Editor’s Note: The Playbook is a monthly RISMedia segment centering on what brokers and agents are doing to ensure they not only survive but thrive in challenging times. Industry professionals explain the strategies they’re employing and unique ideas they’ve formulated. Check in on the third Thursday of every month for another addition to the series.
Real estate can be quantified as a confusing industry, especially for those trying to understand it from the outside. For new agents trying to broach the field, no matter how much education they may have garnered before jumping into the business, it can be a challenge to get a handle on the job until you have some years of experience under your belt.
Something this industry does phenomenally well, however, is mentoring new agents who are just starting out. There is a distinct pipeline for new agents to reach and connect with veteran agents in order to ask questions and receive guidance. Veteran agents, especially those who have moved into leadership positions, are nothing short of eager to assist.
Veteran agents and leaders like Jabin Norris, founder/owner of PROACTIVE Real Estate; Jason Posnick, sales manager at Lamacchia Realty; and Katey McGrath, vice president and director of Operations at Elfant Wissahickon REALTORS®, have mentored many of the industry’s new generation of agents, and have heard a lot of the same questions over and over.
For agents new and old, let’s take a look at some of their most frequently asked questions, and how a veteran agent/leader would answer them.
How do I jumpstart my career?
The most common question of all, one which Norris has received the most, is how a new agent can jumpstart their career.
Norris says there are many paths for new agents to reach their goals, but there are some key factors that lay the foundations of success.
“Though you are getting into the business to help the public achieve the American Dream of homeownership, what you must realize now is that you are entering the world of self employment,” he says. “From day one, you must focus on building self accountability, time management skills and building your brand.”
Norris has a few bullet points he shares with agents to help them get off the ground and begin to rise to success in real estate, centering on accountability, technology, scheduling, scripts, being hyperlocal and performing community service.
He explains that first and foremost, as a new agent you must “hold yourself accountable to your goals and focus one day at a time to the finish line.”
Norris also stresses that agents must embrace real estate’s “technological ecosystem” in order to maximize their productivity through tools such as an automated transaction flow and a digital calendar. New agents also need to implement a daily schedule in order to prioritize working during “peak brain performance” hours, and use custom scripts to “keep presentation consistent and compound every opportunity.”
Community service and being hyperlocal go hand in hand, as Norris puts it. To become a successful agent, you need to “focus on a hyperlocal business model that keeps your business centric within your community,” and always make sure to give back to that community.
“If you can adapt to this mindset, the success is in the numbers, and you will achieve the path you desire within the most efficient timeline,” he says.
How can I retain business?
New agents also ask Posnick about jumpstarting their careers, with the added caveat of how to retain business. What he tells every agent is that “the single greatest indicator of your success early on is going to be your environment.”
He points to the four levels of learning: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence and unconscious competence.
According to Posnick, new agents (and really anyone moving into a new career) start at the level of unconscious incompetence, “where you don’t know what you don’t know.”
To get out of this level, he says you have to “get into an environment around people doing it (meaning what you want to do) so you can see what they’re doing and figure out where you think you need to start.”
This then pushes toward conscious incompetence, where you now understand what you don’t know and what you have to learn, says Posnick, and that “it’s just a matter of asking the right questions.”
Next you move into conscious competence, where you now know what to do, but you haven’t become a master, so to speak. All you have to do, explains Posnick, is repeat the job over and over, “sharpening the axe to the point that you become unconsciously competent (aka the last level) and can do it amazingly in your sleep.”
“For new agents, whether it’s transactional knowledge, lead gen knowledge, lead conversion knowledge, marketing knowledge, whatever you want to learn about, figure out where you’re at in the four phases of learning,” he says. “Then it’s either environment, questions, repetition or you’re already doing it.”
If you had to start over, what would you do differently?
McGrath says that most agents who reach out to her for guidance ask her what she would do differently if she had to start her career over while knowing everything she knows now.
According to McGrath, one of the base tenets is to “make the most of your database and your calendar from day one.”
“Track everything and everyone, and stay in touch,” she says. “Don’t be hesitant to reach out to clients after settlement, and if you haven’t already, it’s not too late.”
McGrath also emphasized the importance of networking and connections, something she spoke about at length in a recent RISMedia Newsmakers Spotlight. She explains that making connections with others in the industry can open many doors for agents at any level. Not only does networking provide many opportunities for new agents to be mentored by some of the best and brightest, but leadership and growth opportunities for veterans as well.
