January can be a tricky month in real estate. Unless you run a property business in a holiday destination, prospective clients will be incommunicado, and support staff will sit idol. What dollar-productive activities could you do during the downtime?

Does the summer slowdown leave you paying wages for support staff at a time when revenues are not rolling in? Perhaps you are raring to get a jump start on the new year and do things that will set you up for success and improved revenues in the year ahead.

As a real estate agent, property manager, buyer’s agent or member of a real estate agency support team, you might find yourself at a loose end, with nothing much to do except scroll through your social media feed and go on endless coffee runs.

Switch your mindset, and you can actually transform this (or any quiet period throughout the year) into a powerful launchpad for when the pace picks up again. Here are some ideas for channelling your or your team’s energy into strategic, well-planned activities.

1. Encourage annual leave

Working in real estate can be fun, but it can also be gruelling, so start the year by letting staff recharge. Encourage agents and support staff to take as much annual leave as they want during the quiet times. If someone has no annual leave left, consider offering unpaid leave or giving them days in lieu of working future Saturdays or additional hours during busy periods.

Taking a decent break helps reduce staff burnout while improving your business’s balance sheet. It minimises the risk of key staff requesting leave during peak periods, ensuring your team is available when property listing numbers are high.

While your staff are on leave, you can also review their roles and responsibilities. Use the time to reassess how tasks are distributed and whether adjustments are needed to align with your goals for the year ahead. Ensure everyone comes back to clear priorities.

2. Plan a team-building activity

January is an excellent time for team bonding. Spend a day together away from devices and client interruptions. Whether it’s an indoor activity in the air conditioning or a day out in the fresh air, the key is to relax and connect. Consider activities like bowling, kayaking, or even something creative such as a pottery or cooking class.

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Follow your team-building activity with a long, leisurely lunch to encourage informal conversations and forge stronger relationships.

Don’t overlook the opportunity to combine fun with some learning. Activities that include problem-solving challenges or skill-building exercises can strengthen team dynamics and help your team work better together.

3. Give the office a ‘summer’ clean

Use the quiet time and get all hands on deck for an office clear-out. Treat the task like you were moving house! Declutter ruthlessly: go through every drawer and cupboard and decide to ‘bin, donate, or recycle’.

Encourage staff to clear their desks. Then, give everything a thorough clean. It is your chance to create a more organised and inviting workspace. Give the fridge and bathrooms a deep clean. Perhaps your office could also do with a fresh lick of paint.

A clean and decluttered office isn’t just about aesthetics; it can help improve focus and productivity. Research shows that a tidy workspace reduces stress and helps employees concentrate better, so this effort will pay off over the long run.

4. Organise and refresh spaces

Take the time to:

  • Archive old office files (both paper and electronic).
  • Clean the whiteboards.
  • Replace desk or wall calendars.
  • Reorganise promotional pamphlet displays.

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Small changes can have a significant impact on the office vibe and your team’s mood.

Encourage staff input on what they’d like to see in the office. Perhaps they have ideas for improving storage, creating a more welcoming reception area, or keeping the fridge stocked with healthy snacks. 

The January sales are an excellent opportunity to spruce up the office. Consider investing in new crockery, tea towels, artwork, or pot plants (some real and some fake) to liven up your work space. Consider purchasing ergonomic chairs or desk workstations. 

A refreshed office environment shows your team you value their comfort and well-being.

5. Update contact records and databases

Segment your contacts into categories like owner-occupier, potential seller, buyer, renter, landlord, prospective landlord and tenant. Once segmented, check the records to ensure they have email addresses and mobile numbers.

If information is missing, look it up using online tools or ring contacts to fill in the gaps. It gives you or your team a reason to reconnect with contacts and find out what their living status or property investing plans are.

Ask your sales agents or business development staff to export contact data stored in their mobile phones and import the records into their CRM accounts.

Identify properties in your core area where you do not have the homeowner’s details on file, and use government records or data providers to fill in the gaps.

Accurately organised data is critical for targeted marketing, staying in more regular contact with prospects, and being several steps ahead of your competitors. It will also help you identify outreach opportunities for when the holiday season is over.

6. Build online connections

After cleaning up your CRM records, you can reach out on social media to connect with property owners, further boosting your visibility, strengthening relationships, and creating new opportunities for referrals and listings.

Exports lists in priority order, i.e., owners rather than buyers first, and then ask your support staff to find each person’s social profile (LinkedIn and Facebook both allow connections, and Instagram only allows you to follow). Have support staff send friend requests using the agency owner or agent’s social media account. This is a simple way to stay top of mind and expand your network within your target market.

7. Review your online presence

Google yourself to check if your contact information is up to date. I guarantee you’ll be surprised by what you find. Contact the websites with outdated details and ask them to update your information, especially the ones that scrape your details from the property portals.

