What they never tell you about being a Property Agent
If you’re considering getting into the real estate business or you’ve just got your real estate salesperson licence, I’m sure you are very excited and just couldn’t wait to get started.
Before this, I am quite sure most of the stories you’ve heard are wonderful, successful stories be it on websites and social media.
Property agents closing multi-million property deals, driving fancy cars, having a time of their life.
And you wish you could be in their shoes, that you could be like them, living their dream life.
However, our business in reality, things are not what they seems to be.
We meet a lot of people. Many different kinds of people with different temperament, attitudes, and personalities.
You need to be emotionally stable, you need to be strong and you need to be flexible.
Most importantly, you need to be able to take the stress from other people and their way of treatment towards you.
If you can’t take those emotions, this stress is going to wear you out and very soon, you will say goodbye to the business before you even start. You are likely to say you give up and this business is not for you.
If you are currently employed, you could be thinking that you may have flexible timing, you can work less hours, not having to deal with your bosses and you can do whatever you want.
But the truth is, you will have to work longer hours, over the weekends and over the holidays.
You will have to answer to your clients at any time they call and prepare to serve them when it is convenient for them.
You could still be sitting in front of your computer looking for listings, creating listings, preparing paper work way past 10pm. This is even more so when you are a brand new property agent, trying hard to create a brand-name for yourself.
Being employed, you’re probably given specific tasks you are paid to do.
But in our business, you will need to cover from the beginning to the end, top to bottom of running an enterprise, ON YOUR OWN. Like a Chinese saying “Cover Mountain, Cover Sea”
You will have to deal with business development, marketing, administration, sales, information technology and training. You need to manage all of these processes and learn new skillset.
Not forgetting too, your soft-skill, social interactions and how you manage your negotiations, closing and follow-ups.
As you can see, there are many areas you need to learn and be good at. It will be over-whelming and it can be a big turn-off before you even get started.
But, if you can see these as a challenge, something you can overcome by giving yourself ample time to work on it, develop and improve, this is the industry you can thrive in and build a successful business on it.
Many people wants to be in business. Even some of the existing property agents are looking for new ideas, new business to get into. But my question is why look for another when you can develop this business by putting more effort into it?
This business has low-cost entry. You don’t need a lot of capital to get started. You can start practising as soon as you get your RES license. Whereas, you will need to put a lot more capital to get started in other businesses.
Real estate business is a people business. It is a business built on trust and integrity. But this doesn’t mean we cannot be successful if you don’t have such connections.
If you have been working for many years, you would have built a lot of relationships in the past. This will help you have an easier entry into the business.
But if you are just starting out, you just need to start working on building your connections. Be focused and work on building relationships EVERY single day.
Next thing is about conversion. You may have many leads but you must have the ability to convert those leads into sales.
The art of negotiations and closing skills are not something you will learn from manuals. You need to know the concepts and you need to practice.
And, you will need someone to show you how it is done. This means finding the right mentor or a coach.
How many of you has actually dealt with a lawyer and a banker? Unless you are in business before and dealing with many legal matters, it is unlikely you’ll be working with lawyers and bankers.
In our business, you will need to establish these contacts and build the relationships with them because whether you like it or not, they will be the one saving you and your sales transactions when the time comes. Be sure you support them and connect with them often.
When you start out as a rookie RES, there are a lot of work to do.
You will need to do several things simultaneously. You will need to learn the technicalities of being a property agent, processes, objection handling, generate leads and brush up on your negotiation skills.
I cannot stress enough the importance of these when you first started. This is your priority.
Do all you can to get these up to speed.
Being in the business for so many years, we have survived all the ups and down and we are still learning everyday.
We are still keeping up with the times and continue to get deals, closing deals and generate more business regardless of obstacles.
Of course, we lost deals from time to time too but we target to close more than we lose. This is the goal.
The glamour, the spotlight and the awards that you read so much about is just one piece of the puzzle. It is the after-effect.
But the real stuff is tough, demoralising, frustrating and it’ll deplete you of your energy.
But if you can overcome it, your success will be VERY sweet. This is one picture you must have in your vision.
If you are looking for a structured coaching program to guide you through as you begin your journey to become a Top Real Estate Salesperson (RES), let us be your guiding light.
Get in touch.
#YourSuccessMyPriority
#FrancisMingAssociates
