In the end, it really doesn’t matter where you start in your career or what mistakes you make in the early stages. Everyone makes mistakes in new endeavors. What matters most is having a plan or process that keeps you moving down the track toward your goals. Most people would have quit with such a rocky start as mine. However, the sure way to lose is to quit. The only way you win is to keep going.
One of the first steps toward success is knowing what you want out of your real estate career. However, “financial independence” is not a specific enough answer.
I’ve been in real estate, either working in direct sales or teaching, speaking, training, writing, or coaching people, for nearly 30 years. I’ve spoken to sales audiences on five different continents. I’ve met hundreds of thousands of agents, and nearly every one started selling real estate with the same goal of financial independence. Countless times I’ve asked the question, “Tell me, how do you define financial independence?” What I usually hear in response is some variation of “So I don’t have to worry about money anymore.”
By having your financial goal in mind, you find clarity and can see past the hard work that lies ahead of you. When you have to endure the rejection, competition, disloyal customers, and challenges that are inevitable along the way, your knowledge about the wealth you’re working to achieve helps you weather the storms of the business.
I must share that this focusing on your financial independence number is more real to me today than ever. I realize these steps I just shared with you I did myself 30 years ago. I created a plan as I exactly have described for you. I have worked that plan for 30 years and it has compounded to the point where I don’t have to work. The financial piece of the puzzle has been accomplished. I choose to work because I enjoy what I do, not because I need the money it brings. That is true freedom and financial independence. I wish that for you as well.
Real estate agents join doctors, dentists, attorneys, accountants, and financial planners in the ranks of licensed professionals who provide guidance and counsel to clients. The big difference is that most real estate agents don’t view themselves as top-level, highly paid professionals. Many agents, along with a good portion of the public, perceive themselves as real estate tour guides, as home inventory access providers, or even as mere cogs in the wheel of the property sale transaction. The best agents, however, know and act differently.
The Internet and the open access to real estate information have accentuated the view that agents are simply home access providers. Consumers in the real estate market are able to find so much information online that they often view themselves as the experts and agents as simply the key masters. The increasing strength online of third-party sources of real estate information like Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com has created another gap between agents and consumers. I’m not advocating a return to the dark ages of MLS books the size of a local telephone book with property information printed biweekly. That is certainly a bygone era. But, to succeed in these technological times, we must expand our offerings and showcase that our services go well beyond basic real estate information and access into homes. We must clearly communicate with the online consumers what they don’t have access to, what information they are lacking, along with our benefits and value – even in their early researching period.
Serving your professional representation
Real estate agents represent the interests of their clients. As an agent, you’re bound by honor, ethics, and duty to work on your client’s behalf to achieve the defined and desired results. This involves the following functions:
❯❯ Defining the client’s objective: To serve as a good fiduciary representative, you need to start with a clear understanding of the objectives your client is aiming to achieve through the sale or purchase of property. Too many agents get into trouble by starting out with uncertainty about the interests of the people they’re representing.
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An attorney may encourage a client to proceed with a lawsuit when the client has a high probability of winning, or she may recommend an out-of-court settlement when odds point toward a court loss that could leave the client with nothing but legal bills to pay. Likewise, you need to be able to steer your clients toward good decisions regarding the value of their homes, the pricing strategies they adopt, the marketing approaches they follow, and the way their contract is negotiated in order to maximize their financial advantage.
❯❯ Diagnosing problems and offering solutions: A good agent, like a good doctor, spends a great deal of time examining situations, determining problems, and prescribing solutions. In an agent’s case, the focus is on the condition and health of the home a client is trying to buy or sell. The examination involves an analysis of the property’s condition, location, neighborhood, school district, curb appeal, landscaping, market competitiveness, market demand, availability for showing, and value versus price. The diagnosis involves an unvarnished analysis of what a home is worth and what changes or corrections are necessary.
Some say that agents should present all the options available to their clients and then recommend the course of action they feel is best. By doing this, agents allow their clients to make the final decision. Although many experts praise the virtues of this approach, I prefer the diagnostic and prescriptive approach because it positions you better as the expert. When clients make poor choices such as setting the wrong price on their home or making an initial offer that is too low, you may still receive some or all of the blame even though they chose the wrong option. No matter the style of your counsel to a client, whether more advisory or assertive, your success in guiding your clients to a successful outcome is based on your expert analysis and application of the variables to the marketplace.
