On the surface, becoming a real estate agent is fairly simple. Sure, there’s some technical training involved and tests to pass, but beyond that, the initial process isn’t very difficult. This isn’t a bad thing to say, but it has led to a lot of people feeling like they are way over their heads when they first start out.
Unfortunately, this can mean that a lot of new realtors aren’t able to get themselves off the ground effectively. Although it’s not difficult to reach the level of being an agent by title, growing a business out of it is another ordeal entirely. If you’re looking to get into the business and want some tips and tricks, you’ve come to the right place.
Now, bear in mind that our advice isn’t necessarily a replacement for speaking with an experienced real estate agent. Many of them have mentorship programs that they run, so that might be something to look into after you’re finished here. We’ll delve into that further later on, though – do be sure to stick around!
Create a Plan
We’ll start off fairly simple here – creating a plan. While this might seem frustratingly vague at first, hear us out. It’s going to be a pretty big deal to make a plan for your business, and it’s generally a good idea to start that process as soon as possible.
Now, we’re not saying that you need to have the entire trajectory of your business plotted out in your first week, or anything wild like that. Rather, we would encourage you to establish both short-term and long-term goals. If you’re looking for some tips on how to go about this process, you might want to check out this resource: https://practicetransformation.umn.edu/practice-tools/guide-to-goal-setting-and-tracking/.
After all, this doesn’t come easy for everyone. These days, the future can feel murky and stressful, too. So, remember not to overwhelm yourself right off the bat. Focus on a few small, achievable goals for your real estate business. That could be something like sorting out your marketing budget or designing your business cards, as just a few examples amongst many.
Find a Firm
As we continue along with our tips for getting started as a realtor, keep in mind that a lot of these points can be used as goals that you set. That’s why we mentioned that bit first! With that said the next thing that you’ll want to set about doing is finding yourself a firm.
The thing is, although it may seem like you can start selling properties the moment you get your license, the reality is a bit more complicated. One of the most effective ways to advance your career is to interview at a few different firms, offices, or brokerages. After all, that’s how you can start getting work!
It can be quite tempting to focus on the type of commissions that you’ll be getting. However, when you’re first getting started, it’s probably not the best thing to worry about. Obviously, you need to make a living. Just remember that it’s the equivalent of a starting rate in other fields, so you may not get the highest offers just yet.
What should you be thinking about instead though, then? Well, there are a few things that you could consider, but your biggest focus should be on finding ways to advance your career. When you’re interviewing at various firms, you can inquire about the mentorship or educational opportunities that they have to offer their realtors.
Figure Out Your Brand
Once you have figured out a firm, brokerage, or office to work for, you can start to figure out what you want your brand identity to be as a real estate agent. As you can see here, https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/07363761111165949/full/html, there’s a lot that goes into developing a brand identity. Why is it important for us to do this, though?
In order to attract a clientele, we have to figure out who we want that clientele to be. Obviously, this is a pretty involved process. We’ll offer you a few pointers for you to think about along the way, though!
First, decide what sorts of properties you would like to specialize in selling. For instance, you could focus on condos, apartments, townhouses, residential homes, or even industrial properties! From there, decide what age group you resonate with the most.
Some of it really will come down to your own interests and hobbies, though it might sound a bit strange at first. Remember that much of your business will require building rapport with your clients, so sorting out who you might best get along with! That could be millennials, Gen X, baby boomers, or even Gen Z now that they are entering the job market and have disposable incomes.
Find a Mentor or Coach
Next on the docket is the matter of finding a mentor, which we mentioned briefly earlier. Luckily, there are all sorts of potential real estate agents like Krista Mashore who can offer their expertise and knowledge to helping you further succeed in the industry. How might a mentorship like this operate, though?
Note that there will likely be a transactional element to finding a realtor to mentor you. This is not a negative thing, but rather a fact to be aware of. With mentors, they may take part in your commission when you make your first sales or ask to tap into your circle of connections – something like that.
With coaches, it will usually be more of a direct thing. You’ll hire them to teach you the ropes, and they’ll be there with you along the way. Honestly, it may be beneficial to find a mentor or coach sooner rather than later when you start out, because they can help you with the other steps that we’ve mentioned here!
As far as whether getting a mentor or coach is worth it goes, it’s hard to argue against the fact that it is. Realistically, it’s one of the only ways that you can properly get yourself established in the real estate market. That’s because a lot of the market is about who you know. Having a mentor or coach bring you into their inner circle can be invaluable, to say the least.
Lead Generation and Prospects
As you get a bit more experience under your belt, you can start to think about how you want to go about generating leads and prospects. Focusing on prospects first for a moment, it might be helpful for you to decide what you consider the main goal of your business. As this article explains, you have two main choices – are you going to focus on marketing or on prospecting new clients?
Either way, the next step will be to dedicate yourself to lead generation. There are all sorts of methods these days, so you’ll have a ton of choices. Some examples of this are whether you want to do the traditional style of using your influence sphere, making cold calls, and going door-to-door, or if you’d rather utilize some of the new technology that we have available.
For many of us, the latter will be preferable. While SEO (search engine optimization) might seem intimidating at first, it’s nowhere near as stressful as making cold calls. So, it’ll be up to you to decide what you’ll be focusing on. A mixture of both can be quite effective as well, of course.
Marketing
Our final piece of advice for today will be to market yourself. This is something that you will probably start to do rather early on, but over time, your brand will develop and so will your marketing materials. With that said, it’s good to remember that this will be an ongoing process rather than something that happens once, and you’ll be done with it.
Making business cards and creating your professional email account are some of the first steps that you’ll want to take. This way, you’ll be able to properly communicate with your clients and your entire sphere of influence without having to involve too many of your personal details. Seeing as you’ll be getting a lot of emails, trust us when we say to make a separate one for your business dealings.
Something else that you may want to do is create a logo for yourself. Perhaps you’re already starting to worry about the costs involved with marketing, and that’s certainly understandable. However, try to look at it this way: businesses require some investments to help get them off the ground.
For realtors, a big part of that is going to be the marketing. So, don’t skimp out or try to cut corners with this stuff. You want to come across as polished and professional for your potential clients, not sloppy and inexperienced.
Hopefully, you’ve found at least some of this advice helpful. Above all else, think about finding a mentor or a coach. That will be your primary way of tapping into the real estate market in the first place, after all.
