Real estate is a rewarding career field that offers unlimited growth potential. Flexible hours, uncapped earning potential, and an exciting and constantly changing field are just some of the perks that attract thousands of people annually into the industry.
Despite this, after the first five years of holding a license, nearly 90% of all new agents have dropped out. Why? There is no simple answer to the question of how to become a successful real estate agent.
Step 1: Set Goals When Starting Your Career
When you first decide you want to be a real estate agent, understand that you become your own boss. And because real estate agents are often compensated through commission, that means that if your business doesn’t make money, you won’t be paid. Most successful real estate agents will create a real estate business plan, a written document that helps dictate the way their business will operate in the beginning stages.
Setting goals and defining what success means to you is the foundation for defining how to be a successful real estate agent. For example, if having a flexible schedule to care for your children is important, that might limit the hours that you can put into your business.
If finances are a form of measured success, there will be a lot of factors to take into consideration. These include average prices of homes in your area, how saturated your local market is, what the inventory in your area is like, and more. Oftentimes, the money you want to make will dictate the amount of work that you need to put into your business. For example, if your goal is to make $100,000, you can calculate how many houses you will need to sell based on that financial goal.
Step 2: Maintain Relationships in Your Database
Real estate is all about forming relationships. Those looking for clues on how to become a successful real estate agent should look at the relationships they make as being key to their business’s success. In real estate, being the industry expert and the first person people think of when buying or selling property is the most important key to being a successful real estate agent. With that in mind, the people who make it and do well in the industry make the largest impressions.
There’s more to being efficient than just making a one-time impression. The fact is, you have to stay top of mind compared to other agents who are competing for that same level of recognition. When it comes time to buy or sell a house, people access their relationships and reach out to the person that comes to mind first. If you only connect with someone once a year, it’s possible they might remember you — but more than likely, they will go with someone who they hear from more frequently.
Keeping connected with your database means a combination of different forms of touches. For example, you might have a client subscribed to a couple of email campaigns — let’s say they receive a greeting on holidays and around their birthday. You might reach out quarterly and share a market report with them that shows how their neighborhood market is doing. You might meet in person for coffee, or host an annual holiday party that they show up at. All of these touches build a relationship that helps them think of you first when it comes time to make a real estate transaction.
Step 3: Establish an Online Presence
Successful real estate agents know that having an online presence is a great way to create natural engagement with potential leads in their database. The average amount of time spent on social media in a day is a whopping 145 minutes! During this time, several of your posts or shares might show up in their feed. If your content is engaging and interesting to them, they might share it with their online social circle, leading to even more exposure.
Creating an online presence is more than starting an account. Photos, events, videos, and live-streaming are all tools that can take your online presence to the next level. Having an open house that’s coming up? Create an event. Share photos of it ahead of time. During the actual Open House, find a few moments where it’s slow and take your audience on a virtual walkthrough.
Step 4: Never Stop Learning
While most jurisdictions require ongoing education to maintain your license as a real estate agent, you should always be looking for new ways to improve how you can serve your clients and attract new leads. One important distinction that successful real estate agents have is that they stay up to date with the industry.
Most brokerages and realtor associations offer ongoing education classes that are great for keeping up to date on relevant news that might impact your business. Additionally, you might find classes on different forms of technology that are offered through your office. Knowing how to use your database, presentation creating platforms, and lead generation sources is a great use of resources that you will use regularly. Additionally, check out our collection of real estate agent tools and case studies.
Education and ongoing learning is something that you should invest in via time blocking. You might consider watching some videos or listening to a podcast on your lunch. There are great opportunities to read relevant books or articles online as well.
Step 5: Hire a Real Estate Coach
There is no easy answer to how to be a successful real estate agent. Each market is unique with different ways to generate leads.. If you’re just getting started in the industry, or are having a difficult time gaining traction, consider consulting with an experienced real estate coach.
At Tom Ferry, our coaches are successful real estate agents who have come across the difficulties you’re facing firsthand. They have expert advice that can help you reach the level of success you’re dreaming of. Book a free consultation with an experienced coach today to get started!