Six months into your real estate career? How is it going? You have at least one or two commission cheques in the bank. Woohoo! But don’t get heady with your results and stop doing the basics. Here are a few more tips to keep in mind:
1. Don’t spend money on marketing until you know your market.
Know who you are as an agent and what value you have to bring to the market and then maybe spend money on marketing. Maybe. Marketing cannot be an alternative to open houses and all the other ways you meet clients face to face.
2. Are you becoming an expert at presenting offers?
Negotiation is not about who wins and who loses. Negotiation is about win-win. Remember that everyone wants the same result – the seller and the seller’s agent, the buyer and the buyer’s agent. Your job, no matter which end you are on, is to help to bring the seller and buyer to an agreement that is amenable to both parties. Don’t get involved in bitter negotiations. Emotions have no place in professional negotiations. Rise above the noise.
3. Do a great job for every client, no matter what size commission may come of it.
Attend to the details. Do every part well. Go above and beyond. Exceed expectations. Show up at closing. Then your happy client will be out there getting you new clients and then they’ll get you new clients, and they’ll get you new clients and so on. Remember it is 20 times easier to satisfy and retain an existing client than it is to find a new client. Referrals can’t be your whole business, but they can become at least half. The more referrals you get, the less open houses you have to do in year two, three, four and five. A strong repeat and referral database of happy clients is the Promised Land.
4. Every day, consider the daily picture and the long-term view.
You have tasks to do each day, but the future has to always be in mind. If you get so immersed in the “daily”, you will have no new clients when you come up for air.
5. Don’t commiserate around the water cooler.
Don’t gossip, don’t speculate. Find one or two allies in the office, but only chat together about positive things, share successes and encourage each other. Ignore the politics and keep your head down.
6. Attend a real estate conference.
This may seem like an expense you can’t manage, but try to find a way. You will have the opportunity to learn the latest and greatest techniques, plus lots of “tried and true”. You will also get to meet lots of agents who are not your direct competitors, who are willing to share advice and exchange information over dinner. And referrals. One referral will pay for the conference and more, and it may turn into years of referrals exchanged back and forth.
7. Say thank you.
Write a personal note to everyone who helps you along the way. To agents who give you open house opportunities, teaching moments and pricing advice, to mortgage brokers who send you a lead or even just bring you up to date on rates and developments, to managers who take time to explain scenarios and outcomes, to anyone who gives you a lead or referral, even if it doesn’t turn into a transaction.
8. Be ethical.
You will meet lots of agents and other professionals who aren’t. But be ethical anyway. What goes around, comes around. Act in your clients’ best interest, not your own.
9. Be humble.
You may have finished all of your courses and done a few transactions, but you do not know one-tenth of what you need to know to be a great agent. Always be learning, listening, consuming information and be humble about your knowledge as you grow. Don’t stop learning. You will never know it all. One hundred transactions from now, you still won’t know it all.
10. Give back.
Get involved in your community, just for a change of pace, to get outside yourself and the challenges of this business. Call local charities and see how you can get involved, even if just for a few hours once a month. You will receive back more than you give.
If you do all this, and really apply yourself, and still can’t gain traction by the end of your second year and turn real estate into your career, don’t beat yourself up. It is not a career for everyone. It takes a great variety of skills – we say the 3 D’s: Determination, Dedication, and willingness to do the Difficult.
It takes tenacity and sacrifice and commitment to make a good living in real estate. If it doesn’t work for you, at least you know you did everything you could and gave it your best shot. And you learned something new about yourself, and life, and people and have greater respect for the challenges of this profession.
Joanna Dermenjian is a broker with the David Wilson Team at Royal LePage ProAlliance Realty, Brokerage, in Kingston, Ont.
