The Teacher is the Student…..

When I decided to become a Realtor 5 years ago, I was coming off of a long career in medical management (19 years) and wanted something less structured , more independent, was lucrative  and would enable me to grow my own business.  The independence really enticed me.  In my 19 years of medical management I had trained a boatload of employees,  and had dealt with my fair share of corporate office psychology and politics.  I was ready to work on my own by myself, no staff, no more training,  no more setting up of policies and procedures.  In the real estate world I could work with a team, or not.

I chose to work with eXp Realty, a virtual brokerage, which enables me to work independently out of my home office without any interruptions or office distractions.  I am a truly disciplined person.  Although, to give a plug for this remarkable group, there is plenty of collaboration and meeting if you want it at our “office”, virtual office that is.

So when approached by our broker to mentor new agents, I said yes.  To be honest, really wasn’t sure what this would entail since I still felt like a newbie myself, still learning.  None the less, about 3-4 mos.  later, I was “assigned” a new agent to mentor.  New as in newly licensed,  first time working in real estate and never worked with clients.    Mentoring, as I’m learning, is one of the things I love about eXp Realty and it has nothing to do with financial gains.

I feel that we all learn best by doing . I could sit and talk my mentee’s ear off and tell her how to do this or that, but I know she will ultimately learn better by having hands on training.  So when I have a  showing or  listing appt. she is with me, shadowing and observing.  We have been previewing homes and practicing how to speak with clients. She is learning which questions to ask, how to see from a buyer’s perspective and from a seller’s perspective.  She is performing market analysis and how to refine it. She is learning about the lending process and loan programs.  Sending emails to all the online leads we get at realestate.bellingham.net , how to reply when she  receives a  response to her emails or if not, learning about our drip campaign mgmt. program.    So lo and behold she had her first request for showing on Sunday. YIPPPPEEE!!

Do you remember that feeling?  I do.  Exhilaration. Excitement. Purpose. This could lead to a sale. Oh my god, Anxiousness!  Can I do this? What do I do?  How do I do this?    No worries little grasshopper, I will be there with you.  First step is preparation.  So there she was on a Saturday night diligently doing analysis on the property she would be showing on Sunday, trying to gather as much info as she could , as best she could for a weekend night!    

When the time came to meet her clients ( they had agreed to meet at the property), we arrived early to preview it and know the layout and condition of the property.  Although she was not able to answer all of their questions and was glad to have me there with her to field some of these questions, she did GREAT!  She developed a rapport with her clients, #1.  She was there to assist in any way she could, #2.  She assured them to get the answers to their questions, #3.  And #4, Follow up and follow through.

Although this showing did not result in an instant sale, she was able to commit them to a 2nd showing in a week.  The prospective buyers were genuinely interested in this home and in hearing further information from their new agent.

After the showing and as we drove away, she said to me  “ I am so glad you were there because when they started to ask the questions they did, I had no idea how to answer them”.  This made me think back to when I first started in the business, realizing how little I knew but how far I had come and now here I was mentoring a new agent.    Real Estate in the past few years has been to say the least a roller coaster ride and at times it feels like we are still climbing one of the steep hills.  What I realize is that just as she is learning to see real estate through the eyes of her clients (buyers and sellers),  I have the opportunity to see real estate again from the fresh eyes of a new agent.  Her enthusiasm, her eagerness, her motivation, her passion.  Mentoring for me has created an even higher sense of standard, a sense of higher performance on my part that makes me want to be a better agent; a better and more knowledgeable agent for myself, for my clients and for my peers.

So it seems my career has come full circle and I’m teaching and training again and ……..learning anew.

If you are interested in learning more about how eXp Realty can benefit you as an  agent, or would like more information about Bellingham Homes for Sale,  feel free to contact me directly at 360-303-3898 or via email at Roberta.soares@exprealty.com