With approximately 2 million active licensees in the United States, real estate is one of the most crowded industries to work in. While this can make it feel impossible to compete and grow your small business, there are a variety of actions you can take to reach new clients and make more sales. It’s a new year, so why not implement some new business strategies? Keep these ideas in mind as you take your real estate business to the next level in 2022.
Manage Your Time Smarter
Do you have a to-do list that seems to be never ending? When you’ve got yourself spread too thin and have too many tasks on your agenda, it’s more difficult to grow your business. You’re likely playing catch-up, rather than focusing on the 
specific goals you must achieve to advance your business. With so much to do on a day to day basis, real estate agents often fall victim to distraction, which is the enemy of good time management.
An effective and easy to use time management tool can be a realtor’s best friend when it comes to completing specific tasks within a set amount of time. Try using a tool like Trello to organize your daily and weekly tasks. You can even set a time limit for those pesky distractions. For example, when a random phone call comes in, you know you only have 10 minutes to wrap it up and stay on track with your day.
Outsource Tasks
It’s not uncommon for a small business owner to feel overwhelmed with work and life. If your business is growing, there will likely come a time when manage everything yourself becomes costly. At that point, it may be in your best interest to hire an assistant to help with the little things. Give yourself some breathing room between meetings, open houses and events. Your mental state affects your business, so it’s counter-productive to be working so hard under stress.
Can’t afford an in-person assistant full time? Hiring a virtual assistant can be just as helpful. Tasks like marketing, taking calls and admin can be done remotely. Websites like Upwork are great for sourcing reliable and affordable contract workers on a regular or project-to-project basis. Whether you could use a hand with administrative duties, copywriting, graphic design or web development, there are skilled individuals out there who can help you get the job done right.
Network With Purpose
We all know how important networking is. Showing up at events with the intention to link and build is a start, but to truly grow your business, you need a targeted approach to networking. While navigating your way through an event, your goal must be connecting with those who can help you most. There is no time to waste with a limited window to build 
relationships, seek advice, or secure your finances. Global entrepreneur, Ted Rollins suggests meeting with and building a diverse group of individuals and surrounding yourself with the people that can help you reach specific business goals.
“Commit to your purpose and as these relationships grow, consider how they fit into that burgeoning ‘why.’ Someone may be more valuable in expanding your business while another person would serve you best in a mentor role,” Rollins explains. “Grow your business. Have one to three goals for the next networking event you attend and keep them as your focus each time you talk with someone. If you know someone attending, ask them to introduce you to anyone they think would be able to help you achieve one or more of those goals.”
Earn Those Referrals
Most real estate business comes from referrals and word of mouth. To grow your business, a focus on driving referrals with past, current and future clients is key. There are many ways to go about this, including offering referral gifts and client gifts, requesting referrals on your website and creating branded merchandise for your business. Test a variety of ideas to see which one yields the best results – and optimize the one that works best to keep those referrals coming.
Are you tracking your leads with a CRM system, or organizing them manually? Whichever way you manage potential clients, be sure to engage with them via email. Communicate your real estate knowledge and authority on the region, while staying at the top of their minds. Include a call to action in each email, such as clicking through to a blog post, sharing a deal, or downloading some useful content. If you’re doing it right, email marketing should achieve the goal of generating leads and ultimately referrals.
Make Social Media Your Friend
Utilizing social media can seem like a daunting task for many real estate professionals. However, with almost everyone active on social platforms, it can’t be ignored as a business tool. If you want to grow your business, be active on at least 
one social network. You can run regular ads, share content, generate leads and reach a wider audience of buyers or sellers.
Some of our favorite ways to make the most of social media marketing include video tours of new listings, congratulating new homeowners and ‘boosting’ listing posts (with even a small advertising budget). You can target your audience based on location, occupation, interests, age and more, allowing you to be specific and effective in your marketing.
Let Go of Fear
Fear of failure is the number one reason that people avoid potentially risky opportunities. These are the same opportunities that real growth is based on, so to not take advantage of them is extremely detrimental. When you let go of that fear, you will see opportunities for what they are and be able to determine their value to your business.
Pro tip: find a good mentor who can help mitigate concerns you may have with taking risky business leaps. Coming from a place of experience, a mentor can help you navigate the market, manifest your goals and achieve greatness.
With the right goals and mindset, you can and will grow your business this year. Test our ideas to see which ones are most effective – and let us know your favorite business strategies in the comments!
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