Top Producing Real Estate ~ Personality Not Required!

Top Producing Real Estate Agent ~ Personality Not Required!

It's always nice to work with an ethical, professional agent with a good personality, but it's not necessary to have a good personality, ethics or professionalism to be a top producing agent.  In the short term the only thing that is required is prospecting and price.  In the long term ethics and professionalism may catch up to the agent, but for a long time the agent will be able to tell people they are a "Multi Million Dollar Producer" and print "Multi Million Dollar Producer" and "Top Producer" on their business cards.

I would love to be the top selling agent in my area.  I'm not going to take away buying opportunities from my sellers or alienate buyers to make myself more successful.  Do I need to work more on prospecting?  Yes.  Will I take on more clients than I can take care of to make more money if the transaction ends with an unhappy buyer or seller?  No.

There are very successful agents in my area that don't call you back, but they list the properly at the right price and have lots of inventory.  They sell their listings to their own buyers or their company's buyers. Has the seller missed out on money that another agent may have been able to bring to the table?  Yes.  Has the agent sold 2 sides?  Yes.  How did they do it?  Prospecting and price.

There are dozens of agents who never show a listing and never meet a buyer or another agent in person.  Some don't show because their office is 2, 3 or 4 hours away from the property.  Some don't show the home because they don't need to.    They put a lock box and wait for an offer.  Could they get more money for their properties?  Maybe.  How do they achieve their success?  Prospecting and price.

To be a top producing real estate agent you need a lot of properly priced listings.  Agents may hate you, your seller may hate you, buyers may hate you and buyer's agents may hate you, but you will still make money if you have a lot of properly priced listings.

A successful agent in my area has gotten into full blown arguments with my buyers twice and made both buyers so mad that they refused to make an offer for a home they loved.  When I show property this agents voice sounds like she is having an argument and about to start brawling.  Does she have a lot of listings?  Yes.  Does she sell all of her listings?  No.  How does she achieve the success that she has?  Prospecting.  How could she be more successful?  Price.

You can also be a top producing agent if you have a lot of qualified and or cash buyers and there are plenty of properly priced properties on the market.  It still takes prospecting and price to achieve your goal.

Buyers and buyer's agents will not refuse to work with you no matter how horrendous you are to work with if you have properly priced listings.  

All business owners have a different idea about what customer service is.  Some agents may think adequate customer service it's getting to the closing table.  Excellent customer service for me is having a raving fan after the closing.  Do I need a raving fan to close?  No.  

Do I care what other agents think about me?  Yes.  I want other agents to know that if they work with me I will be trustworthy, ethical, accessible, responsive, pro-active, organized, punctual, well trained and up-to-date on paper work, laws and local land use plans.  

Are there a lot of wonderful agents with great personalities, professionalism and experience who have over priced listings?  Yes.  Can a buyer's agent get a buyer to write an offer on these over priced properties?  Maybe. Will the seller will look at a reasonable offer?  Maybe.  

Buyers and buyer's agents prefer a sure thing.  Would you prefer to spend 1,000 hours looking at over priced homes and writing offers or would you prefer to write 1 offer for a properly priced home and be done?  The key to being a top producing agent is a lot of listings that are properly priced.

As I look at the history of old listings in the mls there are dozens of listings that say "Terminated Member."  Why are they terminated?  What happened to these agents?  Did they become terminated members because their raving fans complained about them?  Did they become terminated members because other agents thought they were ethical and professional?

This week a friend asked me about being a real estate agent.  She thought that I had a good personality and that she had a good personality and that she would be a great agent because of her nice personality.  Personality has almost nothing to do with success in real estate.  I'd rather work with nice people and people who are easy to work with, but a nice personality is not going to make a buyer buy a home.  It's amazing how many agents do very well and don't have a good personality.  If their character catches up with them they will soon be a "terminated member," but for awhile properly priced listings and inventory will keep the roller coaster success story going.