3 things you must do to survive as a new realtor

1. Confidence.

2. CRM

3. Answer the phone

These are the three things I wish I had known as a new real estate agent in 2014. I have no doubt people tried to tell me this and I didn’t listen. I thought “yea yea yea, I got it,” and I didn’t have it. New realtors, or even experienced realtors, please take this to heart.

Let’s break it down.

Confidence
I wish I had the confidence to know that BIG deals can be done by anyone.

I thought I had to graduate to a certain level to get into this exclusive group to sell a $1,000,000 house. WRONG. Really. I believed there was some hidden checklist and suddenly I would get a notification with permission to start selling BIG deals.

Well, that notification never came. And it wasn’t going to come. I just did it. Nobody wants to tell you this because we want to pretend we are special or others can’t figure it out. Well if I figured it out, I know you can. You are allowed to sell your first $1,000,000 deal when you decide you want to sell your $1,000,000 deal. It can even be your first deal if you would like.

Real Estate Agents with $1,000,000 listings have the confidence to say Yes, I can do that. They are willing to be wrong with confidence. Here is the greatest phrase you can use if you are ever worried about not having all the answers.

Great question, let me figure out the answer.

Ta’da.

Now, you have to back it up by being resourceful and going to figure out the answer. And I’m confident you will do that.

THINK BIG, SOONER.

A deal with three zeros and six zeros is exactly the same.

CRM

Customer Relationship Management System. Get it from day 1. Then put everyone you have ever known into your CRM. Followed by anyone you meet going forward who you tell that you are a realtor or investor.

Entering this information consistently would have drastically improved my ability to serve customers and win business. Just so I could keep in touch with them. The amount of business I have lost on the back of a napkin, Post-it note, or because I was sure I couldn’t possibly forget… ALARMING.

Do not be ashamed to write everything down. Taking notes is a superpower. It forces you to intentionally choose not to do things, instead of forgetting them. Write down all those little things you would love to remember about a person, conversation, or idea. That’s what goes in your CRM.

ANSWER THE DAMN PHONE

It sounds simple. It is simple. Yet so many people don’t do it.

When someone calls, answer the phone. Be a professional. Go solve problems.

Everything you are hopefully doing like social media posts, open houses, prospecting calls, networking, and marketing is to accomplish one thing. Make your phone ring! So when you don’t answer, you are throwing those efforts away.

The most accessible realtors win the most business. No one wants to work with someone they can’t get ahold of. The harder it is to talk to you, the less business you will do.

Realtor friends, please have confidence, implement your CRM, and answer your phone so you can crush 2024.

— Temp