One of the most confusing and amusing things I hear regularly (on a daily basis at that) is agents who have been in real estate maybe 6 months who say "I do all of my business by referral." Let that sink in.
Now I know there are exceptions to every rule. I have come across agents who were in a related field like mortgages or commercial land development who already HAD lots of legitimate contacts when they started in real estate who bring them more than enough referrals. That is the exception, and not the rule.
Whether you're young or old, if you're fairly new in the real estate business and you're not satisfied with your earnings this blog post is for you. DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU'RE TOLD.
There's a simple and very fascinating dynamic in real estate sales and in the sales field in general. One that truly exposes we humans as the primal, competitive animals we really are no matter how nice we may appear to be. This dynamic is one of survival.
Don't be fooled by the ReMax, Century 21, or whatever logo that is on your business card. You work for yourself. And most importantly, DON'T BELIEVE FOR A MINUTE THAT THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AGENTS ARE NECESSARILY GOING TO HELP YOU AND GIVE YOU THE ADVICE YOU NEED.
There are exceptions to every rule, and I've seen a handful of agents who do try to help newbies, but the vast majority of top producers I've spoken with express a dead serious competitive nature: "I'm not going to show an agent in my office or even in my own TOWN how I do things. They're my direct competition! Now if you're in another state and NOT in direct competition with me, I'll be happy to share information with you." I've heard this more times than I can count.
It's like the magician not giving away his or her secret. Or the chef who shares the recipe you've been dying to try, but leaves out that ONE ingredient so you'll never be able to get it quite right. Happens all the time.
Don't be lulled into inactivity and endless waiting when a successful agent tells you "I only do business by referral." It's what the agent DOESN'T tell you that is most important. That agent HAD to put forth a consistent and strong effort for years to get themselves in position to do business by referral. And they're probably not going to tell you how they did it. The answer lies in the training classes you took to get your license. You know, the ones that told you all the things you didn't want to hear.
We hear what we want to hear. If we want to hear that we can be successful in real estate by referral only (even though we've only had our license a scant few months), we will listen that. I doesn't matter that no one knows us because we don't follow up and we give our cards to mostly anonymous people and, oh yeah, a few friends.
Why is it that so many agents will listen to advice that will lead to inactivity, waiting, and ultimately failure while people like Gary Keller of Keller Williams present a virtual roadmap to building your client base that only 10% of new agents listen to?
Nothing worth having comes easy. And we tend to not appreciate anything that comes easy, anyway...because it came easy and, therefore, subconsciously we deem it to be worthless. And disposable.
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