Do you see yourself working outside the typical 9-5 job? Do you like working in the field and being your boss? Do you want to make more money based on your merits, labor, and not on the amount of time spent in an office? If all your answers are affirmative, the career of a realtor was meant to be yours to follow!
Calling yourself a skillful real estate agent entails being a people person, always up-to-date with the latest property news and the topical laws regarding the business. But no real estate agents were born a success; they accumulated their skills through long years of sweat and suffering. Experience can’t be given, it must be earned!
Still, we designed our article to provide you with the most fundamental policies, a general guideline, if you wish, on how to start your career and what to expect from this path.
A real estate rookie’s first baby steps
Okay, let’s suppose you already obtained your real estate license, and, being a rookie, you are now hungry to get into the hustle right away. Enter the game with the right mindset, and commit to the profession. You are the real deal! During the first month, you must train hard like a varsity athlete.
Expert mentors recommend you spend half of your day preparing for the actual action in the field. You will have to prepare scripts for actual sales and play it out (on your own or with an assisting colleague), considering as many variables the real estate process can throw at you. Once you believe your scripts are perfect, go back and work on them some more! Since these conversations, covering prospecting scenarios, follow-up scripts, prequalifying lines, and the listing presentation dialogues will make you money, so they’d better be in fantastic shape!
An intro to real estate prospecting
After warming up, you might wish to prospect those you know, such as family, friends, and close relatives. Ask them if they plan on buying or selling in the near future. Therefore, you can generate leads (someone who expressed an interest in buying/selling a property). And leads, indeed, are the most critical things in this world! Once you obtain them, comes the lead follow-up, the natural process of convincing them to do business with you. An intriguing puzzle might turn up when you try to combine your profession as a realtor with your personal life. We say, go for it!
Finally, develop your strategy on how and when to follow up on your leads, and set deadlines! Being a good agent, with ambition and years of experience, will make you a master!
You’re out in the field for quite some time now and you’re looking to increase your sales this month? Add these simple vital ingredients to your recipe for success!
Be aware of contracts for legal purposes!
Their clients trust real estate agents to understand contracts. Every agent needs to read through all details of agreements between every party within a property buying or selling transaction. Missing information and failing to understand and communicate details to clients causes legal issues that hinder the transaction. It is also seen as unprofessional to be not knowledgeable of the contracts, ultimately hurting the client/professional relationship.
Nurture professional relationships!
During purchasing or selling a property, many different professionals need to communicate with each other effectively. A typical transaction can include real estate attorneys, appraisers, and mortgage lenders. Real estate agents need to nurture relationships with these professionals in order to assure efficient service. This cooperation is especially true if a particular process needs to be sped up for contract reasons.
Keeping in touch with older clients
As with any business, both new and old clients need to be managed with care. Relationships with old clients are essential because they are already strong candidates for future business. Ensuring these relationships are cared for is essential to business, as these clients can act as referrals for new clients. If a client refers someone to an agent, then it will be less strenuous to generate leads. It also helps to prove the real estate agent’s credibility and helps build trust from the beginning.
Generating leads
Since real estate agents usually get paid off commission, they are responsible for ensuring that business is constantly flowing. Agents need to make sure they are generating leads and acquiring all necessary contact information in order to reach potential clients. Lead generation needs to happen regularly, almost daily, so that agents can get as many potential clients as possible and potentially generate more business.
Be part of something bigger!
You might not realize it now, but working as part of a team, more precisely, a real estate brokerage or in one of the best real estate companies, could be an excellent idea for you to entertain. However if that’s not your thing, look no further! RealEstateAgent.com might be the perfect choice for you to obtain more real estate traffic. Therefore, you can get precious insight into the nitty-gritty of the housing market, and tips to get more clients. Watch and learn from the pros! In addition, you will have access to a first-class platform that is updated regularly with new housing opportunities.
Although the notion of conducting business “lone wolf style” is romantic enough, you will soon find out that joining a team will genuinely make you a prosperous and influential business person in the long run.
Choose the best marketing and advertising methods!
Marketing is the keyword for listing agents. There is indeed a sense of urgency about it. If you don’t move fast enough to get the property out there in the open to get as much exposure as possible, you might risk that your competition will get ahead of you. We don’t want that, right? Choose practical marketing tools carefully!
Offline marketing
Now, there are fundamentally two ways of doing marketing: online and offline marketing. Even if there is a clash in certain people’s thinking between old-school vs. modern marketing, you don’t underestimate the impact of either of these! Offline marketing, often referred to as conventional marketing, operates with lawn signs and printed newspaper ads, flyers, and billboards. Productive and persuasive in the past, offline marketing is still a force to reckon with! For instance, in the case of the retiree real estate niche, you will hit the right spot with offline marketing!
Online marketing
Just like its counterpart, online marketing requires practical knowledge & a huge load of creativity from you! Real estate agents advertise online using various social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) to target a niche or a specific group. They build a website for themselves to present their properties. Subsequently, you can link this site to any of your social media accounts, which is foolproof, and it’s quite a nice touch professional-wise.
In addition, Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, Bing Ads, email marketing, and many others offer countless possibilities for realtors to create an online buzz around a new property. Due to its capability to reach a pretty high number of potential clients, we subscribe to the idea that online advertising is worth it!
Sink your teeth into content marketing, and advertise a property through text, display, and video ads! Reach out because they are there for you to take advantage of!
Technology is your friend
Befriending the achievements of modern technology should be purely a matter of time. The sooner you learn how to master doing your business online, the faster you can reach a more significant clientele, the easier you can close a deal from a distance. Now that the global pandemic and the ensuing lockdown turned everything upside down, you must also be well aware of topical regulatory measures set by the National Association of Realtors. That is if you don’t wish to endanger your clients’ lives and wake up with an outstanding fine.
Note! We’re way past online presence. We discuss conducting house presentations using virtual technology since open house practice became a health risk and has been pushed into the background.
In a nutshell, Covid-19 re-defined the homebuyer-realtor relationship, and you have to be inventive with interactive virtual home tours, setting up a Zoom account, and hiring a video choreographer. Imagine the time you save using this method! The essential advantage of this technology is that you can host a larger audience of potential house hunters, the most persistent of which can even sign the deal online.
Conclusion
Know that these are only some of the most basic principles you have to respect to be ahead of the game and turn into an excellent real estate agent! However, as a rookie, you have plenty of time to acclimate within the business. For this reason, we highly recommend you joining forces with a notable real estate agency!
In an ever-changing world, the greatest challenge is to keep certain aspects from the old marketing & real estate practices and combine them with revolutionary methods and state-of-the-art technologies to optimize your clients’ experience; and, therefore, your income!
We wish you the best of luck and patience on your path to success!
How did you spend your first days as a real estate agent? What advice can you give to new kids on the block? We welcome your comments in the section below!
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