A Fresh Approach to Real Estate Rookie-hood with Jennifer Allan: March 2009

Awhile back, I wrote a blog called "Touching versus Impressing." The gist of the blog was that taking the time to "impress" one person may be far more effective than "touching" a hundred. I challenged agents to strive to "impress" at least one person a week.

So, want an easy way to get your once-weekly impressing duty done? Every time you have a conversation with someone, make an effort to learn One Thing about them that you can follow up on in a week or so. And once you've identified that One Thing, WRITE IT DOWN somewhere to remind yourself to follow up and DO IT.

For example, as I write this, a girlfriend of mine is flying home from a romantic getaway with her long-distance beau. It's on my list to call her tonight and find out how it went. A few months ago, I went out for drinks with another girlfriend who had to cut our date short to run home and check on her brand new puppy. I emailed her the following week, asking for photos of the puppy. Another friend of mine is embroiled in an ugly legal matter, so I'll check in with her in a week or two to see how it's going.

Is that simple or what?

The new agent asks: "Will it damage my credibility to have my broker involved in my first listing?"

Yes, it might. Do it anyway.

There are variations on this theme - such as when a new agent objects to sharing his first few commissions with a mentor, or an experienced agent refuses to get help on his first short sale listing or commercial deal. After all, in today's market especially, we NEED every last penny of that commission!

But that's not really the point, is it?

We real estate agents charge a lot of money for what we do. Part of our fee includes a level of expertise that our clients have every right to expect from us. It's not their job to teach us our craft; no, that's OUR job - to learn it so we can be the experts our clients need us to be. Even if "learning it" takes money out of our pockets.

So, if you aren't yet the expert, it's simply the right thing to do to bring on someone who is. Yes, whether you've been selling real estate for weeks or decades. We owe it to our future adoring fans to take great care of them!

p.s. back to the original question posted here - DOES it hurt an agent's credibility to have his broker involved? If so, any thoughts on how to mitigate the damage?

You may not have noticed, but I've been away from the Rain for about two weeks (except for a few little housekeeping blogs). Blog burnout - it happens and it's usually good for the soul... What have I been doing? WRITING MY NEXT BOOK! Outta nowhere, I was in the mood to create the next masterpiece (tee hee), so that's where all my creative energy went. And... voila! The first (very preliminary) draft is done!

So here I am.

Got a question this morning from a reader about SOI'ing* in a new town. And, whaddya' know, I'd just written about this topic yesterday in Chapter Four...

"Dear Jennifer, I just moved to a town where I have no SOI. Any ideas using your philosophy? Thanks for any input you can offer."

My Response (excerpted from my preliminary first draft of the new baby);

"But I'm New to Town and I don't know anyone!"
So, a little lacking in the SOI department? The only people you know are your spouse, your real estate agent and the nice lady at the bank? Well, it's a start.

First, allow me to be frank with you. Starting up a relationship-based business in a brand new town is not easy. In fact, in some cases, it may be darn near impossible. A little tough love here - if you find yourself in this situation, either by choice or by necessity, you need to accept that you HAVE a choice to make. Either you will get your backside out there in the world and meet some people as fast as your legs will carry you, or you will put your business plans on hold until you have "organically" built a sphere of influence.

Let's talk about both options.

Getting Your Backside Out There
If you're an introvert, this may seem overwhelming. I mean, WHAT exactly can you do to "meet people?" I'm with ya, there. A few years ago I moved to a new town and after two years there I hadn't met much of anyone (no, I wasn't selling real estate; I was writing books).

Frankly, I would never advise anyone to begin a new real estate career in a new town... not just because of the SOI limitations, but also because you have so much ELSE to learn! A new market, new customs and maybe even new laws and contracts!

But since you asked, I'll do my best to answer.

First, make a list of everyone you know. You may be surprised how many people you know already. Keep a notebook with you at all times so you can write down the names of people you think of as you're going about your day.

