The case of full-time professionals
In my view, as residential real estate professionals, we owe more to our clients and our industry than a part-time involvement. It’s okay to start part-time to get your feet wet. However, after six months, or a year at the most, if you cannot cut the apron strings of your other job, you will be providing yourself, the real estate industry, and your prospects and clients with a service to end your Attempt to become a Real Estate Broker.
Buying or selling a home is among the top five most stressful events in a person’s life. On the emotional scale, it ranks right up there with divorce. As a real estate agent, you are responsible for one of the most important decisions your clients will make now or in the next few years of their lives.
There is an emotional nature in the residential real estate business due to the stress levels of the Buyer, the Seller and the other agent. Unfortunately, agents can often fuel negative emotions if they’re not in control of their clients, don’t have the time to do the job right, or are more motivated by the need for a commission check to cover a past. -Car payment due as a result of the successful outcome of the real estate transaction.
Lack of Training – I personally believe that lack of training is the cause of our industry’s low success numbers, low customer return rates, and low revenue per agent. Most companies offer only a couple of weeks of introductory training for new hires. After that, for the most part, it’s, “Here’s your desk and here’s your phone… go get them!”
Agents look to their companies for tools of success and motivation, while companies (with some reason) say, “Hey, you’re an independent contractor, so it’s your obligation to build on your strengths and pay for your training.”
I think the ball is in the agent’s court. It’s your business; you are the one who needs to invest to make it grow. The best money you can spend is on training to improve your skills, knowledge, attitude, philosophy, and business skills.
24/7 Business Hours: As a residential real estate agent, you can count on having to work some nights and weekends. Some agents follow a 24-hour schedule for the duration of their careers; a few cut their evening and weekend hours to almost zero as their success takes hold.
By my third year in business, I had a four-day work week. I was able to sell over 150 houses a year while working Monday through Thursday and taking Friday, Saturday and Sunday completely off, with no interruptions from cell phones, pagers, faxes or email. On Thursday, from late afternoon to dusk, my wife, Joan, and I would get in our car and drive to our vacation home in Bend, Oregon, about three hours away, for three days off at a recreational paradise. On Sunday afternoon, we would return to Portland refreshed, relaxed, and ready to go. I only worked one afternoon a week, on Tuesdays, when I was meeting with clients or catching up on prospecting with people I couldn’t reach during the day.
The truth is, over time, you can build a high-volume practice that doesn’t require late-night or weekend hours. I am living proof that it can be done and so are all my clients.
Public Perception of Unlimited Access: Real estate clients think their agents should be available at the drop of a hat, in large part because we’ve trained them to expect 24/7 service. week.
The National Association of Realtors ran a huge marketing campaign several years ago. They distributed flyers, ran newspaper and magazine ads, and aired national television commercials promoting the theme “Real Estate is Our Life.” I was furious when I first saw it. I thought they set us back another 10 years with a campaign that perpetuates the myth that real estate agents must be constantly available to serve our clients.
Real estate is a great vehicle to finance the lifestyle you want, but it’s not your life! It’s certainly not my life. Real estate is way down the list after my Creator, my wife, my two children, and my extended family.
The most traveled road to real estate success is to become a workaholic, spending vast amounts of time paying the price for monetary success. Sure, you have to work and work harder than everyone else to get to the brass ring before it happens, but you don’t have to be available to customers every hour of every day. If you regularly work 50 hours a week, for five 10-hour days, and if you focus on the right activities during those hours, I guarantee you’ll earn a significant income in residential real estate.
Disrespect: Real estate agents rival Rodney Dangerfield when it comes to commanding respect from consumers. Much of the problem is self-inflicted. Both as individuals and as an industry, real estate agents do little to shine a light on the true benefits they provide to buyers and sellers. Instead, promotional messages focus on availability and accessibility, thus fueling the notion that real estate agents are on-call order takers rather than professional advisors and experts.
During good market cycles, consumers see the agent’s job as easy and the resulting fees as excessive. The mentality that real estate agents are racking up “easy money” is fueled by well-publicized national statistics.
To earn the respect you deserve, communicate that the value you offer goes far beyond creating a sale. Help prospects realize that as a professional real estate agent, the value you deliver includes protection and security of your client’s interests, expert market guidance, and many other facets that have nothing to do with producing a Buyer and everything to do with producing a favorable result for Your client.