The Resilient Agent: Thriving in a Challenging or Low Inventory Market

Apr 20, 2023
 

As a real estate agent, you know that working in a challenging or low inventory market can be tough. It can take a toll on your mindset, motivation, and success. However, with the right mindset, tools, and strategies, you will not only survive, but thrive and achieve your goals, no matter the market conditions.

In today's training, we will cover how to become a resilient agent and succeed in any type of property market. We will cover everything from setting realistic and attainable goals to finding positive content and communities, managing stress, celebrating wins, and staying focused, motivated, and successfully listing and selling property every month, even in challenging and low inventory property markets.

As a real estate agent, it's crucial to stay positive and focused on your long-term goals, no matter what type of property market you're dealing with - whether it's challenging or has low inventory.

Having realistic and attainable goals is crucial in maintaining resilience, focus, and motivation, as it provides a clear direction and tangible steps to take towards achieving your desired outcome

One of your primary goals should be the number of successfully sold listings you aim to achieve every 12 months.

Before setting a larger goal of the number of listings you'd like to sell in a year, you must have absolute clarity on the validity of the marketplace you're targeting. There's no point in having a goal of selling, for example, 24 properties in a 12-month period if the marketplace you're doing business in can't withstand that level of business. That's why I provide a formula in my Get Listings Bootcamp to help you check and position yourself in a marketplace that has clear evidence of listing and selling property.

If you're still unclear on the validity of your marketplace, log in and run through the steps. For non-members, I'll include a link for you to take advantage of the 7-day free trial to The Get Listings Bootcamp.

Having a yearly goal of, for example, listing and selling 24 properties in the coming 12 months can help keep you focused and motivated. The minimum marketplace turnover for any one agent must show evidence of, at a minimum, selling 200 properties yearly within a clustered group of around 4000 properties. So having a goal of successfully selling 24 of those properties is not only realistic but very attainable for a focused and resilient agent.

It's important to ensure the validity of your marketplace as a goal. When you have the figures in black and white, it's easy to see how real and attainable the goal is. To stay focused, upbeat, and motivated, break that goal down into 30-day attacks. For this 30-day period, all you need to do is secure two sellable listings from your marketplace.

To achieve your real and attainable goal, you need to believe in yourself and your own resilience. One factor that can greatly affect your positive mindset and inner strength is what you listen to. In challenging and low-inventory property markets, there will be many real estate agents in your social circles both offline and online who will complain about how difficult it is. The media, whose sole purpose is to get views and clicks, will also broadcast how tough it is out there. If you allow this negative dialogue to be the only voice you tune into, it will bring you down. As a salesperson, listening to a continuous flow of negative stories is the highest form of self-sabotage.

Here's how you can handle it. You must educate yourself on your local property marketplace so much that you become an expert on the figures for that marketplace. As long as you can see that the required number of properties are selling within that marketplace each year, keep your focus on that marketplace and activity within it. In there lays the money you will earn for the year. If at any stage you find that the marketplace in total is no longer turning over the required sales figures per year, revert to the Bootcamp lesson to learn how to reposition yourself so that you are always conducting business in an active marketplace. In the bootcamp, you'll also find the lesson on how to position yourself as the local property market expert.

Another element to building resilience, in addition to having belief in the strength of your marketplace, is also about having a strong community of positively focused people and content around you.

Some effective ways to leverage this positive, motivating and uplifting energy is to work, for targeted attacks or time periods, with a sales coach, as a sales coach, over and above a motivational speaker or life coach, deeply understands not only the dynamic of making a living from sales but also the inherent nature of a salesperson.

Collaborating one-on-one with a sales coach can significantly boost your performance during times of challenge or growth. To take advantage of this opportunity, you can book personalized coaching sessions with me, and I will make sure to provide you with a convenient link to do so.

Another way is leveraging an accountability partner, which I am a big fan of. It's easier to show up for the gym when you have an accountability partner you can trust to show up as well. The right accountability partner will be strong on days when you're weak. That's why I encourage attending my group accountability sessions and making connections whether in the group or offline to manifest an accountability partner you can work on the daily with.

