There’s a simple question that could change the way you think about marketing:
When are your prospects most likely to act?
In real estate, there’s a predictable rhythm.
More houses sell in the spring. Things slow down a little in the summer. Then there’s another smaller wave in the fall.
So back in 1997, I had a thought:
If we know the wave is coming…
why wait until it gets here?
That’s when everybody else starts competing for the same people.
Instead, we worked backward.
We identified the period when people would most likely be putting their homes on the market, then started communicating with them before they were ready.
Not when they had a FOR SALE sign in the yard.
Not when they were interviewing agents…but while the idea of moving was still forming in their mind.
That distinction is important.
Almost every business has some version of a wave.
There’s a moment when your prospects become more likely to buy.
Maybe it’s seasonal.
Maybe it’s triggered by an event.
Maybe there’s a predictable amount of time between when someone first starts thinking about something and when they actually do it.
The opportunity is to identify that moment…
then lag back from it.
If you know when they’re likely to act, what would happen if you started communicating with them 30 days before?
60 days?
90 days?
And instead of sending one message, what if you created a sequence of three or more messages that entered the conversations already going on in their mind?
That’s the real lesson.
Most marketing is focused on finding people who are ready right now.
But there’s often much less competition for the people who are going to be ready.
Find the wave.
Lag back from the moment of action.
And get in front of it.