So you got your real estate license…no what?
That’s when you start getting educating on the business side of real estate.
There is a lot to know too, but if you initially focus on one thing (buyers, leases, showing agent, etc) your skills will start to quickly grow.
Listen as Erik Kelly talks about how he mentors new Realtors on his team to focus on one thing.
Transcript:
Chris Bounds 00:30
You too. So Eric, we got connected on a panel of some of the top Realtors in the nation. And yeah, you actually moderator the panel. It’s very exciting whenever I get to sit on those panels. It’s nice connecting with you and other successful agents. So today, and this goes by quick. So we kind of run into it. The question of the hour new realtors, what should they be doing to have a successful first year as a team leader? And then of course, you’re a veteran in the industry and grew up in the industry? What are you seeing that the successful new agents out there? What are they doing differently than those that maybe get one transaction?
Erik Kelly 01:18
Yeah. Well, I think Chris, that the key is you have to get into action. You have to have discipline, action in your business and things that you’re doing literally on a daily basis with consistency. I think the process of real estate, the evolution of a real estate agent starts with traction. And getting traction is just getting some deals done getting a couple deals in escrow. And then you move to momentum.
Momentum is when you’re consistently, maybe putting a couple deals a month in escrow and you’ve got some flow to your business. You reach a point where if you have a month with no closings. You’re not at risk of being taken out of the business because you have enough consistency at that point and the flow of momentum. Then you get to sustainability. And then ultimately, that’s where you get to success in real estate. I think the traction part most of that word is made up of the word action. I think that that’s the key. You’ve got to get moving and you got to work every single day and get to work.
Chris Bounds 02:14
The beginning part of that action or that momentum and movement is that very first and second deal. I mean, getting a rocket or getting off the ground. I mean, it takes a ton of energy to get it off the ground, but then it gets easier and easier. It goes faster and faster. Same thing with an agent like they do that first lease or the first buyer client. I think it’s the confidence that they get. They realize that one, they can do it. Two, they do know stuff. They can be a value. It ends up being rocket fuel, if you can get quickly. Got to get it quickly, though.
Erik Kelly 02:55
Oh, man. Absolutely. I agree. And you said the word confidence. And you know, confidence comes from being around it. Confidence comes from conversations. The more conversations you can be in, the more confident that you’re going to become. Especially in the market that we’re in right now, in a lot of areas around the United States. Phoenix, for example, is a super competitive market.
Our inventory right now is less than 10% of what it was in 2009. A dozen years ago, we had 60,000 active listings, this is a market that typically closes 100,000 transactions a year. There’s like less than 5000 active listings right now. This is a skills based market, it doesn’t mean that there’s not business out there.
But we’ve got to be in those conversations day after day and we become the solution strategist for our clients. We ask the right questions and ask enough questions that we get an understanding of their vision, what are they ultimately want to accomplish? What are they afraid of? What are they concerned about? What’s still ambiguous to them in the process? We just solve those form.
Chris Bounds 04:00
With that inventory, because everyone has that problem. No matter what marketplace you’re in, you have some degree of debt problem and COVID actually just made the problem worse. It was bad before COVID. COVID probably doubled it. Right. Yeah. Becoming an agent you can be, you’re solopreneur. Individual agent out there doing on your own. You can join a team and you’re a team leader.
Your pros and cons to both. But for the new agents, especially one looking for mentorship and guidance because when you take your exam, all that does is keep you out of jail. It doesn’t teach you anything about street knowledge. What conversations do you have with new agents that are contemplating? Should they go with a team or should they just hook up with a mentor and go solo?
Erik Kelly 04:54
I think it really depends on their level of business acumen, their level of hunger and how clear they are on their vision of real estate. Almost every single agent that I meet with that has been in the industry for six months. I always ask them the question, is it different than you thought it would be before you got into it? And the answer is always Yes.
And for the folks that we work with whether we’re mentoring or their team members with us. I encourage them to pick one role, one discipline and kind of go all in on that in the beginning. If you’re a solopreneur, that might just be having conversations, it might be making your top 100 list of your sphere and just getting in communication and having 5 or 10 conversations a day just to stay connected.
With the agents that come onto our team, they start out as showing partners. So the only thing they’re focused on getting good at is the process of showing homes to prospective buyers. The process of communicating with agents and then over time we move them into the full spectrum of things that you need to do to be successful agent because it’s a lot. I think the team is a great way to go for new agents. At least for a year just to learn and take the pressure off and get some deal flow happening.