Another awesome tool is listening to sales coaching, motivational, and podcast content while you're driving. As real estate agents, we virtually live in our cars, so it's an excellent place to consume content that keeps you focused and motivated.

For all members of The Get Listings Bootcamp App, there's so much content and sales training in the app that can support you and is easily consumable while you're out and about serving your business and your community.

As you already know, in order to maintain a positive, upbeat, and motivated attitude, it's important to find better ways to manage our stress and celebrate our successes. Sales is not an easy job, which is why we get paid the big bucks! Until you break into your market and become known as an active and effective real estate agent within it, you will work harder and experience more stress. However, once you reach the other side, your phone will be ringing constantly with incoming listing opportunities.

While you're on your growth trajectory to break into and build awareness of yourself as an active real estate agent, it's imperative that you find effective ways to release your stress. For me, it's exercising and spending time with loved ones over dinner with a glass of wine. It's important to find what works for you to give yourself downtime and release mental strain. As salespeople, we have to prioritize and schedule stress relief in order to serve and earn better.

Another important aspect is celebrating small wins. These small wins accumulate to achieve the overall goal. Celebrating our successes reminds us why we do what we do. So, if your goal is to list and sell two properties in the next 30 days, set a reward for yourself upon receipt of the second signed listing authority - something that you feel like you deserve. Feeling appreciated and rewarded for our efforts lifts our moods and helps us push through on the more challenging days.

Remember, sales is a tough game, but with the right mindset and strategies, you can succeed and reap the rewards.

In order to thrive in challenging or low inventory markets, it's not enough to just manage yourself internally. You also need to have a strategic plan that guides your daily activities and helps you focus your energy. Having a structured plan is crucial in these markets because you're going to encounter extended timelines.

In a challenging or declining market, it will take longer for the seller to list their property and then again to get a reasonable offer accepted. In low inventory markets, it's very similar - it will take longer for the seller to commit to listing, and you may encounter unrealistic sellers who want to price their property too high, which will push out your successful sale timeline.

The only solution to these challenges is to talk to more people in your marketplace and to constantly add listing opportunities to your sales pipeline. Once they're in the pipeline, ensure regular and effective communication with that sales pipeline.

You need so many potential listing opportunities in your pipeline that it's easier and more realistic to expect that you will successfully meet your listing target each month. The only way to have such an active pipeline is to talk to more people often and to engage in a structured prospecting attack in a proven marketplace.

In challenging and low inventory markets, you'll need a combination of both online and offline marketing and sales prospecting. Your online activity will certainly build awareness of you as an active agent in the local marketplace. However, it's the offline activity and targeted interaction with the physical community within your validated marketplace that will transform into genuine seller leads. For members of The Get Listings Bootcamp, the structure taught within the 30-Day Bootcamp will ensure that meeting your monthly listing target is a reality for you.

To wrap up, challenging and low inventory markets have extended timelines within the listing and sales process. Therefore, to meet your personal sales targets, you need to actively and in a structured manner, talk to more people often within your physical marketplace and have a focus of consistently filling your sales pipeline with potential opportunities. You need to persist in these efforts, so you are never short of genuine seller leads to meet each month's listing targets. Remember, property sells in every market, and if you're sure of the validity of your marketplace, you won't waste mental energy trying to convince yourself of the fact. Instead, you can focus on being one of the effective agents who is taking the business out of that marketplace and building a fulfilling, financially rewarding, and successful career in real estate sales.

In conclusion, as an agent, it's understandable to feel overwhelmed by a challenging or low inventory market. However, you have the power to overcome these obstacles and thrive. By adopting the right mindset, tools, and strategies, you can become resilient and successful in any market condition. Start by setting realistic and attainable goals based on the validity of the marketplace. Ensure to work to a structured prospecting plan and attack of the local marketplace, making talking and connecting with more people your goal. It's also important to surround yourself with positive communities and content, and leverage tools such as sales coaching, accountability partners, and stress management techniques. By focusing on these strategies, you can maintain your motivation and resilience, achieve your goals, and ultimately succeed in any type of property market.