Learn how realtors get business in a buyers market by focusing on lead generating for listings that attract buyers.
If you’re watching your listings sit and your pipeline dry up, here’s what most agents won’t tell you: the market didn’t change your opportunity — it changed your excuses. Figuring out how realtors get business in a buyers market isn’t some big mystery. It comes down to a handful of things that most agents refuse to do consistently. And that’s good news for the ones who will.
The market has shifted. Inventory is up. Sellers think it’s still 2022. And a lot of agents are walking around confused, wondering what happened. But here’s the reality: every market has opportunity. The question is whether you’re positioned to take it.
VIDEO: How Realtors Get Business in a Buyers Market
Why Most Agents Struggle When Inventory Rises
Let’s start with the hard truth. In most MLS markets across the country, more than 60% of agents didn’t close a single transaction last year. Not one. And of the agents who did close deals, half of them only closed one or two.
That means roughly 80% of the business is being done by 20% of agents. In some markets, it’s closer to 85/15. Why? Because that top group does something consistently to generate new business they don’t already have. Even if it’s just 30 minutes a day.
Think about that. Thirty minutes. That’s not a grind — that’s a choice. And most agents won’t make it.
How Realtors Get Business in a Buyers Market: Be the Local Economist
The biggest opportunity right now is the gap between what’s actually happening in the market and what your clients and prospects think is happening. Your consumer has no idea what’s going on. They’re reading national headlines, watching the news, and making assumptions.
Your job is to step into that gap and become their local economist. That means:
- Communicating what’s happening in your market — specific to their neighborhood
- Explaining how rising inventory and rate changes affect their buying or selling decision
- Sharing what’s changed in the real estate industry, before the news does it for you
When you do this consistently, you’re not just staying top of mind — you’re building authority. When they think about real estate, they’ll think about you. That’s the whole game.
The SOI Formula That Never Fails
Here’s a number you need to know: for every 7 people in your sphere of influence database — if you put 100 touches on them over the course of a year — you’ll generate 1 closed transaction.
That’s the 1-in-7 rule. I’ve never seen it fail. Not once. I’ve seen 99% of agents fail at doing it. But the math doesn’t lie.
Run the numbers: 300 people in your database. Divide by 7. That’s 43 transactions — if you stay in front of them 100 times a year. Fifty of those touches can come from social media alone. Likes, comments, DMs, shares. Another 20 could be email newsletters. The rest: mailers, listing alerts, client events, personal calls.
There’s no shortage of ways to get to 100. There’s only a shortage of agents willing to do it.
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Social Media: The 10-Minute Strategy That Works
You don’t need to post perfectly crafted content every day. Here’s what 10 to 20 minutes on Facebook actually looks like when you use it right:
- Like 20 posts from your sphere
- Share or comment on 10 posts
- DM or engage with 5 people directly
Do that five days a week and you’ve touched 125 people. Over a month, that’s 500 touchpoints. Over a year? You’re approaching 6,000 meaningful interactions — just from social media, just from your phone, in under 20 minutes a day.
One thing to keep in mind: if you’re an agent (not a broker or team leader trying to recruit), don’t fill your feed with other agents. They already have someone. Focus your energy on your actual sphere — the people who know you, like you, and are most likely to call you when they’re ready to buy or sell.
Why YouTube Is a Long Game Worth Playing
Facebook and Instagram content has a shelf life of about 24 to 48 hours. You post, you get some engagement, and then it disappears. YouTube is completely different.
Because YouTube is owned by Google, your videos are indexed by search engines. They live indefinitely. They compound over time. And here’s where it gets powerful for local agents: hyper-local content almost never has competition.
Think about a specific subdivision in your market. If you shoot a 5-minute video walking through the neighborhood — the school district, nearby amenities, current listings, price ranges — and you optimize the title and description with the right keywords, that video can rank on Google when buyers search for homes in that area. Not Zillow. Not Realtor.com. You.
That one video can keep working for you for years. Build enough of them and you have a digital farm that generates leads around the clock.
Listings Are Not Optional in a Buyers Market
Here’s where I have to push back hard on something I keep hearing: agents saying they don’t want listings anymore because they’re sitting longer. That is one of the biggest mistakes you can make in your career.
