I’m a Successful Realtor. Now What?

Individuals who find themselves in the real estate industry are typically ambitious professionals. They are self-driven and independently motivated, enjoying the flexibility and freedom the career provides. But what happens when an experienced realtor or broker is looking around at their career and asking, “What’s next?” When it feels like you’ve achieved your benchmark of success, what can you set your sights on next? Continuing your career in the right direction and not getting too comfortable in your plateau is essential to staying competitive. As the Inman article, How to scale your business like the pros put it: “After all, if you aren’t moving forward in today’s fast-paced real estate landscape, you might as well be moving backward.” There are many aspects of real estate that are constantly evolving, making the industry one that is difficult to get bored in.

So, Where to Next?

First, understand what your goal is. When you started as a real estate agent, you may have had a number in your mind of how many sales you wanted to close in a year. To reach your goal, you nurtured your farming area to be a recognizable brand and established yourself as the go-to agent within your sphere-of-influence. What new metric can you start using to measure your growth potential? Are you looking to sell more homes or are you looking to grow a brokerage and have agents working with you? What is your capacity for growth when considering your work-life-balance? These are important details to understand when planning your intentional trajectory into the next phase of success.

Many successful agents consider building a brokerage as the next phase - but is it what’s best for you? The Inman article Growing a brokerage: ‘What got you here won’t get you there’ frames it this way:

“First, let’s consider why you would shift from selling real estate and making a great income to digging into the hard work of growing a brokerage.

• To create an asset that has measurable value and can be sold in the future.
• To help others develop successful careers by teaching them how to win clients, provide great representation and get deals closed.
• To build an operation to be proud of that successfully integrates marketing, sales, technology and administration.”

Listen to the Current and Future Sales Team

If you’re looking to expand as a brokerage and build a team, there is a new set of skills for you to refine personally. As a real estate agent, you worked on your individual goals and as a broker you have a team to lead. Budgeting out time for your own training and setting aside time to train your team can help you to tap into what areas can be improved within yourself and your brokerage. By opening up conversation in an educational setting, you may discover the next area you should invest in to meet the needs of your current team members.

When improving the business for your sales team, you’re benefitting two-fold because in addition to internal success, you’re also attracting quality agents through positive word of mouth from your team leading to future success. This will make recruiting easier when you decide to grow.
Appealing to the younger generations of real estate agents is one way to stay competitive.
New agents often bring with them new ideas and a fresh perspective, possibly providing an additional approach to bumping you off the growth plateau.    

Refine Marketing

When thinking about growth, many look to marketing as the source. However, busy realtors and brokers often find themselves in maintenance mode-style marketing after a while. If the same tactics are producing fewer and fewer results, try shaking things up with your brand. Take your relationships to the next level. In communicating with your target audience, are you just scratching the surface of what your business is about?

Consider expressing your values and what makes your business unique to those who are familiar with your brand.

• If you have a solid referral base, host an appreciation event. Rather than fishing with a wider net, nurture your sphere-of-influence with the customers who have helped you get to this point in your career.
• Understanding your audience is a game-changer for marketing. Online surveys are a great way to ask questions that can steer your strategy in the right direction. It also shows that you care what they think and want to know how to serve them even better. Chances are, you have the bandwidth to build a deeper loyalty within your farming area.
• If you aren’t already considered their expert, focus on establishing that position in your neighborhoods.
  You can do this through just listed and just sold postcards and facebook advertisements. Implementing lead generation tactics such as those are simple when you automate your marketing using tools like TriggerMarketing® and TriggerMarketing Social.

Scale Technology

Tools like those offered through QuantumDigital help you to scale your business with minimal training.
When looking to grow, your technology needs to have the capacity to grow with you. Consider performing an audit on your current systems. Be sure your tools have the capacity to help you fulfill your vision. How to scale your business like the pros notes, “What worked for a small one-man team will certainly fall short in an operation consisting of 100 employees or even 50 for that matter. The more you want to grow your business, the more adaptive and efficient its systems will need to be.” This applies to more than marketing technologies, but also to CRM systems and even your website. Any and all materials you’re sending out to prospects need to reflect the level of professionalism your brokerage is offering.

So when you’re evaluating where you want your career go, keep quality in mind. Striving to provide excellent service to your clients should be a constant mission alongside growth initiatives. CEO of Engel & Völkers North America, Anthony Hitt said, “To be successful in real estate, you must always and consistently put your clients’ best interests first. When you do, your personal needs will be realized beyond your greatest expectations.”

• Next Post