Communication - The #1 requirement to be successful in real estate- I meet with a lot of new agents and many of them ask what the top skill to be successful is in real estate? Many of them tell me they are personable or good with people or they have been told that they would make a great real estate agent by a friend or 
acquaintance that is already in real estate.
One of the most common comments I have heard people say over the years is "I have been told I have the gift of gab and that I would make a great agent" Unfortunately the opposite is actually true. People that like to talk a lot usually talk too much about themselves and in real estate you must be a good listener. You must be very good at hearing what your clients are saying and translating that into their needs, wants and desires.
Communication is not only the number one skill for an agent to find success it is also the number one skill required to find success in whatever you are seeking in life, whether it is a personal relationship, a spouse, or child, a friend or business partner, communication is the key to success.
Communicating with:
- Sellers - Personally I think this should be done at least every other day for the first couple weeks, communicating feedback from buyers and other agents is critical for quickly improving the home based on this feedback for highest price in shortest amount of time. In slower markets I always advised my agents to check in with their sellers every Thursday, why Thursdays? If you have brochure boxes that need refilling, this will give you time to get there (or your assistant). It will also be a good time to communicate to the sellers about open house possibilities for the weekend. Market updates are also a good thing to communicate to your sellers on a weekly basis.
- Buyers- Keeping them posted on the latest homes coming on the market as well as trends in the market place, is the market moving up? Down? Are sellers taking low offers? Are most homes getting full price? Concessions?
- Showing service- make sure to communicate with the showing service about any changes in the listing. Does the seller have special showing instructions. Is the combination for the lockbox correct? I showed a home last weekend in a downpour and the combo lock had a different combination than was communicated to the showing service. Fortunately we had an umbrella, because it took over 20 minutes to track down the agent to get the right combo.
- Your MLS - Make sure you are communicating as much information in your lisitng as possible in your MLS service, including pictures, descriptions, area amenities etc. I always ask my sellers "What was the reason you bought the home?" These are usually the same reasons another buyer will also want the home, so communicate that to the buyers and agents searching for homes.
- Managing Brokers - Are you having some issues and are not sure who to turn to? Or afraid your managing broker won't have time for you. Rest assured that almost every managing broker out there is going to be there for you, this is the reason they took on the role as managing broker, they are very good at resolving issues and want to be there for their agents. Communicate with them.
- Marketing team - Communicate to them the special features of the home you have listed, they more than likely did not meet with the sellers, so they only have your input to go by. Communicate with them!
- Target Audience - Communicate to them what you specialize in, why should they choose you when they are literally thousands of agents out there trying to reach them. I guarantee if you have great communication skills your message will be much more likely to get read.
- SOI - What are you communicating to them, or are you. Once again, you must communicate consistently and have something for them that actually interests them. You must also be very good at communicating your "handle". Your "handle" is what they carry around with them and when the "handle" is either mentioned or brought to their attention they immediately think of you. A "handle" is not a tag line, not a cute little saying that you have created for yourself, but rather your "niche" market. For a good one check out the Kuney-Todaro team, they have specialized in new construction in their marketplace for many years, they now get practically every buyer looking for new construction and they get almost every builder to contact them to help them market their homes. They really know how to communicate.
- Title Company - Make sure you have communicated everything you need to your closer, title rep and the rest of your Title company to ensure that their are no hiccups in the closing.
- Your Family - DUH!
Communication is the most important skill you will use in real estate, and ironically it is one of the easiest, but most often overlooked skill to finding success. In fact it is the number one complaint from both Buyers and Sellers that had a bad experience with an agent. Judging from many of the comments here on Activerain, it appears to be one of the major flaws with a very large percentage of agents, lack of communication form another agent, no return calls, no email responses etc.
If we would all just communicate life would be so much easier, business would be so much better, regardless of your occupation.
Comments(25)