A new year is upon us, and many of us have made resolutions, set goals and pledged to have a great year in real estate.
But only 9 percent of us actually accomplish those resolutions. Clearly, the remaining 90-plus percent would welcome more assistance and motivation.
I’ve recently come across three books that I feel will help my Realtor partners stay on track to have their best 365 days in real estate yet.
Check them out, and starting moving like there’s fire under your feet!
Real Estate Success in 5 Minutes a Day: Secrets of a Top Agent Revealed by Karen Briscoe
Karen Briscoe, a top agent at Keller Williams in McLean, Virginia, and veteran of the real estate business since 1981 recently published a book that will resonate with new agents and seasoned professionals alike.
The book’s organization is extraordinary. Trying to absorb an entire real estate book can be like drinking water from a fire hose, but Briscoe’s is divided into 365 “daily chapters” for the course of an entire year.
Each page contains a new theme or “lesson” that can be read in about five minutes. The lessons vary from “Prospecting from A-Z“ ( March 11), “Leverage Market Knowledge” (Aug. 10) and “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word” (Oct. 18).
Each story in the book offers a takeaway for immediate action that will enhance your real estate knowledge.
What also makes this book special is that the advice comes from a long-time, top-producing agent who has decided to share how she found success in the real estate world.
This book brings to the table everything from lead generation, motivating topics, commitment to business growth, and the development of new habits for your real estate business.
The road map to real estate success is in this book, ready for you to digest, one page a day over the course of 2017!
Check it out here.
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
This book not a real-estate specific but instead encompasses what we really do: build and expand relationships.
I think we can agree that the larger circle of warm relationships we have, the greater opportunities for referrals and business expansion. Never Eat Alone talks about specific strategies and the right mindset to connect and build a massive database or referral partners.
We all know those “connectors” in our lives, but how did they build that network?
This book discusses how we can create a “win/win” scenario so that it isn’t always about what we want, but instead making sure that important people in our lives get what they want as well.
Ferrazzi also discusses how to become the “King of Social Media,” learning how to interact and engage with our network, and why it’s important to check in with our contacts, not just when they need us.
Through these relationship-building strategies you will never eat alone, as “invisibility” is far worse than failure when it comes to life and business.
Learn more here.
Your 1st Year in Real Estate by Dirk Zeller
This great book can help any new agent get off to the right start.
Once a Realtor passes their necessary tests and heads out to to join a brokerage, the real work starts.
Blessed with the ability to create your own business strategies, work your own hours, and the potential to earn a great living, getting off on the right foot in real estate is a must. This book answers questions such as:
- Selecting the right real estate company
- Finding mentors
- Staying on top of the real estate climate
- Developing your relationships with clients
- Mastering your sales skills: prospecting
Having vast market knowledge, and knowing the right things to say in a sales call or face-to-face meeting with clients and prospects in powerful.
This book is designed to help new agents avoid the easy pitfalls that come with their first year in real estate. Reading this book will any new agent get off to the right start and set themselves up for future success.
Check it out here.
Final thoughts
Personal growth is important no matter where in the real estate chain one may fall.
As we get into 2017 and try to improve our business models, we can’t do it alone. We need help. That help can be physical, but it also can be in the form educational books that guide us to success.
Each of these three books serve a specific purpose as they relates to real estate and can make 2017 a year to remember.
Wade Vander Molen is the director of sales/marketing for Stewart Title in the Northern Virginia/Washington, D.C., area.
