With sellers waiting to get that “For Sale” sign out in the yard, and buyers eager for new listings after a quiet winter, the market is already gearing up for the busy season. Are you?

As real estate agents, there’s the excitement of “getting back into the swing” of things, along with the knowledge that your work life is about to get kicked up a notch. Whether dread or excitement is filling your thoughts in this “calm before the storm”, the best way to prepare is .... to prepare! 

Here are five ways we recommend preparing for the busy season: 

Audit Your Online World 

Think of what you don’t have time to do during the busy season … and likely updating your web presence is on the top of that list. Take the time to update and clean up your website, social profiles, and listings while you can do it with focus and without the guilt of taking up time that could be spent directly with a client. Change out photos, check copy and links, and clean up anything that doesn’t feel simple and straight to the point. Pro tip: Have someone else look over your copy. It’s hard to catch mistakes or confusing wording when you’ve been looking at the same copy for months, sometimes years!

Get Automated & Schedule Ahead 

When spring hits and things get rolling again, it feels as if there isn’t enough time in the day to do the bare necessities for your clients, let alone going the extra mile. Take the time, while you can, to automate every client touch point you possibly can. Research online tools to help you with this. Think about signing up for Marketing Touchpoints so your database receives regular communication from you without any effort on your part. Like sending cards to clients? There are even services for that like SendOutCards.com.

Organize & Prepare Leads

At what point in the busy season do you get the chance to really sit down and go through your leads? Never. Prioritize sitting down and going through each one of your leads to separate into past clients to keep in touch with, clients looking to buy, clients looking to sell, and leads that you should no longer keep. This makes targeting those lists with specific messaging so much easier. When you’re done sorting all your leads, think of networking ways that you can ramp up your lead list even more before the beginning of the season.

Set Goals & Prioritize

While setting goals and expectations might not feel like a priority in terms of flying through that to-do list, setting goals and expectations helps to create those priorities. Be sure to have some quantitative benchmarks in your goals, and breakdown actionable steps within each goal, as well. 

One counter-intuitive thing about goal setting? Sometimes you come out with less on your to-do list. Goal setting and prioritizing not only means pushing tasks up higher on your list, but also getting rid of unnecessary tasks that don’t align with your goals. Sounds like a win-win to us!

Clean Up 

Think of it as a deep spring clean; real estate style. Before things get crazy, take a moment to declutter, dust off, and just plain clean. Wipe those “For Sale” and “Open House” signs off, so you look shiny and on top of your game for clients. Clear your desk and declutter for mental capacity and clean out that car so your clients get the best version of you. Starting with a completely clean slate (literally) is certainly not something that you will regret, once the season begins!