1. Are you suited for real estate?
Short of taking an aptitude test to see if you are suited for real estate sales, ask yourself whether your strengths or weaknesses will enable you to succeed in this industry.
Are you:
- Motivated: Motivation is the driving force that enables an associate to focus on the details, to pursue solutions for problems, to recover from rejection and to achieve results for one’s clients. Do you have the staying power to remain on task until you achieve your goals? You can acquire knowledge and learn skills but no one can give you motivation. It must come from within.
- Personable: While we sell products and lifestyle, this is first and foremost a people business that depends upon whether we genuinely care about someone else and their needs. We have to be a good listener, an effective communicator and demonstrate our competence by results in order for others to trust us to act on their behalf. Teachers, nurses and social workers often have this make up and so do others.
- Connected: Do you have roots in the community so you can quickly put together a sphere of influence to jump start your business? Growing up in your market area or having family or in-laws living nearby can give you a head start. If not, do you have interests and hobbies or belong to organizations that will enable you to put together such a network? Ultimately, this is a face to face business in spite of the power of the internet.
- Tech Savvy: There are still some agents who are successful with limited technical capability, but they are a rarity. New associates must fully embrace technology if for no other reason than to keep pace with their customers.
2. Getting Started
New agents are often surprised that upon earning their real estate license, they have acquired no practical skills for earning a living in real estate. The first few months at work you must concentrate on prospecting for business leads and learning skills required to serve your clients. The next step is to create a business plan that will become the blueprint to your success. The business plan should include how you will prospect and network for new clients, retain clients for life, your listing strategies, the tools you will need, your marketing strategies, and ways improve your productivity and responsiveness.
3. How to grow your business.
New agents initially grow their businesses by prospecting for leads, then converting them to clients and into eventual sales. Prospecting can take many forms from open houses, phone duty, working with unrepresented sellers, mailing to a sphere of influence, etc. Over time, experienced agents strive to transition their business from one that requires consistent prospecting to a referral based or word of mouth business. Either of these approaches can be accelerated by smart use of social networking.
Another way to improve your business is to share your goals and initiatives with someone you trust to help you stay on course, or take a new direction. Coaching is based on convincing new or experienced agents to be accountable to their own business plans.
4. Attitude is Everything.
Ones frame of mind can make all the difference in the world, not only to the ultimate outcome of a task but in the stress on the relationships of everyone involved. We all prefer to work with the agent who responds promptly and who works to solve problems rather than complains about them. Accept obstacles or conditions that you cannot change, but own your responsibility for leading your clients through those challenges with skill and grace. Remember that in real estate, the adage of “What goes around, comes around” certainly holds true.
5. Give and Receive
You do not have to be an expert in everything, but you should know where to find reliable experts when you need them. Surround yourself with positive and intelligent people who will help you grow and learn. Associate with a “team” of people of high integrity, a good work ethic and who will be a positive influence on you are. Avoid those who are not supportive of your dreams and goals. In turn, be willing to share your knowledge and talents with your colleagues when they need you.
