!)” to grab their attention. Similarly, For Sale By Owner homes are easy targets for finding listings, and oftentimes the contact information is incredibly simple to find!
- Provide value with your content. No matter if you’re sending postcards or posting on social media, providing value is imperative when it comes to your marketing. The best way to do that is to ensure you deliver information that is useful, entertaining, and relevant to your ideal client’s needs and interests. This could include real estate market insights, local hot spot recommendations, home DIY tips, and more. The more value your content provides, the more relationships you’ll build.
- Be the community expert! It’s no surprise that top-producing agents are the ones who know everything going on around town. Providing your audience with local restaurant, shopping, and entertainment suggestions helps to mix up your content AND showcases you as the expert within your neighborhood. If you position yourself as the concierge of your town, people will naturally turn to you for business.
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It might sound overwhelming to do all of this on your own, but that’s where Back At You can help! Back At You provides clients with a great CRM, easy-to-use action plans, automated social media marketing, direct mail postcards, AND an all-in-one solution designed to make companies more efficient, improve office communications, streamline operations, and reduce operating costs. Want to learn more about how we can help? Email hey@backatyou.com to set up a personalized consultation with one of our experts!