Becoming a real estate agent is thrilling. You get the opportunity to be your own boss, make your own rules, see a bunch of different types of houses, and help people achieve their goals while being paid well to do so.
And getting into real estate, either as a career or as a part-time gig, is relatively easy. The challenge is making it as a real estate agent and being successful.
What Real Estate Agents Do
TV shows like “Flip or Flop” and “Selling Sunset” make real estate seem like a job that people drive around in fancy cars, making a ton of money, and don’t ever need to do any of the boring, tedious work. As a result, they glamorize the excellent side of the industry without ever really going into the fact that real estate is hard work.
To be successful in real estate, you need to have a license, hang it with a broker, have a business plan in place, find your own clients, and be able to negotiate contracts that benefit your client.
The hardest, most challenging part of being a real estate agent is marketing and finding new leads that can be nurtured into clients one day.
Real estate agents help people buy and sell properties and advise what mortgage financing professionals may be best suited to help a client.
Real estate agents help clients achieve their dreams, provide professional guidance and expertise, and write and negotiate contracts for a transaction.
Getting Started In Real Estate
Once you decide real estate is something you’d like to pursue, getting started is relatively straightforward.
Real estate courses: You first want to check with your state regulatory board to find an accredited class to help prepare for your licensing exam. Upon satisfactory completion of the coursework, you can then schedule your state’s license exam.
Testing: Next up, take and pass your licensing test. The test is in two sections, one focusing on federal rules and regulations and the other on your state’s licensing requirements.
Join your local real estate board: Once you’ve passed your exams, you’ll need to join a local real estate board and MLS. These services are necessary to access the database about available homes, write any contracts, and get paid a commission.
Choose your broker: In order to be an active agent, you must hang your license under a currently active broker. You should look for a brokerage that will support your goals, help you with continuing education, and provide a good marketing platform that will help your brand grow.
Find a mentor: A mentor is a person who has experience in the industry and has systems in place so that they can be successful. A mentor is best as someone in the brokerage so they can help you whenever they’re available.
Another form of mentorship is to hire a real estate coach.
A coach is someone that you pay to assist you with your goal planning, creating strategies and systems to help make your goals achievable, and to help set up processes to keep you accountable.
Also, since you have a ton of things you’ll need to juggle on any given day, knowing how to manage your time more effectively is something your coach and mentor can assist you with.
A good time management skill to learn is time blocking. Time blocking is a strategy where you set aside a specific amount of time to handle every task you have on your daily, weekly, and monthly calendar.
Now that you understand the basics of getting started, here’s how to make it as a real estate agent.
- Adopt an entrepreneurial mindset
- Gain professional skills and experiences
- Develop your networking skills
- Know the market and stay up to date on trends
- Adopt new technology
- Create your marketing and lead generation strategies
Adopt An Entrepreneurial Mindset
As a real estate agent, you get the opportunity to be your own boss and run your own business, meaning you are essentially an entrepreneur running your own business.
Building your skill sets, such as self-promotion, budgeting, and time management, is essential for establishing yourself in this field and helping you become successful.
Your coach and mentor can help you adapt your entrepreneurial skills, helping you develop an excellent strategy to grow your business and handle all the challenges that may come up.
Gain Professional Knowledge And Experience
You already have passed your exam, but that doesn’t mean you’re done learning. Getting hands-on experience with another agency or shadowing an experienced professional as you learn more about the trade can be invaluable.
You can take advantage of this time to build strong references willing to vouch for your experience when you officially enter the business.
Create A Network of Contacts
You will wear many different hats as a real estate agent, from confidant to advisor, interior designer, and contractor, and you are expected to have a broad understanding of various situations that may come up.
The key to success is having a list of people you can refer your clients to that will make their real estate experience easier and more enjoyable. To do this, as a real estate agent, you should have established relationships with other professionals who work in complementary industries like interior design and mortgage finance.
Create a preferred vendor list of people you are comfortable recommending to your clients and anyone in your sphere of influence to assist them with whatever needs arise. You should network with lenders, developers, contractors, and legal representatives who have extensive knowledge of the claims process and current housing trends.
