It's a tough time for many agents in this economy, especially if you are new.  You have a lot to learn about real estate in general, but you also need to build relationships with potential clients too.  So here are a few suggestions to get you moving towards real estate expert status.

1) Study Your Market - I've been in the business for over 2 years and I try to do this every day.  Spend 30 minutes everyday studying your MLS.  What's new on the market, what just went pending, price reductions, what sold that day, what expired, etc.  There are a few things that you will start noticing if you do this everyday:

              a) You will start getting a sense of where the market is currently and where it is headed.

              b) When you speak to a potential buyer or even a seller or your friends you will be able speak confidently about what's selling today.

2) Take Studying Your Market UP a Notch by Previewing the new homes on the market.  Previewing is when you tour a home without a buyer.  You will be even more confident when talking to potential clients about what homes are available.  Try to break your previewing efforts down to either price range, or square footage or location, etc.  The more you know about the details of the homes on the market the more confidence you give off when speaking with a potential client.  If previewing isn't acceptable in your area than make sure to go on the Broker Tours weekly.

3) Learn the real estate side of things - read your contracts and make sure you understand them to the degree that you could explain it to a 5 year old.  See if you can team up with a more experienced agent who's willing to share his/her commission with you on a listing and then you do most of the footwork with their help of course.

4) Practice communicating with sellers and buyers.  Write down all the potential objections that might come up and practice addressing those objections everyday.  If you can get role playing partner, even better.  Sit down with them for 15 minutes every day, pick a topic or objection and practice, practice, practice.

5) Read anything and everything you can get your hands on, real estate and non real estate related.  I've read several books that have helped me gain insight to this.  Jennifer Allan's "Sell with Soul" book is a must for newbies.  She really explains the process well.  Keller Williams, "The Millionaire Real Estate Agent" is another good one and I know that his new book "The Shift" has gotten rave reviews from many agents here on the rain.  All of Seth Godin's books are great.  Plus Keith Ferrazzi's "Never Eat Alone" is a great book about building meaningful relationships in business.

So I hope you will find these tips and reminders useful.  And just want to say:  Here's to your success this 2009!  Good Luck out there :)

Jessica

Copyright 2009 Jessica Bigger.  All Rights Reserved.  *Newbie Agents: Want to Be Known as the Expert in Your Market?  A few tips to getting there.*