Sometimes people stumble into their jobs by default, they have contacts within a particular industry and as a job becomes available, they get recommended for the role and hey presto, their un-chosen career starts. Few people start off their working careers in the line of business that they really love, so it’s worth considering why, if you are in real estate and what you get out of it. You might think that the freedom is great, enjoy being your own boss, picking and choosing your own hours- whether they are unsociable or not and you might really enjoy the people contact. But few agents are in real estate simply for the money because it is not a get rich quick type of job, in fact, it’s really hard work.
The real benefit is that you work for yourself mainly and that you have no-one standing over you making you do certain tasks and this is a wonderful feeling providing you are good at self-motivation but if you are not, motivating yourself to do tasks which are unexciting and quite frankly, dull, can be a big ask. In previous roles, you probably had a job description that specified your hours of work and how many days you were contracted and also a list of all of the tasks that came under your remit. Now, unless you are fairly successful and earning lots of money, the only person that you have to report into is, you.
Some people would hate this type of role because they are no good at getting organised so it’s important to remember that in real estate, you get out what you put in. This means sometimes working long hours, developing real and effective people skills and polishing up your sales techniques as you become more experienced. In any line of work, it is vital that you choose the hours that you want to work for the week ahead. This is not rigidly set in stone of course, because you can guarantee something or someone is going to throw a spanner in the works, but it does give you your focus for the week and enables you to not simply squander time.
Because you are your own boss, it’s perfectly acceptable to go and take a two hour lunch break and no one is going to shout at you if you are having a beer during the day, unless you are actively planning on visiting clients later of course. The great thing about real estate is that it thrives on your networking skills; you can cultivate many new professional relationships by simply sitting chatting over lunch or by handing out your business cards to those who have casually mentioned that they are thinking about selling their houses in the future.
These new potential clients can easily be convinced to start thinking seriously about employing you as their realtor in the coming weeks, providing that you are able to fill them with enthusiasm about what you do. This is where your sales techniques can come into play. Assuming that you are enthused about your job, it’s no problem to share this with others. Importantly, in a non-sales like way, you are able to sell the dream to them by just being passionate about the role you play. Explaining that they can often pay less on a monthly mortgage for a bigger property is an enticing prospect and if you have done your homework and set up a referral system with local trades people and those within the financial sector, you will be able to set the ball rolling- all whilst you sit and have an enjoyable lunch in your local. Not a bad day’s work for an extra hour off at lunchtime.
Just remember that as much as you are living the dream, you are selling the dream to your potential clients and to be a great real estate agent, you need to live and breathe real estate with a passion.
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