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Should You Quit Real Estate?

By irenedorang | February 27, 2008

Dog holding ‘End is near’ sign “Quit now” was marketing expert Seth Godin’s Plan A advice a few days ago to the group of real estate agents he called “order takers”. (You know, the ones who were just carried along by the great housing market we had until a year or so ago.)

To be fair, we ALL benefited from those conditions. My bet is that nearly every agent can take a business gut check right now and find areas where he or she could up their game in marketing or offerings.

Seth’s Plan B is what I wanted to talk about - actually, the second part of Plan B.

(The first part is micro-specialization in a certain area, customer or property type, which would have had me turning away in droves people who are now part of a fun, faithful client base. I know it works, but I don’t think it’s the Golden Answer for most agents.)

Here IS the Golden Answer, as far as I’m concerned:

It’s Seth’s recommendation to earn the permission to follow up with people by offering TRULY USEFUL information, and allowing them to sign up for it through your newsletter or blog posts.

Seth quotes a NAR survey that shows 91% of agents never follow up with their client after a transaction. Furthermore, most home buyers and sellers are under-informed before and during the transaction. People need the expert information you have, about things like:

Remodeling choices that pay off.
How to get a good deal on a refinance or new mortgage.
Home maintenance tips that keep their family and home healthy.
Tax savings available to homeowners.
What features to look for in a home that create real value.

There’s plenty of other information that previous and prospective real estate clients want - need - to hear about. This is the kind of thing that creates trust and positions you as an expert.

In my opinion, you don’t have the option to not do it. Your options ARE to either do it yourself or to automate it. Here at The Agent Guide we created a done-for-you email newsletter service for just that purpose.

Whether you choose that, some other automated solution or you’re able to consistently do it on your own, take Seth’s (and our) advice:

Earn the permission to follow up with past and prospective clients. It’ll be the key to your real estate success from here on out.

To read Seth’s article click here.