Only a small number of real estate agents have been working for more than 10 years, and even fewer can be called truly successful professionals in their field. In this post, we will discuss the seven main reasons why newcomers fail.
As we have mentioned before, only a small number of real estate agents have been working for more than twenty years, and even fewer can be called truly successful professionals in their field. In this post, we will discuss the seven main reasons why newcomers fail. We hope that this list will be useful for those who are still considering or have recently chosen a career as a broker.
1. Lack of motivation and determination
Real estate agent jobs offer a loose schedule and, if you’re lucky, high earnings. Therefore, for different reasons, all sorts of different people decide to try their hand at being a real estate agent, often with little idea of what a agent’s day-to-day life is like and what competences are needed for the job. For many of them, working as a real estate broker just seems exciting. They are interested in new activities, in success and money, in freedom, etc. So where is the problem? Well, excitement can quickly evaporate when the first challenges arise.
Only those who set long-term goals and are sufficiently motivated stay strong.
Because they take the long view and see meaning in what they do. They are motivated and determined to do what it takes, regardless of the time and effort, to achieve their goals sooner or later.
2. The mentality of a hired worker
A agent is not an employee but an entrepreneur. This means you won’t have fixed working hours or a stable fixed salary. You will be in charge of your own spending, and it will be up to you to decide how much you earn. You will need to invest in yourself and the tools you need to do your job, acquire financial and legal knowledge, set your own goals, develop your own strategies to achieve them, and establish your own working routine.
The time when you are likely to make the most money is not between 8:00 and 18:00, but in the evenings or weekends, when your clients are not in their offices and have time to look for a home or view a property. So, if time management is a challenge for you, or if you dream of a job that allows you to spend your evenings and weekends in peace, a career as a agent is not for you.
3. Working Without a Strategy
No business can be successful without a strategy. If you start out as a agent without knowing much about real estate and the day-to-day life of a agent, you will probably try to launch your career with just about anything, as long as you’re doing something. A house in the countryside, an apartment in Old Town, commercial premises in the city centre. Instead of seizing every opportunity, you need a strategy.
You need to assess the market, pick one segment, and start from there
The best agents agree that you need to assess the market, pick one segment, and start from there. For example, 12-room apartments in one of the capital’s neighbourhoods. Become a true expert in your chosen segment, knowing everything there is to know about it and able to provide reasoned advice to both your clients and fellow agents. When you see that your chosen segment is too small for you, gradually expand your scope of expertise. For example, add 34-room apartments in the same area or 12-room apartments in a neighboring area.
4. A lack of specific goals
Since a agent’s job is a business, you need clearly measurable objectives. It is important to set goals for the long term, not just for a month or a few days. With a specific goal in mind, measure your performance. These are the cornerstones that will help you organise your routine and really be able to plan your work.
For example, you have set a target of selling 24 homes per year (two per month on average). Keep track of how many calls you receive from adverts, how many of them result in viewings, how many viewings it takes to get and sell a property, and how much of your time you spend on all of them. These will be small numbers when you first start working, but you will soon notice averages.
Measurements will help you be strategic about your goals and plan both your spending and your workload.
For example, you want to get more properties for sale, and you call the owners of the properties advertised. What is your goal? Spend two hours on the phone, make 20 calls, or find two properties to sell?The goal is to get the objects, so you need to know the average number of calls needed to do this and the average time it takes to make those calls. Then you can really plan and succeed in achieving your goals. I need x objects, I need to make y calls, so I need to schedule z hours for this work. How you measure this is up to you; you can either do it manually or use CRM, in which case the number of calls, inspections, and emails will be recorded automatically. In any case, knowing the numbers will give you the satisfaction of knowing that success is not a coincidence, but the result of your strategic work.
5. A small customer base
Imagine a gas station that is open only one hour a day, once a week. Will it be profitable? You’re in sales, so you need as many customers as possible. To have customers, you need as many people as possible to visit your "gas station." If there aren’t enough, you are either not doing your best to actively seek customers or you are not investing enough money in quality advertising.
If we are talking about effort, this is where tracking and measuring your work pays off. For example, if you know how many calls you need to achieve a result, you will know how many calls and working hours you need to achieve your target.
When it comes to advertising, we want to emphasize the word "quality." This means advertising that is targeted to the people you need and advertising channels that deliver the most value for the least cost. In any case, you need at least a little marketing knowledge, and it will be easier if you have a clear picture of the property segment you are working with. It will be easier to deal with the potential of those who want to sell their property because they will have something in common (in the case of residential property, this would be location).
Become a familiar face to residents, commercial property managers, or other potential clients in your chosen area who are looking to sell or rent property. To avoid having to cold-call or go door-to-door to find all your customers, make sure you have quality advertising. Knowing who your potential customer is or where they live will help you make better decisions on how to promote yourself to property owners, and knowing all the possible advertising tools will help you choose the most suitable ones for each property (read more about sources of leads here).
6. Fear of being wrong and hearing "no"
Mistakes are what you learn from them. No one becomes a professional without making lots of mistakes and hearing lots of "no’s". Fear of making mistakes or being rejected kills initiative, while every mistake or failure is a valuable lesson. The more and faster you learn from these lessons, the wiser and more professional you will become.
With a clear strategy, by tracking and measuring your work, there is much less room for this fear.
Yes, hearing "no" is unpleasant. But when you know that you have to hear "no" 49 times just to hear that one "yes", your attitude and feelings will be completely different. The "no" you hear will be a statistic, not a painful personal insult or setback.
7. Lack of professional knowledge
This is true for everyone these days, but for agents it is especially important to always be improving. They need to keep up to date with the real estate market, have at least a minimum legal background, and continuously improve their communication and negotiation skills, as well as their knowledge of psychology. Depending on the property segment you choose, you may need to look into specific issues that are relevant to your customer base. A lack of financial literacy and discipline can have particularly severe consequences.
Keeping up to date with the latest news, reading books, watching educational videos, and attending seminars and training courses is an important part of agent’s job if you want to become a true professional. All this has its cost, either time or time and money.