My grandfather was a real estate broker. He told me: listers last. That’s as true today as it was 50 years ago.
Here’s why listings beat buyers every time:
- Every listing should produce multiple buyer leads
- Every listing should produce additional listing leads from the neighborhood
- Listings create visibility — signs, open houses, online presence, and name recognition
- Buyers agents do four times the work for one transaction — and nobody knows who they are at the end
Working with buyers is like chasing bumblebees. You’re running all over the place, burning energy, exhausting yourself. Want the bees to come to you? Get flowers. Listings are your flowers.
Yes, in a buyers market, listings require more skill. You’ll have hard conversations about price. You’ll need to set expectations properly from the start. You’ll talk about price reductions. That’s not a reason to avoid listings — that’s the skillset that separates serious agents from the ones who disappear in a slow market.
How to Actually Price and Sell Listings Right Now
If you’ve got listings sitting, stop asking how to sell them and start asking whether they’re priced right. Because here’s the reality: we don’t sell houses. We expose them.
Ninety-five percent of home sales involve a buyer’s agent. That means you’re marketing to agents, not just the public. Your job is to make your listing the obvious choice when a buyer’s agent is scanning what’s available for their clients.
That happens one way: price it right. In this market, that means:
- Looking at active comparables, not just solds
- Asking what it will take for one of five or six available buyers in your price range to choose your listing
- Offering slightly more value at a slightly more competitive price
Price it right, or teach your clients to be patient. Those are the only two options. Set that expectation upfront, track online views, and use the data to have honest conversations when a price reduction becomes necessary.
Time Management Is the Real Problem
I’ve coached thousands of agents over 35 years. And if I had to name the single biggest issue keeping agents from growing — it’s not market conditions, it’s not their CRM, it’s not even lead generation. It’s time management.
Most agents wake up every day and do whatever happens to them. They respond to emails. They answer phone calls. They react. And at the end of the day, they feel busy but they haven’t done the one thing that actually moves the needle: proactively generating new business.
If you can carve out 30 minutes a day — just 30 — for intentional prospecting and outreach, you are ahead of 85% of your competition. An hour a day and you’re in elite territory. Two hours a day? You’re building a real business.
The calendar is your first line of defense. Time block it. Protect it. But know that a calendar alone won’t hold you accountable — it’s too easy to ignore.
The Case for Coaching and Accountability
Knowledge is not the problem. You already know what you need to do. You’ve been to conferences, you’ve read the books, you’ve watched the videos. And yet, come Monday morning, you’re right back to where you were before.
That’s not a knowledge problem. That’s an accountability problem.
A coach gives you skin in the game. When you invest in something, you take it more seriously. When someone is tracking your numbers and asking you every week what you did, you do the work. That’s not complicated — it’s just human nature.
Every top agent, team leader, and broker I know has a coach. Not because they don’t know what to do. Because they know that knowing isn’t enough.
If you’re ready to stop spinning your wheels and start building a business that actually works in any market, watch the full video and then reach out to our team.
Start Tomorrow
Here’s what I want you to do when you finish reading this:
- Open your database and count how many people are in it
- Block 30 minutes tomorrow for nothing but outreach
- Spend 15 of those minutes on social media — engaging, not posting
- Spend the other 15 making direct contact with 5 people from your sphere
Do that five days a week. Keep track of your numbers. Build from there. It’s simple. Not easy — but simple.
The agents who figure out how realtors get business in a buyers market aren’t doing anything magical. They’re just doing the basics, every day, without making excuses about it.
You can be one of them.
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Video Transcript
Prefer to read along? Here’s the full transcript from this training video.
Every market has an opportunity. We’ve seen the markets shift over the last couple of years. Where do you see the opportunities in today’s real estate market?
How many of you know your market is changing before your very eyes? You have more inventory than you’ve had in years. Your consumer does not know that — and here’s your opportunity. Your opportunity is to be their local economist. You communicate what’s happening in today’s real estate market and how that impacts them, their neighborhood, and their community. You share what’s happening in our industry. Don’t let the news networks do that. You share how the real estate industry has changed. You become their local economist and their professional. When they think of real estate, they will think of you.
