A MUST Read For New Agents
A MUST Read For New Agents
I remember a few years ago when I started in this business… Excitement and fear were two major emotions that I faced on a daily business. (And I’m sure you can relate!) The excitement of starting my own real estate business would give me chills thinking about all the possibilities. And then, the fear of failure would bring it all back into reality.
As I started in my real estate business, I quickly realized that fear wasn’t just a nagging emotion. Fear can be a debilitating and toxic thought that cripples many people’s businesses. So what can you do to help kick the habit of fear out of your business life? A bit of careful planning, coaching, the right systems and some luck can get you onto the right path to success.
If you are just getting started in the real estate world, it is easy to let the little things take over. You make yourself FEEL busy because you are doing a lot of little tasks. But it’s important that you stay focused on the important things. Take a step back and really look at what you need to accomplish. You should decide what niche, approach or segment of the market you want to focus on and this will allow you to make the planning easier. It will also increase your chances of success! Taking a step back will give you the opportunity to better understand how you can serve your clients as well as build your business to its full potential.
To the inexperienced and new agents, it’s easy to get lost in all the little things and not spend any time and energy on this. But many real estate agents make the mistake of thinking they are going to try and get a piece of the pie from every pie. Chasing a large audience may sound alluring and a smart business strategy, but this can in fact be a complete killer to your real estate business. Not focusing on a manageable segment can end up taking your business off course and leave you broke! I can’t stress it enough, unless you were fortunate enough to be born into royalty or just happened to have won the lottery and can afford the risk, don’t do this!
On the flip side, targeting too small of a niche market may result in you not being able to even pay your bills. Trying to only sell homes to left handed, red headed accordion players may be a great group to target, just don’t expect to be retiring at 40 with this strategy. (Unless you want to retire and play the accordion with your left handed red head friends! 🙂
Once you find a market you want to dominate, the next step is to figure out the supply and demand. Trying to sell a sweet 4 story town home to the 80+ year old market may not conjure much business, but then again, I could be wrong! One way of ensuring success is to make sure you either excel in this market or have a very unique approach to your business, but a little luck never hurt either! Just remember, choosing a market that is largely in demand and short in supply will increase your chance of survival immensely. Keep in mind a market that is over saturated and not in demand will almost guarantee failure.
One you get started its important to watch for trends so you can future pace your business. This will allow you to see where your customers of the future will be and how to reach them. Knowing where the market is going will also help you track the long term viability of your market and whether it’s even worth working towards. The last thing you want to do is put your money, energy and time into a “fad” business! Anyone remember Blockbuster?!?
Now that you have the general direction for your real estate business, it’s time to think about your competition. How are you going to outperform them? What is your competitive edge? What makes you unique? Why will someone choose to buy or sell with you over anyone else? If you can’t answer these questions, it’s time to go back to the drawing board again. Your focus should now be entirely on what is going to separate you and make your business better, faster, more exciting, unique etc. If I were you, I would spend my time and energy on this till I got it figured out!
And finally, once you have your business plan figured out, it’s time to think about how you will get the word out. Marketing and advertising your real estate niche is going to be critical in the growth and upkeep of your business so be sure you spend enough time, money and energy figuring this out.
If I were you, I would stick with reading great business books and learn from those who have done it before! (And of course, read THIS blog every week!)
So if you are just starting out and in the trenches, take peace in knowing that most successful real estate professionals have been where you are right now at some point in their career.
So stay focused, stay strong and keep learning!
To you and your niche,
Ryan Smith – The Niche Agent