Know The Local Market And Stay-Up-To-Date On Trends
To succeed as a real estate agent, you must position yourself as the go-to reference when people have real estate questions. To do so means that it’s essential to be a lifelong learner and stay up-to-date with changes in government regulations or laws relating to real estate transactions and taxes etc.
Creating a part of your work day for continuing education courses (in topics such as customer service training) will be beneficial when securing new clients or contracts from existing ones.
The more you know, the easier time you have in answering questions, and that expertise helps clients become more comfortable with you as their representative.
Being knowledgeable about current trends and market knowledge will demonstrate your expertise and a commitment to industry awareness beyond what is required by law.
This continued professional development is a quality that builds trust in your services and is essential for success in this line of work.
Adopt New Technology
Tech plays a huge part in how customers find and interact with businesses and services like yours. Adopting new technology lets you understand what tools are available for you to find and attract more customers efficiently and to meet people where and how they like to interact.
For example, meeting people on the most recent, popular social media platform can help expose your brand to a broader audience of potential clients. Also, incorporating the use of 360-degree virtual tour software and drone cameras in your listing marketing shows that you are willing to go the extra step to aid your clients.
Another way that adopting new technologies is a great way to expand your sphere. CRM & CMS systems (as well as apps!) give your clients access, convenience, and speed, accelerating their decision-making. Best of all, these tools can be automated so that you can set them and focus on other areas that require your immediate attention.
Create Your Marketing And Lead Generation Strategies
The biggest challenge you will have is marketing your services and creating leads that can become clients. Your marketing and lead generation strategies will be your business's lifeblood, and success requires excellent marketing.
When starting out or working with a limited marketing budget, finding the right mix of marketing expenditures and returns is crucial.
One avenue to consider is doing a deep dive into your Sphere of Influence (SOI). Your SOI is the people you know from friends, family, former colleagues, neighbors, and anyone you come into contact with who knows and trusts you.
Your SOI will end up as your best marketing resource. If you strategically work with your SOI when they need an agent or know of someone, your services will be top-of-mind.
Expanding your SOI should be your primary focus. Market research shows that people are more interested in working with an agent they know or recommended to them by someone they trust than from any other source.
So the more you can expand your SOI and grow your brand, the easier it will be to find new clients.
Expanding your SOI means building up your social media pages and profiles. Of course, you will want to post regularly on your social media, but just don’t make it all about your real estate business.
The goal is to engage with people and want them to think of you as a local real estate expert. If all you do is a post about your business, you’ll turn people off to you. So instead, a good strategy is to post 1 business-related item for every 9 other types of posts.
Make your social media intriguing, make it personable, and make it unique.
Another way to expand your influence with your SOI is to stay in touch with them on a personal level as much as possible. A simple call, email, or direct mail is an excellent way to stay top-of-mind, but one strategy that works exceptionally well is using video text messages.
Here’s what I do. I film 10 video text messages and send them out to people in my sphere every day.
These videos are short, about a minute long, and are simple. I might say something like, “Hey (their name), I’m thinking about you and hope that (something specific to them or a life event) went well and everyone had a good time.”
I don’t talk about my business, and I don’t have a pitch or call-to-action. I do my more aggressive marketing in other areas but use video texts to stay in front of them so that they remember my name when hiring or recommending an agent.
Real estate is a relationship business, so you should focus most of your marketing efforts on how to create better relationships with people. Utilizing your Sphere of Influence is the most cost-effective way to build your reputation and to be seen as a local, trusted expert.
Homeownership is a significant undertaking and not something people do very often throughout their lives.
Building long-term relationships with people may get a deal years after you first come across someone, so nurturing and developing those relationships is one of the most important things to do to be successful in your real estate career.
Getting started as a real estate agent is the easiest part of the industry. However, being successful takes time, dedication, and being strategic in every phase of your business.
Focusing on your SOI and developing strategies and systems to help you grow your brand are the most critical aspects of your business. You can try to be successful through trial and error, or you can accelerate your learning curve by utilizing the experience of others, such as a mentor or coach.
