You know the old saying “behind every dark cloud lies a silver lining”.
It might not seem like it now – with business likely to slow over the next few months due to the restrictions and uncertainty created by the coronavirus – but this is a fantastic opportunity.
It’s the opportunity to knuckle down and do things we haven’t had the chance to do, all those things we’ve put off because we’ve been busy working IN our businesses, not ON them.
It’s also the opportunity to set yourself up for the recovery that will come.
Step 1
You need to decide what you need to do and grade these activities using the ABCDE process. I’ve spoken about this in depth before in my blog ‘The Power of Concentration’, where you can follow the process here.
Use this to prepare a to-do list based on order of importance.
Step 2
Create an ideal working week. If you had one before the virus hit, throw it out the window, it no longer applies. Base your ideal working on the list you prepared in step 1. Put in the A activities, then B and maybe C.
Use 90 minute block-out sessions and give yourself 15 to 20 minute breaks. Make sure you factor in time to exercise, relax, and connect with family and friends.
You may not be in the office, and the real estate environment may have changed significantly, but you still need some order and routine.
Do step 1 and 2 each week.
What are some of the things you can be doing now?
- 10×10 goal setting challenge – There has never a better time for you to write out your goals, whether you are new to real estate or have been in the industry for a while, are an agent or a principal.
- Create a vision board
- Work on your database
If you don’t have 1000 contacts on your database, now is the time to get them. Contact past clients, past appraisals, previous buyers, your sphere of influence, ask if you can add them to your database. Once you build the numbers use the suggestions in my blog This is not the time to hibernate (https://www.realestatebrilliance.com.au/this-is-not-the-time-to-hibernate/) to keep in regular contact.
Whatever the size of your database, you should use this time to call every single person on it. You should be keeping in contact with them in a variety of ways anyway, but if you have not been calling them every six months, you have not been doing your job. Part of our job is to generate leads, but you need to stay in contact with that lead until they are ready to sell. You have time on your hands and so do they, so call them and build that relationship.
To break the ice and offer some value, offer them an e-appraisal. Give people an indication of the value of their home. You can discuss its features and put together a CMA to email to them. If the chat is promising and they look like they are thinking of selling, you can escalate this to a presentation via Zoom, or in person if that is still an option. If they are not, offer to call them again in a few months.
- Send a gift to all the clients, buyers and sellers, landlords and tenants you have dealt with in the past – a couple of movie tickets and popcorn voucher for them to enjoy when restrictions lift will do. Thank them for supporting you in the past. You can send them to your sphere of influence too.
It is likely you may have little to no sales in the next two to three months or longer. This isn’t a catastrophe, you will pick it up on the rebound if you build yourself a pipeline of leads through contacting your database – some may be looking to sell when things improve.
- Sort out your marketing
A slowdown/shutdown is the perfect opportunity to get your marketing ready to go. Update text on your website, get testimonials, get photos, get your invitations ready to go, your thank you letters, prepare material for your campaigns throughout the year etc.
Get your marketing calendar out, set up your Facebook campaigns and schedule those posts – you have the time, you can do it for months ahead.
And map out all the prospecting you will do over the next 12 months.
- Set up systems
Systems save you time, energy, money and stress – we should all have them.
Systems include:
- setting out an ideal working week;
- having a process for running home opens;
- having an agenda for a weekly team meeting;
- knowing how to grade your stock;
- running a competition; and
- scripts and dialogues for dealing with any situation.
Get them ready now so you can make the most of the recovery when it arrives, not a month or more afterwards.
- Undertake some personal development
Whether you pick up a book or audio tape, practice scripts and dialogues with a colleague, or take part in something more formal, now is a great time to invest in yourself. Get your hands on anything you can and build your knowledge and skills.
There are positives to the current situation. If you want to know more about how to make the most of this unexpected gift we have given, register for my upcoming FREE half-day Real Estate Brilliance webinar.
