The real estate business is not for the faint of heart. As a broker, not only do you have to find ways on how to get free real estate leads, but you also have to watch out for the competitors and make sure that they will not interfere with your transactions or mess with your marketing plan. The intense level of competition is already a given, so what you need to focus on is how to thrive in the industry despite of it.
The first thing you need to understand is that the competition can only succeed if you give them windows of opportunity to attract your leads away from you. They will look for faults on your marketing strategies and that’s where they’ll strike. Removing those weak points on your marketing plan can stop your competitors from stealing your leads. Three examples of these weaknesses are:
- Not knowing your target market
- Poor presentation of property listings
- Potential clients have no direct means to communicate to you
Not knowing your target market
It may be easy to assume that as a broker, your target market are individuals looking for a property to lease or buy. While that is true, it’s not as simple as it sounds. Some brokers tend to just aimlessly jump into a sea of prospect clients, with hopes of getting close to a possible deal. However, that usually just leads to unsuccessful transactions and uninterested clients.
It would give you an advantage in the competition if you specifically know the demography of your target market based on the properties you offer. For instance, if the properties you are leasing are designed for family use, you don’t look for clients amongst single adults. Clients often prefer to work with brokers who have a specific specialty in real estate, rather than “generic agents.”
It is also important that you can showcase your expertise and strengths to your specific target market. They have to know that you are knowledgeable enough to properly address their needs.
Poor presentation of property listings
If your competitors will see that your property listings are disorganized and lack accurate descriptions, they can easily attract your prospect clients with their comprehensive presentation of their listings. Clients who will see your listing would also lose interest if you fail to give them adequate information on your properties. They will opt to spend their time on brokers who can.
Present your listings complete with all details that future occupants need to know as well as photos of the properties. This will also work to your advantage because if a client would request to see the property after learning its features, you can be assured that they are genuinely interested in your listing. Clients wouldn’t waste their time visiting a property that they already know doesn’t match their needs.
Potential clients have no direct means to communicate to you.
Finding your target market and communicating with them are two different things. Once you know the demographics of your potential clients, you have to make sure that they have means to directly contact you regarding your offers or if they need you to find a property based on your specialty.
Take advantage of the internet, for example. Since people mostly seek information online, you can make sure that potential clients can reach you by making your real estate profile and portfolio visible in different websites that your target market often visits.
The weaknesses I mentioned may put you behind in the competition, but if you know how to improve those weak points and use the right tools to up your game, you will stand out in no time.
One reliable website that can help you in the business is Padleads.com. The site gives you a venue to post details of your properties, publish it to different websites, and lets you showcase your profile and expertise for interested clients to see. By providing the means for clients to see available properties that fit their criteria, Padleads makes it easy for them to find their ideal property and to directly contact landlords such as yourself.