As we step into the new year, you might be pondering over the missed opportunities for business growth last December. Or, you might consider December as a slow month for business overall, not warranting a second thought.
But Greg Harrelson believes that besides the actual celebrations, there's nothing special about the holidays that should lead you to believe you're going to generate less business.
If anything, he believes that there are many reasons why you can generate more business around the holidays.
Starting with the first one: "99% of real estate agents aren't working through the holidays."
In fact, what Greg tells his agents is to double down on their activities during the holiday weeks.
"If you want to get what most agents aren't getting, do the opposite of what they're doing. And since everyone pulls back during the holidays, we go forward."
But before you discard this idea because, after all, this is a time of the year when you want to relax, remember that doubling down doesn't mean you need to work more or work harder.
Doubling down could simply mean eliminating wasted time.
This is a time of the year when we waste a lot of time. We come into the office a little bit later, we mingle, and we're kinda working on autopilot on maintenance tasks, if we're working on something at all.
Here are some ways in which you can generate more business specifically around December, so you can make the next holiday season work in your favor.
Remember, if you want a complete deep-dive into all of these strategies, Greg shares absolutely everything he does personally to generate hundreds of transactions every year in his private coaching community RGMastery.com. Join for less than $20/month, and cancel at any time.
"But Greg, everyone calls the expires" you say.
"Yes," Greg answers, "they did last month"·
But they're not calling them around the holidays.
You might think these leads won't list right now because nobody buys around the holidays. But Greg thinks that's only partly true.
"Fewer properties sell around the holidays because fewer properties are listed."
What's more – if you take a look at the average amount of showings that it takes for a property to be sold, and you compare a month like December vs any other month, December's a fantastic time.
It takes a lot less showings to sell a property in December, because the people that are looking to purchase even around the holidays are a lot more serious.
Same thing goes for FSBOs. Yes, everyone always calls FSBOs, but nobody calls them around the holiday season.
And these people want to be called – that's why they're on the market!
This is the perfect time to call your past leads, because it's when you can really chat to them as a friend wishing another friend a great holiday season.
Have a chat, recap the year together, tell them about your goals and ask them about them. This way, it's a very natural transition to ask them about their real estate goals for the upcoming year.
Your top priority absolutely depends on the size of your database. It's going to be different whether you have 100 people in your database (where 20-25% of your leads might be hot), or 1,000 people in your database (where only 10% might be a top priority).
By using Advanced Search Filters you can narrow down your database and figure out what your top priorities are.
Do this by creating a list of people who searched for a property in the last 7 days, favorited a property in the last 10 days, or viewed a market activity report in the last 30 days.
Those that engage the most with your site should be your top priority.
Then, call them all. This is the time of the year when you have an excuse.
If they don't answer, text them. If then they don't answer, email them. But always default to a call.
While Greg prefers calls over automations any day of the week, he understands that workflows are sometimes necessary.
And in the case of the holiday season, they can be created strategically.
The idea is that you insert yourself within the thought's they're already having around the holiday season.
SEQUENCE #1 - Before Christmas
The first sequence should be a simple text + email mentioning the common thought pattern of wanting to get as much done as possible so we can enjoy time with our families.
Hey, I wanted to wish you happy holidays! I know this is the time when we're all looking to finish our work so that we can spend more time with the family.
Just wanted to let you know I'll be working through the holidays, if you need to reach out with any questions.
Happy holidays!
SEQUENCE #2 - After Christmas
The second sequence should be another simple text + email, this time, mentioning the common thought pattern of setting goals for the new year.
Hey! Hope you're having an amazing holiday season.
This is the time when a lot of us start thinking about what we wish to accomplish in this new year.
With that in mind, I was just curious if you had given any thought to your real estate goals for the new year?
5. Build your Buyer's List
During the holidays, we'll find ourselves sitting on the couch, surfing social media more than ever.
Your leads are doing this, too. And you know what they're stumbling upon?
What's my Home Worth widgets.
And before you think that those leads are terrible, remember they convert at 10%.
The industry says they're terrible, because most agents are expecting the leads to call them.
But Greg himself generated 300 of those leads from December alone, and he knows he'll be converting at least 6% of them.
6. Re-engage
You have disengaged buyers in your database. This is a fact.
And while the term will be different depending on the size of your database, we should all consider somebody that has not done anything on your site (searched a property, saved a property, etc) in the last 60 days a "disengaged" lead.
Now, this isn't your priority list. We spoke about that before.
But this is a phenomenal call list.
"If there's 100 disengaged people on your database and you call them all, you'll get 18 of them to re-engage right away." Greg assures us.
For those that don't answer the phone, text them a property and message:
Hey, I found a property that you think you'll like.
Let me know if you want to visit it this week. [Link]
A good portion of them will click on that link and re-engage with your website again. Remember, around this time, more people will be looking at their phone.
Finally you'll find some people that don't engage with anything. It's part of the game.
But there's a good correlation between engagement and conversion – so call the disengaged list from your database every week (which should consistently update as people engage again).
7. Garage Sales
Go to Facebook Marketplace and search for garage sales.
In all the garage sales in your marketplace, there's a message button. Message them this:
I see you're having a garage sale. I happen to be a real estate agent, and I have a lot of leads asking me about this neighborhood. I was just curious if you were preparing your home for sale; were you thinking of selling in the next few months?
Greg loves this strategy: "If you text 10 garage sales, I guarantee one person will say that they're thinking about selling."
8. Commit to 200 New Sellers
This is one of the thousands of strategies Greg shares in his private community in RGMastery.com
Commit to adding 200 documented property owners to your Real Geeks database, and kick off a Market Activity Report campaign for every one of their neighborhoods.
Whether it's your senders of influence that you know are owners, old leads you've had, past clients, etc.
They need to know what's going on with property values in their neighborhood coming on to the New Year.
"We have thousands of property owners in our database and we're converting listings every week because of our nurturing strategy" says Greg.
Once again, remember this is the time when people will be mostly on their phones. Take advantage of this.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, the holiday season only brings new opportunities for business.
Whether it's because it brings forward more motivated sellers that need less convincing to make a purchase, or because most of your competition is pulling back.
So keep this little guide handy for the next holiday season, and you might make December the best month of 2024.