The wonderful thing about Real Estate is that it attracts all sorts of people from many different backgrounds.
These days, if you have a leaning towards a “bums on seats” mentality when employing new staff you should be thinking twice!
And if you want to go into real estate then you need to make sure that you are not only choosing the right career for you, but the right Real Estate Agency for you.
Be careful of what you are signing up for
There are so many situations in Real Estate that can put you at risk, both financially and they are sometimes mentally challenging when a problem arises.
There are plenty of Government Acts to abide by, and it is easy to make a mistake when you are new and exuberant. By innocently advertising a wrong word about a property can land you in hot water, or a careless mistake by not digesting the legal documentation involved in selling real estate correctly might definitely cause you pain. Read more here.
There is a lot of learning to do first
Diligence and professionalism, empathy and good communication skills – these are qualities that are very necessary.
The big agencies who actively seek fresh young people as cadets with their expensive clothing taste and desire for a fancy leased car, would be better taking a more responsible approach.
Instead of unleashing them into the real estate market by telling them to knock on doors and list anything and everything, and play the numbers game, it would be betterto put a strenuous training system in place, where they are able to work alongside an experienced salesperson first.
In some parts of the world this does happen, but there are some companies who like the “bums on seats” method and factor in the loss of these people once they have sold to their relatives and friends and leave the industry when they realise that prospecting is a lot harder to people you “do not know”!
The good the bad and the ugly
Sadly too, some of the new salespeople are sold on a notion of huge wealth and success and encouraged to go to seminar after seminar run by people within their own organisations – the wheel will just go round and round until they fall off, or simply just burn out.
Once they have exhausted all their personal contacts as listing leads, and after a few months of having to stand on their own feet, without the basic wage (where the company will give them an advance while taking more a much higher percentage share of each sale), the job just seems too hard.
Sometimes though they don’t sell anything and survive on the basic offered by the company not realising that some companies could make them pay it back if they do not sell anything in the first 3 months.
Those disenchanted salespeople then become the hungry ones who will stop at nothing to get a sale which ultimately is not good for the seller or the buyer, and definitely not good for the Agency.
The right attitude
There are a few though that become really good at selling because they have the right morals, but many will fall by the wayside after a few months of disappointment. Also, sadly sometimes a complaints trail from the public for the company to resolve after the termination of their employment.
Surely there is a better way to employ real estate salespeople?
Those of us still in the industry were taught the old way. Perhaps that is why we have survived?
“Back to basics”- where empathy and good will were very much the norm.
The client is always right
We were taught that the client is always right. No need to argue with them.
Just prove to them that you are worth what they are paying you for – that is ” to SELL their home for the best price in the shortest possible time”.
Professionalism and product knowledge were considered qualities of the utmost importance.
Back then, it was customary to support oneself for the first 6 months as it was always commission only. This way, if you could not support yourself and prove yourself very quickly then you would obviously seek employment elsewhere.
If I was recruiting today, the criteria would be very different.
I would look to people who wanted a change of lifestyle perhaps? People who could support themselves during the times when commissions are hard to come by.
Nobody wants to employ anybody who could be worse off in their 6th month, after all, there are many extra costs associated with being a salesperson today,l ike personal promotion and insurance, car expenses and so on.
Nurses often make good real estate salespeople, so do teachers. Or people that have had experience in many parts of the world that easily relate to all cultures and people of all ages.
People who are entering the workforce again after bringing up a few children, they might have teenagers? Patience, resilience and problem solving skills are some great attributes required to get by in real estate.
People with sales skills, and built in empathy and those that practice kindness while at the same time are tenacious, practical and logical -they could make good real estate salespeople.
It is certainly important to “like what you do, rather than do what you like”, but one of the great things about real estate, is that if you have the “right attitude”, you can enjoy a job that gives you the freedom to earn as much as you can.
The people you meet will come from all walks of life and really do make the job so worthwhile, when you can use your skills to enhance their buying or selling experience, perhaps, simply by problem solving and negotiating on their behalf to get the best outcome for them and their family.
This makes the job rewarding. The cherry on the top is making them a “client for life”.
“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.”
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