Let’s be honest, most people don’t trust real estate agents. Ask anyone and they’ll probably say they rate real estate agents… 

Somewhere between a snakes belly and a used car salesperson!

While just about everyone has had a negative experience with an agent at some point in their life, not everyone knows what it’s like to actually be an agent. Let me assure you, it’s not as easy as you may think!

Common objections we hear as agents (and some of our responses in red);

• “Why should I pay you so much commission when I can sell the property myself?” Go right head. I guarantee the difference between the price you achieve and what we can bring you will be far more than our commission. In fact in one instance, the difference was $1,050,000 less to the vendor. 
• “Bring me a buyer and you can have the listing” That’s illegal. By law we must have your signed written authority to introduce buyers to your property. Good luck with the cowboys who operate this way, but unfortunately, we only work within the law.    
• “Why should we pay for marketing when we’ll be paying you so much?” Because you won’t be. We will refund you 100% of the cost upon settlement. We’re working for you for free until that day, so it’s only fair you put something on the table to help us get the result you want. Is that fair?   

With those few objections out of the way, here’s a list of our top 10 skills and tips you learn as a successful real estate agent. 

1. Resilience: You’ll develop a thick-skin, and you’ll need it! Remember to keep showing up. 
2. Patience: Learn to never give up.
3. Reliability: Always do what you say you’ll do, when you say you’ll do it. You expect this from your vendor, so you must be meticulous about this yourself. This earns trust and respect.
4. Humility: All of the above builds this in spades.
5. Detail: Be prepared and come armed with all the facts. There’s nothing more embarrassing than a vendor knowing more than you about their local real estate market. Make sure you turn up with some data they’ll be unlikely to know. This makes you an agent worth knowing (and worth giving their business to).
6. Process: You must have very good processes that you rigidly follow, or your career will be short!
7. Faith: Prove your process works, then have absolute trust and faith in it. When the going gets tough (as it surely will), follow the process!
8. Financial acumen: You must have it to survive (and even more so, to thrive) in real estate because you’re generally dealing with smart people who know their numbers inside and out. See item 5.
9. Strategy: You must have a strategy to differentiate yourself and offer something no one else can. Find it, prove it, and tell everyone about it! This is your golden ticket and your edge over your competition.
10. Trust: We saved the most important for last! This is the currency of real estate. You must earn the trust of your client. Without their trust, you have nothing. This is how you earn their trust;
    • Be honest, always. Don’t shy away from hard conversations. If you get found out in a lie, you’ll lose their business & respect anyway. So have the character to tackle objections upfront. Sometimes, this will lose the deal for you. That’s better than lying to win the deal, wasting a lot of everyones time and then losing the deal later. Honest people will respect this approach, they’re the ones you want in your database.
    • Always be punctual. Sometimes there are good reasons for being late or missing an appointment or deadline. But there is never an excuse for not communicating any delay well in advance. This keeps your punctuality and trustworthiness in tact.
    • Prove your worth by; your work ethic, tenacity, attention to detail, results and actions.
    • Never talk negatively of others (agents, buyers, sellers etc). Some do, but don’t buy into it. If you do, it demonstrates that you talk behind the backs of other people. So why wouldn’t you also do it to this client? This kills trust instantly.
    • Provide value. Not by cutting your commission rates. By adding value & knowledge for your client. People love to learn. Demonstrate that you are a trusted knowledgable adviser they want to keep in regular contact with. Make sure you bring them some useful information they are unlikely to know or haven’t had the time to research. Save them time, and they’ll value your service and keep you on their go-to list of experts.

That’s our top 10. What did we miss, what are your tips?