Challenges in your business can be a blessing. In fact, you may need them to get to the next level. That is exactly what happened with my local real estate company.
Initially, our real estate team targeted both buyers and sellers. We soon realized this target market was too broad. We did not have the marketing budget to reach every buyer or seller. Therefore, the time and money we invested in marketing was not as effective as it could be. Our first challenge was to develop a strategy and focus on a smaller niche market.
The team decided to concentrate all efforts on seniors in transition. With a clearly defined niche market, our challenge became developing an effective marketing campaign. We needed to communicate the right message, to the right audience. Once the marketing plan was developed, our challenge shifted towards execution.
By focusing on this niche market, we became experts on the nuances of estate and trust liquidation. These are not your typical real estate transactions. We were challenged with tailoring our services to meet the unique needs of our new target market.
After customizing our services, the results were better than expected. Referrals poured in from multiple sources. We soon hit capacity issues and managing rapid growth became a challenge. Hiring more people was not the answer. We needed to improve our systems and processes first. Hiring people at this point would only magnify our current inefficiencies.
The new systems and processes created much needed efficiency and we continued to grow. As we approached our new capacity limits, we had to hire more people. Hiring the right people and putting them in the right places can be challenging. With the additional staff came the need for effective management.
As you can see, challenges are not all bad. The key is to create the right challenges and overcome them effectively.
