However, the main purpose of this post is to give you a bunch of actionable things you can do to both fill your schedule and fill your pipeline during these uncertain times. Beyond the obvious health concerns of our international community, there is a tremendous opportunity for you here to finally gain that leverage over your competition. If you are a new real estate agent, this is a chance for you to carve out a strong niche and very viable business faster than usually possible.

Now that most of you are stuck at home pretty much all of the time, you need to think of this time as a game-changer. Many of the people that don’t deserve to be in this business will suffocate and quit real estate. For those of you that remain, you’re all being placed on a level playing field again faced with the same challenges. Those that think outside the box, keep a level head, and follow today’s tips will come out on top when all of this is over.

 

Provide Relevant & Valuable Infotainment

You have ZERO excuses not to be putting out more valuable and custom content than ever! Not only do you have more time on your hands but the demand for custom real estate content has skyrocketed as everyone is now stuck at home, spending hours on Pinterest and social media, looking for ways to pass the time.

They will consume someone’s content so why not yours?!

However, I don’t want you to just talk about real estate during this time. I do want you to educate everyone on what is happening in the market and I will go into that later. But I also want you (as always) to put yourself in the shoes of your ideal clients and think about what they are going through right now. Just as I am writing this article to help real estate agents and brokers survive COVID you should be thinking about your target clients’ well-being and priorities.

Your real estate niche with help you to brainstorm some smart content topics for this time on a more specific level. For example, let’s say that your ideal clients are parents. Now is a good time to start sharing content on topics like:

• Self-care for the COVID stay-at-home parent

• Creative Ways To Make Home Schooling More Fun

• How Families Can Make The Most Of COVID

• The COVID Spring Cleaning Guide

Don’t worry about pushing the fact that you are a real estate agent. They already know that when they land on your real estate blog and website to consume that content. Instead, focus on providing them value during this tough time and you will earn their trust, respect, and allegiance. Not to mention, this type of content will be SO juicy and shareable that you’re sure to attract tons of shares and free traffic.

Want more topic suggestions relevant to your niche? Reach out to me for a custom real estate content strategy!

Reach Out Personally To Everyone

If you want to come out the other side of this thing with a full pipeline, you need to get serious about reaching out to your clients, prospects, and referral partners more personally than usual. It is still smart to send out your normal real estate email newsletters and marketing but you need to step up and go beyond that. Even if you’re just as busy as ever, which many of my clients are, you need to do this.

Since people are even afraid of their mail now, I suggest either video emails or calls as a method of reaching out to people. If you do decide to go the email route, I really think that video emails go a long way to seem more personal while also increasing the open and response rates.

If this is your first time speaking in a while, do not mention real estate AT ALL other than perhaps to ask if they are happy with the house you sold them or to answer any questions they have of course. The main focus here is to show that you genuinely care about them and their loved ones. Ask how they are getting along and if there is any way in which you can help them during this challenging time. You can even say you’re looking for some inspo for your real estate blog, vlog, or podcast and see if they have any ideas you can use.

Finally Start That Hyperlocal Facebook Group

I can’t stress enough the immense and infinite value in building a hyperlocal Facebook Group that targets your ideal clients without revolving around real estate. It is your job to generate more hyperlocal content than any other real estate agent or broker and a hyperlocal FB group is a powerful way to share and monetize it.

For example, let’s say that you are a real estate agent in Chicago that targets first responders and other similar professionals like nurses. Great choice by the way! You should start a Facebook Group that is centered around First responders and the like in Chicago. Make it a community where those professionals can go to for support, relief, relevant entertainment, and educational information.

Building an audience full of your ideal real estate clients in a hyperlocal FB group will not only fill your pipeline but build the power of your brand, and give you amazing earning potential through sponsorships and affiliate marketing.

Just remember that your hyperlocal FB group is NOT the place to constantly talk about how great you are as a real estate agent but rather to share value with your target audience. The more you self-promote, the less successful you will be with this strategy.

You can learn more about leveraging Facebook Groups for real estate leads in this article.

Streamline Your Systems & Work Your CRM

At the very least, you should take time every year to look at what (if any) systems you have in place in your business. If you don’t have any, now is the time to develop them. If you do, now is the time to look at how they are performing, then identify ways that they could be improved.

If you take my advice in this article, you should have a jam-packed pipeline of people eager to get out of their homes and into new ones when this is all over. Therefore, you’re going to want all of your systems to be streamlined so nothing falls through the cracks.

For those of you that have let your CRM fall to the wayside or have yet to be in the habit of using it, now is the time to get on track. If you haven’t been using your CRM as you should, clean it up and start healthier habits during this time. If you don’t have one now is the time to pick one and get into the habit of using it. Even if you don’t have leads, you can add the conversations and tasks that stem from reaching out to everyone in your database to get you in that healthy CRM habit.

