It’s hot and muggy, lots of folks are on vacation, and it’s tempting to head to the beach or the pool instead of work. But fall is only four weeks away, and with it, fall selling season begins in earnest. This is your last chance to meet the production goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year.
If you want to kick up your production now and throughout the fall, here are five ways to capitalize on this great time of year.
1. Shoot seasonal community videos
Video continues to be an important vehicle for marketing your listings and your community. Especially if you live in a cold climate, now is the time to shoot a video showing the local summer lifestyle.
Take pictures at the local hike and bike trail. Show people boating on the ocean or lake. Do a “gelato crawl” where you visit all the great places to get ice cream and gelato in your area. Shoot video snippets of the outdoor concerts at the local community square.
There are thousands of things you can do to capture what’s great about the local lifestyle. These summertime videos are a great counterpoint to winter’s gray skies, bare trees and freezing temperatures.
2. Ask your sellers for seasonal photos
Along the same lines, if you are taking a listing now or in the fall, see if your sellers took any springtime pictures that show the local trees blooming or the beautiful garden they planted. While the landscaping in most areas still looks great in the summertime, it’s not quite as impressive as during the springtime when the trees and plants are covered in blossoms.
3. Plan your fall marketing campaigns
August is typically one of the slowest months of the year. This can be a great time to plan your fall marketing campaign. For example, if you regularly update your past and current clients with the latest pricing information, give it a seasonal look with a picture of the leaves changing.
To illustrate this point, the entrance to the subdivision where I live has a row of large Bradford pear trees in the center median. These trees turn a vibrant red and orange as the temperature drops each fall. A picture of the entrance would make a great cover for my quarterly update on recent sales. In fact, this type of picture would be a great way to market the subdivision any time of year.
In terms of your listings, get in the habit of taking seasonal pictures throughout the year. This is a powerful way to update your marketing materials and to make your listings look fresh on the multiple listing service.
4. Holiday marketing campaigns
Fall holidays can be great resources for your fall marketing campaigns. For example, you could search the local newspaper archives for the Labor Day parade pictures from 50 or 60 years ago. For Veterans Day, you could plan a “red, white and blue” theme for your open houses. On Halloween, many agents have great success doing a special event such as a pumpkin carving contest or sponsoring a local parade. In terms of Thanksgiving, you could send out paper or digital “Happy Thanksgiving” cards to your present and past clients.
By planning this now, you can set everything on autopilot, freeing yourself up later in the year to spend more time on lead generation as well as more time celebrating all these different holidays.
5. Make new connections
Do you cringe at the thought of door-knocking or cold calling? If so, there’s a great way to meet new people in your area based upon what you love to do. Visit Meetup.com to see a list of all the upcoming meetings in your area. This is a great way to meet people all year long. In the summertime, however, people tend to be a little less busy and more likely to be out connecting, especially if it involves doing something that is an outdoor activity.
For example, when I checked Meetup.com for my ZIP code, here is a sampling of what I found scheduled for next week: The Austin Golden Retriever meetup (204 owners); Austin Cycling meetup (784); Austin Live Music Mingle (1084 music lovers); Chocolate, Coffee, and Wine Lovers (1,324 members.) There were also various types of exercise groups, food groups (including progressive vegetarians,) political groups, networking groups, and many more. Depending upon your interests, there’s something for almost everyone.
In terms of meeting people, go to the event to enjoy the group and its activities. Avoid marketing yourself. People will learn what you do. If they like you and learn to trust you, they’re much more likely to hire you when they are ready to sell their house.
Most importantly, even if you don’t meet anyone who will do business with you, you’re still going to be more attractive to potential clients because you’re taking time to care for you. This usually means that you are more relaxed, which in turn makes you more attractive to a wider variety of clients.
Summer is rapidly slipping away. Prepare for the year-end production sprint by taking advantage of these suggestions. That’s the best way to create an edge now and well into the fall.