  • Review and update your online bios to ensure that what is written reflects your current expertise and any awards you’ve won or notable sales results you’ve achieved. Remove outdated achievements that are more than three years old. Make sure written bios reflect the types of properties or people you support. An excellent written profile is one-third about you and two-thirds about your prospective client. They want to see that you have helped people in the exact same situation as them.
  • Organise a team photoshoot and get new headshots that reflect agents and staff at their current age (and weight). Ensure staff photos are highly professional and less than a year old. Like dating sites, your photo must give a great first impression, but it mustn’t lie. Be authentic and use pictures showing the extra pounds or wrinkles. Prospects are signing you up based on your skills, expertise and, most importantly, integrity. A photo from 3 or more years ago may be your favourite, but if it’s not what you presently look like, it will create instant distrust when you meet in person.
  • Check your page banners are the correct size and aspect ratios for each real estate website on desktop browsers and mobile devices. Ensure that logos or text is not getting cut off when the platform reduces your images for mobile devices.

8. Refresh your image library

With fewer property photoshoots happening in January, photographers will likely have more availability than usual. Ask your photographer to capture images of local landmarks, parks, schools, waterways, popular local businesses, and other notable areas for use by your business alone. Include your team in many of the shots and show that you are also an active member of the community not just someone that services properties.

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Investing in high-quality imagery gives your marketing a polished, professional edge over competitors that choose to use stock images. Once you’ve built a library of images depicting your team and the local community, you’ll have content to refresh website pages and use in social media posts and blog articles throughout the year.

9. Prepare client anniversary cards and gifts

Settlement anniversaries are an excellent opportunity to reconnect with past buyers, i.e. future sellers or landlords. If you don’t already have one, create a chronological list of settlement dates and pre-write anniversary cards with personalised messages to deliver to homeowners when their date comes around. Recognising anniversaries each year shows your clients you value the relationship beyond the transaction and keeps you front of mind when the time comes for them to sell or lease their property.

Also, consider giving past clients a small gift when they reach key milestones, such as owning or living in their properties for one, five, and ten years. Ideas that can leave a lasting impression include local produce, artisan homewares or a gift card to a popular cafe. During this quiet time, contact local businesses and negotiate a special bulk purchase deal for the entire year.

10. Boost your testimonials

In theory, most current and past clients are happy to provide a testimonial or review, but life often gets in the way, and it tends to slip down or off their priority list. With January’s slower pace, they may finally have time to leave you that review you asked for months back. Send them a gentle reminder.

Highlight how much their words help your business grow and send them a link to past reviews to help give them inspiration. You could also highlight some of the positive outcomes or results achieved or hurdles overcome.

It is also a great time to update the client case studies you include in your pre-listing kit. Opt for more recent, detailed examples that cover a range of property types. These real-life examples can help strengthen your pitch and provide prospects with tangible proof of your skills, helping them choose you as their agent over a competitor.

11. Upskill and cross-skill your team

Take advantage of the downtime to focus on professional development. Encourage staff to complete their CPD requirements, learn new skills through online courses, or explore what the real estate training academies or software tools you use are currently promoting, e.g. tips for enhancing your CRM skills.

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Cross-skilling is particularly valuable. Within the office, staff can refine their skills by shadowing one another or role-playing client interactions. For example, training admin staff to handle simple customer service tasks or training sales agents on more advanced CRM functions creates a more versatile team.

Providing opportunities for learning and growth demonstrates your commitment to your team’s ongoing development. It also equips staff with the tools they need to excel in their real estate role, benefiting your business over the long run.

12. Analyse past marketing and plan ahead

Put time aside to analyse your marketing efforts over the past year and plan for the year ahead. Head over to my blog, Key metrics for real estate success to learn what statistics to look at and how to glean key insights. Identify what worked well and what didn’t yield any results. Consider what changes could be made this year to improve your marketing reach and inbound leads. You can also build a hot list of leads from your past activities – who engaged most with your emails and social media posts – and follow up with them once school and work return in February.

Spend some time checking out what your competitors are doing. Where are you placed in comparison to the strongest performers? What did the most successful agencies share on social media via printed media, and what key sales tactics did they have in play over the past year?

Once you’ve assessed your position, create a detailed plan for the year ahead. If you need help refining your approach, book a free 1-hour marketing review with me, Melanie Hoole.

Set yourself up for success

Working ‘on’ your business rather than ‘in’ your business during the quiet periods puts you in a stronger strategic position. Mustering up the motivation to review, revisit, and renew what you do and how you do it shows your team and prospective clients that you are a proactive (rather than reactive) leader.

Whether it’s refining your systems, updating data, or simply tidying up the space around you, every step you take will pay off when business ramps up again.

Ready to get professional real estate marketing help?

If you’re a real estate professional struggling to take your business to the next level, book a free 1-hour marketing review with me, Melanie Hoole. I’ll give you on-the-spot recommendations specific to you and your market. I look forward to talking with you.

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Written by Melanie Hoole

My team and I specialise in helping real estate and property professionals perfect their personal brand, build a first-class digital profile and implement inbound marketing activities to attract leads. If you are unsure which direction to take with your digital marketing contact me for help.