In this blog post, I am going to turn back the clock. Knowing what I know now, after 15 years of selling real estate, I am going to show you what I would do if I was a new agent in 2022.
I remember how hard it was to get started. I’m not going to sugar-coat it – building a successful real estate career is hard.
In a hot market, more and more new agents pour into the market with dreams of making lots of easy money. This creates an increase in competition for everyone.
To compound that, in 2021, we saw historical low inventory numbers. Which means a lot less listings for all agents and high demands for purchase from buyers. Those agents that have experience to guide sellers and buyers through those multiple offer scenarios, successfully shone last year, and those that didn’t, faltered.
So here are the first things I would do if I were starting as a new real estate agent in 2022:
Check out the full video on my youtube channel, below, or keep reading for the full list.
Number One: Get a Mentor
The first thing I would do if I was a new agent, I would get myself a mentor.
No one can say that they’ve ever achieved something great all on their own. Being ‘self made is an absolute myth. The learning curve is steep in real estate. And if you don’t climb it quickly, you will be leaving the business within a couple of years as it is expensive to stay in it if you’re not selling. So it really helps if you have someone to guide you through it and help you get going.
The problem most new agents face is that established agents, for the most part, don’t want to train their competition unless you join their team. There are, however, many great agents out there that are willing to share. So even if you don’t find a mentor within your office, keep looking outward to agents who aren’t in your area. I’ve always found it useful to DM agents on Instagram who are having the success that I would want, and pick their brains that way.
Number Two: Find a Great Brokerage
So the second thing that I would do is find a great brokerage for you. I’ve seen new agents come into the business and think that brokerage will hand them clients. The truth is that they don’t. Brokerages won’t do the work for you. Finding clients to use our services is our job. Brokerages are there for oversight and compliance and hopefully training (see my previous point). So when you start to look at brokerages remember you’re hiring them to provide a service. When shopping for anything that you always want to make sure you’re getting value. The first thing you want to do is look at the Brokerages split and cut. Meaning – what percentage does the Brokerage take from every deal (the split) and when does that percentage stop (the cut). For example, eXp Realty, does an 80/20 split (80 to me, 20 to them) and its cut off at $16,000. Meaning, anything over $16,000, I get 100%.
Now, the second thing you need to look at is what do you get for your money? Is it just oversight to compliance or physical brokerage to provide you with technology and training to ensure your success.
The third thing to look for is does your brokerage let you build a personal brand. The fact is people do business with people that they know, like and trust. You probably heard me say that a lot before. Creating a personal brand that the local consumers connect with is paramount to your success.
My fourth and last tip is to ask about admin support. Does the brokerage have plenty of admins that you can lean on to help you? When you start you need to focus on sales and not pushing paperwork. You also need to push off hiring an assistant as long as you can, until you have a stable business. The overhead of hiring your own assistant right away will put you in debt. So ask the brokerages that you’re interviewing with if they have good admin support you can rely on.
Number Three: Increase Your Authority.
Love it or hate it. Social media is the best and most cost effective avenue to market on. For a long time I was really bullish with Facebook. However, over the last few years I’m finding that YouTube is the place to be. See, Google owns YouTube. And when potential clients start their search, it’s quite often on a search on Google.
That being said, if you don’t have a Google business page yet – go create one right away! Then ask your past clients and friends to write you some reviews to get you started. Make getting reviews part of your business plan. This helps build the social proof you’ll need as a new agent.
Start by creating longer videos on YouTube around subjects such as you know this neighborhood in your city or how to navigate multiple offers. Also what the process is to buying a home in your area, etc. Then take those longer videos and chop them up to create small bits of content to post on Instagram and Facebook. For inspiration on how to do this, please check out my team’s YouTube and Instagram accounts (@oneoakgroup).
Number Four: Routine, Routine Routine.
I know, it sounds really boring, but consistency is the key. You will never create success by doing something once. It’s what you do every day that will impact your business and ultimately, your success in this career. The routine that I’ve always followed right from the beginning is: from 9am to 12pm, I put in a solid three hours of prospecting and interacting with my sphere. So what I do is I make five calls to people I know and five calls to people I don’t know. Usually those are leads that come in via social media or our website and five calls to follow up with prospects who have already spoken with and are looking to purchase or sell within the next 90 days.
I also write five handwritten, thank you notes to people that I’m grateful for. This forces you to get out there and interact with people so that you have ideas of who to write handwritten cards to. Now who doesn’t like being thanked? They’ll always remember you for your gratitude.
This morning routine is a non negotiable for me. I don’t book any meetings during this time. If I can help it. I then use my afternoons and evenings to work in my business, with clients showings, etc. Doing this five days a week guarantees that you’ll find business.
Number Five: Have a Growth Mindset
Embrace the suck as they say. Yes, it’s going to be hard. You are the CEO and CFO, and I like to say you’re also the dishwasher all wrapped in one. As I mentioned before, the learning curve is steep. Have a mindset that you’ll fail and instead of letting that deflate you learn from it, fail fast and move on. Take every class or program that you can read every book you can get your hands on. The more you learn, the shorter the learning curve becomes.
So always keep moving forward. Focus your mind on your definition of success. And everything else is just a distraction.
Never compare yourself to others. Comparison is the thief of happiness. Only compare yourself to the version of you that existed yesterday. Are you better right now than that person? That is all that matters no matter what. Keep moving forward.
Thanks so much for listening. I believe with these five strategies that you’ll be successful. Whatever success looks like to you, you are able to define that.
I wish you all the success you deserve.
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