Chris Bounds 06:08
Yeah. In a team, it can mean a lot of different things. I mean, you’ve got your mega teams and I’m not sure exactly what your team size is. But you can have your teams of 5, 7 or 10 agents and they’re doing 5000 million plus a year. And then you have your smaller, more intimate teams that maybe it’s one successful veteran agent and they’ve got a couple agents on the team.
They just worked very closely together. But regardless, there’s still a lot of value because ultimately what you’re doing it’s like, if you want to start and scale a billion dollar business, do you do that on your own? Maybe you can. Or do you want to go work for Jeff Bezos for a little while or Musk? I don’t know if that directly translates here, but there’s still value in attaching yourself to success and then making decisions on your 2, 3, 4 or whatever.
Erik Kelly 07:04
Well. There’s the expression success leaves clues. What that means is there’s models and systems and strategies around success. There’s a pattern. There’s a roadmap for us to follow. I think one of the biggest hindrances to productivity in any of our lives is fragmented focus. Especially in the day and age that we live in now, where there’s constant notifications and distraction. And for the first time in human history, the average person in the United States is exposed to more information than the brain has the ability to process effectively on a daily basis.
Chris Bounds 07:36
Seven seconds. That’s all you got. Seven seconds.
Erik Kelly
We need to focus on developing some very specific skill sets. I believe. Keep that focus narrow master that build momentum in that and then kind of expand. And this is such a social business, but it’s also one of the loneliest professions on Earth. Because a lot of the work that you do, to learn, to research, to be informed about the market and to up your skill set as an agent, that communicator. That’s all done on your own. I think that the connection with our community and the people around us. The people we’re learning from and growing with is critically important.
Chris Bounds 08:16
Is there any tactical suggestions you have on a prospecting or even marketing standpoint you have? Say that the agents they’ve got the momentum now. Maybe they’re on year or like month 9, 12 or 18. Now, they’re really starting to spread their wings whether it’s on the team or individually. Is there anything tactically that you found that maybe 102 or 103 level agent start to really gain some faster momentum?
Erik Kelly 08:51
Well, I think perception is reality. We all have the ability to leverage social media as a form of connection. I think what we want to balance there is kind of personal character, likability or just the interestingness of life as a human being. Like, I’m out hiking. Today, I’m at the lake. I’m doing this. Those type of connection points that we all relate to, like we would in a friendship and then we have to convey professional competency.
The ability to showcase houses across the brokerage where you can advertise anything across your entire state is amazing. I think the video walkthroughs are really cool. That’s actually something that you mentioned the panels. I wrote that down a few weeks ago on a panel. I was out with clients and walk through these houses.
I got more engagement, interaction and inquiries. Yeah. Just touring the house, not even really the commentary. It wasn’t a polished video. It’s just walking through this beautiful model home. I think everybody can do things like that that are engaging. The other thing I would say is story. Sell.
A monkey could sell a house right now in three days with multiple offers over list price in almost any market across the United States. That doesn’t really play in the consumers mind. I think we have to learn to speak consumer, not realtor. What relates to consumers is hearing people’s stories. This is the journey. This couple went on to buy their first home. These are my friends that I’ve known for years that were able to just buy their dream home. Like, that type of stuff is what’s most relatable. I think communicating that.
Chris Bounds 10:29
Yeah. Kind of like the last 30 seconds. This ridiculously hot market from a listing agent standpoint, at least. It’s probably gonna make a lot of agents lazy and they’ll forget the fundamentals. Right. If you’re a brand new agent and you just happen to have some influences you can get. Get off the ground quickly. If you’re not still paying attention with the fundamentals.
When that subsides, who knows when. You might find life a little harder, but those that actually focus on the fundamentals and Ricky Carruth was talking about this last month. If you when you focus on the fundamentals day in and day out, day in and day out. You’re looking when this inventory, we get more inventory down the years or down the line, whenever that is nearly a windfall for your business.
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And we’re not shortcutting that. We’re still doing staging consultations. We’re making sure the homes professionally clean. We’re doing full spectrum of photography. We’re not doing iPhone photos. We all see those listings. Right. To your point, not only funny. That pains me.
Erik Kelly 11:38
Shortcutting the process, but we’re still doing all those things because it’s about the relationship and it’s about the value creating the relationship. The experience for our clients. There’s no shortcut to that.
Chris Bounds 11:49
Yeah, that pains me. That the iPhone photos or the ones I see somewhere. There’s actually someone in the image too. Right. Before that, like the finger and part of the picture. Oh, my God. I don’t know where the self forgiveness drops off there. So all right. Hey, thanks so much, Eric. I appreciate it very much.
Erik Kelly 12:12
Great to be with you guys today. Thanks so much.