I’ve been in this business for about 35 years, and I can tell you there have been a lot of ups and downs — high inventory, low inventory, much higher rates than this. Only about 15% of agents do 85% of the business. Why? Because those 15% actually do something to generate new business they don’t already have. They do something consistently, even if it’s just for 30 minutes a day.
This is a very easy business if you can make yourself work for 30 minutes a day. Can you put your customers and clients ahead of your other priorities for 30 minutes a day? If you can make that an hour a day, the world is your oyster. Two hours a day — 10 hours a week of doing something to get new business you don’t already have. It’s that simple. But for some reason, 85% of agents will not do it.
For 10 to 20 minutes on Facebook, I’d like 20 posts, share 20 posts, and comment on 10. That takes me about 20 minutes, and I’d be reaching 25 people per day. Over the course of a week, that’s 125 people. Over a month, that’s 500 touches. Over the course of a year, that’s 6,000 people — just from that one activity.
If I’m an agent, I’d completely exclude other agents from my Facebook focus. I’d focus on people in my sphere — those are the most likely to use me. Other agents typically already have a good agent they work with. Focus on the people who know you. Stay top of mind. Engage with them over and over again.
YouTube is great because it’s tied into search engine optimization and now AI platforms like ChatGPT. If you post on Facebook or Instagram, it’s good for maybe 24 to 48 hours, then it disappears. But YouTube is different because it’s owned by Google. If you know how to use it — put the right keyword descriptions and things like that — a video can live forever.
For example, if you type in a neighborhood name and search for listings, and you’ve done a video about that neighborhood — the school district, nearby shopping amenities, homes for sale, the price range — and you put that on YouTube, it’s hyperlocal. That video is probably the only one out there about that specific neighborhood. It doesn’t compete against Zillow or Realtor.com. You’ve got genuine search engine optimization. It stays forever, grows over time, and builds a stable foundation — much like a sphere of influence does.
The lucky number is seven. For every seven people in your sphere of influence database, if you put 100 touches on them in a year, you’ll get one closed transaction. Let’s say you have 300 people in your database. Divide by seven — that’s 43 closed transactions if you stay in front of them 100 times a year. Fifty of those touches can come from social media. The rest can be mailers, email newsletters, listing alerts, client events, Facebook messages, Instagram messages — there are a thousand ways to do it.
I’ve never seen it fail. But I’ve seen 99% of agents fail at doing it. Why doesn’t everyone do this? I have no idea. But you’ve got to be one of the 15% that does something different, that makes a change from what you’re doing right now.
If you say you don’t want listings, you are making the biggest mistake of your career. Listings beget more listings. Listings beget more buyers. Every listing you take should produce another listing. Every listing you take should produce multiple buyers. My grandfather was a real estate broker and he said, “Son, listers last.” If you want to last, you better be a listing agent.
In a buyers market, you just need to get used to carrying more listings and having harder conversations about price. If you just focus on buyer clients, that’s like chasing bumblebees. You’ll run around exhausting yourself. But if you want bees to come to you, get a flower. Listings are your flowers. They get you buyers. They get you online presence. They get you open houses. They make you known. You must focus on listings.
The best way to get a listing closed today is to price it right. This is no longer 2022. You’re not just looking at sold comps — you’re looking at active inventory. There may be five or six buyers in your price range. What is it going to take for them to select your listing? It generally means more value at a slightly more competitive price.
It’s price or patience. You cannot sell your listing by willpower. We put it on the MLS, it syndicates everywhere, and 95% of sales involve a buyer’s agent. You’re marketing to other agents. Your clients need to understand that. Set expectations upfront: if we’re not getting online views, our price is too high. Educate them on the data. Show them the views. If the home doesn’t sell in the first month and online views are dropping, it’s time for a price reduction.
The biggest issue in real estate by far is time management. Most agents wake up, respond to emails, respond to phone calls, and if there’s nothing happening, they wait for something to make them excited. That is not how you build a business. The agents who succeed block their time, protect their prospecting hours, and do the activities that generate new business — whether they feel like it or not.
Getting a coach creates accountability. All the top agents have coaches. Not because they don’t know what to do — because knowing isn’t enough. You need skin in the game, someone tracking your numbers and asking you every week what you did. That’s what creates consistency. And consistency is what creates production in any market.
