Building a business takes time, but in the end, it’s a numbers game. The more prospects you reach out to, the more leads you will get. And the more leads you get, the more listings you can land and sales you can close. But real estate prospecting doesn’t mean just sending out a message once, or putting up a single sign. It means reaching out to your prospects multiple times, in multiple ways, on a consistent basis. Here’s why:

People have short memories

When you’re designing real estate flyers or Century 21 farming postcards, your goal is always to pair attention-grabbing designs with memorable messages that help your information stick in a prospect’s mind. But the reality is, no matter how great your design or your call to action, a month or two later almost every recipient will have totally forgotten your mailer.

Repetition breeds recall – if you want prospects to remember you, you’ll need to get your name in front of them often.

The real estate market has very long lead cycles

Unlike many other businesses where customers might make the decision to buy in a day or a week, in real estate people can consider a purchase for months (or even years). Discussing moving with their partner, looking at houses online, thinking about financing and what they can afford – all of these processes take time.

You never know where in the cycle your prospect will start reaching out to real estate agents. If you want to be the agent who gets that call, you need to be reaching out to them regularly.

The only constant in life is change

When we think about prospects and referrals, often we boil them down to “people who are looking to buy or sell a home”. But when it comes down to it, people enter and leave the market for any number of reasons, often at a moment’s notice.

They might land a new job or a huge promotion and realize they can finally afford to buy their first home. They might get transferred or get orders to a new duty station and realize they need to sell. They might decide to start a family and realize they need a bigger place, or they might suffer a fall and realize it’s time to leave their home for an assisted living facility.

No one can predict where life will take them – and you can’t predict when a well-timed Century 21 prospecting postcard will be arrive at exactly the right time for your prospects. The only way to win is to market your business consistently.