By Dirk Zeller
In my view, as residential real estate professionals we owe more to our clients and our industry than part-time participation. It's all right to start part time to get your feet wet. After six months, or a year at the most though, if you can't cut the apron strings from your other job you will be doing yourself, the real estate industry, and your prospects and clients a service to end your attempt to become a Realtor.
Buying or selling a home ranks in the top five most stressful events in a person's life. On the emotional ladder, it sits right up there with divorce. As a Realtor you are responsible for one of the biggest decisions your clients will make now or over the next few years of their lives.
There is an emotional nature to the residential real estate business due to the stress levels of the Buyer, Seller, and the other agent. Often, sadly, agents can fuel negative emotions if they don't have control of their clients, if they don't have time to do the job right, or if they are motivated more by the need for a commission check to cover a past-due car payment than by the successful outcome of the real estate transaction.
Lack of training: I personally believe that lack of training is the cause of our industry's low success numbers, low customer return rates, and low per agent income. Most companies offer only a couple of weeks of introductory training for new hires. After that, for the most part, it is, "Here's your desk and here's your phone...go get 'em!"
Agents look to their companies for success and motivation tools, while companies (somewhat rightfully) say, "Hey, you're an independent contractor so it's your obligation to build your strengths and pay for your training."
I think the ball is in the agent's court. It's your business; you are the one who needs to invest to make it grow. The best money you can spend is on training to improve your skills, knowledge, attitude, philosophy, and business skills.
24/7 work hours: As a residential Realtor, you can count on having to work some nights and weekends. Some agents follow a round-the-clock schedule for the duration of their careers; a select few bring their night and weekend hours down to almost zero as their success takes hold.
By my third year in the business I was down to a four-day workweek. I was able to sell 150-plus homes annually while working Monday through Thursday and taking Friday, Saturday, and Sunday completely off, with no interruptions from the cell phone, pager, faxes, or e-mail. On Thursday, late afternoon to early evening, my wife, Joan, and I would get into our car and drive to our vacation home in Bend, Oregon, some three hours away, for three days of down time in a recreational paradise. On Sunday afternoon, we would head back to Portland refreshed, relaxed, and ready to go. I only worked one evening a week, on Tuesdays, when I met with clients or caught up on prospecting with people I couldn't reach during the day.
The truth is, over time you can build a high-volume practice that doesn't require nighttime and weekend hours. I'm living proof that it can be done and so are all of my clients.
The public's perception of unlimited access: Real estate clients think that their agents should be available at the drop of a hat, largely because we have trained them to expect service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The National Association of Realtors ran a huge marketing campaign several years ago. They circulated brochures, ran newspaper and magazine ads, and aired national television commercials touting the theme "Real Estate Is Our Life." I was furious when I first saw it. I thought that they set us back another 10 years with a campaign perpetuating the myth that Realtors should be constantly on-call for our clients.
Real estate is an excellent vehicle to fund the lifestyle you desire, but it's not your life! It certainly isn't my life. Real estate is way down on the list after my Creator, my wife, my two children, and my extended family.
The most frequently traveled path to real estate success is to become a workaholic, spending large chunks of time paying the price to achieve monetary success. No doubt about it, you have to work and work harder than others to reach the brass ring before it goes by, but you don't have to make yourself available to clients every hour of every day. If you regularly work 50 hours a week - over five 10-hours days - and if you focus on the right activities in during those hours, I guarantee you will make a significant income in residential real estate.
Lack of respect: Realtors rival Rodney Dangerfield when it comes to generating respect from consumers. A large part of the problem is self-inflicted. Both as individuals and as an industry, Realtors do little to illuminate the true benefits they provide to Buyers and Sellers. Instead promotional messages focus on availability and accessibility, thereby feeding the notion that Realtors are on-call order-takers rather than professional advisors and experts.
During prosperous market cycles, consumers view the agent's job as easy and the resulting fees as excessive. The mindset that Realtors are raking in "easy-money" is fueled by well-publicized national statistics.
To earn the respect you deserve, communicate that the value you deliver reaches far beyond the creation of a sale. Help prospects realize that as a professional Realtor the value you deliver includes protection and security of your client's interests, expert guidance about the marketplace, and many other facets that have nothing to do with producing a Buyer and everything to do with producing a favorable outcome for your client.
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