Surviving the Winter Market Slump

It is not easy to carry momentum through the winter market slump in real estate. Unless your brokerage benefits from the winter home market, your business is likely in its midwinter slumber. Taking a different approach to your goals is the best way to make the best of things.

Recognize that the business year is a long season, but timing is everything. If you break the year up into its component parts, you will recognize that there are natural cycles. By looking at website traffic, sign call volume, lead volume, and transaction volume, you will see that everything is in sync, like the tide that ebbs and flows. When the tide is out, focus those goals that prepare the business to operate more efficiently when the tide is in. Here are some suggestions to tidy up your digital life to prepare for the busy spring selling season ahead:

1. Drip Marketing and Auto-Responders – Test your drip marketing and lead management solutions. Pretend that you are a consumer. Evaluate the consumer experience interacting with your technology solutions, paying close attention to the graphics and text. Your goal is to align your online communications with your offline communications so they have a single voice.

2. Documents, Forms, and Transaction Management – Make sure that your agents have easy access to the materials that they need. Although it is painful, you need to review every document that they are using. Aside from making sure that they are current, make sure that the branding is correct, brokerage contact information and URL are in the footer, etc.

3. Google Everything – Using search engines like Google and Bing, search for your keyword phrases like your company name, your offices, your top agents, your listings. Make sure that you are showing up correctly for customers looking for you. The most significant volume of search traffic to broker sites are based off of those keywords.