There will be a lot of steps along the way as you learn and master the skills you need to be amazing in this business. My advice is to take it step by step and try to keep the worry at bay. Worry won’t serve you. Don’t get caught up in “what’s next.”
Here’s what I mean… As a new agent, there will be a time when you are sitting across from a seller on one of your first listing appointments. You’ll be nervous and excited. You’ll try to focus. But, if you’re like most new agents, you’ll be focused on what you’re going to say as soon as that seller stops talking! Instead of being present, you’ll be thinking about what is next, what to say next, what to do next and not actually actively listening to the seller. When that happens, you’ll be way too much in your own head and not enough in the moment—that’s what trips people up.
Listen. It’s not about what comes next. Just be in the present moment. I’ve learned something about this. Throughout my career, I’ve dabbled in comedy and improvisation. It teaches you how to make up your own script on the spot, feeding on what the other person tells you and running with that. If you’ve ever watched the show Who’s Line Is It Anyway?, you’ll get the concept. It’s all about being in the moment.
How I wish I had understood that on my first gig at Caroline’s in New York City, a famous comedy club. There I was, getting ready to be introduced, and I started getting nervous. I couldn’t remember what I wanted to say after my first joke. I knew my routine because I had practiced a lot. All I had to do was to remember my first line.
Fortunately, I talked some sense into myself and said, “All right, Darryl, you know Step 1. Just trust yourself that Steps 2, 3, 4 and the rest of them will come. Just do Step 1 and watch what happens.” Well, my act was great, I thought. I trusted enough in the moment that the next step just came naturally. So, don’t worry about the next step until you’ve done the previous one.
As I learned in improv class, don’t write the whole script in your head either, because you don’t know what the other person is going to say. How can you have it in your head what you’re going to do five minutes from now? You can’t, and you shouldn’t, because what the other person says may take you in a totally different direction. Keep that in mind as you go on your listing appointments.
Some basic structure is needed as you go into a listing appointment or in making your prospecting calls. Just as it is in an improv class. You have got to have the basics of who, what, where, when and why, but then, as the meeting or call is underway, you’ve got to let go and just go with the flow. Most agents who are not good at prospecting or listing appointments are that way because they are too focused on trying to do things the “right way” or saying the right words, or they are focused on the “got to get the appointment or listing.”
Yes, learn some strategies. Have a simple track to follow and questions to ask that help you to build rapport, but also be willing to absolutely be in the present and listen to the people in front of you. That’s “being” a real estate professional. Not “doing” a presentation. That, my friends, will make all the difference.
You’ve got this. I’m here to help, with a passionate community of Power Agents® that can be there for you as well. Learn more at www.ThePowerProgram.com/NewAgentSuccess.
Darryl Davis, bestselling author of “How to Become a Power Agent in Real Estate” and owner of Darryl Davis Seminars, has trained and coached over 100,000 real estate professionals around the globe for more than 27 years. He is the founder of the Next Level® real estate training system, The Power Program®, which has helped agents double their production over their previous year. For more information, and the new agent tools that can help take you to your Next Level®, please contact darryl@darrylspeaks.com or visit www.ThePowerProgram.com/NewAgentSuccess.
