Five Top Industry Experts Share How to Adopt the Mindset of a Winner

By Julie Escobar, Director of Corporate Marketing, ProspectsPLUS!

Hats off to the new agents!  You bring to our industry fresh faces, new enthusiasm, and "ready-to-make-things-happen" attitudes, and for that, you are appreciated!  Floyd Wickman once said with the right tools, training and focus - ANYONE can make it in this business.  In that spirit, I asked five top industry experts to help us explore what new agents need to do to adopt the right mindset or "focus" for success. Our esteemed guests are:  Real Estate Speaker, Coach and Author, Bernice Ross; President of Frogpond.com, Susie Hale; Speaker, Coach and Author, Darryl Davis; Speaker, Trends Expert and Author, Stefan Swanepoel, and Author, Coach and Speaker, Matt Ferry.   Let's get started!

Q:  What do new agents need to do to create and keep the right mindset for success?

A:  Bernice Ross:  Mentally, I would tell new agents to ignore all the experienced people who tell you how bad it is.  Surround yourself with those people who are doing great things.  There are so many good online resources you can tap into such as www.inman.com or www.realtytimes.com.  Bookmark these power sites, track what's going on in this industry and keep learning. 

I also believe that if you help enough people with what they need or want, they'll help you back.  Dive into conversations and find out what's important to the customers who make up your book of business.  Find out what they need and how you can help them, then keep helping them as you build that customer base to more than 200 people.  That's a great foundation for success.  I often share Michael Russer's great advice and that is to make "irresistible offers."  For example, offer your customers the "how-to" information they need to lower their taxes at tax time and the forms and CMA they need to complete the job!  Make yourself an invaluable resource to them and they'll refer you again and again.

A:  Susie Hale:   I guess my best advice to new agents would be to not be afraid to try new things.  Think of it a little like cutting your hair.  It will always grow back!  So, experiment a little!  Try new marketing ideas on for size, but just one at a time!  That way, if you stumble on something that doesn't work, you simply try something else.  Next, of course, I encourage agents to embrace technology and social networking in such a way that you never lose your personal connectivity with your customers.  Most importantly, I would say define who you are and what you like to do.  Really take a look at what it is that is unique and special about you.  Are you a tennis player, music-lover, horse-enthusiast, theater-buff, or boater?  Whatever your passion, find the groups of people that are associated with it and make that niche your own.  Share common interests, engage in sincere, relevant, interesting conversations and consistently stay in touch to create long-term trust.  That trust eliminates all the question marks for clients and opens the door for you to develop a mutual respect which equals clients for life and a referral system you can count on throughout your career. 

A:  Darryl Davis:  I believe that you should look at your life and measure it in terms of different levels.  I think most people - most agents - just focus on goals.  How much money they want to make, for example, how many listings they want, etc.  I challenge them to look beyond that at what they want their "next level" to be.  In other words, ask yourself if you had a magic wand, where would you like your career and your life to take you?  After all, when you're ninety, it won't matter much how many listings you had - but what will matter is if you were on the playing field in life. 

Instead, commit to the next level, to getting everything you wanted from your life.  Then find the things or reasons that source that commitment for you.   For some it's family, wealth or retirement and for others charity, community, or faith.  Those sources will give you the energy and enthusiasm to keep going no matter what.  I'll give you a good example.  I recently ran in a marathon.  What gave me the strength to get past the feeling of wanting to quit?  By the way, sore muscles had nothing to do with being in a marathon.  It had everything to do with raising money for children's leukemia research.  I was committed to helping save kids' lives and it's that kind of "source" that can help you get past those times when you want to say, "I can't," or "I don't want to."  Keep your eyes on the next level and go for it.

A:  Stefan Swanepoel:  My advice would be to remain positive.  Know that our industry has been through tough times before.  In fact, every decade we can point to 30-50% drops in certain markets.  We're at that same level as the mid 1990s, yet consider that according to the National Association of REALTORS®, we'll still see 4-5 Million re-sales this year.  That doesn't even count new home construction!  So, what that means to you is that there are going to be 9-10 million transaction opportunities for agents to earn commissions.  So, who's going to earn them?  You could certainly be one of them - if you position yourself properly and stay positive!

A:  Matt Ferry:  I have to say that one of the greatest challenges new agents have is what I call the "drunk monkey," or their mind.  Our minds are designed to keep us alive.  It steers clear of the obstacles, fear factors and "danger zones."  So, if a new agent just listens to his or her mind, it would clearly conflict with the whole concept of real estate!  Their mind would equate their new career as "new" which, to it, means "unknown" which equals "scary."  So, I tell agents they need to retrain their brains!

First, skip the news.  It's often not accurate or truthful and absolutely can side-swipe you in terms of your optimism.  Remember sensationalism is what sells - and it's also hooks the mind.  Our minds are already bombarded with fear messages and watching the news is basically a way of asking your brain, "What, are you not scared enough?  Take this!"  Your mind adopts the potential threats and shuts down. 

Next, I teach agents to play the "contribution game," which means rather than being totally focused on making sales, instead focus on making a difference for everyone, everywhere, all the time.  Why?  You'll find that when you are focused on that service, on giving, soon you'll develop valuable reciprocal relationships and that will equal sales, and a long term referral base.

Lastly, I recommend you use what I call the 10/10 visualization.  That is make a list of ten things that you currently love about your life and ten top goals and dreams.  Before you go to sleep each night, review both lists, close your eyes and visualize each.  This is a great way to counteract the "scary" stuff our minds connect with each day with those things that are already good and helps give us the boost needed to succeed. 

And now, for my two cents:  I've always been a big fan of keeping things in perspective and very often, that's where I start when giving advice to new agents.  If you miss something, make a mistake, or are unsure, it's all right.  The great thing about this life is you get a clean slate every day to try again.  Do your best, with integrity and choose reliable sources for guidance.  Talk to your broker if you have a question, and keep the big picture in mind.  Next, find out what's most important to you, where your interests lie and how you can start working with people who have those same interests until you make that niche your own.  It makes that "breaking the ice" portion of relationship building so much smoother.  Why?  It's genuine, not forced and it allows you to speak with passion and confidence to like-minded people. 

Next, put systems in place that help automate the process of getting your name out and marketing your business.  This eases the number of things on your "mental checklist" each day and frees you up to feed your mind with all the great information, tools, techniques and resources that are available to you.  Then, connect with people who could, should and can be in your sphere of influence!  After all, when it all is said and done, this is a people business.  Consider the powerful words of Zig Ziglar, "You'll get everything in life that you want if you help enough other people get what they want."  Now, there's perspective!    

A huge thank you to our panelists for their advice and expertise!  As new agents, arm yourself every day, every week with fundamental knowledge, powerful inspiration and results-producing skills and techniques.  I invite you to bookmark the sites of our guest experts to continuously learn from them.  They are extraordinary resources for agents new and experienced!  Here's how to get in touch:

• Bernice Ross:  www.realestatecoach.com
• Susie Hale:  www.frogpond.com
• Darryl Davis:  www.darryldavis.com
• Stefan Swanepoel:  www.retrends.com
• Matthew Ferry:  www.matthewferry.com

If you missed Part I of this article series, please visit blog.prospectsplus.com to learn what every new agent needs to know in terms of strategies, systems, tools and techniques!  If you're looking for new ways to grow your business and put some of those valuable systems in place that we talked about, visit www.prospectsplus.com and sign up for a free web account which will unlock a treasure chest of timely resources for you!  Need help navigating the waters of being a new agent or advice on what solutions top agents use to keep their career on track?  Call me directly at 1.866.405.3641.  Until then, I wish you every success!