How to Be a Successful Real Estate Pro
If you have been a successful businessperson, you know what it takes to do the job. If you’ve had sales experience, whatever worked for you before will likely work again. However, real estate is just different enough to make it worth your while to consider some of these ideas. If you have had little or no previous work experience, or none in sales, you will want to pay particular attention.
Pick a Partner
In every office there seems to be at least one agent who is exceptionally well organized. Pick the person who seems to be the best qualified and with whom you are the most compatible. Some offices have a formal buddy or mentor system that pairs off each newcomer with an experienced agent, so the contact might be made for you. Others might have a structured coaching program in which you agree to pay for the personalized tutoring.
Naturally, that’s one of the things you’ll make certain you’re clear on before you sign on. No matter what the system, make sure that you find out how the official office files are maintained and learn how to locate things for yourself. You will become popular if you can find what you need without always asking for help.
Fishing for a Mentor
I’m taking my son fishing for the first time. We’re on the riverbank and he’s next to me as we both cast our lines. I’m getting nothing. He’s getting nothing. Down the bank about twenty yards was an older man who was pulling a fish about as fast as he could bait his hook. I left the bank for a quick trip back to my car for some water.
When I returned my son was about ten yards from the man, observing his every move. It worked. He started catching fish. Fortunately, the gentleman seemed honored that he was chosen as a model. Moral to the story: choose your mentors wisely. Make it someone who has clearly excelled in meeting the same challenges you are about to face, and someone whose business philosophy and ethics are compatible.
Organize Your Work Space
Whether you have a private office, a cubicle, or simply a desk in a common area, you should arrange your space to be efficient and to reflect your personality. Often you will need to locate something in a hurry while someone waits on the telephone. You’ll become frantic if you need to sort through piles of unrelated information in the classic paper shuffle.
When your “action pending” basket starts to exceed the volume of all others combined, you need to discipline yourself to act on items immediately. The file drawer in your desk should be used for folders of individual clients, customers, prospects, and closed transactions, arranged alphabetically.
Organize Your Information
One of the greatest practical problems of organization that new agents traditionally face is keeping all the information about one transaction or one person in one place. One solution is to prepare an all-purpose form for each client, customer, or prospect on which you make a chronological record of all contacts and all pertinent actions.
There are times when disputes arise as to who took what action, when. Unfortunately, these disagreements sometimes result in litigation. You will also find that months or even years might go by between contacts with a particular individual. It will be comforting to you, and impressive to others, to be able to recount past contacts accurately. Your office may have a form or software program for keeping these records, but the format you use is not important—the discipline to use a one-source system is.
Organize Your Time
It’s easy to get carried away on this subject and you could spend most of your time organizing your time. There is general agreement on the basics. First, you need to organize your schedule each day in some fashion; second, you need to establish priorities. There are all sorts of calendars and planners on the market. You need to get one with which you are comfortable, have it with you all the time, and use it religiously. When the year is over save them. Never throw one away. Ever.
As you establish priorities on how to spend your time, keep in mind the way you earn money in real estate. Forgive the repetition, but the only way you are paid is for one of your listings to sell or for you to sell a property. It is remarkable how much time some real estate agents spend on fringe activities. That is not to say that you should not perform community service activities, help decorate the office for the Halloween party, keep your individual space looking impressive, or engage in enjoyable hobbies. Just remember how the bills are paid.
Set Goals for Yourself
Again you can spend an inordinate amount of time deciding what it is you want to accomplish. For most people, the first few months are best spent learning the profession and becoming aware of the various long-range opportunities. The more you know about what is available, the easier it will be to establish short-term and long-term career goals.
Some folks simply opt not to establish formal goals at all. If you don’t really care where you’re going in your career, then I suppose they are not necessary. Others may have goals but have rather unique methods of achieving them. Those with a more mystic bent put pictures of expensive cars, lavish mansions, and sleek yachts on their walls and have faith that positive thinking will make it so.
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