This is a continuation of our series offering advice to those starting their real estate career, from brokers active in the Portland market.
Lynn Murphy (Principal Broker, Windermere) stresses the need to take the time to develop a list constituing a sphere of influence. The fact is the person considering entry into the career, or actually studying to complete the courses for entry, should begin preparing the list immediately and not wait until after he receives a license.
As stated by Lynne:
“The desire to succeed means nothing without the will to prepare!
Compiling a sphere of influence is the first step new agents must take. This list is of contacts is your future, and your source of referrals. You need names, telephone numbers, email addresses and mailing addresses. Those agents unwilling to put the time and effort into developing a realistic and complete list are usually the ones who are not successful. This list is comprised of people who know and trust you and with whom you need to be in touch in order to grow your business and succeed. Your list should contain more than about 100 names, so the task of compiling it should not be daunting.
Some new agents come from other professions and have a built-in clientele, but if you are not one of them, you need to compile a list of family, friends, people you interact with on a daily basis or are involved with in other ways, such as hobbies, sports or like interests.
Marketing to your sphere, whether it is a friendly telephone call or a mailing with pertinent information about the market, will help them think of you first when it comes to real estate.”
Marlene Wellin (Vice President of Operations, Principal Broker, Coldwell Banker Mountain West Real Estate) provides the following advice.
“We tell all our agents it’s time to prospect. It’s all about activity, door knocking, mailing, holding open houses etc.
And service. What our agents do that some may not do so well is follow up and stay in touch with past clients. We tell our agents to always say “Thank you for recommending me to anyone who may need my real estate services.”
John A. Spitzer (CRB, Principal Broker –John L Scott). Like Lynne, John stresses the need to work on the shpere.
“My tip for a new agent would be to develop an Excel spreadsheet for their sphere of influence. Their sphere of influence should include everyone they know including friends, family, church, children’s school, athletic club, doctors, associations, volunteer groups, past employment etc. The Excel spread sheet should be set up with columns for first name, last name, address, city, state, zip code, email and phone number. From this sheet you can do mail merges for post cards, newsletters, email etc. You can also transfer an Excel spreadsheet to any contact management software an agent might purchase in the future. After each mailing, you should follow up with a phone contact to each person on the list. If you do this along with holding open houses, floor time etc. to develop additional contacts, you will be doing more than many agents and will prosper in this market.”
The secret is that there is no secret. There is a market. Sales and purchases will occur. Today’s market will consist of some buyers looking for deals on short sales or sales of foreclosed homes, while other buyers are looking for their dream home, an investment property, etc. as they always have. While sales have slowed from the level that was inflated by flippers and acceptance of hitherto unqualified buyers, the market is active. The question is, as always, price. When sellers and buyers find the comfort level for price, a sale will occur. With financing affordable, serious buyers and serious sellers will make sales happen.
For new licensees, another fact to consider is that there is less competition. When the market is hot, the ranks of licensees will swell; when the market cools, many leave the business, creating room and oppotunity for new licensees, who do not have to readjust to an entirely different way of marketing real estate, and who may be better able to accept the training provided for the realities of the current market.