I recently had the honor of joining in a panel discussion at Inman Connect for their 20th Anniversary conference in San Francisco alongside Paul Boomsma of Luxury Portfolio and Elizabeth Anne Kivan of Stribling and Associates in New York City.
The panel, entitled “The Big Chill: How to get Your Luxury Clients off the Fence in Uncertain Times”, gave insight on current dynamics and how today’s market is impacting high-end property seller and buyers. The panel also featured marketing and sales strategies that real estate professionals can start doing today to combat the uncertainty of tomorrow.
I’ve broken up my top three takeaways into this three-part blog series. Last week, I discussed being honest with your clients and the importance of the first 30 days. Here is the third and final part.
3. Know Your Research, Set Expectations, and Give Your Clients Predictability. Knowing your market is key. Research the tops sales and know where your property falls in the market.
Set clients’ expectations accordingly. We ensure that our sellers know market conditions, what the opening bid range is, offer lineup, and exposure analytics so they know what to expect on their chosen date of sale. Our bidders know that they will have a contingency-free sale, typically within 30 days of closing.
Marketing Tip: To achieve predictability, you can formulate your own funnel of success. We know one week after we launch a property if we’re on track towards a successful sale in the following three weeks. How? We’ve looked at our years of history and the data.
At the top end, we know how many eyeballs we need to reach. In the middle of the exposure cycle, we know how many feet need to come through the doors at our showings and open houses. To achieve a successful sale at the end, we know how many registered bidders need to raise their paddles (or now, swipe their fingers with our Instant Gavel app, where buyers are able to place bids with the tap of a finger from their mobile phones).
Whether you have a robust CRM platform tracking activities like this, or you start compiling data today, knowing metrics is key. Then, you can tailor marketing proactively if metrics aren’t being met, by solidifying this funnel.