ps. this is a rerun from 2011, but I suppose it deserves some love since its the time when Realtors decide to join the industry or make the switch.
There are many reasons the joining and dropping rate for joining the Real Estate family as a full-time professional Realtor is high.
Correct me if I am wrong team leaders, but the true and the hard facts of helping every team mates to the best of your extent does not always help and sometimes it might even backfire on you.
Before any individuals who decided to join the industry, these are thoughts which should be useful to form some opinions of our industry before you plough your money and time into joining us (yes, before you even take your RES course please),
Joining a Good Group Does Not Guarantee Your Success
Your group has the brand. It is known in the industry to be successful, to have the know-how, and most importantly, they close sales effectively.
Having such benefits is a great advantage as a new Realtor (or even a Realtor who has been hopping around in order to get such support) as he/ she could take advantage of such branding as a big group of brothers and sisters are behind him/her supporting. The air is great, you have the right and positive environment to start.
But when you are in the big RAH RAH group with the correct people to learn from and think with such a backing, you could be successful without doing anything on your end, you are prepared to fail, which brings me to the next point,
Sitting and Waiting for Things To Happen
This is the worse that could ever happen. A mentor along my way has mentioned this very visually why technically, the titles given by agencies were misleading. You are already a business person when you start to join the trade. You are not under anyone’s payroll. Nobody is your boss.
Seriously, you’re on your own.
If you think your team leaders are suppose to give you valuable leads or hand snooze you along the way till your success, don’t be fooled. You as a proactive business person, should be looking for sources proactively. If you think you lack the knowledge to achieve something, make sure you go pick up the skills. Ask! Read! Look around! Ask your other team mates! Ask all the right people to find the right answers!
The right team leaders will advice and ask you to do the right things in which that does not exhaust your finances along the way to success. If they haven’t been, it is your responsibility to ask and seek their help; and if you have tried and not gotten the knowledge and the know-how skills, then its your mentor’s fault. Which brings me again to the very next crucial reason why most Realtors fail
Bad Financial Planning
Some Realtors started out with no savings, some do. Some have a vehicle to use and some don’t have the luxury of it.
The whole idea would be to plan everything right before you start properly. Any cash in hand is your life-line to the business. Mentors would guide you along the way to do financial planning with you and advice you accordingly which category suits you more often because of your advantage over others. They might even partner you with someone else in the team to split the financial risks.
There’s a reason why some Realtors prefer serving buyers, or owners; tenants or landlords.
Sitting and waiting at home for instructions from your “manager” or “director”, think advertising all the overly priced listings on a 4 to 5 line advertorial on SPH Classifieds and you could be laughing your way to the bank, be absolutely grim about it because nothing is going to happen.
Advertising is costly. Be proactive. Or sink with a bigger hole because of the time and money commitment that you have already put in and you eventually will fall out.
Not Committed to Your Craft
You are going to be a Marketeer. You are going to be a Lead Generator. You are going to be a Negotiator, and finally, you are going to be a Closer.
These are the 4 main processes of a Realtor, but to be truly effective, you have so many things to learn and execute. All the processes are so important that you need time and dedication to each. No hard and fast rules.
You see good Realtors doing door knocking and cold calling to generate selling leads. Online marketing and offline marketing to sell properties, negotiating on prices, expectations to lead to closings. Even things that sound simple; effective communication skills.
Responsibility of even much simpler things like picking up your phone calls and responding to miss calls if any, is a core set of our business.
Reality is harsh. All are skills which has to be honed overtime. There’s no overnight success, only a prolong journey of learning (even for the most experienced ones) and practicing of your craft. If you haven’t been discipline and proactive to find out what you are suppose to do and to keep practicing till you get your skills right, do not blame anyone if you lack that perseverance before you see results.
There’s No One Standard Route to Success
Some people might take longer to see the results, some people could see immediate results depending on the route that you choose. There’s no one path that will lead you to success. Everyone has their difference instances.
Realtors have so many form of path to choose from, it might be even scary to think of. Sales or rental? Residential? Commercial? Light Industrial?
You could follow the right things in which your mentor and the rest of the successful team mate does and just replicate the right mentality, and the right methods they share with you. But nobody tells you you should follow from A-Z, you could start from C, back to A and come back to Z again.
Having said that, I have never regretted joining the industry 5 years ago right after my regular army life to a good company and now a great team. The perks is unparalleled as the sky would be your limit, rags to riches opportunity levels in this field.
Your time is ultimately yours; Clients happy testimonies and rewarding experiences, great selfless team players in the team assisting one another. Apart from making a living, its also all about the experience…
I’m blessed. And I hope you will be if you could take my two cents with you when you join any able leader to guide you. Shalom.
