How to Become a Great Real Estate Agent
Becoming a great real estate agent is an ongoing process and you will be a perpetual “work in progress” (WIP). Your WIP begins from the moment you decide to become an estate agent, complete your basic real estate education, obtain your real estate agent’s license, and become affiliated with a real estate broker/agency. Hopefully, you remain a WIP throughout your real estate career.
Personality speaking
If you haven’t already decided what type of personality you have, now is better than later in your quest to become a great real estate agent.
The person who needs a predictable daily routine will probably feel uncomfortable with the variability and unpredictability of real estate work. Do you need predictability?
Great estate agents enjoy working with people – on the phone, via email, face-to-face, in groups, and one-on-one. Becoming an estate agent is not a therapy for overcoming shyness and introversion. You have to want to work with people to help them solve their property-selling or buying problems.
Time management and attention to detail are talents in some agents; others learn to master these skills. A successful agent’s hours are filled with administrative and income-driving activities that require effective time management. Study and learn from those agents (and others) who skillfully manage their time.
Many people claim they are detail-oriented but you must be detail-oriented. Your clients and your business success depend on your being detail-oriented. If this is a weak point in you skill set, consider hiring an assistant who is skilled at managing the details. This does not relieve you of improving your detail skills but good support can help you manage more effectively.
Education now, later, ongoing
First, get a good real estate education and your license. Next, find a good mentor – an experienced broker or other salesman with integrity as well as real estate accomplishments. Find ways to be of assistance to your mentor, helping with tasks or open houses, preparing advertising, etc.
Attend seminars and courses. As a licensed agent, you are required to complete continuing education courses so make the most of every industry-related course, including those related to estate technology.
Congratulations on receiving your real estate agent’s license. Now, start planning to get your broker’s license. Yes, this means you will have to have at least two years’ experience as an agent, AND more study. The benefits? You may receive higher sales commission percentage splits, be able to open your own brokerage office and keep all the commission, become a property manager if you choose, sell and broker loans, and more. Ultimately, you offer more skills and knowledge to your clients.
What else?
Clients expect their realtor to communicate regularly with them, using the forms(s) the client prefers (fax, phone, text, email, or a combination of modes). Returning calls and messages as quickly as possible can be the difference between a good agent-client relationship and one that is merely satisfactory or totally ineffectual. Make sure you have, or develop, excellent communications skills.
Many agents cited additional qualities and skills important to becoming a great real estate agent. In their estimation, a great agent should be:
- Collaborative
- Curious
- Action-oriented
- A self-motivated entrepreneur
- A “hub of resources”
Legend has it that the actor born Archie Leach built a persona very different from the reality of his difficult and painful childhood. He borrowed qualities of behavior and style and patched them together, “wearing” that persona until it became a reality. He became a sophisticated, elegant and talented person and performer. Archie Leach became Cary Grant.
You might become a great estate agent by building your own persona much like Archie Leach did. Study, observe, add knowledge, skills and talents, and refine existing ones. Continue to be your own best WIP, and best wishes for your success.kassia