| BUSINESS TIPS A SIMPLE, STRAIGHTFORWARD GUIDE TO BUSINESS PLANNING |
| It’s been said that a goal without a plan is just a dream. If your goal is to succeed, you need a business plan outlining how you’re going to get there. A plan shows where to focus your time, energy, and money. It guides your decision-making, sets goals you can achieve, and establishes milestones to track your progress. Here’s how the experts say real estate agents should go about putting together a business plan. Set clear, achievable goals. How much money do you want to make? How many homes will you have to sell to reach that level of income? Do you want to go after a niche, such as first-time buyers, veterans, medical practitioners, or luxury properties? Setting specific goals helps you define specific strategies, tactics, and milestones to measure your success. Just be honest with yourself about your capabilities and resources. Setting realistic goals does a better job of keeping you motivated and tracking your progress. Understand your market. Look at what types of properties are in demand in your local market. Look at what your competition is doing, figure out whether it’s working, and look at what they aren’t doing. See if there are neighborhood needs you could fill. Evaluate your competition. Look into their strengths and weaknesses to position yourself in the market. See how your business differs from theirs and what you can offer clients others don’t provide. Check out competitors’ pricing, service, marketing, and the audience they target. Come up with a budget. Use a spreadsheet to lay out your ongoing costs, variable expenses, and expected revenues. Include everything—rent, insurance, taxes, marketing, staff. Use cost-effective approaches where you can. Formulate a marketing strategy. Include how you plan to prospect for clients, advertise your services, promote your listings, and build relationships with prospects and referral partners. Choose the marketing channels that give you the best return on investment (ROI). Make an action plan. This outlines the steps you’ll take to reach your goals, including timelines, deadlines, milestones, and performance metrics, with daily, weekly, and monthly goals. This helps your check your progress, prioritize tasks, and see areas that need improvement. Track your progress. Identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) to track, such as number of leads generated, clients acquired, homes sold, revenue earned, and referrals received. Look at these KPIs regularly and adjust your strategies when necessary. Remember, a business plan doesn’t have to be complicated, just specific enough to clarify your goals and the steps you’ll take to reach them. A well-thought-out business plan will put you on the path to achieving the success you dream about. |
| TECHNOLOGY TIME TO REFRESH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE |
| It’s important to refresh your social media presence at least once a year and now is a good time to do it before the start of the spring buying season. Here’s a plan to get that done. Focus your efforts. You don’t have to be active on every social platform, which is impossible anyway. Pick one or two, commit to being on them regularly, and build from there. Focus on the platforms that have been working for you and you like using both for business and personally. Check your analytics to see where you have the most fans, followers, and engagement. See if there are types of content that work well for you and go to the platforms where they’ve worked. Pay attention to the strengths of each platform. For example: Facebook. Great for showing new listings and your personal life. Makes good connections with your sphere of influence and folks in the communities you serve. Instagram. Great for visually oriented posts. Use Stories for quick shared or day-in-the-life videos, and Reels for short-form videos. A quick way to establish your brand. LinkedIn. Great for referrals and hiring, as it connects you with other professionals and industry leaders. Geared to professional content, especially long-form blogs, and informational pieces. X (formerly Twitter). Great for branding and distributing other content, as it’s geared for commentary and content sharing. X search results rank high on Google. YouTube. Great for informational videos, as well as YouTube Shorts for shorter videos similar to Instagram Reels. Builds brand authority because YouTube search results rank high on Google (which owns YouTube). Also great for showcasing your community to prospects moving from outside your area. How to update the social media platforms you’ve chosen. Sign in with new passwords and enable two-factor authentication for security. Post a new headshot and update cover photos or banners. Update your profile bio and make sure it’s complete, with the website URL, address, hours, etc. Update graphic templates, other frequently used graphic elements, boilerplate copy, and other content if needed. Edit content that no longer reflects your brand story. Check new features on your platforms and learn how to use them. See what competitors are posting, when they post, and the trends they’re following, and make appropriate adjustments to what you’re doing. Check who you’re following, and unfollow if needed. Revise hashtags you use if needed. Create or update auto-messaging responses. For the platforms you regularly use, create a content calendar for the next six months, with reminder notifications. Make space on your calendar, daily or weekly, to update your social media content. Do not delete unused social media accounts. An unused account is still a way prospects can find you. So, just leave the feed as it is and pin a post to the top, if that’s an option, or add a note in the profile, redirecting people to the platforms you’re active on. Plus, if someone spoofs you, the longevity of our account helps establish you as the legitimate holder of the brand. |
| MARKET TIP FEBRUARY IS THE NEW APRIL |
| For smart buyers and sellers, the spring real estate market starts now. Remind your prospective sellers and buyers that now is the time to get ready for real estate’s hottest season. It all starts in a couple of months, but sellers and buyers need to be ready for the first (and often best) opportunities as soon as they arise. Sellers should start decluttering. This includes removing papers, magazines, products they no longer use, and all personal items—family photos, diplomas, awards, and personal mementos. Extraneous nicknacks, books, and seasonal clothing should be put in storage, along with any furniture that makes a room look smaller and blocks the flow. Sellers should also do any repairs and updates. Starting now allows plenty of time for staging and to do the interior listing photos. Buyers (which also includes many sellers) should make sure they’re ready to act. There are more homes on the market, but more buyers than listings. Buyers should get in touch with loan officers such as ourselves, to get prequalified or even preapproved for a mortgage. This lets buyers know the budget they have to work with and makes them more attractive to sellers. Buyers should make a list of what they want in their new home —location, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, lot size, and other features. They should make two lists—one, for their have-to-haves, the other for their like-to-haves. Remind buyers and sellers that it’s better to act sooner rather than later. Prices are still forecast to rise, if at a slower rate, and mortgage rates aren’t expected to drop very much, so there’s no need to wait to start building equity in a new home purchase! |
The Jim Passi Team at Citywide Home Loans proudly serves Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Georgia and Flordia. If you are looking to buy a home or refinance, we have you covered. Apply Now to get started.
