Being a successful real estate agent is an art, and it’s a skill you learn to cater to each home buyer and seller.
So many variables come into play when you are trying to make real estate sales, and there are specific strategies you can use to increase your overall number of home transactions each year.
This real estate sales guide will teach you everything you need to know about maximizing your sales in real estate. Following are the basic steps that you need to take to become a successful sales agent.
Don’t Be Afraid of Specializing
First, you need to target a few very specific real estate niches in which you have already proven your expertise.
These target audiences, price ranges, and property types may not necessarily be the ones you envisioned working with. When you initially started your career as an agent, you likely wanted to explore and experience a variety of different niches in order to determine where your unique passions lie, but after gaining some experience, it’s time to specialize and stay “in your lane.”
Many agents believe niching down will limit their opportunity, but there is a lot of money to be made when specializing in selective facets of real estate sales.
Get into the Sales Machine: Getting Repeat Leads and Listings
As per the most recent census, roughly 69.3% of all movers stayed within the same county. This means that more than two-thirds of movers will most likely return to the same realtor that they worked with in the past.
Altogether, only 12.5% of the US population changed their residences in 2010. That is a very slight rise since 2008. But in general, this overall share has reduced by around half since the late 1940s. The best way to ensure you are getting your share of those MLS listings and home buyers is to create a stellar client experience that not only keeps you working with the same clients each time they make a move, but also encourages them to refer your services to their network who needs to buy a home.
The ideal path for an agent’s success is to build up a steady client base and work with past clients on both the buying and selling side. For every client who needs to sell a home, they likely need to buy a new one. This is how a past buyer lead can turn into a future MLS listing and home buyer again.
The key is to stay on top of your client relationships with a CRM (customer relationship management software), so you can follow up regularly and stay top of mind. Send regular email newsletters, text updates, and make occasional phone calls. Staying on top of your sphere of influence is crucial and might sound easy, but it can be difficult to manage. Using real estate software technology and automating much of your follow up can increase your sales volume immensely.
Optimize Real Estate Marketing on Social Media
When a real estate sales contract is written up, people are often asked where they met the involved agent. For most recent real estate sales, the answer to this question is likely going to be through social media.
Social media is a crucial part of recent real estate sales due to stay at home orders and limited in person networking. You can use your social media presence to grow an engaged audience around the unique services you have to offer as an agent. Encourage your followers to click through images and links in your content, which will lead them straight to your real estate website.
As an agent, you should be using your Facebook page and profile to educate your followers about property listings and tips for home buyers and sellers. This will allow you to position yourself as an expert and local authority, and you’ll create more interest in your services. You can also boost some of your posts or even run real estate ads to your local targeted area to build awareness of your services. The result? You will be able to convert more of your real estate leads into real estate sales.
Related: 9 Tips for Real Estate Agents Devising Their Social Media Strategy
Create a Brand
As a real estate agent, you are not selling your service, you are selling yourself. There are thousands of realtors to choose from, and all of them help people buy and sell homes. So why should someone choose you?
This is why real estate agents need to let go of their fear of putting themselves out there online. Make videos, get on camera, and post pictures of your life and family, all while educating people about what you do and how you can help them.
Whether you are a pet lover, a foodie, or an outdoors person, it will help boost your real estate sales if you don’t hide your true personality. Real estate agents should focus on authentically showcasing their unique way of relating to potential clients. People will always make emotional decisions, so make yourself likeable by showing off your genuine self. This will have a huge influence on how your potential clients perceive you, and it will allow them to see you as the person they want to work with.
Work With Real Estate Investors
When trying to make as many real estate sales as possible, working with real estate investors may be your golden chance to succeed. These individuals are typically a lot easier to work with, and their real estate deals can be expedited. Investors are looking primarily at numbers: their decisions will never be emotional in nature. That means that if the numbers check out, they will be quick to jump on a deal and push the process forward.
Your average client who buys a home often faces issues with securing the mortgage, as they very rarely pay in cash. But this situation is usually different with real estate investors looking to buy investment properties. Once they get their hands on a profitable investment property for sale, they are already ready to move ahead with the purchase. Financing a rental property is a lot more straightforward than having to finance a home if an investor is willing to look at alternative options like private or hard money lenders.
Additionally, there is a need to show them more properties and close more deals with them. Most investors are looking to buy multiple rental properties per year or more. Compare this to your average home buyer, who wants to move every 10 years on average, and you can see why partnering with investors can be highly lucrative. If you could buy and sell several of the same person’s properties with them in one year, wouldn’t you want to?
Related: Should Real Estate Agents Work with Investors or Homebuyers?
Partner With Local Businesses
To make real estate sales, you need to constantly build your network. You can use your local connections and partner with home décor showrooms, clothing boutiques, and coffee shops to give a boost to your real estate listings and invite them to take part in the open house event. You can also use local businesses as a venue to host client appreciation events.
Any excitement or buzz you can create around your brand as an agent will make you a local expert and get your name out to the community. Likewise, forming relationships locally with business owners and other community members will help you stand out as an agent and grow your network of future potential clients. It can be especially lucrative to take on business owners themselves as clients when they need to buy and sell, as many will own both residential and commercial properties. Also, many business owners are looking for homes for sale that are in a higher price bracket, meaning you will earn a high commission per closing.
Claim Your Free Agent Profile
If you want to get more listings on the MLS, real estate deals closed, and cash flow in your business, use some of the strategies in this article to maximize your real estate sales.
Successful real estate agents recognize the need to blend their approach to increasing real estate sales and marketing themselves. You’ll want to take advantage of both the online strategies and traditional networking strategies in order to see the best results.
An easy step you can take today towards your goals as an agent is claiming your online profiles across all the top real estate companies and websites. You’ll want to claim a profile on Zillow, Realtor.com, Mashvisor, and more in order to get the most exposure and scale your business faster.
Related: What Does Mashvisor Do for Real Estate Investors, Agents, and Property Managers?
To claim your free agent profile at Mashvisor, click here.