9 Ways Real Estate Agents Can Take Advantage of the Slower Season

We’re officially in the holiday lull. People are traveling, hosting family get-togethers, and spending time with their loved ones as we ease into the new year. For real estate agents, it typically means a bit of a slowdown in business.

It might seem defeating, but actually, it offers a great opportunity to regroup, goal-set, and work on growing your business in 2022.

Are you experiencing a bit of a lull this winter season? Here are 9 strategic ways you can use the time as a real estate agent:

1. Connect with past clients.

The holiday season is the perfect time to reach back out to past buyers, sellers, and service providers you’ve worked with. You can send a card, a letter, or even just a quick text or email to check in and wish them well. You never know when someone might be planning a move (or knows someone else who is)!

2. Nurture those leads.

If you’ve been contacted by any potential buyers or sellers in recent months, use this time to reach back out and touch base. Are they still considering a purchase or sale? Where are they at in the process? Do they have questions, need data, or want any sort of help or assistance? You might even include a quick market snapshot or some sort of buying/selling guide you’ve created.

3. Learn a new skill.

Now’s a great time to beef up your marketing skills or hone in on a new niche. Think about enrolling in an online class or certification program, or even just taking a quick one- or two-hour lesson on sites like Udemy. You can learn about videography, social media marketing, writing, networking, and any number of other topics and skills that can be useful as a real estate agent.

4. Map out your networking calendar.

Sit down with a calendar, and start mapping out your networking events for the year. Try to have at least one planned a month, and mix them up a bit. You can do a few larger industry conferences, some smaller, more local events, and maybe even host a networking event yourself, with another agent, or through your brokerage.

5. Do your research.

Take some time to do a little deep-dive research into the market. Get to know the latest trends in your area, and look at housing market predictions for 2022 too. You might even put together a little market forecast that you can hand out to prospective clients and partners. Remember: You want to be seen as the expert in your area. Having a great pulse on the data will only help you in that arena.

6. Get social.

Most people have a good amount of time off around the holidays — and a lot of that time? They spend it on their phone, browsing Instagram (follow these real estate agents), checking in with friends on Facebook, and scrolling through TikTok. Leverage this high-traffic time and start posting on social media more this season. Make sure to interact more, too. Comment, share others’ posts, and create funny or meaningful posts or memes that get shared by others. The more visible you are, the better.

7. Fine-tune your marketing plan.

How long has it been since you’ve updated your marketing plan? If it’s been over a year or two (i.e., since the pandemic), it’s time to sit down and rethink it. Chances are, there are some new tools you can bring in — things like video tours, 3D walkthroughs, drone footage, virtual staging, and more. Adding just one more tool in your marketing tool belt may be all you need to improve business this year.

8. Set your business goals.

What do you want to accomplish this year? Get 10 more clients? Reach $500,000 in commission? Break into a new niche? Jot them all down, and then work backward. What milestones do you need to reach along the way to get there? Set timelines for each stepping stone and make sure you’re on track to achieve your goals.

9. Do a business check-in.

There are a lot of moving parts in a real estate agent’s business. You have clients to tend to, brokers to answer to, marketing to handle (both for listings and yourself), and there are also things like accounting, taxes, and other administrative tasks to worry about. Take this time to really analyze the processes you use to manage these to-dos, and see if there might be room to improve — somewhere you could be more productive, outsource, or leverage a new tool to improve your efficiencies. As the old saying goes, “work smarter, not harder.”

More help for real estate agents

It’s almost the new year. What will you do during this time to ensure your business is a success in 2022? Browse our real estate agent resources now for help.