Whether it’s refining your business model, mastering new technologies, or discovering strategies to capitalize on the next market surge, Inman Connect New York will prepare you to take bold steps forward. The Next Chapter is about to begin. Be part of it. Join us and thousands of real estate leaders Jan. 22-24, 2025.
There are a lot of theories about how to build a real estate business. The key to success is to break through the noise and focus on what really works. This article shares the seven no-BS steps to grow your business this year.
1. Be seen
The fastest route to more affluence is to increase your influence, and influence comes from people knowing who you are. Simply put, the agent who is known by more people will have more opportunities to do business.
The key is to figure out the path that is true to who you are. Focusing on showing up authentically as who you are will lead to you being recognized as the agent of choice in your local market.
There are multiple paths to recognition. It can be accomplished by being active in your community and sending consistent direct mail campaigns highlighting your service through your social media presence or YouTube video content. The key is to find out what fits your personality and gives you the ability to expand your reach to the most people possible.
Be seen more, and you will do more business.
2. Tell relatable stories
It’s not about you. The days of marketing that promotes how you are the best agent or number one in your office are over. The best marketing is told in stories that prospects can relate to and see themselves participating in. This type of marketing answers the biggest question prospects have, “What’s in it for me?”
Tell the story of how you helped a family navigate buying a home while needing to sell their existing home to be able to afford their next purchase. Tell the story of how you helped the renter realize her dream of owning a home when she didn’t know if it was possible. Talk about how you helped a son walk through the emotions of selling the family home he grew up in after his mother passed away.
Relatable stories that make people and the process the hero are the recipe for success in 2025.
3. Steal ideas from other agents and make them your own
We live in a time where we can easily see how agents across the country are marketing their businesses through social media, YouTube, or podcast interviews where they share their stories of success. You should always put your own spin on ideas for your local market, but the framework for success is readily available.
A few ways to find inspiration are to follow and study what agents in other markets are doing who have businesses that you aspire to emulate. If you want to know how to send an effective weekly email to your database, ask agents in other markets to include you in their email lists. If you want to model your Instagram account after a few different agents, follow them on social media and interact with their pages.
You don’t have to recreate the wheel; you just have to find a model or framework that you can build upon and develop your personal marketing around. Be creative, but start with inspiration from others.
4. Focus on growing your database
The first step I mentioned in this article is to be seen. Growing your database so you have a group of people to whom you can consistently add value and stay in front of is vitally important for growth. If you show me someone’s database, I can tell you what their business will look like one year from now based on the quantity and quality of new leads coming into their database.
Growth can come from buying leads, circle prospecting and adding people you meet at open houses or through any of your marketing efforts. The key is to have a systematic approach where new leads are coming in daily. If your database is growing, your business will be growing as well.
5. Set up systematic outbound communication
Without consistent, valuable outbound communication, a database is nothing more than a list. You’ve done the hard work of building a database, but how do you maximize the opportunities it presents?
Tom Ferry has been quoted as saying that roughly 8 percent of people in a real estate database are likely to buy or sell every year. This means if you have a database of 500 prospects, there are almost 50 real estate transactions available from that group every year. Systematizing communication enables you to maximize these opportunities.
I like to do this through two main approaches. The first is to have all prospects on an automated property update email. For buyers, this would include homes that come on the market or that have price reductions matching the buyer prospects’ personal criteria.
For homeowners, it would be set up to email the owners when a home in their neighborhood comes on the market, goes under contract or is sold. Most CRMs have this capability, or it can be accomplished via your MLS.
The second systematic strategy is a deal of the week sent to your entire database. This is a strategy developed by Sharran Srivatsaa and is a weekly, text-based email. Srivatsaa teaches that the subject line should be the same every week: [Your City] Deal of the Week
Srivatsaa notes that his over 1 million split tests on these emails show the emails that generate the highest engagement do not include the address, a link to the details or photos. This is an example of a suggested email format:
This week’s deal of the week is a home in Santa Rosa Beach with amazing gulf and lake views and unmatched outdoor living spaces.
Key highlights
-
- 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms.
- 2,218 sq. ft. on a large lot in gated Calypso Pointe.
- Private pool with gas heater and fenced backyard.
- Wraparound balcony, open layout, dual primary suites, and Tesla charger.
- Close to Gulf Place for dining, art, live music, and more.
- $1,225,000 (many new interest rate options!)
If you are interested, just reply and I will get you all the details.
All the best,
If you want to hit the easy button, ChatGPT has a free Custom GPT designed by Srivatsaa that will provide you with a deal of the week email for any property once you provide some basic, raw data about the home. You can find that tool here.
6. Identify and reward your MVPs
Every successful business has a core group of repeat customers and referral partners who account for a large part of the business’ growth. What we appreciate and recognize always expands, so developing a plan to deepen these relationships will generate more opportunities for business. This can be accomplished in several different ways, but the key is to be purposeful.
Handwritten thank-you notes, pop-bys with small gifts of appreciation, and client appreciation parties are all effective, but if you want true impact, hosting small group dinners is one of the most effective ways to build deeper and longer-lasting relationships.
Jana Bruce, a highly successful luxury agent out of Houston, Texas, does this by hosting small groups of eight to 10 people for dinner at her home each month. She invites a mix of her best clients, friends, prospects and people who have referred her business to a dinner party at her personal residence.
This group varies from month to month, and she works to include people that she feels will connect with each other as well as with her. This creates community, and happy, connected people always refer more business.
She either prepares the meal or has it catered depending on the occasion or theme for that month. She hires a caterer to serve the meals, ensuring she can be fully present and engaged with her guests. Bruce is driven by building relationships, and these dinners are a driving force behind her consistent flow of referrals and repeat clients.
7. Become the best version of you
Your business simply cannot grow at a faster pace than you are personally growing. Yes, there will be seasons of business growth that will outpace your personal growth. But that type of growth usually stalls at some point and waits for your personal growth to catch up before continuing. If your business is stagnant or maybe it even declined over the past few years, ask yourself if you’ve grown during that time.
Are you learning and trying new strategies? Have you been developing new or refining existing systems for efficiency in your business? Are you studying your market more than ever? How long has it been since you attended a training session or met with a coach or mentor? The bottom line is that if you desire your business to grow, the growth you desire must first start with your personal growth and development.
Will this be a year of growth for you? The canvas is blank and ready for you to create the year you desire. Everything in the past has prepared you for this year. Develop your plan. Take action. Let this be the year that you and your business step into your full potential.
