Setting the right habits from the beginning of your career can make a world of difference for a sales agent.
Those who have been in the industry a long time know just how all-consuming and exhausting real estate can be. There’s always a danger of burning out.
So rather than have you say, “If only I’d done that right from the start”…., I thought I’d share 6 Success Tips to help you move forward faster.
1. Switch On & Switch Off
The most important habit for sales agents to adopt is time-management. At the beginning of their career, sales agents are generally very ambitious and enthusiastic, so much so that some don’t take the time to relax at all. Working 14 hour days, six and a half days a week isn’t a healthy way to make it big. There needs to be a balance between striving to be successful and having time out.
Most agents conduct open house inspections on Saturdays, meaning that Sunday really is the day of rest. However is this enough? Why not set aside a few hours on a Wednesday afternoon to swing the nine iron around the golf course? Or unwind on the couch with a good book? It is hard to do, but this balance is essential to assuring longevity in the sales field.
2. Set daily and weekly work plans – and stick to them!
Sit down and work out your most dollar productive activities. Then set aside time per day and per week for that task.
We all know that the key to success in a new sales person’s career is prospecting, however, it’s also perhaps the most loathed activity they undertake. Having time set aside every day to complete prospecting is vital. Similarly, maintaining contact with current clients and customers, as well as all those who grace our database will ensure happy vendors and purchasers and referrals falling over themselves to get to you.
Or how about trying this: turn off the ‘new message’ indicator on your email program and limit yourself to checking your inbox twice a day (unless of course you know something important is there waiting your perusal).
3. Keep your own personality
Most established agencies have set strategies, often in the form of scripts and dialogues, which ensure agents’ compliance in anything they say to the public and are aimed at giving them the confidence to converse with consumers.
The danger, though, is for new sales agents to stick so closely to the script that they sound fake.
People can spot a fake a mile away. One of the most persistent comments I hear from friends and family after dealing with agents, particularly those new to the profession, is how robotic they can tend to come across.
While I am a big advocate for the use of these scripts, far too many new agents lack the personality behind the message they put across. Instead of harnessing a positive approach to begin building rapport, they shoot off these lines as though it’s the thousandth time the phrases have come out of their mouths that day.
The relationship between client and agent is as important as the actual products and services on offer. It is imperative that, from the first meeting, trust and confidence is attained. By simply finding a common ground with the client, agents can go a long way to achieving this.
4. Build your database and nurture your contacts
One of the biggest regrets many sales agents have is not getting to work on building a database from the very start of their career.
Whether it is on flashy computer programs or by using a card filing system, everyone with whom you do business or meet during prospecting needs to be recorded for appropriate follow up and action.
Even before commencing a career, agents should sit down and really think about all the people they have any relationship with. From friends and family right through to the dentist you have been visiting every 12 months since you were five, everyone with whom you deal is a potential client or customer.
Once this list is created, an introductory letter announcing the big career change should be mailed to this list. You have now planted the seed. But in order for the seed to grow and for the plant to bear fruit, it needs feeding by way of regular contact. This could be through monthly newsletters, regular phone contact or occasionally calling on your contacts face-to-face.
Follow up is also vital. As a benchmark, agents should aim to make at least 75% of their turnover as a result of referrals and repeat business within the first three years in the industry. To achieve this, it is imperative to remain the only name that comes into your past clients’ minds when they think of real estate agents. This is easily achievable, not only by maintaining contact, but also through simple gestures like settlement gifts, tokens on the anniversary of their sale or purchase, and by offering them advice about the state of the local market before they even think of asking.
New agents also need to create a network of ‘people of influence’. These can be anyone from bankers, financiers, builders, tradespeople and solicitors. Meeting on a scheduled basis, say once a month, can go a long way to building relationships within the group. Together, you form a super-power of providers of property services and can assist each other not only through referrals, but also through the wealth of knowledge that the network possesses.
5. Develop your image
Traditional newspaper advertisements and brochures are still extremely useful in profile building, but the innovative agents know the importance of doing more than just this.
Your name needs to be everywhere, on your signboards, billboards, local television and radio. And even more than this, in this day in age, social networking has a huge role to play in your image (but I’ll leave the finer points of this technology to other experts like Greg Vincent).
However, agents need to be mindful of how they may be perceived. If you think you are God’s gift to real estate and you like to flaunt it, you probably come across as arrogant and people will avoid contact with you.
On the flip side, if you are too lax in your attitude towards your abilities as a sales agent, people will probably see you as not interested and lacking enthusiasm and drive. It is a fine line to tread, but one that is essential in order to build a flourishing client base.
6. Increase your knowledge
It’s also important to keep improving your skills and knowledge through training.
With access to information so freely available to consumers, agents have never had to be more on the ball than they do now. Statistics show that purchasers spend 34 days researching on the internet before making any kind of initial contact with an agent. Some look for a particular type of property in a particular area for months before purchasing.
Make sure you know what’s happening within your area. Keep an eye on new listings coming onto the market & research sales happening in your area. It’s extremely important that you are able to share up-to-date, relevant information with your clients so you can become seen as the expert in your area.
Agents should also be allocating approx. 10% of their income to professional development – whether that be through conferences and seminars, subscribing to organisations who offer continuous learning material or through the local business networks. As the old saying goes, ‘Knowledge is power’ and agents need to possess all they can to keep at the top of their profession and remain a step ahead of the competition.
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