10 THINGS YOU SHOULD BE DOING AS A NEW REALTOR® IN YOUR FIRST FEW WEEKS IN THE BUSINESS

10 THINGS YOU SHOULD BE DOING AS A NEW REALTOR® IN YOUR FIRST FEW WEEKS IN THE BUSINESS

MAY 25, 2010 MARTY GREEN

So you have just signed up with a real estate broker as a new Real Estate Agent, so now what? How do you make the phone ring? How do you find clients to work with? What should you be doing first? These are questions asked over and over again by new Aspiring Real Estate Agents.

The first few weeks are very important to most real estate agents. They usually have limited funds to hold them while they try to get some deals under their belts. With some hard work and a little luck, within 3-5 weeks you should have a decent amount of people you can call upon.

Here are 10 things you should do straight away to help build your business quickly and ensure that you have a successful start to your real estate career-

1. Get your sphere of influence list together, complete with names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. These are friends and family and business acquaintances you may have had from you last career. Don’t leave anyone out. You may want to sit down with a friend or your spouse to get some help. It’s important to add people you may already doing business with, your accountant, hair stylist, mechanic etc. These people all have a book of business as well that you may be able to tap into.

This will become your Database which is crucial for tracking leads and incoming referrals. This is the life blood of your business and needs to be reviewed weekly if not daily.

2. Draft a letter or mail out that will go out to your sphere of influence letting them know you are now in the business. Just like a website, you need to let everyone know where you are and where you can be found. This introduction letter will have your name and company and how they can get in touch with you for all their real estate needs. At the end of your letter, you can ask your sphere how they would like to be contacted in the future. Most people want to be kept in touch by email. Some prefer snail mail and a lot of people now are communicating through facebook! Make sure you cover all the bases.

3. Work from a plan. If you are working on a plan, then you know what you are working toward. You have created a goal and are working at reaching it. Just working day to day is not a good way to stay focused and to know if you are getting closer to what you are after. Get a plan and work at it each and every day.

If your goal is to list and sell 20 homes a year and you know you have to have 3 appointments to get a listing, then you need 60 appointments. If you know it takes 10 calls to get an appointment, then you know you need to make 600 calls to get 60 appointments. 600 calls divided by 50 weeks of work is 12 calls, divided by 5 days a week is 2.4 calls per day. Can you commit to 2.4 calls per day? Honestly, anyone can. Just get a plan and block the time to do your calls.

4. Open houses. One of the most effective lead generation tools for a new agent are open houses. Holding an effective open house for an experienced agent is a very good way of generating clients now. A lot of home buyers visit homes in the area that they want to live to get an idea of pricing and house styles. New agents will often find buyers that they can work with at open houses. With some good training, a new agent can pickup quite a few clients from open houses. The key is being prepared with homes for sale in your area and knowing the products.

5. Use Facebook. Social media networking is quickly becoming a very good way of finding friends and family who are thinking of buying or selling. Facebook now has over 350 million people using it and have of them are on it daily. With some good marketing you can quickly establish yourself as a specialist in your marketplace. You become the “goto” person for your niche. Examples would be first time buyer specialist or an agent that works primarily with investment properties. Facebook Fan pages and groups can go viral very quickly and grow your reach to new clients and customers.

6. Start writing personal notes. No other activity has built trust quicker and deepened relationships then writing personal notes. Just the fact that this takes your most valuable resource, your time, really means something to your clients. If you can write as little as 2 notes per day to someone you have just met or a past client that you have had a relationship with for a while. You will be way further along in building a very strong real estate database. It only takes 30 seconds to write one but can make the difference in people remember who the Realtor was that really cared about them!

7. Start phoning through your database. Begin with the people you know the best. This is for two reasons, one they already know and like you and are more likely to refer you. Two, they won’t get annoyed that you called and this will build some great habits for you throughout you real estate career. Agents that can easily just pick up the phone and make calls to their database will far outsell other agents because they know how to keep in touch with their clients and know how to ask for business through referrals. Keeping in touch regularly is key, by phone at least 4 times a year is recommended per client. Attacking your database!

8. Visit Agent open houses. You need to learn the product in your area and one great way is to visit Agent open houses. Searching through the MLS is a great way to learn house prices but it’s also a great idea when you are new to visit many homes so you can get a better idea of style and size. Knowing the product well in your local area will make you a more knowledgeable agent in your clients eyes. Keeping apprised of home sales and current listings will also show your competence.

9. Sign up for sales training. If you are a new Realtor, it’s unlikely that you have had much sales training. Sales is an art form and is not learned overnight. Sales training to an effective level can take years to hone. Sign up for training as soon as you can. This is an investment in your future and should not be overlooked.

With proper sales training, you will learn what to say and when to say it. You will learn how to effectively listen for a problem and be able to resolve it. Real estate Pro’s are always looking to learn something new, make sure you are keeping up with them.

10. Do something that moves your business forward every day. It can be as little as calling a few people on the phone or writing some personal notes. Maybe you hand deliver a few flyers or do some door knocking. Something that moves you to say my business is better today then it was yesterday. Cleaning your office or re-organizing your computer bag doesn’t move your business forward. Yes having a clean office is important, but it doesn’t generate you business. Even if you just made one call to a client you just met or a past client and had a conversation, you have deepened the relationship and your business is better for it.

11. Exercise often. This is a Bonus, but I feel it is worthy of mention in this list. Exercise is so very important in Sales for energy and outward appearance. The way you present yourself out in public is important and you want to look your best at all times. Unfortunately for most, when starting in Real Estate, people tend to gain weight much faster than they have in the past at other jobs.

Spending just 15 minutes a day working out will make sure you are up to the task of what the Real Estate Industry can throw at you.

There you have it, 11 things you should be doing in the first few weeks of your Real Estate Career.