Estate agency prospecting: how to generate business in times of scarcity
From hunters to farmers: why making the most of every property in your portfolio is the key to continued lead generation
The current outlook is complex. Anyone who says otherwise is lying or out of touch with reality. We are living in a hostile context, marked by constant challenges and, for many of our professional colleagues, an obvious shortage of product and transactions. In this scenario, property marketing has become the main challenge for thousands of agents and agencies, even making us rethink the estate agency profession. Faced with this reality, the question echoing through the sector is inevitable: can we continue to make a living from our trade when the wind is blowing against us?
The answer is a resounding yes. But with one non-negotiable condition: you must have started earlier.
That's how I tell it in the second episode of our podcast Gente Real, where we go over how to make the most of every marketing campaign.
To understand it, I like to travel back in time, specifically tens of thousands of years ago, when human beings were not yet civilised. In times of abundance, we were simply collectors. You used to go out into nature and simply take what was already there, because the land provided naturally. That is precisely what many estate agents do in the good years: they go out into the market to «pick» the ripe fruit that falls on its own.
The problem is that humanity learned that abundance doesn't always last. And to survive times of scarcity, it invented the agriculture and he learned how to make tinned food.
Brought to our sector, holding out in difficult times is not a matter of luck, but of prior work.
A job that does not allow for improvisation (the worst mistake in times of crisis) and is based on the persistence of systematically combining three fundamental variables:
When a professional works methodically with the what, the who, and the when, they are stocking the pantry. When scarcity arrives, that ecosystem you have patiently cultivated continues to bear fruit organically.
Even the way a pig walks can be made use of (and the same goes for housing too)
But what if the shortage is already here and you need to kick-start the business right now? The solution involves a radical shift in mindset when managing your current portfolio. And to explain this, you will have to allow me a culinary simile: As estate agents, we have to treat every property listing like a pig – making use of absolutely every part of it.
We often make the mistake of squandering the enormous potential and credibility that comes with having a flat for sale. We become obsessed with looking elsewhere for what we already have right here. Whilst a property is on the market, up to nine direct business levers which most agents negligently ignore.
Having an active property is the master key to:
- Building customer loyalty right from the start: Turn the landlord into your brand advocate the very moment they sign the instruction.
- Make the most of every contact: We must ensure that, with every call we receive or every visit we make, we ask that potential buyer whether, in order to make a purchase, they also needs to sell their current home.
- Master the area: To keep residents of the building and the local area informed and actively involved, both before and after the property is put on the market.
What we do awfully wrong is waste the opportunities we have to hand to dedicate ourselves to actions that yield a great deal less, such as desperately scrolling through property portals, doing farming or unexpected leaflet drops, or —worse still— paying third parties to sell for us leads leftovers shared simultaneously with another 750 officers from the same station.
Less of an opportunistic gatherer’s mindset and more of a strict farmer. Fewer fireworks and more focus on making the most of the resources you already have at your disposal.
On paper, the plan sounds foolproof. But as with everything that’s truly worthwhile in life, the secret lies not in knowing it, but in having the discipline to put it into practice day in, day out. That, and that alone, is where a good professional shows what they’re made of.
Listen to the full episode here from the Gente Real podcast by Monapart.
