The Secret is in the Turns:

The Opportunity for Agents in Today's Real Estate Market

Imagine an oval racetrack. Cars are screaming down the straightaway toward the bend. As they enter the turn, they all slow a little. But, as they are coming out of the turn, they accelerate again before hitting the straightaway.

“The secret -- and the challenge -- of winning NASCAR races is in the turns... How a car exits a corner determines its ultimate straightaway speed,” Dr. Diandra Leslie-Pelecky wrote in an article for NBC about the physics of racing.

We are coming out of the turn in our real estate market right now. The market slowed — in terms of the number of transactions — after a COVID-era frenzy. But, all signs are pointing to growth in the inventory and the number of transactions.

This is reminiscent of 2009/2010, another time when transactions began to build after a major market downturn. I happened to have been coaching agents at that time and I noticed something special about that moment in the market cycle. What I witnessed ultimately became the difference between agents who thrived in the upswing and those that didn’t:

Those who thrived made a habit of intentional, consistent, personal outreach.

Consistent, personal outreach to past clients, referral partners, and other members of their spheres of influence, as we “came out of the turn”, resulted in exponential growth in their businesses as transactions built.

Why? Two things happen when the market turns and the number of transactions drops:

• Some agents leave the business — data shows they leave almost exactly in proportion to the reduction in transactions. Using the racing analogy, they drift off the track.
• Some of those that stay get caught in a negative mindset, dropping behind the pack.

Those that remain committed to their business growth, have an incredible opportunity to pick up the marketshare abandoned by their colleagues! This moment is truly magical, because it presents a unique opportunity to gather momentum coming out of the turn.

There are two keys to being very effective in this initiative:

• Your outreach should be at least five days a week. Can you do fewer? Of course! But, the more people you reach, the better.
• Your methods should be authentic and focused on nurturing the connections. The more personal, the better. I think of it this way: If I want to have a stronger connection to my siblings, I don’t do it by sending them a postcard or email blast. I call, text, or send hand-written notes. In the best case, I get together with them.

It doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact, it shouldn’t be. It is as simple as calling someone to say that you were just thinking of them and wanted to check in to see how they were doing. Or maybe you could say, “I was just driving by your street” or “I was going through my files and saw your name” or “I saw a tennis match and thought of you”.

Personal outreach, as they say, is where the rubber meets the road!