Top 8 Reasons Real Estate Agents Fail

Real estate agents have a hard time making a lot of money, but it is not because there are too many agents or too few houses to sell. It is because agents do not take the time to build their business and build their database. Being a successful agent is not about buying as many leads as you can, but about taking care of clients and building relationships.  Avoid these mistakes and you can be a successful real estate agent.

1. Educate themselves constantly without implementing strategies. Many real estate agents attend every class, every training
and buy every program they can before they start to build their business. Before you buy anything or attend any classes you can start building your business. Tell the people you know you are becoming an agent and don’t be scared to talk about your new career to everyone! Classes are good, but not what sells houses.

2. Spend thousands of dollars on lead generators. Zillow, Trulia, Boom Town and many more lead generators promise great leads for little money. Some of these lead sources do provide great leads; Zillow is good. But, it is tough for a new agent to survive when their costs are through the roof. Spend time on your own database, talking to people you already know, not paying to talk to strangers.

3. Are afraid to answer their phone. The phone is a real estate agents best friend. If you are not willing to answer your phone or call people back right away, you will have a hard time as an agent. People’s biggest complaint about real estate agents is they do not return calls.

4. Work part-time thinking they can handle full-time work. Real estate agents have to be available at all times. People need to see houses in the evening, morning and weekends. You don’t have to work all the time, but when starting out you need to be available all the time. If you are part-time, join a team or get a partner that can help you.

5. Join a no service company to avoid paying high fees or commissions splits. It takes training and guidance to become a successful agent. Many agents sign up with the cheapest company they can find thinking they will make more money. Those no service companies offer no training or guidance. You need to work in a real office with training or on a team that will offer training even if it means making less per deal.

6. Do not follow up with their past clients. A real estate agents most valuable asset is their database; contacts for potential and past clients. Many agents forget about people once they sell them a house. Those past clients refer new clients to agents and can be their biggest money makers. Send mail, email, birthday and anniversary notes to your past clients. Let them know you exist and are still selling houses.

7. Focus on too many things at once. It is easy to get distracted as an agent. Should you be a buyers agent, sellers agents, REO agent, commercial, residential, property manager, work with inventors etc. Don’t be that agent that tries to do it all marginally well. Focus on a couple niches and become great at them. People would rather work with someone who is great at what they need done, than someone that is marginal at many things.

8. Do not do the basics. Open houses, database, calling people, meeting people and taking care of clients are what bring in business. Don’t get distracted by shiny things. Stick with the basics until they bring in business and keep building on them.