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Real estate is, in many ways, a really simple business. Find people who need to buy, sell or rent and match them up with a property. It’s a service that practically everyone needs professional help with at some point in their lives.
With so many people moving so often these days because of life circumstances or just because they want to, why do so many real estate professionals struggle with finding customers and getting business?
Many agents are always looking for that magical answer to success, but a lack of success is really always tied to just a few simple reasons.
Focusing on the wrong things
The first is spending most of our available time working on the wrong things. Many agents are busy all day, tired at the end of a long day and even feel satisfied that they were so busy. The problem is that all their time was spent on activities that will never lead to a paycheck.
Maybe they worked on their website, took a class or went to an open house. While these may be worthwhile activities, they are not income-producing activities.
Not working hard enough
The second reason is that sometimes we just don’t do enough of the work needed to get results. We simply don’t work enough. Sometimes, we don’t even realize that we are not doing enough or that our activity level is much too low for any chance at real success.
Not doing enough is an easy fix; just find out what to do and do it. Find a good broker or mentor to show you what to do, adjust your daily activities and you are on your way.
This problem knocks many agents out of the business because they just can’t get themselves to work hard enough or consistently enough to get the results that they are looking for. These agents lack the needed motivation and discipline that success requires. Having their own business may not be the best path for these people.
5 ways the pros make it happen
Below are five pro tips that you can use right now so that you can be one of those agents in your office who achieves consistent success and finally makes the money that you deserve.
The magic solution that so many people are looking for is disguised in some very simple things. Actions that anyone can take any time that they choose to. Why not make today that day for you?
1. Check your activity level: The activity level is very high for a successful agent. They are always working to bring in business. Every minute of the day counts, and they know that wasting any time on something that does not bring them a paycheck will put them behind. Always be doing something and when there is nothing to do, find something to work on that will make you money.
Pro tip: Work 40 hours plus a week to make it happen.
2. Stop waiting to be saved: Nobody is coming. Not your colleagues, not your friends, not your broker. This is your business, and it’s going nowhere unless you make it happen. For those who have never had their own business, this is a massive mind shift.
Those who come to real estate from regular employment may not be used to making decisions and moving things forward. You are now an entrepreneur and the sooner that you understand this the sooner that you can start being successful.
Pro tip: Take responsibility for everything. Your success depends only on you and no other person or outside circumstance.
3. Start spending money: As with any business, to make money, you have to spend money. Real estate is one of the few businesses that you can start with very little money. To do the business correctly, like any business, you have to advertise and give yourself the tools that you need to be successful.
Waiting for deals to come in by chance and not setting yourself up for success by investing in your business will not work. You may do a few deals, but you will never get off the ground, and you will never have a real business if you don’t spend money.
Pro tip: Come up with a budget and spend the money that you need to spend to be successful.
4. Be selfish with your time: We only have twenty-four hours a day. We can use it productively or let people steal chunks of our valuable time throughout the day, eliminating our chance at success. When it’s not related to growing your business, and it will not lead to a paycheck, just don’t do it during your working hours.
Pro tip: Spend time only on the customers who are going to transact real estate in the near future.
5. Have a business plan: Know exactly the money that you want to make in 2025 and do the activities every day that will get you there. Waking up every day with the thought of getting business is not enough. You have to set a goal and push to reach it every day.
Pro tip: Plan your desired income level, goals and activities for the next 12 months and stick to your plan. Be consistent and relentless.
As you can see, the way to success is straightforward in real estate, so why isn’t everyone very successful, you may ask? My experience shows me that while just about anyone can be successful in this business, only a small percentage have the discipline to be consistent and effective with the work of real estate.
Like anything else, you have to really want it to make it happen. You have to want it more than anything else in your life.
Stop searching for that magical solution for success that doesn’t exist, and do the work that will get you where you want to go. Remember to keep pushing forward when things go sideways, and they will. Don’t ever, ever get discouraged or give up. Every top producer is just a new agent who refuses to give up.
Joseph Santini is a managing broker at Coldwell Banker Realty in Boca Raton, Florida. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
