3 Things Every New Real Estate Agent Should Do Immediately
Find a support system
Ok, so you are an agent now. Congratulations! But, now what?
Simple. Find a mentor.
Whether this is with a company that you are working for, or someone that is a veteran in the business, try and find a person willing to help you. Better yet, find a few.
Although you learned the textbook rules when you were obtaining your license, there are many things about this industry that can help you succeed you can’t read in a book.
- Where are the good neighborhoods?
- What local lenders will lend to buyers with bad credit?
- Who can help with repairs if they are needed to continue with the deal after an bad inspection?
Do yourself a favor and do more listening than talking.
You have probably been looking forward to becoming a working realtor for a while and are eager to get your career rolling. Slow down for a minute though and if you don’t have a mentor in mind, talk to your broker and see if they can help you find someone to learn from.
Surround yourself with successful people you can trust and then be a sponge and soak up every tip and trick they will teach you.
Build a network
Leverage social media to tell everyone that you know about your new career. It takes some time and proof of success to build a steady referral network, so be patient, but you have to start somewhere.
Look into creating a website for yourself that can easily be shared. If you are able to make it look professional and keep information up-to-date, this is a great way to look more experienced than you are.
On that website, you can even look into blogging. Without getting too technical, you should look up simple ways to rank high in a Google search through SEO methods specific to real estate. 44% of home buyers start their house hunt by looking online. Be the website that they see first. This can help bring in organic business for someone just searching for an agent in your area.
Even if you haven’t made your first deal, you can still blog about things that are relevant to people searching for a house, like up and coming neighborhoods to keep an eye out for, deferred maintenance red flags to watch out for while house hunting, or post a video about a house you are looking to sell.
This is where your team of mentors can come in handy.
Ask them a few questions about the area or things unique to buyers in your city, then write about it. Having a lot of great content on your website for people to read when they are first looking to buy or sell will make you look very credible.
On a separate note, also work to build up your network of people that you will need to refer to during the buying process. Go out and meet the local lenders and see if you can develop a referral relationship. Many buyers that are new to an area will count on your recommendations.
Invest time and money in the right tech programs
There are so many great tools and tech out right now that can help automate large parts of your job, allowing you to get out in front of your customers more. While you are waiting to build your network, look into what programs would work for you and learn how to utilize them before you get too busy.
Look for a mobile-centric CRM software that is designed specifically for real estate. One of the most important features to seek out would be tracking leads. There are programs that can give you insights about any leads you pick up and help you to cultivate the relationship between you and the client.
Another factor to take into account would be, does the CRM allow you to work remotely in the field?
Since much of a realtors job is out of the office, it is important to be able to access your data wherever you are.
By doing this work up front, you will save yourself a lot of time in the long run. Build your process and workflow to stay organized and not let any lead go unanswered just because you forgot to follow up with them or couldn’t remember what stage of the process they were in while you were not at your desk.
While there are a multitude of other tasks that you can accomplish to help jump start your new career, by doing all three of these things you can set yourself up on the path to success. You are starting to build your own brand, you have a team of people behind you and you have the technology to allow you to stand out to a new client.
Now, on to landing that first deal…
