Do you consider yourself an introvert but would still like to be in the real estate business?
Or maybe you doubt that you should be there in this case?
Some people think that the real estate business is exclusively for extroverts.
And especially when it comes to marketing or sales. Many believe that being an introvert will be a weakness or a disadvantage.
But is that true?
There are many misconceptions about introverts, and in many ways, they can even take advantage of their personality traits, for example, in sales.
And if you go about your daily business and real estate marketing tasks strategically considering your introverted nature, there is no problem at all for introverts.
Therefore this article will discuss…
- What it means to be an introvert
- How to manage this character trait in the real estate business
- Why introverts can often be better in sales than extroverts
- And which real estate marketing channels are most suitable for introverts.
And if you are an introvert, you will enjoy reading this article because introverts usually like to read 😉
What It Actually Means to Be an Introvert
Many people have the wrong idea about introverts.
I thought I was an introvert for a long time because large crowds and groups tired me, and my energy balance was in the “red numbers” after a while.
This usually doesn’t happen to extroverts, I thought.
But after doing some tests, I got another result.
As it seems, I am rather an extroverted introvert.
These people are not afraid of people, are approachable, and get a short energy boost first out of social situations.
Like introverts, they get tired pretty soon in larger groups.
But enough about me.
What is Actually an Introvert?
1) Me-Time is Very Important
For many extroverts, being alone is not desirable. Not so much for introverts.
They find being alone nice, and this time is vital for an introvert’s happiness and health.
To them, it’s a relief, and it really doesn’t matter how the time alone is spent.
Some typical activities are crafting, writing, gaming, reading, gardening, or watching movies.
The important part is that it’s an activity that can be done alone.
2) Social Interactions Tire Them
Being an introvert doesn’t necessarily mean being alone all the time and not having any social interactions.
But when introverts have social interactions, they realize quickly when their energy is drained.
So, in contrast to extroverts, social interactions cost them energy. After a while, they feel the necessity to refuel this lost energy.
3) A Close Circle of Friends
This can easily be misinterpreted as introverts being unable to make friends or not liking socializing.
They prefer having a close circle of friends over a high number of them so they can have deeper conversations and better know each other.
So it’s more a thing of quality over quantity, contributing a lot to their happiness (source).
That’s why they also prefer solitude with this close circle of friends.
4) Working Alone
Introverts just don’t like group work or group projects.
They often find these situations to be overwhelming and energy-draining.
They need work that allows them to focus well and have their space to get high-quality results.
Again, they can work with others but prefer to do the work alone, where they can focus and get things done faster.
5) “Hello! Pay Attention, Man!”
For introverts, one of the coping mechanisms in social situations is often to lose focus and space out.
By doing that, an introvert can get out of a situation and lose focus on the task.
This is especially true when a social working situation feels uncomfortable or chaotic.
For extroverts, this might appear unfocused or looks like a lack of interest.
The thing is that this just indicates that the introvert needs to refuel the energy they lost in the social situation.
6) A Lot of Introspection
With introverts, there is a lot of introspection going on.
They have quite an active inner thought process that makes them work things out in their mind long before an action plan is developed and carried out.
This makes them also do more research and reading than other personality types, so they can feel well prepared and read.
7) Writing Preferred Over Talking
This one is more directly related to real estate marketing and sales, which I will return to later.
Introverts prefer writing out their thoughts and rather avoid communicating them verbally.
This is because they prefer thinking things through so they can communicate considerately.
It doesn’t mean that they don’t talk at all.
But when it comes to decisions, they prefer to have the time to analyze possible options to make better decisions.
8) More Feelings
Unfortunately, introverts seem to be more often diagnosed with depression. (source 1, source 2).
This likely has something to do with how they identify happiness.
As we have seen above, it has much to do with the quality of friendships, which is not always easy to achieve.
The Lines Overall Are Blurred
You can’t draw a hard line between introversion and extroversion.
Many people have characteristics of both and are extroverted and introverted at the same time.
Depending on which is stronger, they may identify with one another.
This can also change over time, and you may slide more to the spectrum of extroversion or introversion.
Genes may have a causative effect on whether you identify more as an extrovert or introvert.
It has a lot to do with the reaction to dopamine, which is known to be the neurotransmitter that plays a role in motivation, pleasure, and learning.
While extroverts get an energy boost from social interactions because of dopamine, introverts get overstimulation instead of it.
Should You Even Be in Real Estate As An Introvert?
The basics are now covered.
However, you might ask yourself if an introvert should even be in the real estate industry or have a real estate business in the first place.
This question may come up because, in real estate, you will have to deal with people directly in one way or another.
In real estate marketing, you can get away with not dealing as much with people (communicating verbally). But this can’t be avoided that easily anymore regarding sales.
So, the closer you come to closing a deal, the more you will have to rely on communicating verbally.
But I think this is possible as an introvert, provided you know how to manage the typically more extroverted real estate situations.
How Do You Manage It?
1) You want to be strategic about the daily schedule.
To do that, try to balance human and non-human interaction.
You may do prospecting calls for a few hours in the morning (the extrovert part).
And then, you may write blog articles for your real estate content marketing campaigns in the afternoon (the introvert part).
2) You may also want to try breathing exercises and learn to get used to breathing more from the belly (deep breathing).
This can reduce tension and stress levels in extrovert real estate situations (source).
3) Set personal boundaries with your clients from the get-go. This can be done by communicating during your available hours (source).
