4. Interested or Committed?
Unfortunately, the market doesn’t need more part-time, halfway engaged agents, which means you need to decide if you’re just interested in this career path, or if you’re committed to it. While this new real estate agent tip can be a hard pill to swallow, sitting down and determining whether this is truly the right career path for you can help you gauge your motivations and your story.
Those who succeed in this business are fully committed to doing everything in their power to succeed and to provide today’s modern customer with a seamless, five-star experience from start to finish.
So, which is it? Are you all in or just dabbling?
5. Play the Long Game
Another important real estate agent tip for beginners is to understand that real estate sales are not an “overnight success” type of business.
You need to understand and accept that you’re starting a five-year marathon, not a sprint.
Before you get discouraged, know this: Doing the things outlined on this list can accelerate your progress, but it’s still a process. Success in real estate takes time and disciplined action, so you need to be in it for the long run, not just for a quick buck.
With that said, you need to find your “why.” Knowing why you’re getting into real estate can help you stay focused and work toward your goals. Anne says it’s essential to have a reason why you’re getting into real estate and why you’re going to hustle beyond “to make money” or “to sell a lot of houses.” You need to make it personal. What will your success mean to you? Spell it out in great detail and keep your “why” up and visual to keep you motivated at all times.
6. Know Your Story
Knowing your story is essential to becoming a successful real estate agent, but figuring out your story doesn’t always come easy. To determine what brings you to the real estate industry, ask yourself important questions, such as:
- Why are you getting into this business? Because of the low barrier of entry, or because you genuinely want to help people and believe you can build a thriving business by doing so?
- What makes you different?
- Why should someone choose you over the competition?
- What motivates you every day?
- What are you trying to accomplish?
All of these questions need answers, and you need a compelling story of why you got into real estate. It might take some soul searching, but it’s important to define exactly who you are, who you’re for, why you’re doing it, and why you’re better.
Finding answers to those questions will help you build confidence faster, too. And that’s huge.
7. Track & Measure Everything
Another key real estate agent tip for beginners is to track and measure everything. There are certain habits you’ll want to start right from the beginning before they get difficult to adopt. Chief among them is tracking and measuring everything you do, which means collecting, analyzing, and understanding data. This is one of the most important new real estate agent tips on this list because it allows you to make informed decisions based on proof.
For example, how many leads are converting to sales? Are your marketing efforts reaching the right audience? Through data and analytics, you can collect numbers to see how you’re progressing and whether your lead conversion or marketing efforts are working, or if you need to change directions to meet your goals.
Data means everything in today’s world, and the more you know your numbers, the more certainty you can bring to your business. It’s important to know what you should be tracking, such as appointment setting conversion rates, emerging trends, and more.
8. Know the Market
One of the quickest ways to build confidence (and speak confidently) is to know your market inside and out.
I’m talking about studying the MLS on a daily basis so you can develop talking points to share with your sphere and prospects. You need to know what’s selling, how quickly, what’s not selling and why, what’s going on with interest rates, and more.
The more you do this, the more you’ll be able to identify trends and guide your clients to successful outcomes. In addition to these important features of the market, you’ll also have to have a firm grasp on talking points like:
- Schools
- Crime rate
- HOAs
- Public transportation
- Community
- Neighborhoods
If you’re a new real estate agent, make studying the market part of your daily morning routine. And that’s not all you need to know about creating a morning routine. Take this advice:
9. Know the Answer to “How’s the Market?”
You’ll soon learn – especially when things get back to normal with increased social interactions – that as a real estate professional, there’s one question you’ll hear more than any other: “How’s the market?”
Many agents make the mistake of responding with a simple “It’s good” or “I’m busy,” but those replies don’t lead them anywhere fruitful. It’s best to have a real estate script memorized that can help you answer this question, such as asking clients what their intentions are, such as buying, selling, investing, or renting.
Asking clients about their intentions engages them into a conversation that you can explain whichever situation they mention.
A bonus real estate agent tip is to engage with clients who are on the fence or just curious about the market. Asking them why they’re interested can lead them to open up about their own motivations or someone they know who might be making a move in the near future.
Mastering your script can help you engage with leads and clients to make conversions that can help grow your business. However, it’s also important to understand current events and how the world may be affecting the real estate market. For example, creating a new script for the pandemic can help you find their motivation, but the process takes a different path.
When they ask about how the market is, you can be honest and explain how it’s challenging due to no inventory, a surplus of buyers, and mortgage rates at an all-time low. Honesty is a great way to build trust with your clients, and allows you to lend an empathetic ear by asking how they’re doing and how the pandemic impacted their housing needs.
Once you foster their needs, you’ll build a solid relationship built on trust that can put you on the road to success.
10. Build and Organize Your Database
A new real estate agent tip that shouldn’t be overlooked is staying organized — and that can be accomplished using the CRM your company provides for you and start building a database.
When you get your CRM up and running, start by uploading every contact you have inside of your phone.
Then, consider who else is in your orbit, such as family acquaintances, club members, church members, service providers like hairdressers, doctors, former co-workers, etc., and add them as well. Having a robust list of contacts can help you get referrals, spread your name, and grow your real estate business.
11. Choose Two Additional Lead Sources
Marketing is essential if you’re going to run a successful real estate business. This new real estate agent tip will help you grow your brand and reach a broader audience that will result in more leads.
Starting out, your database/sphere should be one of your primary lead sources.
