Marketing Mentality in a "Declining" Market

**EricRichardson** · 03-27-2007, 10:13 AM

Hey fellow agents!!

I wanted to pose the question to see what kind of feedback that I receive. I am actually one of the lucky states (if you can call Oklahoma "lucky") that didn't experience the rocketing prices of homes over the last couple of years like we saw on the east and west coast. Now that I am seeing what I refer to as a "normalizing" market even for Oklahoma, I am amazed at how many agents are jumping ship.

Now that things have slowed a little around here I hear agents in my office and colleagues telling me that they're getting out. "Why?" is my normal response. "Because business is slow." is their usual response.

"What kind of advertising are you doing?" is the second question I will ask and normally they will tell me, "I don't have the money to advertise".

Am I just strange in the fact that when I have seen previous slowdowns in the market that I actually double if not triple my marketing budget?

I look at it this way, if agents are jumping out of the market and the news is constantly forecasting that real estate is declining - there are still homes being bought and sold!!! I look at it like, the more advertising that I do, homeowners and buyers will recognize me from all of my advertising and call me when their uncle/brother/sister/cousin/friend is no longer in the business and call me.

So my question is:
"Why in a declining or stabilizing market do agents cut or kill their marketing budget first?"

**yomi** · 03-28-2007, 04:22 PM

I never knew word of mouth to be expensive. A simple email to your clients can generate leads. A weekly email newsletter to stay in their faces wouldn't hurt. Postcards to clients you closed with some years ago to see how they are doing. Most people stay in their homes an average of 3 to 4 years. You know what also works. Going to coffee cafe's, putting up a ballot box where people enter their business cards and you give away a $5 gift card for a free cup of joe. How many leads do you think you can get doing this? I know so many guerilla marketing tactics its almost criminal. You don't need advertising in publications,directories, etc. Just some good old word of mouth and shoe-string marketing tactics. If you think out of the box you will always find a way to survive.

**gjtrafl** · 03-28-2007, 06:48 PM

I couldn't agree more with the word of mouth part. My current clients have come from positive word of mouth from my past clients. You can't put a price on it because it costs nothing. When things get slow, more touches to your biggest fans works best!

**mortgagesum** · 03-29-2007, 12:41 AM

When people are getting out is when you should be furthering your brand so I would spend more time in doing this. You'll be in a better position when the market turns back around.

**lady therese** · 03-29-2007, 02:07 AM

Originally Posted by EricRichardson

So my question is:
"Why in a declining or stabilizing market do agents cut or kill their marketing budget first?"

In my own perspective, when prices goes high. News and development happened in an area also affect the real estate sales. When there are low inquiries, and that follows, low sales, as an agent, you do not have sustainance to look for a wider market, considering costs + demands. Though, in an another perspective, when things are slow, it should be a good time to double the effort and create more strategic plans to get the attention of the homebuyers.

**RobGerhart.com** · 04-04-2007, 05:37 AM

Now is the time to get back to basics. Evaluate where your business is comming from and create a plan to get more business. If 80% of last year was referrals, spend 80% of your marketing budget on touching your sphere. If 80% was from FSBOs, spend 80% of your budget on FSBOs.

It is time to get smart and stop waisting money on gimmicks and just do what works. People are always buying and selling. Life doesnt stop because of negative press on CNN. Spend 3 hours doing nothing but prospecting 5 days a week. Make it a goal to add at least 10 people to your data base every week. Be consistant and persistant and life will be great.