4 Proactive Things to Do during COVID-19

Unless you’ve been avoiding the news completely and maybe living under a rock, you have probably heard of this little situation we are dealing with called coronavirus. States across the country have issued shelter in place or stay home orders—essentially barring any travel unless it is to the store, to work if you have been deemed an essential worker, to get medicine, or to take part in outdoor recreation activities.

Needless to say, the inability to leave one’s home except for life-preserving reasons is having a major impact on the real estate industry. Although in many states and communities real estate companies are considered essential businesses, the restrictions that are in place and fear of the virus itself are causing many potential leads to be unable or unwilling to move forward in the home buying process at this time.

People are out of work, are scared of being out of work in the future, have their kids at home, and are generally uncertain about the future. The question becomes, how do real estate agents stay ahead of the situation, have business conversations with their leads, and remain sensitive to the constantly changing of the circumstances we currently find ourselves in?

Real Estate Agents Have a Choice

As restrictions get tighter and we sink further into what seems to be a worsening situation, all agents have a choice. They can choose to stay active and continue to operate as best they can, or they can choose to completely shut down.

Real estate agents can decide to succumb to the fear of losing their business, not being able to sell houses in the months to come, and feeling insecure in their livelihood. On the other hand, those same agents can also choose to throw themselves into their business and their work. Continue to reach out to people, continue to generate leads, continue to improve their skills.

In my opinion, staying active is the most empowering thing you can do right now.

Related to that is the one thing I’ve been hammering home to my clients and agents I work with: when you reach out to people you are not taking anything from them, you are adding to them. You do not need to feel awkward or bad about reaching out to potential clients because you are offering them a solution to a problem they are trying to solve. Or, at the very least, you are attempting to help them find a solution.

4 Proactive Things Real Estate Agents Can Do Right Now

• Be the bringer of good news. Break the endless slew of negative things your clients and people in your network are reading and hearing. Find one positive piece of good news every day to share with your team and people in your sphere. Share this good news via email, on social media, and through any other channels you have.

• Know the resources that are available in your community. As regions and markets experience lockdowns and more severe restrictions, there are a lot of resources and services that become available to help us weather this storm. Because people are freaked out right now, you will probably get a lot of resistance if you call up leads and try to discuss real estate. So, what you should do instead is call them and offer to connect them with resources in the community. It’s hard for them to be mad at you when you are offering them helpful and useful information.
• Find a person who needs to buy or sell now. The longer this situation lasts, the larger the chasm becomes between people who need to buy or sell now and those who are able and want to wait and see how things turn out. In spite of the crisis we are in, there are still people whose circumstances necessitate them acting right now. One of your daily tasks needs to be finding at least one person who has to buy or sell right now.
• Find 5 people who will buy or sell when restrictions relax. Once you find one person who needs to buy or sell, your next proactive job is to find at least 5 people who want to buy or sell, but who will only do so once the situation settles down and the restrictions relax a bit.

The First Step Agents Can Take

Okay, so we laid out four proactive steps all real estate agents can make a point to start doing each day. Find and share positive news, learn about and share resources and services in the community, contact one lead who needs to buy or sell now, and contact at least five leads who will buy or sell once restrictions relax.

But where do you start and how do you actually have these types of conversations with leads? I go in depth on scripting and strategies you can use to make the most of our current situation in the video below.