The Internet is full of advice for new real estate agents – some good and some bad. But we have the best!
Your early success in real estate can be distilled down to the 7 pieces of advice in this post.
No need to keep you waiting – let’s dive into the best advice for new real estate agents.
The Best Business-Building Advice for New Real Estate Agents
Here are our top 7 pieces of business-building advice for new real estate agents.
#1: Create a Business Plan
Being a real estate agent means running your own business. And successful businesses have business plans.
A business plan simply maps out the way your business will work. It covers important topics like:
- branding,
- marketing,
- finance,
- and operations.
A business plan is especially helpful when you’re feeling overwhelmed as a new agent. There are lots of different directions you could take your business, and if you don’t have your business plan in writing, you’re more likely to get distracted by every possible direction. So take a few hours to plan your strategy, then stay focused on your plan. You can always revise your plan if there’s a sudden market shift (like we saw in 2020). Otherwise, you’re better off staying focused and consistent.
If you’ve never written a real estate business plan before, check out How to Create the Ultimate Real Estate Agent Business Plan.
#2: Prospect Every Day
Prospecting every day sounds like obvious advice. But surprisingly few agents follow it. The fact is, you get caught up in your current clients and their needs, and you forget to make time to prospect for your next clients.
The simple solution is to carve out 1-2 hours every single day for prospecting. Add it to your calendar as an appointment so you don’t schedule anything else during that time. This is sacred business-building time.
At the appointed time, open your CRM (Client Relationship Manager) and get to work. Contacting expireds, FSBOs, investors, and renters is also a good use of this time. You can get a printable checklist for just a few bucks on Etsy to keep you motivated and organized.
#3: Know Your Market
Knowing your market is critical advice for new real estate agents. Early in your career, you probably won’t have too many clients to juggle, so you should be allocating more time to studying your market. Review the daily hot sheets for new listings, new contracts, and closed deals. You need to know what buyers can get for any given price range, how long properties are sitting on the market, and whether prices increasing or decreasing.
Ideally, you’ll be able to offer statistics when people ask you about the market. Something like, Well, homes in your neighborhood are selling in just 17 days on average. And make sure you’re previewing new listings; buyers will be impressed when you can describe a home without pulling up the listing.
Lastly, know how to get around your area. Use a GPS, and your clients will wonder how well you know the area.
#4: Establish a Strong Online Presence
Today’s buyers and sellers expect you to be available online. They expect to see a professional website (as opposed to a profile page on your broker’s site) and at least a basic social media presence. An online presence gives you instant credibility in the eyes of your prospective clients, even if you’re a brand new agent.
Failing to have a website is one of the biggest mistakes new agents make today. And I get it; websites seem complicated or expensive (or both!). But as we learned in Do Real Estate Agents Really Need Their Own Websites?, there are 10 killer benefits to having your own website. When you’re competing with established real estate agents, you honestly can’t afford not to have your own website.
A professional website is more accessible than you might think. In fact, will today’s tech tools, you can actually build your own website! You’ll save a fortune compared to hiring a website builder. And you’ll save money in the long run and retain control of your site by building it yourself instead of paying for a monthly subscription. If you want to see how to build a professional site with no tech experience, just check out my FREE guide How to Build a Real Estate Website.
And what about social media? It’s a good idea to at least have a basic presence on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Then choose just one or two platforms to focus on. Learn more at How to Build a Lead-Generating Social Media Calendar. Or, if you don’t have the time to plan out content or the design skill to create graphics for your posts, check out DRIP by Key Real Estate Resources for fresh social media content every month!
#5: Niche Down
Most new agents try to land every buyer and seller in the area. And this is a huge mistake. Casting a wide net to land as many potential clients as possible sounds like a good idea. But when you’re competing for all buyers and sellers in your market, you’re also competing with all agents in your market. And when so many agents have so much more experience than you do, this is an uphill battle.
Instead, niche down until you’re the perfect fit for a certain group of buyers or sellers. Perhaps you focus on sellers who are downsizing for retirement, first-time homebuyers in a specific zip code, or families relocating for a job with your market’s biggest employer.
Yes, you’ll be limiting yourself to a narrow market segment, but your chances of resonating with clients and actually landing their business are substantially higher when you focus on a specific niche. Think of it like this: would you rather get 1% of 1,000 clients or 20% of 100 clients?
Before long, you’ll be the obvious go-to agent for buyers or sellers in your niche.
#6: Ask for Referrals
Sure, it sounds like obvious advice for new real estate agents, but many fail to ask for referrals.
New agents often contact everyone in their sphere and ask Do you have any plans to buy or sell a home this year? And statistically, most people just aren’t going to buy or sell this year. But, almost everyone knows someone who will buy or sell this year. Try asking Who do you know who’s planning to buy or sell this year?
Get in the habit of asking for referrals during every prospecting interaction.
#7: Diversify Your Income
Most new real estate agents struggle financially as they build their business from the ground up. Sadly, many agents even leave the business because they aren’t able to make ends meet financially long enough to establish their new business.
The common advice for new real estate agents is to keep a part-time job or just prospect harder. But a part-time job will split your time, energy, and focus. And prospecting harder might boost your income, but what if you want to take a vacation or retire one day? The tricky thing about being a real estate agent is that you’re not earning when you’re not actively selling. Diversifying your income covers you financially in each of these scenarios.
Here are a few ideas:
- Expand your real estate services to include things like property management, property tax appeals, or credit repair services. This will add value for your clients, establish your reputation as a real estate expert, and pay the bills as your sales business grows.
- Monetize your real estate blog. There is money to be made in blogging. And since you should be blogging for real estate leads anyway, why not take the extra step to generate passive income from your blog?
- Sell a real estate-related product for passive income. Think books, courses, and digital templates. Don’t expect immediate income since you’ll need time to create and market your product, but this can be a lucrative income stream for real estate professionals. And since products can sell over and over, you can earn money while you sleep, go on vacation, or enter retirement.
For more income ideas, check out 55 Ways to Make Money in Real Estate.
Do You Want More Advice for New Real Estate Agents?
There are lots of useful books available for new real estate agents. Check out our top 5 for more actionable advice!