Set a goal of how many new contacts you want to have by, say, the end of the year. 200 is a good number to shoot for. Figure out how many people you need to meet between now and then to reach your goal. (The sooner you have 200 contacts, the sooner your SOI strategy will work for you - there's just something magic about 200.)

Using respectful strategies you've read about here, in my books and on my blog, strive to make new friends. Best friends? No, of course not. Just put up your antenna, put a smile on your face and greet the world like a fresh breath of air. Go ahead and do open houses, prospect to FSBOs and Expireds, or any other sort of lead generation you feel the need to do. Just be sure to treat everyone you meet as someone you might build a relationship with, not just as someone who might buy or sell a home.

Because, frankly, your goal is not necessarily to meet everyone in town with a real estate need - your goal is meet people who KNOW other people* who have real estate needs.

The more people you know, uh, strike that. The more people who know YOU, the more likely your name is to come up in conversation when the topic is real estate.

Simple enough. If you're new to town. Go make friends. TODAY!

Putting your business on hold
This is a very viable option, as unappealing as it may sound on the surface. If I were to relocate today with the intention of selling real estate in my new locale, I would probably use this approach. I'd get another job for a year or so; preferably in a company or industry that included the opportunity to meet people. I'd focus on my goal of cultivating an SOI of 200 or so and keep my antenna up for opportunities to be social, to be helpful, to get my smiling (non-salesy) face in front of people I would enjoy knowing. I'd strive to always be perceived as an RCHB, so that when I made my announcement that I was returning to real estate, the people I'd met through the year would have the confidence that I'll be a darn good real
estate agent.

As an introvert, making the effort to be social IS an effort and not something that comes naturally. However, I'm also mercenary enough to be willing to do it if I think it's leading to something profitable for me. And of course, a side benefit of this mercenariness is that I'll make friends in
a new town. Win/win all around.

* SOI'ing = Building a business based on the personal relationships in your life (ideally without making a nuisance out of yourself)

The Savvy Prospector: Eight Weeks to a Full Pipeline for Life!
www.SellwithSoul.com/savvyprospector.htm

Register for Upcoming SWS Teleseminar Workshops

We all talk about how tough a new agent's rookie year is, but once they've survived those 12 months, they're good to go. And in the old days, I would agree. I sold 25 houses in 1997, 35 in 1998 and close to 50 in 1999. So, by the end of my third year, I'd sold over 100 homes and most of my surviving rookie friends (the ones who started the same time as me and were still in the game) had similar track records. I think it's safe to say that once you've sold 100 houses, you probably have a pretty good idea what you're doing (although every day almost always STILL gives me a learning experience or two!)

But the rookies and first-year agents I've been talking to lately have a much different experience. Most sell fewer than 5 houses their first year and maybe double that in their second.

I met with a 3-year agent the other day who has only sold 19 houses in his career and seems moderately happy with that. What struck me about this 3-year agent was how inexperienced he came across - I was trying to help him negotiate multiple offers on his listing and was stunned at his level of, (how else can I say it?) incompetence. He'd never heard of a back-up offer or understood the issues that might arise with an FHA loan on a fix-up property. He thought he was supposed to take down his For Sale sign and lockbox as soon as his listing went under contract.  He hadn't yet selected a preferred title company to work with. He didn't know that he had to change the status from "Active" to "Under Contract" in the MLS within 24 hours of accepting a contract.

I can see how a brand new agent wouldn't know any of these things and you don't call that incompetence - you call it inexperience (and hope she has good broker guidance). But all of these things were issues I learned about in my first year - and by my third year - heavens - this was kindergarten-level stuff! But it all seemed new to him.

First and second year agents - how comfy do you feel in your REALTOR skin and at what point did you start to feel that you could handle pretty much anything tossed your way? Or DO you feel that way yet? Old Fogies - is my experience unique? Or did our "generation" have a better opportunity to get up speed faster?

The Rookie Boot Camp for Agents Who Want to Sell with Soul!