Here are my three greatest predictors of real estate success.
Real estate sales offers almost unlimited income, flexible hours, and the ability to ‘be your own boss’. If it’s so awesome a field, why don’t more people succeed? (Statistics say about half of agents entering the business in any given year are out of the business in a year…)
The Success Numbers
Having interviewed thousands of would-be agents, I haven’t met one who didn’t want to make six figures their first year in the business. Here’s the truth: The first-year agent, on average, sells 2-3 homes. Depending on the area, that’s nowhere near six figures. So, what’s wrong?
The Business Doesn’t Guarantee Success
I know. Agents were told they would be successful if they joined a particular company.To the new agent, it made sense. Then, they found out success wasn’t nearly as much due to the company as it was due to work ethic! How rude! Yes, it’s true that a good company provides the tools. A caring, coaching manager provides the skills. Good agents around help newer agents stay motivated. But, agents still fail with great support. Why? They didn’t go to work!
The Three Qualities that Make the Difference
I’ve told you the downside. Now, here’s the upside. Agents who have an abundance of these three qualities succeed at a high level:
- Personal initiative—taking charge of their own schedules, organization, and initiating a successful business start-up plan from day one
- Tenacity—not giving up. People think they are tenacious and self-directed until they actually have to be tenacious and self-directed. Most people give up way too soon!
- Mental toughness—the ability to take ‘no’ after ‘no’ and keep going to a ‘yes’.
In my book, Launching Right in Real Estate, What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School, I provide several self-analysis tools so would-be agents can see if they’re a good fit for the business. Here’s one of them:
Qualities of a Successful Real Estate Associate
Are you hiring to these qualities? And, better yet, how strong are each of these qualities in the agent’s ‘prior life’?
People Who Prove They Have these Qualities in Abundance
As I write this, the summer Olympics are beginning. Read the biographies of these exceptional performers. Every one has overcome great adversity. They all exhibit extreme tenacity, personal initiative, and mental toughness. Pretend you’re hiring for an Olympic sales performer. Find those qualities in agents you interview.
An interview tip: Use this list and develop ‘past-based behavioral predictor’ questions to see if that prospective agent exhibits enough of each quality. You can see questions and how to create them in The Complete Recruiter.
Click here to grab my list of qualities of successful real estate associates.
Managers: What are the qualities you look for in a real estate agent? What questions do you ask to find out of the agent has sufficient strength of these qualities?
Have Agents Stuck and De-motivated in this Market?
Let me help you re-motivate them (and you) to get back into the game! I’ve created an eBook, along with an audio, Back on Track, to do just that. It’s complimentary. I want everyone to be awesomely successful–in any market! Grab it here.
