Consistent Action Creates Results

I've worked with thousands of agents over the past three decades and every agent experiences a market or a time in their career where business isn’t coming in at the pace that would keep them comfortable. When agents don’t have enough business in their hands, it’s usually because they aren’t consistently investing effort into paths for growth.

Today's message is about creating that consistency. It's about having faith that your actions will lead to result. It's about moving your business story forward whether that's through mailing campaigns, staying in touch with past clients, or by daily keeping in touch with the market so that you can take advantage of it. Let's look at examples of all three of these situations.

Example 1: Geographical Farming

For our first example, imagine that you are running a geographical farm and it has been up-and-running for about six months now. For all your efforts, you haven't yet heard one thing from your farming. Not one response. Now, traditionally, if you look at all agents who have started farms, how long does it usually take for a reply or a response. I've been an expert on farming for over 30 years and helped many agents create geographical farming success in their business and I'll tell you the one thing I know for sure.

I don't think that people receive a piece of mail and say, "Oh today I'm going to call that person." What they do instead is they wait and watch. They want to see what your message is, how consistent you are, what your style is, they want to get to know your "voice" in the market, and they become familiar with the issues that you talk about and report on. That helps them to get to know you better before they pick up the phone.

I know many agents where it took a year to eighteen-months before their farming efforts bore fruit. They would say, "It's been eighteen months!" and I say, "Stick with it," and then see their geofarming take-off. It is important to remember to have patience as you nurture your farm and to continue to try new things. Mix it up a little bit. Add a little data if it's too content heavy. Change up the photograph or the message a bit, but have patience because farming works and once it is working it is the business driver that agents don't want to give up because it's their bread-and-butter.

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Example 2: Past Client Marketing

Let's say you have past clients, but those past clients are not referring or returning any business to you. Why is this happening? A past client is a relationship that needs attention. Past clients are a big investment, you need to keep in touch with past clients by tracking how their home investment is going and be their investment detective by letting them know when median sales prices go up or when something happens in their area that could affect them.

For example, earlier this year in Washington State there were some really big house bills that made all of certain areas capable of supporting ADUs and DADUs. That is great information for your past client homeowners and for you to say, "Your investment just went up in value because your lot was just rezoned and guess what you could do now?"

Again, it's about keeping that relationship moving and not giving up on it.

Example 3: Creating New Opportunities

So, we've covered farming and past clients in our two previous examples, but what about current clients? Let's imagine you've done everything you can with the first two, but you need business today. You either need to get out there in-person and if you can't be in-person then you need to be out there in paper. What I mean by that is this: let's say you would like to be in person at an open house, that would be an in-person opportunity, but if there aren't any open houses available for you to be at then you need to consider other options. That means finding opportunities in the market and being in front of people in print, like a mailing campaign to a neighborhood or area that there is an advantage in. What's the best way to be aware enough of the market to identify opportunity? Consistently study it every day.

I'll give you a classic example. I was in the MLS the other day and I noticed that - for whatever reason - there's a particular area around where I live where property is moving both quickly and for top dollar. What a great opportunity to pick 100 homes in that area and say, "Hey, big news! Your area right now is bringing in top-dollar. Homes are getting listed and selling above list price because of demand for your type of home and I would love to meet with you to help you understand this opportunity in the market."

Again, it's about finding opportunities and having faith that what you are doing will pay off. The trick here is that you have to take action and continue taking action! Inaction creates stress. Don't be inactive. Actually sit down and decide what you are going to do this week to connect with past clients, to make sure that your geographical farming mailers get in front of your audience, and to decide what you are going to do to cultivate some new business.

It's all about taking consistent action.

By Denise Lones CSP, CMP, M.I.R.M. The founding partner of The Lones Group, Denise Lones has over three decades of experience in the real estate industry. With agent/broker coaching, expertise in branding, lead generation, strategic marketing, business analysis, new home project planning, product development and more, Denise is nationally recognized as the source for all things real estate. With a passion for improvement, Denise has helped thousands of real estate agents, brokers, and managers build their business to unprecedented levels of success, while helping them maintain balance and quality of life.