What it Really Takes to be a Top Real Estate Agent
Let me tell you that I’ve been an agent that was just starting out from scratch, when I started in the business in 2009, and I’ve risen to be the number one agent in my market, and among the top 1% of the 73,000 agents in North America. But believe me, I have failed a lot, and I’ve learned from my mistakes.
Let’s start with the premise that you need to be exceptional to become a top real estate agent in your market. The 80/20 rule is definitely in play in residential real estate. There are lots of real estate agents that are not working full time, or for whom being a real estate agent is a second job they do on the side. If you strive to be in the top 20% of the real estate agents in your luxury market, that is good. It is why you are reading this article.
The Real Estate System for Success is focused on helping you to get to the top of the top 20%.
It is not enough for you to be good and wonder why you are not doing better; you need to seek to learn the things the top agents are doing that you are not, and how to differentiate yourself. You need to put yourself in the position to be successful. You need to get the opportunity to earn the business of the affluent luxury homeowners.
You need to learn to have the confidence required and convey your story to your prospects. Clients want to know they can trust you, that you are competent, and that you can help them get what they want. You will need to work smarter than you have been working. Working harder and continuing to do the same wrong things over and over will not lead to great success, but working smarter will.
You must also learn that even the top real estate agents are failures. This is true – the top real estate agent in your market is doing less than 5% of the overall business. That means that they fail to capture the other 95% of the business.
A hitter in baseball is phenomenal if they can get a hit 30% of the time, meaning they fail 70% of the time. Yes, it will vary in every market, but I bet if you add up all the business in your luxury market or geographic area, and then double it, because there are two sides to every transaction, then look at what the top agent closed – it will be less than 5%.
“Don’t be afraid to fail in your real estate business.”
The best real estate agents and athletes fail constantly. Failure is part of our job. Using the baseball analogy – the more times you get to the plate the more strike-outs you will get, but also the more hits you will get. Nobody knows how many listings the top agents strike out on, but I can guarantee you they lose their share.
The key is to increase the number of prospects you get in front of and improve your effectiveness and conversion.
I am constantly thinking, how can I be a student of the game? When I first started out I identified the agents that were successful and figured out how I could model some of the things they were doing. And I still do this so that I am staying in the game!
To continue being a student of the game i’ve gone to the Colorado Association of Realtors conference, National Association of Realtors conference, The worldwide conference, and Social Media Marketing World. All of these conferences I have continued to attend for multiple years, and over and over and over.
And every time I go back, I learn and get exposed to new things. And it gets me to the next level.
I’ve also had individual coaches, and been part of marketing bootcamps and masterminds, and spent a lot of money to obtain the knowledge that I’ve gained over the years. I’ve put a lot of hard work and effort in training, and studying, and learning, and going to conferences, and traveling, and seeking out those people that I believe can help me to get that extra edge, to figure out how I can do that next thing to take my business to the next level.
Or, if i’m not able to implement certain marketing strategies on my own, I find the resources that I need to bring into my business to help me do the things that A, I don’t want to do, B, I’m not good at, or C, I really know that if I brought another resource in, they could do it much, much better.
I always use the metaphor of walking across the river. You step on one stone, and then you see another stone. And before you know it, you are across the river. And sometimes you’ll fall in. Believe me, I’ve fallen in many times.
“As Real Estate agents WE are the product and the service.”
So if you aren’t doing anything to make the product and the service better, than your business will not be better either, and will ultimately go downhill since your competition is getting better.
So, what it really takes to be a top agent is the mentality to constantly be learning and investing in yourself, and I challenge you to have this attitude so you may take your business to the next level.
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