Did you like how your 2021 ended? If you did, I would like to congratulate you! If you didn’t, I’ve got you covered. A good portion of those I mentor is in this cutthroat yet very rewarding business. Either a real estate agent is thriving or just barely surviving-nothing in between
I should know! I’m a Licensed Real Estate Broker, Licensed Real Estate Appraiser, Accredited Lecturer, and Speaker of Training Programs of the Professional Regulatory Board of the Real Estate Service under the PRC. However, this is not about me. After reading this post, you’ll have discovered the 3 secrets successful real estate agents use to increase their sales year after year, creating a lasting business that is both financially rewarding and relationally fulfilling.
Rethink Your Business Model
Do you treat your profession as a business? If you don’t, it’s time to start treating it as one. Even if you have a full-time job or several other commitments, real estate has the potential to become your main, consistent source of income and even be what will provide you financial independence. If you don’t treat it as a business, you will never be able to unlock its full potential
However, it will require not only a shift in your mindset. Running a business requires you to do your homework.
The first thing you’ll need is a business model or a set structure of getting leads, presenting to them, closing them, and servicing them. Most real estate agents treat the profession like a lottery ticket where they’ll just let luck play its part on whether they’ll have sales for this month or not. Always remember that success is not an accident. It’s the product of systems executed properly again and again until the desired result is achieved.
Top real estate agents use the Sphere of Influence business model where they focus on the people they already know, then on the people who know the people they already know. It sounds simple but for most, it’s the hardest thing to do.
I found that the real estate agents who are not satisfied with their performance are usually the ones who haven’t even tried to tap on the people they already know. They often resort immediately to digital marketing or cold approaching, which are not bad but these have a relatively lower success rate and require more steps than talking to people who already have a certain level of trust in you.
Most of the top real estate agents i personally know ran their business using the Sphere of Influence model at least in their first year, then transitioned into digital marketing to expand their already huge network. And guess what? They only use digital marketing as a way to obtain leads, but they still build personal relationships with their prospects to start another sphere of influence within that prospect’s network. This leads to exponential growth in their business.
Comply
When people start a business, one of the very first things they think of (and stresses them out) is compliance. This includes filing papers, books, and taxes. Some despise the idea of putting in the extra effort and giving away some of their income so they just decide not to do it. However, this poses several big problems for non-compliant real estate agents.
The first is open cases. Our tax preparation business, XDT and Co., consistently gets approached by real estate agents asking for help with their open cases in BIR. The amount they need to settle can go up to the hundreds of thousands, which is not unusual for the real estate industry given the size of transactions. Non-compliance WILL literally cost you a lot of money. Whatever your opinion is regarding taxes, it is our civic responsibility to comply, and not doing so is literally against the law. It’s a non-negotiable.
The second big problem is deeper and more fundamental. You won’t be able to treat your profession as a business if you’re not compliant. You will subconsciously treat it as a sideline so your efforts, and hence, results, will be half-baked.
I understood these problems when I actively practiced in the real estate industry so it’s one of the things we’re trying to solve in XDT and Co. We know how taxing (no pun intended) it is for real estate agents, whose expertise is to sell, to do all of the paperwork and administrative duties in their business. It takes away the precious time and energy that could have been spent on finding prospects, selling, and servicing.
This doesn’t have to be the case as you can now outsource your compliance needs to us! Let us use our expertise to ease you of the burden of compliance so you could focus on getting more sales and growing your business. I’m just one message away.
Invest In Your Personal Brand
When I say “personal brand” I don’t mean just a Facebook page, an Instagram account, or your Linkedin profile. Social media platforms are great tools for real estate agents but most use them without the proper foundations.
A personal brand is misunderstood as just the online brand, but how you conduct yourself offline is as, if not more, important. Your online persona shouldn’t be different from who you truly are as a person. Invest in knowing your strengths, identify and cement your values, get in touch with your interests, establish the way you communicate. Then, just let all of these flow naturally into your online presence.
People like doing business with people they like, and who are like them. This is also how you can build a relationally fulfilling career. By attracting people who have similar values and interests as you, you’ll seldom feel that you’re working. You’ll be building and nurturing real relationships
I’m Prof Xy, the preferred Tax Consultant of Filipino MSMEs and professionals. I help financial advisors, real estate agents, and business owners become tax compliant by simplifying tax and providing tax services for their comfort and convenience.
Let me help you with your taxes! Send me a message!