Create New Connections

My friends, with everyone spending even more time on social media these days, now is the time to really get on board with strategic networking. As I taught you in my article The Realtor’s Pocket Guide To Profitable Networking, you can build overwhelmingly powerful connections with people through social media messaging if you stop trying to cold sell everyone.

Let’s take LinkedIn for example. If you have a properly-developed real estate niche, you already know what job or few jobs your ideal clients have. Now is the time to start connecting to more of those people. But even more importantly, to be starting real human-to-human conversations with them. Take the extra minute to review their profile and reach out with something personal. Also, pay-it-forward to them by endorsing them for skills and asking if there is anything else you can do to help them during this tough time. Notice I didn’t say to ask if there is any way you can help them with real estate but just in general. This is another time when it would be helpful to have some of that relevant infotainment content we discussed to share with them too.

Reach Out For Testimonials

Now more than ever, people are nervous and skeptical. Therefore, the need for you to have valuable testimonials from clients and referral partners is amplified. Go through your entire database and reach out to anyone that could but has not already provided you with a testimonial. While recent reviews are best, it is still important to collect as many five-star ratings as you can to boost your appearance on search engines like Google.

You also want your real estate testimonials to be as relevant and specific as possible. You can see from the following example what a difference details can make for people researching your real estate business:

Basic Review

“We hired Sarah to help us buy our home. Everything was great and we love our home. Thanks, Sarah!”

Detailed Review

“From the very first moment we spoke with Sarah about buying a home she made us feel right at ease. She answered every question we had and gave us confidence in the process. She worked hard to find our wonderful new home and got us a terrific price. We can’t imagine leaving but if we sell we will surely list with Sarah”.

See the difference? When people go into detail about how you helped them or what difference you made for them in the process it has a much deeper impact.

Build Sales Funnels

In real estate, it is most common for real estate agents to be constantly hunting for the quick fix to their commission check flow. In other words, you all want fast cash now. Although content marketing is typically a long-term game with much larger results than your typical real estate marketing tactic, there are short term options. One of the most common is of course the sales funnel.

A successful sales funnel in the real estate industry needs to include a hook the captures the attention of your target, an offer for something valuable that solves a problem, and a bridge between the two which is the meat and potatoes of the funnel itself. You see these all the time when they start with a Facebook ad that leads to a landing page, followed by an email sequence, and a special offer.

The beauty of a sales funnel is that they can be built quickly, for a minimal investment, and can start attracting and converting leads for you right away. The best part is that it all works for you automatically 24/7, 365 while you’re doing your job as a real estate agent. All you need to do is build it or hire a professional like myself to do it for you.

When deciding what type of funnel to build you should always take your ideal client and their most pressing needs, problems, and concerns into consideration. For example, right now we are all facing the coronavirus pandemic which has created a lot of unique problems for people in real estate. Therefore, you would be wise to create funnels that revolve around COVID-specific content that will actively solve the challenges your ideal clients are facing as a result of the pandemic.

Keep Calm & Keep Educating

It is times like this that the inherent value and power of content is really brought to light at the forefront. For example, companies like mine that have been creating regular content for years are still busy with incoming leads and clients because that content is working overtime in the SEO department.

However, if you have been putting off the creation of your real estate content marketing plan now is the time to finally take action. With all of this extra time on your hands, you can easily brainstorm topics that will interest and engage your ideal clients to last you for the rest of the year and beyond. Remember, every piece of original real estate content that you produce for your blog, blog, podcast, Alexa flash briefing, and website, will work for you to attract your ideal clients on autopilot 24/7, 365 forever!

In the midst of this pandemic, people are hungrier than ever for fresh, entertaining, informational, and share-worthy content that is valuable. They are going to get that content from someone, so why not you? If you are unsure of what to talk about in your real estate content, reach out to me or pay attention to the questions that your ideal clients are asking you and online forums like Facebook groups.

Earn Easy Money With Me On The Side

In addition to creating custom real estate content that you can use to generate or convert leads, earn passive income, and fill your real estate pipeline for years to come, I have a new exciting way that you can earn extra money during this pandemic.

When you become an affiliate marketer for my real estate content marketing products and services you will earn easy cash commissions every time someone clicks on the unique link provided to you and makes a purchase. For example, if you become a member of my affiliate team and promote the real estate COVID email campaign above to someone who purchases it, you will receive a commission. Leveraging the power of tools like social media and Pinterest, you could easily add hundreds or thousands of dollars to your monthly income as an affiliate for me!