Why we need to talk about agent burnout

Luxury real estate is exciting, and the high demands, high stakes, and high-profile personalities add to the thrill and reward of each deal. And yet these factors can also add significant pressure for agents, leading to burnout.

When I say “burnout”, I’m talking about a loss of energy—both mental and physical—that can make it difficult to keep hustling. It can come on slowly or suddenly, and it’s more prevalent than many people like to admit. As an advocate for the well-being and professional success of the agents in my own office, I want to outline some common causes of burnout, and three strategies that can help keep you from running out of fuel.

The challenge of being an agent and business owner

As independent contractors, real estate agents are charged with oversight of every aspect of their real estate business. While this can be a major benefit, it also presents a major challenge. Agents are afforded the power to “play by their own rules,” but as Spider-Man was told, “with great power, comes great responsibility.”

Even if an agent is achieving record-setting levels of success on paper, they may still feel like the stress of administrative tasks is preventing them from putting their clients first—or alternatively, that focusing on their clients is causing them to fall behind on running the business.

A typical busy day for an agent can start with them booking showing appointments before dawn, and end in the early hours of the morning as they send in an offer just before they fall asleep. This isn’t sustainable, which is why it’s essential to design a system that allows for work-life balance.

“Keeping up with the Joneses” is an exhausting effort

Agents can see negative emotions associated with running their business exacerbated by social media to an incredible degree. When an agent is stressed, it can often seem like every other agent is working and selling constantly. It appears to the stressed agent, struggling to keep up, that the successful agents of the world wear their packed schedules and sleepless nights like a badge of honor.

Homeowners are familiar with the phenomenon of “keeping up with the Joneses”—but for agents who feel perpetually out-earned and out-performed by their peers, it can feel especially oppressive. Whenever an agent in my office expresses anxiety about their peers’ apparent work ethic or success, I remind them that there’s more than meets the eye.

Social media creates the illusion that top-producing agents are “always-on”—so how do we combat that illusion and bring back the joy in our work? Here are three ways I coach my agents to combat fatigue and carve out time for rest and rejuvenation.

1. Delegate what you can

I encourage agents to make a comprehensive list of every task required in the running of any real estate business, and assign these tasks a rank, from one to four. The tasks marked as “one” are those that agents could / would never delegate because they have a special aptitude or affinity for those tasks. Consequently, those tasks marked “four” are the ones agents either perform poorly, don’t enjoy, or both—so these should be at the top of any list of delegated tasks.

All the tasks marked “two” and “three” can be delegated at different levels depending on the needs of your business and your work-life balance. It’s a basic framework, but I’ve seen it succeed many, many times.

2. Know your patterns and chronotype

I encourage agents to “be gentle with themselves.” This means that agents can restructure their schedules around their particular peak productivity hours, or might designate a day to themselves on a regular/scheduled basis, as part of a self-care regimen. As business owners, agents have the power to set their own schedules, parameters, and expectations with their clients, and as long as a client feels the agent is working diligently on their behalf, they are usually happy with their agent’s service.

3. Having a non-compete broker helps

I’m proud that Joan Herlong & Associates Sotheby’s International Realty, as well as the larger Sotheby’s International Realty brand, embodies the ethic of servant leadership by providing resources to support agents. I believe that my role should be an industry standard for every real estate office — a non-compete broker, solely devoted to the success of the agents in the brokerage.

In my role as non-competing Chief Strategy Officer, I’m solely devoted to the success of the business and our agents. The dynamic nature of luxury real estate means professionals are constantly confronting novel situations, and even the most experienced can benefit from brokerage support.

To care for your clients, you have to care for yourself

A mantra of mine is that “all action begins in the mind,” and to me, that means preventing burnout begins simply with a shift in how an agent thinks about their business. I encourage agents to be their own ally and to work within their own unique and particular needs, habits, and superpowers, rather than against them.

Once an agent gets out of their own way, they can activate strategies to organize, delegate, and manage expectations — so they can live their best life while performing their best at work.

As luxury agents, we’re motivated by our passion for serving others, but we can only do that if we’re taking care of ourselves. It might seem counterintuitive, but it’s the truth: you are your most important client.

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Jackson Herlong is the Chief Strategy Officer for Joan Herlong & Associates Sotheby’s International Realty and the non-compete Broker-in-Charge for its Clemson office. A top producer in Greenville since 2013, he transitioned to a leadership role in early 2018. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Davidson College and his law degree at the University of South Carolina School of Law.