I though I would share my experience and what I have experienced with other new agents in starting out in real estate.
First and foremost, I believe that some pre licensed and newly licensed agent are not fully aware of what it actually takes to be not only be a successful agent, but an informed agent. Real estate is not for everyone, most new agents think they are going to make it rich selling houses and have fun working with their clients. Maybe television is the blame for this misconception, or a misleading recruiter at a real estate company. Regardless, making sure someone you know if fully educated about the field before they decide to make a career change.
The drive to become an agent.
For myself, I choose the real estate path because I've been involved in the industry at a young age, given I am only 20. My family has been involved in real estate for over 27 years. It was an easy choice. I was able to enter the field with a decent amount of knowledge that I have learned over the years. For some of the newer agents, some may not have any prior real estate knowledge, which isn't horribly bad, but would put them at a lesser advantage over others. I have had multiple peers join real estate and quit their jobs thinking they were going to start selling and listing homes right off the bat. I wish I had gotten to them sooner!
I'll Be Rich!
One of the biggest issues with new agents is what they believe they will make their first year. $100,000; $200,000? Most likely not. There is nothing wrong with setting goals, but learning how to set smart goals is key. For myself, I decided to set the number of sides I wanted to complete my first year. I wasn't going to be too concerned with the amount I was going to make. Gaining actual real estate experience and working with a number of different scenarios was what I was after.
Where are my Clients?
The most important factor in real estate; The customer. Where is the client who will buy the house from you come from? Family? Friends? I've talked to too many new agents either starting out or thinking about getting their licenses and their answers are is usually the same; "The company will give me my clients." If only they knew! Most do not understand that you have to work to get clients, work to sell or list with those clients, and then work on maintaining relationships with past and current clients. Not saying I haven't received a few company leads, but that isn't where my business comes from. I choose to work as a buyers agent with an established team in my area. It gives me a chance to work IN my real estate business as well as have a decent supply of leads to work ON my business.
In Conclusion.
I absolutely love real estate and wouldn't want to be doing anything else. I also enjoy seeing new agents join the field, its seeing them fall out after a few months is whats disappointing. We should all work together to educate the general public and people interested in joining the real estate industry. Everything aside, real estate is a growing field, lets make sure everyone has the proper knowledge. Every single one of us as agents are who the public enguages with, lets make sure it a positive interaction.
- See more at: http://activerain.com/blogsview/4228817/starting-out-as-a-new-real-estate-agent-#sthash.mvgUrP4Z.dpuf
Showing posts with label time management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time management. Show all posts
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Finding the Balance of Working IN Your Real Estate Business
Well, I've seemed to find time again to do some more blogging. I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments on my first blog post. Again, Thanks everyone!
For this post I wanted to talk about the importance of working IN your real estate business, and finding the balance in which to do so. As I am approaching my second month as an active agent, my goals as to where I wanted to be at an online stance isn't up to par. I've been working in real estate as an admin and tech support for a while. In my time I've found that the biggest neglected factor for others and myself is working inside your real estate business.
Finding, Making and Planning the Time
Working on your real estate business is easy. We do it everyday. Meeting with clients, showing houses, writing contracts, etc. However, do we always take the time to work inside our business? For myself, I've acknowledged the fact that I do not work in my business as much as I originally planed to. My website needs to be updated. I've been ignoring my Twitter, Facebook and I haven't been on AR as much as I would like.
I finally had to set specific time aside to do so!
Since then, I have decided to set a few hours, one day a week to work on organization, web pages, social media and other odd and ends that do not get the attention during the rest of the week. I feel like the importance of this is just as important as working on my business if not more.
Why is it so Important?
I've spoken to many different clients and customers who shared their experience in finding an agent and starting the home buying process online. Since so many people do start online these days, why wouldn't we want to focus AT LEAST a few hours a week to working inside our business. In the experiences I was told, the most common factor that pushed clients from one agents page to another was old content and layout. I don't want to focus on agent websites too much. (That's a whole post on its own) Continuing, a simple update to your homepage can mean the difference between gaining a client and losing one.
Organizing Yourself
In addition to working on your online presence. Making sure your keeping organized is key as well. Entering that clients contact info you jotted down on a sticky note into your CRM, and that those random papers are filed where need be. I've had days were I go look at my desk and question how I let it get that bad. I try to stay organized as I go but at the end of the week I've surprised myself again.
I feel like to could go on and on about the topics in this post. My main goal was to encourage agents to make the time to keep organized and updated on the web. Such a small amount of time can make a bigger difference than you think. My next few blog post will go into specifics on tech for agents and I've included the topics and schedule below. Please feel free to comment and let me know your opinion and any tips or pointer you may have or if there is a topic you would like me to cover. I'd love to hear what other agents have to say.
1) Agent Websites and Zillow Primer Websites 11/11
2) Email, Email Campaigns and Email Blasts 11/20
3) Social Media and Real Estate Agents 11/30
4) CRM's 12/9
For this post I wanted to talk about the importance of working IN your real estate business, and finding the balance in which to do so. As I am approaching my second month as an active agent, my goals as to where I wanted to be at an online stance isn't up to par. I've been working in real estate as an admin and tech support for a while. In my time I've found that the biggest neglected factor for others and myself is working inside your real estate business.
Finding, Making and Planning the Time
Working on your real estate business is easy. We do it everyday. Meeting with clients, showing houses, writing contracts, etc. However, do we always take the time to work inside our business? For myself, I've acknowledged the fact that I do not work in my business as much as I originally planed to. My website needs to be updated. I've been ignoring my Twitter, Facebook and I haven't been on AR as much as I would like.
I finally had to set specific time aside to do so! Since then, I have decided to set a few hours, one day a week to work on organization, web pages, social media and other odd and ends that do not get the attention during the rest of the week. I feel like the importance of this is just as important as working on my business if not more.
Why is it so Important?
I've spoken to many different clients and customers who shared their experience in finding an agent and starting the home buying process online. Since so many people do start online these days, why wouldn't we want to focus AT LEAST a few hours a week to working inside our business. In the experiences I was told, the most common factor that pushed clients from one agents page to another was old content and layout. I don't want to focus on agent websites too much. (That's a whole post on its own) Continuing, a simple update to your homepage can mean the difference between gaining a client and losing one.
Organizing Yourself
In addition to working on your online presence. Making sure your keeping organized is key as well. Entering that clients contact info you jotted down on a sticky note into your CRM, and that those random papers are filed where need be. I've had days were I go look at my desk and question how I let it get that bad. I try to stay organized as I go but at the end of the week I've surprised myself again.
I feel like to could go on and on about the topics in this post. My main goal was to encourage agents to make the time to keep organized and updated on the web. Such a small amount of time can make a bigger difference than you think. My next few blog post will go into specifics on tech for agents and I've included the topics and schedule below. Please feel free to comment and let me know your opinion and any tips or pointer you may have or if there is a topic you would like me to cover. I'd love to hear what other agents have to say.
1) Agent Websites and Zillow Primer Websites 11/11
2) Email, Email Campaigns and Email Blasts 11/20
3) Social Media and Real Estate Agents 11/30
4) CRM's 12/9
Richard Russell
cutler Real Estate
330.281.6582
Selling Akron Oh and Surrounding Areas!
- See more at: http://activerain.com/blogs/rrussellneo#sthash.qY8dh2ku.dpuf
cutler Real Estate
330.281.6582
Selling Akron Oh and Surrounding Areas!
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