As a real estate agent, starting over in a new city can feel daunting, especially when you find yourself up against well-established competition. What do you do to stand out next to these industry giants when nobody knows who you are?
Real estate agents are buyers and sellers, too, and find themselves moving to new cities and states for the same reasons other homeowners do. While sometimes a move doesn’t affect our business, moving a long-distance means you need a new farm area — and fast. But what do you do when you see some of the brokerages have been around since the dawn of time? What about those ingrained agents that have been dominating the area for decades? Is this situation intimidating? Absolutely. Is it impossible? Heck, no!
Being New Is Actually an Advantage
Being the new guy on the block (literally!) is usually viewed as a disadvantage because nobody knows who you are. But consider this: no matter how long real estate agents have been in town, every single market has agents competing for the same business. Being new doesn’t make the amount of competition less. Competition is competition wherever you are, regardless of whether you have been there for 30 years or 3 days.
Now, in this neighborhood, you have those agents who have been there for 30 years and are well established. What about the agents who have been there 2 years? 5 years? They aren’t new, but they’re still competing with those veteran agents. They are getting listings. That means that even though these veteran agents have been helping homeowners for the last 30 + years, there is still business they aren’t getting because they are losing it to these other agents. The fact they are veterans means nothing — they are not the “be all, end all” of real estate agents!
Related Reading: “Finding Your Conviction and Commitment to Making a Difference”
This is where the advantage comes in. People are always looking for the best, new things. We see this, especially with smartphones and other technologies, but this applies to new people too. How often do your kids come home raving about the cool new kid in school? You, as the new person in town, are going to generate interest just by existing!
A Prime Example
Real estate is a people business, and if people like and trust you, they will list with you. It doesn’t matter what other companies or veteran agents there are in town. People don’t list with companies; people list with people.
One of our POWER AGENTS®, Kathrin Rein, is arguably one of the best agents in her organization and is even the #1 agent in all of Florida. If there is anyone that might be intimidating to go up against as a brand-new agent, it’s Kathrin! But she has told us about her own experience when she lost a listing to a brand-new agent, and it was just because that homeowner connected better with the brand-new agent, and that’s how it goes. We all bring different things to the table, and what resonates with one person won’t resonate with another.
Related Reading: “5 Steps to Stand Out with your Next Real Estate Lead”.
Your True Competition
Here’s the secret sauce to this: Those veteran agents aren’t your competition; you are your own competition. You’re either going to win, or you’re going to lose based on whatever you’re telling yourself. There will always be someone out there trying to win over the same clients you are, but you can’t focus on them because they can get into your head and create insecurity about yourself and your skills. You have to focus on yourself and what you bring to the party.
Be friendly, knowledgeable, and skilled, then get in front of people. When you get in front of enough people, you will connect with a lot of them. You will lose some too, but that’s the nature of this business. The secret is to be in front of more people than the next agent because at the end of the day if somebody likes you and trusts you, they are going to hire you.
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