Playing the long game in a tough market

In today's guide - the agents who keep showing up through a slow winter are the ones who will clean up when the market turns...

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How to win in the current market

It's a challenging time out there right now. We're in the depths of winter, it's an election year, and a lot of people have decided to sit on their hands until things feel more certain. Vendors are holding off. Buyers are hard to pin down and harder to commit. The stock that is on the market can be hard to move.

If you're finding it tough going, you're not imagining it. But I want to reframe how you're looking at this period, because the way you respond to a market like this one is exactly what separates the agents who barely survive (or quit) from the agents who come out the other side with a thriving business.

And that brings me to the single most important idea I want you to take from this guide...

1. This is a delayed gratification market, so play it that way

The biggest mistake I see agents make in a slow market is chasing instant business. They want the call today, the appraisal this week, the listing by next week, followed by an easy sale. When that doesn't happen, they get discouraged, they pull back, and the work dries up. Then they wonder why they've got nothing in the pipeline three months later.

A market like this one does not reward people who need an immediate payoff. It rewards people who can keep planting seeds without obsessing over when they'll sprout.

I know that's not easy. We're salespeople. We run on momentum and quick wins. But the agents who understand that the work they're doing today might not pay off for months, and who do it anyway, are the ones who will win all the awards next year.

That's the whole game right now.

2. Stop counting conversions, start counting connections

When business is slow, the temptation is to measure yourself by results you can't control. Listings won. Sales made. Commission banked. In a market like this, those numbers will mess with your head, because they're moving slowly through no fault of your own.

So change what you measure.

Instead of hyper-focusing on "how can I get a listing this week?", ask "how many quality connections can I make this week?"

You can't make a hesitant vendor sign tomorrow. But you can have a genuine, helpful conversation with them today, the kind that means when they are ready, in two months or six, yours is the name they think of first.

Aim to create meaningful marketing connections with as many people in your marketplace as you possibly can. Real interactions where you've been useful to someone. A phone call where you shared something they didn't know. A doorstep chat. A coffee. A genuine follow-up on a past appraisal.

Those connections are the deposits you're making into a bank account that pays out when the market turns.

3. Understand the compounding effect of showing up

Here's something I learned over 600-plus transactions in my selling career. The work you do in a quiet market doesn't disappear. It compounds.

Every owner you stay in touch with, every appraisal you nurture, every piece of helpful content you put in front of your database is like planting a seed. Most of them won't germinate this week. Some won't do anything for a year. But you are building a position in your marketplace that other agents (the ones who've gone quiet or gone fishing), are giving up.

Think about that for a second. Right now, a big chunk of your competition has mentally checked out. They've decided the market's too hard and they're coasting until spring. That is the opportunity. While they're hiding, you can be quietly becoming the most visible, most helpful, most trusted agent in your patch.

That's you, if you hold the line now.

4. What holding the line actually looks like (because mindset alone won't cut it)

Staying positive is fine, but positivity without activity is just wishful thinking. So here's what I'd be doing every single week if I was in your shoes.

Pick four or five activities and run them consistently, not one big push followed by a slump. Consistency beats intensity every time in a slow market. A typical weekly rhythm might look like:

• 10 to 20 genuine face-to-face conversations. Open homes, doorknocking, coffees with past clients or contacts from your local network. This is still a face-to-face business.
• 30 to 40 phone calls. Past appraisals, your warm database, people who've shown even a flicker of interest. Not to seek instant business, but to check in on how they're doing and ask how you can help.
• One piece of helpful content out to your database. A market update, a seasonal tip, an answer to a question owners are quietly wondering about. Keep being useful and keep being seen.
• A letterbox presence in your farm area. Educational, not salesy. You're building familiarity over months, not chasing a call this afternoon.
• A pipeline review. Sit down once a week and ask: who do I need to follow up? Who needs an updated appraisal? Who's gone quiet that I should check in on?

That last one matters more than people realise. Your pipeline is your business. Carry it with you, review it constantly, and keep adding to it. What you focus on will determine your outcomes.

How to Handle Potential Vendors (so they don’t fall through the cracks)

We all know what it feels like to drop the ball when it comes to following up past appraisals and potential listing leads. It happens to everyone at some point in their career. Here’s the thing - solving this problem isn’t about scripts, applying more pressure, or chasing people

Agent MondayAndrew Duncan

5. Protect your headspace, because this is an energy game

You already know real estate is an energy industry. In a tough market, your energy is your most valuable and most fragile asset. The negativity is everywhere right now, from the news, from other agents in the office, from owners who've read one too many doom-and-gloom headlines.

You can't control any of that. What you can control is whether you let it in. Have a clear reason you're doing this, whatever your "why" is, and come back to it on the days the work feels thankless. Celebrate the connections, not just the conversions. And remember that the discomfort you're feeling right now is the exact thing keeping your lazier competitors on the sidelines.

The bigger picture

Markets move in cycles. This one is slow, but it will not stay slow forever. It never has. At some point, interest rates settle, the election passes, confidence returns, and the buyers and sellers who've been waiting all come back at once. When that happens, the spoils don't go to the agents who waited it out. They go to the agents who used the quiet to build relationships, stay visible, and earn trust while everyone else hid.

The work you do over the next few months might feel like it's going nowhere. Keep going anyway. You're not behind. You're planting. And the harvest is coming for the ones patient enough to stay in the field.

Hold the line. It's going to be worth it.

Have an epic week,

Andrew Duncan