While you’re reading this post, catching up with the real estate world, it’s possible that some of your competition is easing off the pedals. They’re not making calls, not sending out marketing pieces, not scheduling an open house or tracking down “For Sale by Owner” opportunities. Chances are, they’ve eased up until February, when the spring market heats up.

So, let’s bank all the business left on the table by those in the industry who haven’t evolved their business plans.

Fall is the best time to build your business and fill your pipeline for the winter and spring buying seasons.

Take advantage of the quiet

If I moved back into full-time sales tomorrow, I‘d schedule an open house in the fall for every day of the week. This gets me face-to-face with potential buyers and sellers to ensure I will fill my pipeline. After all, you wouldn’t hold an open house in a neighborhood where there are three other open houses, right? Hold it when no one else is active, and there’s no competition.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that if someone is looking in December when it’s freezing cold, you have to believe they are going to be serious about buying a home.

Follow-up

For those clients waiting until spring, ask why they feel it is in their best interest.  In many markets, it makes more sense to get a jump start.  But, if the person is persistent about waiting, make sure you:

• Have a systematic way to keep track of such leads, even if it’s scheduling electronic calendar reminders months in advance to remind you to follow up.
• Sustain and build your relationships over the interim period by connecting via email and social media.
• Send useful and educational market information, hyperlocal news articles, industry trends, and other links of specific interest based on your previous individual discussions.
• Keep the conversation going in a friendly, helpful way. On a case-by-case basis, match your frequency, length and tone of communication to theirs. If you can speak their language and appreciate their culture, you’ll close more deals.

Don’t let the excuses get in your way

First, it was get the kids settled back to school. Then Halloween. Now it’s Thanksgiving’s coming up, so I need time to get ready for that. And soon it’ll be, I can’t get work in December, because of the holidays.

Guess what?  People buy and sell real estate all year long. And fall leading into winter is when folks start doing their research to prepare for buying and selling in the spring.

Do yourself a favor by investing the time now – put together those deals that will close in early 2014 and give you income to hit the ground running next year.

So. Tell me. Are you planning on taking off this winter? Or, will you race toward 2013’s finish line with a forward-looking, winning strategy to hit new sales records in 2014?