Be honest. Do you dream about being a superstar real estate agent? Do you want to join the top performers in your town or city? Whatever your career dream is, you probably want to be a bit further up the real estate ladder, right?
Let’s start with the myths. You don’t need a wardrobe of handmade Italian clothes, or a current model European car. You can get by with smart clothes made right here in Australia, and a recent model, clean, shiny sedan.
You also don’t need to go to the gym every day, bleach your teeth or diet endlessly. What’s essential is that you’re real. No pretence or big-noting. Charisma can be cool, but you’re more likely to get onto a client’s contact list if you’re genuine, informed and friendly.
To be a top agent, there are skills you can work on. And the more you focus on improving these skills, the greater your appeal to potential clients will be.
Customer relationship management software: you can’t do without it
Technology is the most indispensable resource in your real estate tool kit.
A customer relationship management (CRM) program enables you to keep all your client information in one place, and to access this data from anywhere at any time. All you need is an internet connection and your laptop.
With a CRM, you can organise a sales process, manage and simplify client relationships and automate time-consuming tasks. You can keep track of dates, send out email updates, automatically fill out forms and more. Some CRMs even come with AI-powered features to help you sieve through your information more efficiently.
Boost your image with social media
Sign up with Facebook and Instagram, and research how to optimise your posts before you jump in. These platforms offer enormous reach and potential access to a massive audience. Getting your face and listings in front of an Australia-wide marketplace is essential if you want to be at the forefront of real estate advertising.
Domain, with almost 966,000 Facebook followers and 154,000 Instagram followers, regularly promotes houses listed in its publication and on its website.
Realestate.com.au has around 673,000 Facebook followers and 187,000 Instagram followers. They also feature listings along with news and links to their website.
Design Files, a popular home and garden blog, features unique and interesting real estate listings across Australia. With a Facebook audience of almost 139,000 people and 521,000 Instagram followers, its reach is everything agents dream about.
Maximise your social media presence in the following ways:
- Take the time to create good content and use quality images.
- Make sure your brand is visible.
- Join Canva (free or subscription) and use their fonts, illustrations, images and graphics to create professional posts.
- Comment on other people’s posts and follow them back if they ‘like’ or ‘follow’ you.
- Don’t focus on selling. Instead be informative and friendly.
Market yourself
Build and maintain your personal brand. Make sure there’s a photo of your smiling face on your business cards, emails, sales brochures and social media accounts.
Get involved in selected charities in your local community, sponsor community events and give your time to causes that need help as well as those with high visibility.
Develop relationships with journalists and property editors in newspapers and online. If you’re not a writer, employ a copywriter to create social media posts and media releases about selected hero listings with wide appeal.
Ensure you’re the narrator in videos created for digital inspections and make sure you’re facing the camera speaking straight to your potential buyers. Become the agent they know and have heard about before they meet you.
Hire a business coach
You might be surprised at the number of successful business people who hire coaches. They recognise the value of this investment for themselves and their business.
A good business coach will help you identify weaknesses and blind spots in your business and workflow. They’ll ensure you’re growing the business in the right direction and find gaps in your knowledge you couldn’t see for the trees. They’ll also spot the limits you place on yourself and show you the value in delegating time-consuming tasks to others.
Coaching should help you to find your own answers – to see what you don’t know you know.
Know your market and your clients
One of the surest ways to success is to know your local real estate market. Aim to understand the story, history and numbers behind each property you list, as well as the broader local landscape. You want to be able to converse with all your clients, even those who are experts in related fields.
Becoming a local market expert takes time. As well as your agency’s services, sales data, market share, demographics and the features of recently sold properties take the time to learn about environmental, social and political factors that influence the real estate market in your area.
Don’t try to do it all yourself: delegate
If you’re struggling with your workload, but believe nobody can do it as well as you, then you have a problem. You were never meant to do everything.
Delegation is a leadership skill that doesn’t come naturally to everybody.
Successful business people are expert delegators who assign the right tasks to the right people. This demonstrates their leadership and provides opportunities for team members to develop new skills.
When delegation isn’t working, it’s often due to inadequate briefing. The answer? Provide all the information the person needs to properly complete the task. If you do this well, you should only need to do it once.
Listen to your client needs
You can’t build a house without listening to your tradies, and you can’t build a real estate empire without listening to your clients.
Research in 2021 showed that 69% of buyers believed the top way to create a positive sales experience was to ‘listen to their needs’.
And listening doesn’t end when the sale is closed. The Microsoft State of Global Customer Service Report found that 77% of customers have a more favourable view of brands that ask for, and accept, customer feedback.
If you’re interested in a career in real estate, Entry Education is your golden opportunity to join the ranks of real estate leaders across Australia.
Our online training courses allow you to study in your own home at your own pace with your personal online tutor. Contact us today. We’d love to hear from you!