In addition to your database and sphere, it’s recommended to identify and implement two additional pillars of lead generation as well.
These are the top five sources used by our coaching members who average 36 transaction sides annually:
- Database
- Geographic farming
- Digital advertising
- Open Houses/Virtual Open Houses
- Circle Prospecting around recent sales/Yikes campaign
These are just some of the sources you can use to attract more leads. You can also take advantage of resources like real estate agent tools and case studies to generate and convert more leads in less time.
12. Get Comfortable on Video
Nothing connects with today’s consumers faster and more effectively than video. If you’re camera shy or don’t like the way your voice sounds, take time to practice and get comfortable. Over time, speaking in front of a camera will become second nature.
The key to creating an effective video is acting like you’re talking directly to a longtime friend or client.
The possibilities are endless when it comes to video topics, but here are a few that you could create on a recurring basis:
- How’s the Market – Providing regular market updates
- Did You Know? – Educating the public about real estate issues
- Around Town With… – Feature local businesses, activities, destinations, all demonstrating your connection to the community
Notice these aren’t all strictly real estate-related. Talking about a wide range of topics can appeal to more viewers and help you gain more attention.
13. Get on Social Media
This real estate agent tip should be a no-brainer, but make sure you’re active on social media.
Furthermore, be yourself!
On social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and Youtube, you can show people the business side of you and the personal side. Give them behind the scenes access, educate them, reveal your personality and sense of humor–these are all ways to engage with your audience and be more personable.
14. Practice Your Scripts
Practice makes perfect, which is why you should take time every morning to practice your scripts before meeting with clients. By memorizing your scripts, you can gain confidence when speaking and make selling homes easier.
To practice, find a partner you can role play with, such as a spouse, your kids, friends, family members, and co-workers. Spending just a few minutes a day to memorize your scripts will show your clients you’re informed and an expert in your field.
At Tom Ferry, we have a range of resources at your disposal, such as our real estate script book that you can review before any big meeting. Practicing scripts is a great way to build confidence and hone your skills.
15. Make Your Calls
While it might not be the most exciting new real estate agent tip, making your calls is an important part of the job. An easy way to make calls is by following a simple 3-2-1 plan, which goes as follows:
- 3 hours of prospecting calls or other lead generation
- Identify 2 leads
- Set one appointment
If you follow that plan every day, you’ll be a huge success in this business. However, the key is doing it daily, not just when you get around to it or feel like it.
16. Strategize & Implement
Three strategies you need to create as a new agent are your email strategy, direct mail strategy, and your social media strategy.
Don’t just play it by ear. Instead, sit down, do the work, and learn best practices.
Then, make sure you implement, stick to your plan, and review metrics regularly to see if adjustments are needed.
A crucial component to strategizing is continually educating yourself and keeping up with industry news and trends. There are plenty of resources online where you can research ways to improve your strategy, whether it’s building an email marketing campaign or growing your social media presence.
17. Master Your Presentation Skills
“It’s mostly about asking the right questions. That’s how I got off to a good start.” – Anne Schreiber
One of the most important credos in sales and marketing is to “Know your audience.” This is especially true on listing presentations. Anne strives to match her presentation to the homeowner’s personality type. For instance, she knows if they are very analytical, seeing the data will be most important. Others might care more about neighborhood amenities and lifestyle. Match your presentation to the person rather than making the homeowner match your “one-size-fits-all” presentation.
As a new agent, you shouldn’t be too picky about who you work with. You can learn from every transaction, every showing, every renter, every buyer, every seller, and every investor. Even if it leads nowhere, it’s a learning experience.
But at a certain point, you’re likely going to want to focus more on listings as your real rainmaker, which means it’s never too early to master your listing presentation.
If you haven’t yet established your own statistics to show to a potential seller, use those of your company. Practice your presentation over and over again with friends. It’s also best to record yourself and watch the playback to identify areas for improvement.
The more comfortable you get presenting to clients to win their business, the quicker your ascent will be.
18. Be a Sponge
Reading books, attending events, and finding a mentor, shadowing top producers – these are just some of the ways you can be a lifelong learner in the real estate industry.
There’s no such thing as “learning too much” at this stage of your journey, so take time to see how different people do things differently. Learn it all and apply what you like, and ditch what you don’t.
There are also numerous tools and resources available that you can take advantage of to improve your skills. For example, listening to the Tom Ferry Podcast Experience is a great way to learn new strategies, stay up to date on emerging trends, and compete in the real estate industry.
19. Find Accountability
As a new agent, everything you need to do to be successful might seem manageable – for now.
But things accelerate quickly in this industry, and before you know it, you might find yourself drowning in missed calls and unfiled paperwork.
When you let your guard down, suddenly you’re strapping yourself into something called the “real estate rollercoaster” – rich/poor, lots of clients/no clients, high life/totally stressed out.
That’s why consistency is so important as a solo entrepreneur.
If you don’t remain disciplined day in and day out, you will never fulfill your true potential.
To remain a successful real estate agent, you need to find accountability.
Whether it’s another agent, your broker, a friend, a family member, or a coach, you need someone to hold you accountable for the recurring actions and behaviors that create success.
Wrapping Up: What Should New Real Estate Agents Do?
Congratulations, you made it through all 19 new real estate agent tips. From understanding the importance of knowing the marketing to creating a script and making your calls, these real estate agent tips can help you run and grow a successful business. If you feel stuck or need help, feel free to contact us today at 888.866.3377.
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