Rio Rancho, NM · Member since 2016 · 57 posts · 41 votes
...and what do you think they could do better?
To me it seems like there are a lot of real estate agents...and a lot of bad real estate agents. I've decided to be a real estate agent and investor, but I want to be good at it, of course. What are some important things that make a good agent? Is the car they drive, the (too much) perfume or cologne they wear, the beehive hair doo or the waxed moustache, how much they smile?
I know it's none of those things. But, what is it?
Fund Manager · Wayne, PA · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
9y
Hi @Account Closed
Many of the top agents I know have a lot of things in common. When I was working in a brokerage I realized pretty quickly that 20% of the agents did about 80% of the work. So the trick is to find those 20% and find out everything that they do.
Some of the things I've found among good agents (and have striven to implement myself) are:
1.) Have a specialty. A jack of all trades, master of none is definitely the philosophy I've seen with many unsuccessful realtors.It only took me 15 years to find my specialty! But then again, I didn't know that was what I should be looking for. But trust me, when I look at the first 15 years compared to the following 15, there's no comparison.
2.) What differentiates you from everyone else? How can you provide value? My specialty was investor buyers. I found I had built a good network over the years and could offer my buyers quality resources, vendors, etc. quickly (whether it was lenders, insurance agents, IRA companies, etc.). I also offered property management so I could manage properties I sold, and had a portfolio of other investment properties of my own to sell as well as a knowledge of my friend's properties that they were looking to sell. Eventually many of my buyers bought properties site unseen. So if you educate your buyers and tee up everything they could need, you become a #1 Realtor in their book.
3.) Be good at time management and responsiveness is key. This almost goes without saying except that it needs to be said. Not enough Realtors I've met over the years could maximize the use of their time. Many of them were stuck doing "busy" work that could be done by an assistant or VA.
4.) Build a business based on referrals. I would spend the majority of my marketing budget on on my current customers rather than new people. This is because your current customer base is your sales force, they end up doing the best form of marketing for you - word of mouth.
I'm sure there are other points I've left out but the above were the first 4 to come to mind.