Go From Newbie to Seasoned Pro

It’s difficult to be the new kid on the block in any profession. In real estate, a profession in which expertise, confidence and self assurance are required, look to other agents you know and respect as models of you’d like to become down the road a bit.

Matt Kaestner with Realtor Zutila, Inc. offered some good advice to new agents in a recent Inman article. Here’s a bit of Kaestner’s advice.

1. Build and relentlessly farm your sphere of influence.
   1. Cultivate your relationships.
   2. No one is going to call you out of the blue.
2. Do constant and consistent prospecting.
   1. Limitless hours and years go into successful prospecting and network.
   2. Make new contacts every day.
   3. Cold call, door knock, put yourself out there and connect the dots in new and inventive ways.
   4. Partner with other businesses, non-profits and entities that could benefit from more exposure and new audiences. Develop these partnerships into reciprocal ones.
3. Grow a thick skin.
   1. Get over the fear of rejection.
   2. Every cold call gets you closer to one contact, closer to next lead, closer to next prospect, closer to next client, closer to closed deal.
4. Strive for productivity, not perfection.
   1. Focus on making 10 calls instead of dwelling on making 1 perfect call.
   2. There is no such thing as “perfect.”
5. Practice learning and honing your skills.
   1. Know how to interpret market research specific to your target audience.
   2. Know your scripts.
   3. Know how to direct conversations to achieve outcomes you want.
   4. Know how to ask “the right” questions.
   5. Conversational skills that create, develop and deepen relationship are learned.
   6. The only way to improve is to seize the moment, opportunity and try.
6. Sit other agents’ open houses.
   1. Create your own pipeline of buyers and sellers by putting yourself in situations where people actually interested in real estate congregate…open houses.
   2. Turn over every stone to have as many real estate related conversations as possible. Open houses are perfect settings for those conversations.
7. Avoid “shiny, new toys” that are offered as silver bullets to real estate agents.
   1. There aren’t any silver bullets…even if they appear to be silver, their sheen chips off and goes dull very quickly.
   2. Focus on tried and true platforms or CRMs that actually enable you to be and become more proactive.