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You didn’t get into this business to be average. Do you want different results? Then you must do different things. This article shares seven strategies and areas of focus that can help you outperform the masses.
1. Set aside a season to work harder than ever before
“To be successful, you must be willing to do things today others won’t do, in order to have the things tomorrow others won’t have.” — Les Brown
There are seasons in every great agent’s career where they create separation from themselves and all other agents. These are times when they become laser-focused and they simply outwork everyone else.
Can you remember a season in your business when you were the hardest-working agent in your company or market? If you’re in the top 1 percent, I’m sure you can. If you’re not achieving the success you desire, odds are you can’t answer that question positively.
Notice I said a season. You can’t operate at your highest level of output forever. That is when burnout occurs. But for a season, you absolutely can work harder than anyone else.
This is a season where you make more phone calls than you’ve ever made. You host more open houses, follow up with more past clients, produce more social media content, and devote yourself to adding more value to the marketplace than ever before. This is a season devoted to doing the things others will not do, so that you can have success at a level others will not have.
I’ve never seen hard work return void, so if you want to achieve next-level success, you must have a season or seasons of hard work.
2. Give value without expectation
Focus on the value you provide the marketplace, and the marketplace will reward you abundantly. My experience has been that the more you give value without asking for something in return, the more value you will receive back over the long term.
The top agents always play the long game. They understand a client appreciation event may not immediately provide business (although it often does), but they host it to genuinely show their appreciation. They’re active in their local community not for how it might help their business, but because they truly want to make it a better place to live.
The absolutely best agents are always more focused on giving than receiving. When you give freely, you open yourself up to receive freely.
3. Focus on client needs
How long has it been since you took a hard look at what pain points your ideal client has and what they need to alleviate each pain point? The best of the best understands their clients’ pain points better than other agents. They obsessively search for ways to help their ideal clients overcome any obstacles between them and their housing goals/needs.
A great exercise to help you focus on your ideal client’s needs is to make a list of the biggest obstacles or fears they face. If you aren’t sure, simply ask Google or ChatGPT to give you a list of the biggest obstacles [your ideal client] faces before [achieving their goal]. Once you have your list, begin producing content that helps them and the opportunities for business will follow.
When you stay focused on the needs of your ideal client, opportunities for growth in your business will increase.
4. Focus on learning
Top agents focus on learning and the earning follows. Business growth is an outward manifestation of the personal growth that occurs in you as an agent or team leader. How much time do you spend becoming the best version of yourself? Are you learning about new technologies or strategies that help you better serve your clients?
The top agents are always in a state of learning and growing themselves.
5. Focus on listings
Listings are the name of the game. They provide a couple of key advantages to help you scale your business. The first advantage they provide is an ability to manage your time at a higher level than working with buyers. Would you rather spend your Saturday showing seven houses to a buyer or have seven agents show your listing? Which one has the highest probability of a successful sale? The efficiency of controlling your schedule leads to more opportunities in your business.
Listings are also magnets for additional business. Every listing should produce two to three additional sales if the listing is marketed in a way to attract more business. The basics of yard signs, just listed/just sold cards, hosting open houses, and marketing the listing will attract buyer leads and other neighbors considering selling.
What you focus on expands. Focus on listings and your business can’t help but grow.
6. Don’t eat your seeds
Being successful in real estate for a short period of time is achievable for many agents, but long-term success is much harder. The “winner’s curse” is a term I use to describe agents that have success in a short period of time.
They assume it will always be like this and that it will be easy for them. They buy a Range Rover or new boat as quickly as possible. They spend like there will never be a slowdown. They seek ways to entertain themselves instead of investing back into their business. In other words, they eat their seeds instead of planting them for additional growth.
The top agents reinvest in their business. They take a portion of every check, and they invest in marketing. They invest in support staff or technologies that help them better serve their clients. They understand that if they desire to have sustained growth, they must continue to sew their “seeds” to reap a future harvest.
Planting, instead of eating, your seeds is the best way to take your business to the next level.
7. Invest in yourself
“The best investment you can make is an investment in yourself.” — Warren Buffett
We should all save for a rainy day. We should all save for retirement. But the best investment is not the S&P 500, it’s the S&ME 500. There is simply nothing you can invest in that will yield a stronger return than investing in yourself.
Invest in your health by joining a gym or hiring a personal trainer. Healthy people have healthier businesses. Invest in books and subscription-based services that expand your knowledge about this business. Readers are leaders. Invest in a training class, a coach, or a real estate convention. Higher skilled agents make more money.
For your business to be the best it can be, you must first become the best you can be.
Quit trying to fit in when you were designed to stand out. It isn’t a matter of whether you can build an amazing business, it’s a matter of whether you will do what it takes to achieve that level of success. Stop playing small and develop the business of your dreams.
