3 Tips That Will Make You a Successful Real Estate Agent Your First Year
I’ve coached and employed hundreds of real estate agents. Here are my top 3 tips for a brand spanking new agent.
Tip #1: Part-Time Job or 4-6 months of Savings
You’re going to need to have: Four to six months worth of savings, or some type of a part-time job. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but here’s the reality, the reality is is that the turnaround is roughly about a four to six month period before you’re going to actually see your first paycheck. That’s just the truth, because you’re gonna start working today, you’ll talk to some people that you know, you’re gonna either help them buy or sell a home, the escrow process is taking roughly about 60 days right now, so the truth is you probably won’t see your first check, for at least four to six months. Now I know that there’s gonna be some variations to that rule. I know that you can do some leasing and you can probably wrap up those transactions pretty fast and be paid pretty fast, but the normal real estate cycle is going to last you about four to six months. So just accept that and move on. I’ll tell you that when I first got started I was going to college, right? I got my license at 18 years old, so I was at UCLA during the day. I’d go work real estate from about 4 to 8 p.m. and then from 10 to 6 a.m., I was at a graveyard job as a hospital clerk where I was handling the registration of patients. That’s what I had to do. Now I’m not saying you have to get a graveyard job, but I am saying you’re going to have to have some type of an income or some type of a savings to sustain you while you build this business.
Tip #2: Sphere of Influence
Approach, what we call, your sphere of influence. (The people that know you, the people that like you, and the people that trust you). Start talking to them first. I can’t tell you how horrible a feeling it is to go over to a family members house, for say a barbecue or a family function, or a dinner, and to walk up to their house seeing and see a for sale sign, and as a real estate agent or real estate practitioner, that’s the worst feeling in the world, and it’s happened to me. It’s probably going to happen to you. It happens to all of us. That’s just the nature of this business. And here’s the thing, if it does happen to you chances are (and you don’t want to hear this) it’s your fault, because you probably didn’t do a good enough job making sure that everybody that knows you, everybody that likes you, and everybody that trusts you, you’re probably not doing a good enough job making sure that they understand what your new profession is, what your new job is, what your new passion is. You’re not sharing it enough with them.
I’m going to suggest that the minute you get your license, you go out there and you talk to every single person that you know. Let them know “Hey John or Jane, listen I just got my real estate license I’m really excited about the opportunity to serve you. In case you’re looking to buy or sell and more importantly if you have any friends or family members I hope that you can confidently refer them over to me so that I could help them out. Can I count on you, John or Jane to help me do that?” And you nod your head, right? You need to approach your sphere of influence from the very very beginning. You don’t want to try to be this secret agent. Now, I get it. There’s some people that are going to say, “Well Paul, listen I don’t want to approach my friends or my family yet because I haven’t been successful at this yet, and I don’t want to be a guinea pig, and they know me as you know the fraternity gal (a fraternity guy) the sorority gal. They know me, I’ve tried everything under the Sun. I sold everything there is to sell, and now I’m selling real estate and they’ve seen all of my failures, and they’ve seen all of my mistakes,” and I get it. I get it more than you know, but I’m gonna tell you that you want to start with those people.
Tip #3: Learn Your Scripts
You have to learn your scripts, now I know you don’t want to hear it, I didn’t want to hear it. For 15 to 17 years, I worked this profession without hankering down and mastering my scripts, okay? I was a type of person that could walk into a room and just with my sheer personality and enthusiasm I could get them to work with me. The reality was I didn’t know my scripts, all right? It wasn’t until I went to a Michael Bublé concert that I decided that I was gonna learn my scripts. Yes, that’s right I’m a Michael Buble fan, all right? Anyway, I took my wife we went to the concert and we enjoyed ourselves. The guy is amazing, and not only amazing but his wit, his charm, he’s comedic timing, it’s all fantastic, and I enjoyed the show so much that we went and bought tickets a second time. We went to go see the show twice, so we went back a second time, and here’s what I discovered: All of the jokes, all of the timing, everything that he had done, the night before all of his witty remarks were exactly the same thing, okay? Even if he may have introduced people from from the audience to participate, the jokes were still exactly the same and here’s what I discovered: If he as an entertainer has to have a script to his performance, someone who makes millions of dollars doing what he does best, then why aren’t I? Why shouldn’t I be applying the same principle, the same level of professionalism to what I do, and so that’s what I did.
I would be listening to audiobooks, I would be listening to CDs, I would be playing them in my car all the time until I had those scripts down cold. I knew how to handle every objection, I knew how to overcome people’s fears, I knew how to help them feel better about what it was that they were doing when they were working with me. Now this isn’t about being a hard core closer or closing people are really forcing them or convincing them, that’s not what I’m talking about. Because at the end of the day if you have to convince someone to do something, you’re gonna be convincing them through the entire process and I can tell you that this business can be very very frustrating when you’re spending all of your time trying to convince someone, but when you can help them feel comfortable about their decision, when you can help them overcome that fear, and they feel like they’re the ones making that decision, with your guidance and your support, it’s an amazing feeling. That is the reason that you want to learn those scripts.
