Realtors, Here’s How To Tap Into The Hidden Listings Market

Let’s consider how the hiring process works with employers and employees because it closely parallels and sheds light on the hiring process with home sellers and listing agents. We’ll explore what’s known as the hidden job market for job seekers and understand this hidden market also exists for Realtors. It’s called the hidden listings market and it’s the sweetest spot for building your real estate business.

The classic job search book “What Color Is Your Parachute?” by Richard Bolles stresses the importance of job seekers tapping into the hidden job market. These are jobs where employers have realized a staffing need but haven’t started actively looking for candidates. The phase lasts for weeks or even months. As the employer’s staffing pain point grows, they’ll start asking people around their office for recommendations and referrals. If someone reasonably qualified and available gets referred, they’ll typically get hired with very few or no any other candidates even considered and no outside advertising was done. This earliest stage is the hidden job market and Bolles says it’s employers’ #1 most favored way of hiring people.

However, if no suitable candidate arises, then the company starts looking outwardly and posts classified ads. The job now leaves the hidden job market and enters the advertised job market. By this time there’s often urgency. The candidates line up in droves, mostly faces in a large crowd. Employers are spoiled for choice among the talent and the most qualified candidate usually gets hired. Bolles says classified ads are employers’ least favored way of hiring people.

Only about 5% of the public buy or sell their home every year, and in any market, only 3% are buying right now. That means 95% of the public aren’t wanting to sell this year, but eventually, will. The 95% contains the hidden job market for realtors: the hidden listings market. For reaching the hidden listings market you must focus on cultivating relationships with the 95% over time way before they start actively looking for a home.

By far your best way of building relationships nowadays with the 95% is the Internet. Zig Ziglar once said “If people like you, they’ll listen to you. But if they trust you, they’ll do business with you”. The Internet has amazing capabilities for getting people liking you, then listening to you and finally trusting you. Instant gratification is all around us today, but we need to ignore quick fix urges with our businesses and focus on patiently and systematically nurturing relationships over time.

According to NAR, 90% of home buyers use the Internet in their home search. Facebook now has 1.28 billion daily users. That’s where you can get hordes of people in your network liking you both literally and figuratively. Google now gets 4 billion searches a day. 4 billion! That’s where you can get hordes of people trusting you and doing business with you as a result of demonstrating your real estate expertise to them. That’s what your informative blog, vlog and social media posts should do.

So we highly encourage you to attend the August training courses being offered exclusively to RE/MAX Ultimate agents. They’ll really help you build your real estate business online plus develop the optimal mindset for doing so.

For more information about working with RE/MAX Ultimate, visit https://achievetheultimate.com