5 toughest issues real estate agents experience and solutions
Major difficulties that real estate professionals around the world are dealing
with are; changing environmental conditions, fluctuating political environments,
volatile markets, increasing purchase rates and changing technological developments.
So, here are the 5 biggest challenges real estate agents face and how to fix them
Ask your typical agent for a list of their biggest challenges,
and you’ll invariably hear many of the same answers repeated.Â
Whether you agree or not, the challenges listed here affect solo agents
and real estate management companies in one way or another.
Some of them are unique to real estate, others apply to just about any industry.
But the solutions offered are practical and can be implemented even by agents without a lot of experience.
1) Low Inventory
It’s pretty simple: without inventory, you have no income. No income means no business. Finding listings in a low-inventory market, however, has become a challenge even for agents with years in the business. New agents, especially, will find it a challenge to find sellers. Of course, you can’t gain experience if no one lists with you! This is why you have to shift your focus. In other words, if the fish aren’t biting, go where the fish are!
Solution: Expand Your Sphere Of Influence.
Referrals are the best source of leads in any market. They’re even more crucial to your business when inventory is low. Sellers are far more likely to trust a referral over a stranger when buyers are hard to come by. And given that most sellers solicit only 1 agent, expanding your sphere of influence should be your top priority.Â
2) Growing Online Competition From Listing PortalsÂ
The growing popularity of listing portals and the increase of homebuyer and renting apps have limited agents’ roles, but have not eliminated them. The success of these user-centric brands with digital home shoppers is a clear sign of what the future holds for real estate:
- Users will seek out an agent at increasingly later stages of the buying cycle.
- Digital advertising will become more effectiveÂ
- Social networks will be crucial for finding referrals.
Solution: Becoming active online and on listing platforms, also look into launching a website or blog.
A comprehensive website for your community is a great way to compete with the larger brands and more seasoned agents in your industry. Getting your name and brand known by a lot of people helps you become visible when there’s a general or specific search for agents.Â
3) Adapting To Technology Trends
Algorithm updates, data security, privacy policies, marketing automation, SEO best practices, SMART home technology.
Today’s agent has to be as savvy at using technology as they do at prospecting. Solo agents and teams, in particular, must keep pace with new trends and updates to technology regularly.
Solution: Work With An IT Expert
Whether it’s setting up an email account, choosing a domain name, or deciding on a web-based CMS, tech decisions can’t be taken lightly. If you don’t consider yourself a tech expert, seek out someone you can rely on for tech advice.
An IT expert can advise you on cost-effective alternatives and even troubleshoot for you when you run into problems.
4) Costly Lead Generation
As social media networks reach global saturation, digital advertising is becoming more costly, while yielding lower ROI for advertisers. When properties are available but no clients or leads due to the high cost of getting them, then there’s a problem.Â
Solution: Focus On Building Organic Traffic.
Your prospects use search engines each day to find local products, you can list your properties on websites like propertypro.ng to have access to more clients and eventually get more leads and seal deals. Organic traffic can raise your visibility in search results.Â
5) Cultivating A Database
Building a database is one thing. Cultivating a database for leads and referrals is yet another hurdle to an agent’s success. Most agents don’t realize how crucial it is to communicate with contacts frequently. Inexperienced agents concentrate on making the sales immediately rather than maintaining contact with their clients after the sale. Only 25% of agents actively seek out referrals from their current contacts and previous clients. They consequently lose out on referral business, which can generate close to 50% of your yearly income!
Research provided by Brian & Buffini yielded the following insights about referrals among real estate agents:
- 25% of agents generate more than 50% of their annual business entirely through referrals!
- 88%Â of buyers claim they would use the same agent or refer them.
- The average agent earns 42% of their business through referrals!
- 82%Â of ALL real estate transactions are REFERRALS!
Solution: Implement Marketing Automation
It takes a bit of time to stay in touch with dozens or even hundreds of contacts! We are grateful for technology! Automating your email delivery will save you valuable hours each week. Used correctly, marketing automation can also help you target your messages more effectively to the right market segments.
Here are a few things you can achieve with automated tools working for you:
- Schedule emails to promote your next listing
- Automate your subscriptions for your listing platforms
- Make use of extra marketing tools you have access to as an agent
- Automate social media posts for optimum reach
- Engage visitors to your website seeking information who are early in the buying cycle
- Send notifications, reminders, and alerts to targeted members/segments of your database
 Here are the 5 biggest challenges real estate agents face and how to fix them. Did we miss any? Let us know.Â