You can also use scheduling apps more often to make call appointments. A positive side effect is that you also improve your time management.
4) You may want to have a regular nap routine during the day because it can detox an introvert’s brain and recharge your depleted “batteries” (source).
Since you will primarily work independently, this is a feasible option in contrast to someone working 9 to 5 in a closed office under the observation of superiors. And you don’t need to nap for hours on end.
A 10 to 20 minute-nap, also called a power nap, gives you already all the benefits you need to recharge (source).
5) Another countermeasure to mitigate extrovert real estate situations for introverts is regular aerobic exercise for a minimum of 20 minutes (source).
This can be a brisk walk or a HIIT training session, such as Tabata (source).
6) Make a “downtime sandwich” with extrovert events.
This means that you plan for downtime before and after these events. By doing that, you charge beforehand and recharge afterward.
7) The right amount of downtime is also essential before you end your day and bedtime.
Try to shut off electronic devices, notifications, email, and social media at least 30 minutes before you go to bed (source).
Switching off notifications is also a good general idea during the day, by the way.
That way, you create a better barrier to instant communication and can better focus on the tasks at hand.
Is The Sales Part Really the Weakness for Introverts?
You may think introverts will be on the losing end in sales since you need to talk a lot, be outgoing, and do everything that you would expect from an extrovert.
The first association you might have with a great salesman is someone with smooth words, always smiling, and a lot of charm.
So it should be someone who talks about many different topics, and he receives a commission check in passing.
Others imagine the typical and slimy used car salesman.
But you might be surprised that the actual situation for good salespeople is quite different.
At first glance, the sales part might seem like a challenge or even a weak point for introverts, but it’s surprisingly different.
Like in marketing, the key in sales is to know your potential customer’s needs, greed, and pains and then to know how to help them with your product or service.
While extroverts keep talking and smiling, introverts take the time to listen well to potential customers, and in doing so, they find out their needs, greed, and pains.
This talking behavior of an extrovert can get in the way of persuasion because it can make a potential customer suspicious and avoid building the necessary trust to make a sale.
So, in contrast to extroverts, introverts instead do the following things when it comes to sales:
1) They prepare and think about possible objections
The preparation part is very important to introverts, so they prepare to learn about the product or service as much as possible, the potential customer, and their potential objections.
So, while listening and talking to them, they also observe their reactions and know how to qualify the potential customer.
Based on that, they adjust their wording.
However, based on what the potential customer is saying, introverts will also determine if their product or service can help in the first place.
2) They take the lifetime value of a customer more seriously
Because in private life, introverts tend to have a small circle of quality friends, they apply the same principle to customers.
So, they value a longer-lasting quality relationship in which they get to know the customer and can help them for the longer term.
This increases the chances of repeat business and referrals.
In contrast, by having more friends or acquaintances, extroverts keep more on the surface of things, which also translates into the sales world.
The results are often rather many short-term successes and likely more unhappy customers.
What introverts often need to do in this context is to work a bit harder to develop some of the extrovert skills, although it is more energy-draining.
Real Estate Marketing Channels to Thrive as an Introvert
In the section about introverts’ personality traits and characteristics, there was one part where I discussed that introverts prefer writing over talking.
The other important factor is that they prefer working alone rather than in a team or with many people.
Based on these two conditions, we can conclude in which marketing channels introverts can rather thrive.
So, we are looking for text-based marketing channels, and that can be done mostly alone without meeting or working with large groups of people.
As an introvert, you have two options in this case.
One is going down the paid digital marketing route. The other is content or inbound marketing (read my real estate content marketing article here).
This is real estate content marketing you can do via written articles on a blog.
Or suppose you want to challenge yourself as an introvert.
In that case, you can also take the video on YouTube route (you don’t necessarily need to show your face when producing videos).
There are several content formats and content promotion channels at your disposal in this context:
- Blogging (Articles)
- Email marketing
- Podcasts
- Q&A sites and Forums
- Videos
- Social Media
- Webinars
I already discussed content marketing costs in my article here.
Depending on the competitiveness of your real estate niche, it can take six months and two years until your blog gets some traction and gets picked up by search engines.
On YouTube, it can sometimes happen already after three months.
So, you can create all the content from your office instead of going to different networking events or using other advertising methods more suitable for extroverts.
As discussed in this article, you may also want to look into different real estate marketing demographics.
Depending on your demographic or real estate niche, you can better decide if the written route, the video route, or a combination suits you best.
The paid traffic route in digital marketing is faster but more money-intensive.
You can start with campaigns on the Google Ads or Facebook Ads platform.
Another option is buying leads and promoting your property listings on platforms such as Zillow.
You will need a landing page for your offer for paid traffic campaigns. And you will have to test it until you have a winner that generates leads regularly.
I wrote two longer articles about Facebook real estate marketing and Google Ads for real estate here and here.
Facebook Ads messenger sponsored messages in combination with a chatbot may also be worth a try.
Potential customers would interact with you by text, which is also quite introvert-friendly.
Check out this article to learn more about Facebook chatbots for real estate.
This article has been reviewed by our editorial team. It has been approved for publication in accordance with our editorial policy.
- Why Real Estate Conversion Rates Are 6-Times Below Average - March 21, 2024
- How to Manage Your Apartment Advertising Campaign - February 23, 2024
- Finding Marketing Channels for Apartment Advertising - February 12, 2024
