The nitty gritty of getting started in your real estate business or "Why do I feel like I am 12 years old?"
If you’ve ever attempted a to sell something yourself (or listened closely to 
the struggles of your business peers), then you’ll know that the horror show isn’t so far off from the typical business owner/ real estate agent experience.
Here’s how MOST real estate agent /business marketing goes down (This blog is kind of long, but KEEP READING because I think I completely nailed it below!)
First, you reach out to your email list to get people to raise their hand.
Or…if you don’t yet have an email list you whip up a few FB ads, tie it together with a lead capture landing page, and wait for the “magic” to unfold.
Or....you make those phone calls....walk those sidewalks.....badger the hell out of your family, friends, associates, neighbors and sphere of influence.
And maybe you actually DO get a solid number of people to raise their hand. Something you feel good about. "They want to talk to me about REAL 
ESTATE!!"
So you go to work on what you are going to say! You labor for hours wondering what you’ll share with them, and how you can somehow seamlessly steer the conversation from instructional and informational into a natural closing that doesn’t make you (or them) feel sick to your stomach.
But even as you write what you will say, you can already feel how contrived it all sounds.
You worry about the balance.
Am I teaching too little? Informing too much? Closing to hard? Should I just throw in the towel? Is this blog too long! The questions never end.
But you’re a bold-faced business owner, a real estate agent with a sparkle in your eye, a vision to pursue and you’ve already spent hundreds on ads and technology that you don’t even know how to use yet…so you plunge forward with a “screw it, let’s do it” mentality.
“It’s all in my head…I’ll feel better once I’m on the call, once I'm seated at their table"
Sure…if you can even make it there.
Next, it’s time to unpack all that equipment and tech you just dropped a thousand bucks on.
But “it’s all good” you say…“I’ll make it back on my first closing!”
So you take stock of it all - the stuff needed to market in the visual mediums, microphone, webcams, screenshare recording app, registration forms, hosting, CRM, campaigns, so you can effectivly deliver the message of the solutions you have to offer.
As a professional, you know what to do....READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!
Breeze through the instructions - watch a few YouTube tutorials and “how to” guides, and desperately try to patch together multiple systems, programs and technologies that make assembling Ikea furniture feel like a walk in the park.
Your intro video is PERFECT, except,"Why is the title over my face!" The solution is hours ahead.
And let’s say you get lucky…maybe there’s a “tech guru” in your office, someone in your group who owes you a favor and steps up to the plate and delivers.
Phew. That was close! (You can always count on the gray beards)
Then the day of your big appointment comes.
You review your notes, make some edits to the slides (“What was I thinking with that outdated, uber-corporate template”) and do a few vocal warm-ups to make sure you are “projecting” properly…as if any of us really know what that means.
Speak from the diaphragm....ack, that doesn't sound like me, besides I can't keep that up for 30 minutes!
But you’re feeling good. Checkmarks. All systems go.
You review your process. Only a HANDFUL of your leads have responded (something like 15%...with most of them being your friends and family who raised their hand for moral support).
What happened to all those expensive, well-earned leads?? AHH.
And are the few that responded even the right TYPE for my solutions?
Will they care about you or your information, your help, or are they waiting for ANY excuse to "check out" and get on with their day?
You are worried…
But the show must go on - you can still salvage this if you close a few people that actually DID raise their hand, right?
The minutes have passed, your time has arrived, you made it to the table.
So you fight the flinch, hide your disappointment, and jump into a scattered mix of slides, market data, comps and closing pitches.
There is ZERO engagement. (What happened to all that “YES momentum” you were told would come so easy?) All that neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) training did little to alter the masks across the table.
And for a split second, you can swear you’re back on stage at your old grade school delivering your very first public speech to a bunch of disinterested teenagers.
"Four score and seven years ago...." (kill me now!)
You bravely give it your all and awkwardly transition into your closing.
Your brain floods with negative self-talk:
“Who am I to sell my solutions to these home owners?”
“I don’t want to sound sleazy or pushy!”
“These folks will hate me and never trust me again...the few people I have, those few hands in the air, will unsubscribe, cancel, ghost me…”
But once again, you push through it and sputter off a few words.
A Hail Mary.
Close the curtain.
Exit stage right.
You curse the so-called Listing Mastermind course you bought that covered only one piece of a large, intricate puzzle…and cast off LISTING as an expensive, complicated, ineffective method that has no place in your business. "'l will stick with renters and buyers. "
"I've made my decision." You pat yourself on the back, lick your wounds and learn to live another day while waiting and hoping for Listing Masterminds to die a slow, painful death. (Not like you’re spiteful or anything)
Yet despite all these horror stories, you STILL hang on to the idea of “someday” you will be doing them, listing houses to help onwers sell their house, that is
Why?
Because despite EVERYTHING that can (and usually does) go wrong with a listing presentation
There is still NOTHING more powerful, leverage-able or exponentially more profitable for you and your real estate business than a well executed listing strategy.
And if you could just pull off your FIRST profitable listing system, EVERYTHING in your business changes.
And that is the secret...once a little success is experienced, the need to 
experience more compels one to face their fears and overcome them.
That is one of the reasons I advise newbies to make the broker COMMIT to engaging them in a transaction within 30 days. A little success provides the fuel for attaining success on a bigger stage.
In short - bringing success to others is a game changer.
As a new real estate agent, the 'right way' can be hard to find within the cacophony of noise surrounding them, each source of noise clamoring for the agents undivided attention.
The new agent would do well to start their career on the right track.
Best of success,
Annette Lawrence, Broker Associate
Remax Realtec Group
Palm Harbor, FL
727. 420. 40412
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