How to stay productive in the slow (snow) season

With New England being pummeled by yet another heavy snowstorm, many agents are seeing a decrease in transactions getting to the closing table. After all, who wants to go look at homes for sale if they cannot even dig out of their driveway?

For some agents, it’s a tough time to sell real estate. After all, who would want to go shopping for a new home when they cannot even see out the window.

So, if you cannot get out the door and your clients cannot get out the door, what do you do? Will you gawk at the television for days on end and make yourself go a little stir crazy?

What to Do When You Cannot Sell Real Estate

Believe it or not, there are plenty of things that you can do to stay productive in times when there are unforeseen conditions that inhibit your production—when you can’t be pounding the pavement, showing properties. Here are just a few:

1. Call or text any past client or contact that you have who may be in some sort of danger or who may need to evacuate. Offer your assistance in housing them or their pets (or their extra cars). Like everything else, your generosity will be recognized.
2. Contact other past clients or members of your sphere of influence to catch up. Most people stay home during tough times like these, and your call may be a needed and welcome distraction.
3. Work on your online profiles. Google yourself and reread your social media profiles. Do they need updating? Consider starting an Instagram or Pinterest page. Do something to build your business while you are staying out of harms way. I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that lots of shut-ins are spending an increased amount of time on the Internet, so it wouldn’t hurt your to amp up your Internet presence.
4. Write a few blog posts. Consider adding a few new posts to your blog with information on some local communities. It’s easier to get to the top of the search engine results pages for local communities than it is for big cities.
5. Update your listing presentation. It may be time to review and update the statistics in your listing presentation, convert it to PowerPoint, and make sure that it works seamlessly on your tablet.
6. Prepare buyer and seller packages. While you may be paperless, some people like paper. Prepare buyer and seller packages with helpful information about your services, your marketing plan, the home buying or the home selling process. Then, when you’ve got an appointment after the snow melts, the materials are ready to go.
7. Update your database. If you are like me, then you have thousands of unfiled email messages in your inbox. Breeze through those emails and make sure that all those individuals are already in your database. Add anyone who isn’t, and update old information with current addresses for mailings.
8. Prepare a direct mail campaign. If your Internet hasn’t gone down, then you can easily prepare all sorts of direct mail campaigns that can be mailed out by third-party providers to your geographic farm, your sphere or influence, or around your latest listing.

You may feel paralyzed by the weather, but the truth is that there is plenty to do. In fact, if you use your time right, you can generate a bunch of new home buyer and home seller leads.

#WinterWork