There are enough people out there in the media and the blogosphere to tell us that the market is this and the market is that. For every doom and gloom piece there is another that says this is the time of opportunity.
Here are the facts. There is a market. There has always been a market. Things have not shut down. For over 100 years, no matter how bad things seem to appear, there has never been a day in this country when properties have not been bought and sold. Through great depressions, grim recessions, good times and bad times; houses, businesses and properties have sold every single day.
It is not so much a different market. It is just a different day. Every day.
Time and time again, regardless of whether a market is allegedly robust or apparently slow, the same people sell houses. Good salespeople.
When the market was hot I remember hearing salespeople say how hard it was to get a listing.
Yet those who were good at sales seemed to have them. When the market was slow, I remember hearing salespeople say how hard it was to find a buyer. Yet those who are good salespeople seem to find them.
What makes a good salesperson? The fundamentals always seem to be the same. Good service, creativity and most importantly; integrity. I will defer to those who know better than me as to the other details of what makes a good salesperson. It just seems to me that selling real estate must be the best job in the world.
Through good times and bad times, selling real estate is still a career that can make anyone, absolutely anyone, successful. Not overnight but in a short or reasonable amount of time compared to other careers.
Real estate sales remains a business that can be entered with a financial commitment that is not prohibitive to the average Joe or Jill. Dedication remains the main investment. How wonderful that is!
Real estate sales is the best kind of work you can get. The yardstick you are measured by is your own success. It isn’t that you make 100 calls in one day that makes you successful; it is making one call well. It’s then concentrating on each call you make throughout the day, every day, up to 100 times if you can manage it, or just two or three times if you have delivered quality and value in your conversation. How a person feels after they talk to you is almost exclusively up to you.
The team you gather is your team. You are the manager. You recruit the best contacts for your customer to choose from; home inspectors, home stagers, appraisers, AMP mortgage professionals, legal counselors and more. This is your team and the way every member of the team speaks about you reflects how good you are and how good you will be for your clients.
The best thing about selling is that every day is a new day. There is an even playing field every time you go out and it is so wide that it is extraordinary and wondrous.
We all know the old saying that it is not so much what you do but how you do it. That is one of the many great things about a sales career, you not only get to pick what you do but you get to pick how you do it, every day. You can choose to provide good service, you can choose to work everyday to build a good reputation and you can choose to be the kind of person that others want to do business with.
It’s all up to you.
Two salespeople enter a Tim Hortons after a long day of knocking on doors anywhere in this country. They each spend their last nickel on a cup of coffee and sit at a table without even a prospect, let alone a customer. One drinks coffee and wallows in despair. The other dreams of the possibilities they have before them and can barely wait to get out the door and try again.
Each one has the same amount of money in their pocket. Each one will walk out the very same door on the very same afternoon as the other.
What’s the difference? We both know the difference. Write it down and put it in your pocket. The next time you’re in Tim Hortons, take it out and read it. Then go out the door and get back in business.
I wish you every success in the year ahead but mostly, I wish you the kind of success that is not just measured by money.
Heino Molls is publisher of REM. Email [email protected]
