There are many different answers you will get when you ask real estate agents why they decided to take this career path.
“I wanted a challenging and rewarding work life”.
“I wanted to help people’s home-ownership dreams come true”.
And our personal favorite:
“I wanted a life that was tailored to me”.
These answers are great and might very well be the truth, well the half-truth anyway. Most real estate agents get into the business for one reason. Money. It is well known that SUCCESSFUL real estate agents are able to mold their schedules to meet their lifestyle while bringing in the income they need to support it. Where there is a miss communication of sorts between established agents and agent prospects, is the in-between area. While working your way to becoming a top seller, you need to put in the work, a lot of work. You will need to work long days and weekends in order to establish your business, however, during your long days and hard work you want to insure you developing systems that will allow you to leverage more free time, more money, and a business that may even be worthy of selling some day. Too many people allow time to pass while doing the same thing day in and day out – and never get off the so-called ‘hamster wheel’.
A lot of agents that are just starting out (usually within the first 5 years) find it hard to hit a balance between highs and lows regarding success. We at Dan Plowman Team Systems believe that to be a successful agent you must be able to control the highs and lows of your business. which will create a steady flow of income and emotional stability. (Yes, being a real estate agent can be an emotional roller coaster too!).
Below are some great tips we preach to our clients here at Dan Plowman Team Systems.
You must be driven
To get the freedom you want for your life, you must have the motivation to get it. You need to have the right drive to get off this ‘hamster wheel’ and do things differently for your business. If you believe that your life and career are status quo, then you will always live on the’ hamster wheel’. You have to acknowledge that you can be doing things better and use that motivation to drive you further.
Marketing Strategy
If you don’t make a plan and follow it, you may have a sure plan to fail. You need to set a strategy with your marketing budget that is realistic and driven to help you achieve a goal. It’s important to note that when you have a clear marketing strategy you must stick with it. If you change your strategy every few days or even weeks you won’t give things a true chance to see results. (Tracking is critical) At Dan Plowman Team Systems, we help our coaching clients lay out a strategy that works for them, and then encourage them every step of the way to follow it, while teaching them how to maximize and simplify tracking results.
Get Social
There is no getting away from the digital marketing world, embrace it or fall behind. If you are not on Facebook your brand might as well not exist. Facebook is the new word of mouth and it’s a great way to showcase your real estate business. If you are not very familiar with social media platforms read up on them and educate yourself, or of course, hire a coach to help!
Social media is the perfect chance to highlight your business and your brand tone for the local community to see.
Set Goals
If you don’t set goals, how will you know when you are crushing them? Make sure you are setting weekly goals and then keeping track of whether or not you are meeting them. This is very helpful to help you plan out what you can do better. This does not have to take much time at all. Spend an hour Monday morning to set your goal, and the next month make notes about if you met the goals and if not, why not!
Set Expectations for Clients and Colleagues
Often, real estate agents are very eager to please their clients and colleagues that they will make promises they cannot deliver on. This results in a lot of stress for you as an agent when you are struggling to meet unrealistic expectations. “Under promise, over deliver” its a great saying used in many industries. At Dan Plowman Team Systems, our clients live by this saying.
Set Time for Yourself
Real estate agents are always on the go, and often don’t know the meaning of the word “weekend”. This can cause agents to fall behind causing stress in their business lives. You must find that magic balance between work life and home life. You can show your clients you are a motivated agent while being firm on personal engagements that are important to you. It’s all about how to word this to your clients.
Being a real estate agent means you could find yourself on the hamster wheel – this applies to new agents and quite often veteran agents too. number one tip we would recommend is to find a good mentor or coach, whether it be a fellow agent or a coaching system such as Dan Plowman Team Systems that is tried tested and true and continues to develop its achievement from a current active top producing team. Having someone to speak with about the struggles of trying to become the most successful agent you can be is extremely helpful, and it will insure you stay on track.
Remember doing more deals is just a natural byproduct of doing the right things.
Until next time.
Dan Plowman
“I should not be more excited about your business than you are.” - Dan Plowman