The #1 Skill You Must Have to Be a Successful Real Estate Agent in 2023
One very important skill you must have to become a successful real estate agent is obviously that you must have the ability to sell! You’re not going to make any money if you don’t know how to sell your listings. But what I’m referring today is you must also know how to SELL YOURSELF.
SELLING YOURSELF is not easy as it might sound. How do you feel about it? Does selling yourself make you feel uncomfortable and uneasy? If it does, that’s perfectly normal.
For a long period of time I was quite uncomfortable selling myself; even when I first started this blog I felt like I was just showing off myself as a real estate agent mentor. But I really wanted to pass on my experience and help real estate agents who are struggling or searching for that breakthrough in their career. I wanted to share what I have learned over a period of many years selling real estate and mentoring agents, and I knew that starting this blog was the most effective way of doing this.
Don’t Sell Yourself Short!
If you’re not able to sell yourself, what you’re actually doing is selling yourself short. It means you’re afraid of showing people what you’re really worth, therefore you don’t ask for what you know you’re worth. And the result? You always settle for less.
The word ‘selling’ means to communicate the value of something, so when you sell yourself you’re actually communicating your own value. If you don’t have the talent of selling yourself to others, then it really doesn’t matter how talented or skilful you are at something. All your hard work will be to no avail.
Real Estate Success is Not Just About Talent and Hard Work
I’ve discovered through my mentoring business that there are many talented and hard-working real estate agents, both rookies and veterans included, simply don’t know how to sell themselves.
Worse still, many don’t understand that, in order to succeed, they need to be able to sell themselves first. On the other hand, I’ve come across real estate agents who have less skills and talent, but who are more successful simply because they know how to sell themselves.
No one doubts that you have many talents; however, your inability to sell those talents to others will prevent you from achieving unparalleled success. The only way you can set yourself apart from other Real Estate Agents and achieve the success you truly want is learn the art of SELLING YOURSELF.
Below I’ve listed some tips that may help you learn the art of selling yourself –
1. Create a Professional Bio
Your professional bio maybe the first connection between you and a potential client or networking prospect. Having a great bio is an especially important tool in your arsenal. It provides the perfect opportunity to talk about yourself and your achievements in an easy-to-read format.
If you’re not sure how to go about writing a good bio, there are many experienced people on Fiverr who will write the perfect bio for you.
2. Invest in Professional Photographs
Investing a little time and money into professional photographs can help create an impressive image for you. With personal brand photography you get to tell your story: it shows your clients who you are and gives potential clients the opportunity to connect with you on deeper level.
Not only will your communications with clients become more engaging, the photography will add personality to your brand.
3. Get Testimonials from Clients
Don’t ever be shy about asking for a testimonial from your clients. This is a very powerful marketing tool. They’re vitally important to your reputation because they reinforce the trust other people have in you and your business.
People buy People first. Your prospects must trust you first before engaging you.
Keep in mind that many people search online for testimonials or reviews prior to engaging a Real Estate Agent. The best timing to ask for a testimonial is immediately after the deal is sealed and your clients are happy with your service.
4. Be Proud of Your Achievements
Many people don’t like talking about their achievements because they’re worried others will think they are bragging. Remember that when you speak openly about your accomplishments, there is a greater chance you will be remembered and not forgotten.
Keep in mind that you have every right to be proud of your real estate sales achievements, which have ultimately come from long hours of dedication and hard work; often sacrificing family time and personal interests.
The way to share your accomplishments is do it in a grateful and humble way. You can thank someone that help in your success. You can give credit to a book that you have read. You can thank your customers for trusting you to handle their real estate needs. This way you can talk about your achievements without sounding boastful.
5. Tell Your Story
Have you ever wondered why billions of people pay good money every year to watch movies? The reason is that they love stories. Everyone loves a great story. The telling of stories is a fundamental human experience, one that unites people and promotes deeper, stronger connections.
A good story can capture attention. A good story can provokes emotion. A good story can connect your prospects to you.
The telling of stories is a fundamental human experience, it can unite people and promote deeper and stronger connections.
6. Start a Blog
Blogging has many benefits. It will show that your brand has its own unique personality. It can also generate a lot of leads and attract many customers. It is a relatively easy and inexpensive way to drive traffic to your site that will help you in your SEO ranking.
If you run your blog well and updated it regularly with interesting topics, it won’t take long before your regular followers begin to trust you and treat you as an authority on your subject.
7. Be Visible
Make yourself visible – everywhere! We can’t talk about marketing without talking about social media. Whether it’s LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram, social media provides amazing benefits that help you communicate with followers around the globe. Social media is no longer an option when it comes to developing your brand – it’s absolutely vital to your success as a real estate agent.
If you are not currently using this profitable resource, you’re missing out on the greatest marketing opportunity there is. Social media is the easiest way of spreading the word about yourself. If you currently have no leverage in social media, start with these baby steps –
o Add five friends to your social media accounts every day. Find friends that have the same hobbies as you by going to Facebook interest groups. It is easier to make friends with people with same interests or hobbies. When they accept your friend request, send a thank-you message in return.
o People on social media love having their posts liked and commented on, so make sure you like and comment on all your friends’ posts.
o Set another goal to post one article every day and make sure your posts are varied and interesting. You might want to recommend a nice hangout place, some delicious food, or comment on a motivational quote. Make sure that not all your activity online refers to listings or business-related articles; people will soon become tired of your posts and ignore them.
Once you become more confident with posting online, you can soon start positioning yourself as an expert in your field. You can achieve this by posting how you help your clients to upgrade, latest property market reports, giving property investment advice to your followers and conducting webinars.
In Conclusion
Everyone needs to learn how to sell themselves. Regardless of whether we’re trying to get a job or a date or get a real estate listing or close a sale, we are always going to be faced with situations in life where we want to persuade someone to do something. The truth is that, in life, to some degree we’re all salespeople, and we need to be.
Even extremely talented people need to learn the art of selling themselves if they want to succeed in their chosen field. So, if you want to achieve amazing success in your career as a real estate agent, your job now is to become comfortable with the concept of selling yourself.
** Please share this article if you find it useful or know someone who can benefit from it. Thank You.
To Your Success,
Gary Chua is the co-founder of Navis Living Group
—A 1300 agents-strong division with Huttons real estate agency, and the fastest growing group in this competitive industry. Gary is also a mentor to many real estate agents and team builders, for two decades and counting.
Before devoting his work full-time to grooming realtors, Gary was himself an distinguished real estate salesperson. He first stepped into the industry at age 30 in Year 2000 and having been Top 50 Achievers in his 5 years of sales, he understands the hurdles and challenges facing both new and experienced agents, and is thus equipped with a wealth of knowledge to aid and teach the property agents whom he takes under his wings.
In 2005, Gary realised that his true calling was to groom and coach the next generation of real estate agents. It was also the year that he consciously diverted almost all of his time and effort into recruitment activities, putting his personal sales aside and taking a hit in his bottom line.
Through sheer grit and determination, Gary's vision took hold as his team expanded, eventually growing to become the largest division in its agency, and also one of the largest in Singapore. It cultivated numerous top producers and achievers throughout the decade—some of whom have clocked in more than S$1,000,000 in commission in a single year, broken many sales records, won many local and international awards, and helped many real estate agents achieve outstanding results and realise their financial freedom.
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