Real estate agents have very diverse backgrounds. In my area, we have everything from recent college graduates to retired tech folks who weren’t ready for the rocking chair. Most had the same impression when they decided to get into the business, they will just sell the perfect little house with a white picket fence and work with excited clients who are easy to work with! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read an article or heard someone say, “Hell, all you have to do is show a few houses to some folks, write a contract that is already on a template, and then you get paid 6% in 30 days. How hard can it be?”
Well, it was pretty easy for several years, but those times are over for most areas, and now we are in reality. This is what selling real estate is really like, you have to work at it, and work at it, and work at it. The low-hanging fruit is gone and now you have to figure out how to make your phone ring, your inbox fill up, and your DM’s ding, all without going broke in the meantime! There are no bosses to tell you what to do, no scheduled shifts, and no one to motivate you. It’s all up to you, and if you fail, there is NO INCOME.
The reward is that real estate can be a very enjoyable business, with the income and freedom that you choose to seek. The key word in that last sentence is BUSINESS! But some agents don’t realize they are business owners. They have no business plan, no marketing plan, no budget, and no idea how they are going to get business. It’s not their fault; they have never run a business before and typically don’t have someone to help them. Some will throw tons of money at social media marketing, google ads, and other marketing ideas because they were promised the “silver bullet” or “secret”, like, “10 closed sales in 3 months, GUARANTEED!” Don’t get me wrong here, those can be viable avenues for gaining leads, but throwing money at them won’t do any good if you don’t run your marketing as any successful business would. Here are just some of the basics you should be doing.
First, you need to budget each marketing avenue and determine your ROI on your average sale. Who cares if you get 10 closed sales if getting those leads cost you more than you made from closing the sales? You lost money!
Second, you need a plan for managing contacts and then converting those leads to actual clients. You could get 500 leads, but if you don’t convert any of them you are wasting time and money. You need a system that keeps nurturing these leads until they are ready to buy or sell. Marketing takes time. Each marketing avenue should be given at least 6 months, and most take a year, to start producing income.
Third, use the rifle approach rather than the shotgun approach. You won’t be the agent of the masses until you are the agent of the few. Be the expert in your area of service, your niche, and especially your sphere. Don’t assume that people you know will call you when they, or one of their friends or family, is ready to buy or sell a home. You must consistently remind them that you are their expert in real estate. Once you have mastered these areas you can start expanding to other niches and specialties and build a nice referral business.
Marketing is just one part of running a business, but it is the one thing you must do effectively to succeed in any business. After nearly 40 years of running different businesses, I could drone on and on about all of the other aspects of being a business owner, but for brevity, just start by realizing that you are a business owner. The buck stops with you. You must adapt to the current situation and keep changing as the market does. There are no excuses; not the fed, not your Broker, not the market, none. Excuses don’t pay the bills or get you to your dreams. You own the business, run it like one and you will reach those dreams that you had when you started your business!
Thank you for your time.
Brad