Setting Yourself Up for the Turn-Around

Although the economy (and business) may be slow, now is the perfect time to start preparing for a turn-around.  At some point, things will start improving, and if you've managed to hang in there through the tough times, you'll probably be in a really good position when they do.

So what can you do now to get ready?

Spruce up your website.

• Is your design a true representation of you and your ideal client? 
  
• Does your site cover all relevant content for your market, area, and prospects? 
  
• Does it have "dynamic" sections that are regularly (and frequently) updated and are based on targeted keywords? 
  
• Are you actively involved in the maintenance and upkeep of your site (can you be, or does your "designer handle all that")?

A good website can be the lifeblood of your lead generation and marketing efforts, if you treat it like a living thing that brings value to your followers.  Set it up right, maintain it consistently, and it could generate a good majority of your business.

Set up a regular email campaign.

Whether you choose to send a monthly newsletter, a daily audio message, or a weekly video, if you effectively plan, implement, and maintain an email-based marketing campaign, you can quickly and easily build rapport with your followers.

Email marketing might seem "old school," especially with so many other web-based tools, like blogs, Twitter, and podcasts, but I can personally attest to their effectiveness in building an email list.

Take advantage of the effort you spend in compiling email marketing messages by housing the content on your own site (rather than on the email marketing service's site or in the actual email messages) so that you take advantage of the "Google juice" these keyword-rich posts offer.  Create an RSS-based feed, and you can make the email part automated.

Start building a Twitter following.

Twitter has great potential as a marketing tool for real estate professionals.  New listing on the market?  Update all your followers in a second.  New restaurant just opened?  Be the first to notify your clients and prospects so that they have the "inside scoop."

There are tons of ways to use Twitter as a real estate agent.  Plus, it's fast, it's easy, and it's free.  Start building a following now by adding a link to your profile, as well as a feed of your tweets, on your website and blog.

Fine-tune your marketing plan.

How do you plan to capture those buyers who are just waiting in the wings for the market to start turning?  Be ready by getting all your marketing ducks in a row now.

Figure out your strategies, plan out a 12-month marketing calendar, and get to work.  When things start picking up, you'll be ready, while other agents are scrambling to get back in the game.

Tweak your systems.

When is the last time you went through your checklists and systems to improve and streamline them?  Really evaluate your systems, work to make them as simple and as automated as possible, and you'll make life much easier on yourself and your clients and prospects.

Think about it.  Is there a better way that you could be processing incoming leads?  Could your auto-responder messages be updated and improved?  Start from the top (point of initial contact) and work to the bottom (customer relationship management after the closing).

Take advantage of slower times and take care of all those tasks you've been putting off for a rainy day.  The sun will be shining again soon!