Would you want to go to a dentist to have your heart treated?
Of course not!
This is how I ask real estate agents to think about choosing their niche or ideal client, as I call them.
Although many real estate agents think a niche is a buyer or seller in a certain geographical area it is actually a small, specific, and extremely well-defined segment of the market or population. I encourage you to actually think of it as a specialization as a cardiologist specializes in medicine.
Identifying your ideal client does NOT mean that you won’t still receive other leads. It simply means you will gain more credibility and spend more time working with people you actually enjoy spending time with.
As they say "There are riches in the niches" so today I am going to explain how to find your own niche or ideal client.
Major Benefits Of Having A Real Estate Niche
The more specific you become with your real estate niche, the more opportunity you have to be seen as an expert. Unlike those that try to chase after anyone willing to give them a chance, when you choose your narrow niche you will have the chance to develop and demonstrate your wealth of knowledge to the people you most enjoy working with.
As if that wasn’t enough, check out these big benefits to choosing your real estate niche:
Stand out from the competition
Focus your networking
Better ROI on your marketing efforts
You become seen as THE expert
Your branding and messaging becomes clear
Reverse-Engineer Yourself
One of the biggest reasons that I chose to be a real estate copywriter (rather than any other industry) is that I wanted to help as many agents as possible realize that they can have complete power in this business. In other words, you have the right as a real estate business owner to work with people that you actually enjoy working with.
When I am coaching my clients to help them find their real estate niche, I always encourage them to start by thinking about themselves first.
Take a hard and truthful look at yourself, your personality, the people you surround yourself within your personal life, and your personal preferences.
For example, if you are easy-going and prefer to be around people that are also easy-going it would not make any sense for you to target the luxury market because those clients are typically very high-maintenance and demanding.
Real Estate Niche Marketing | Profitable Real Estate Niches | Sarah Layton
Forget The Past
The biggest mistake that most real estate agents make when choosing their real estate niche is to look back at the people that have hired them in the past.
Remember, this is about choosing who you want to work with, not who choose to hire you in the past.
It is very important that you are critically careful when you design your ideal client or real estate niche that you are only thinking about the people that you would kill to work with, not anyone else.
The only time that it is okay to look at your past clients is if they are in alignment with your new niche because that will help you get into their mindset and identify the pain points you will need to address to attract more people like that.
Go With Your Gut
For some people, narrowing your ideal client down so much can be very challenging because they are so agreeable that they enjoy working with everyone. Often in these cases, I encourage people to go with their gut to narrow it down.
Let’s pretend for a minute that you MUST choose between three different people to marry. Let’s also assume that you know and enjoy spending time with all of them. However, you are being forced to choose just one of them to spend the rest of your life with. Wouldn’t you go with your gut feeling about who will offer the best possible future?
If you are someone that knows how to listen to their gut and trust themselves, I encourage you to do so in this exercise.
Ask Yourself Why
Before you decide definitively on your niche, I want to urge you to ask yourself why you are choosing that person or demographic as your ideal client.
Often in real estate, agents will choose a niche purely because someone else told them it would be profitable or because they think it will be the easiest way to make money.
Let me tell you right now that if money is the sole motivator for why you have chosen your niche you will end up being far less successful than if you select your niche based on passion and compatibility.
Think about it, if three years from now you can’t stand the majority of your client base, you will be far less motivated to lead gen, follow-up, and deliver the best possible customer service. On the other hand, if you are in love with the majority of your clients you will leap out of bed each day energized and excited to go be the best you can be at your job. That passion will be what leads to the biggest profits.
Get More Help To Find Your Real Estate Niche
I have developed a very specific worksheet to help you generate a clear picture of your ideal client. Remember, as you fill it out to think about who you would most like to spend your career working with, not who has hired you in the past.
This is all about taking back the control in your business and empowering yourself to feel more passion and happiness in your daily life as a real estate agent!
If you are anything like most people, completing the Ideal Real Estate Client Profile can be challenging to do on your own. Therefore, you can also book a coaching call with me during which I will take you by the hand to make sure you don’t make any costly mistakes. During our call together, I will also help you to understand the psychology behind your ideal client so you know what to say and do to attract them to you magnetically!
