Sep. 6, 2007 - Being Authentic Pays Off

I officially started my real estate career 2 years ago this month. Prior to that I had spent most of my work life in client relationship management and consulting both in the technology and manufacturing sectors. My time in real estate has taught me a lot  more about economic cycles than I ever really wanted to know! But it has also taught me something more important, that you can be successful in any field if you apply yourself to education and if you are authentic in your approach to others.

In real estate I have found that I must be true to who I am, my capabilities and my talents in order to be successful.  In other careers you can sometimes just “blend in”  or keep your own personality out of your work as you try to adjust to a company culture or idea of who you should be. Not so in Real Estate. The level of intimacy with clients is such that they can see through you in a second, and even if you manage to project an image of something that you are not and get away with it they will be left with an uneasy feeling about you and will most likely not use or recommend you again.

So how do you display that authenticity?

Don’t try to be all things to all people.
Find your voice and know who you are and share this with your clients, for instance I am a “city” sort of girl living in a small western town. I don’t know anything about horses and I don’t pretend to but I have made it a priority to learn about ranch land, water issues and septic systems.  

 Accentuate your positive skills and passions.
 My passion is technology and communication. I always have the latest hardware, software and phone features. But because I love learning and using technology to enhance my life I take the trouble to learn every detail of these products. If you aren’t passionate about it you won’t learn it and you will come across as unauthentic.

 Learn from successful people who have been around awhile.
My decision to become an agent was based on the fact that a team of Realtors I was coaching and consulting with on how to take their business to the next level invited me to get my license and join them as a partner. My success has always been achieved by working in a team environment. This was the perfect fit for me and has proved to be a way to associate myself with people who have “been through this before” and know how to weather the hard times and be optimistic about the future.

 Use it or lose them!
I try to remind my circle of influence on a regular basis of who I am and how I can help them . Today I just finished mailing out an article entitled “how high tech is your home” and a check list for what buyers are looking for in homes to accommodate their technology. I don’t send out information that I can’t validate or seems outside my personality and I never send out template newsletters although, when it fits I do use information from them .

 The result of all this is that I am building my personal brand and driving a successful and fulfilling business forward by just being myself.

Aug. 20, 2007 - Running A Real Estate Business

I recently had the opportunity to read the book by Gary Keller (of Keller Williams fame) entitled “The Millionaire Real Estate Agent” (see my review on Amazon.com). This book has been out for a while but the lessons to be learned are more timely than ever. As a business strategist and organizational consultant I have seen my share of talented people who have outstanding skills in a certain field and decide that they should run a business doing what they are good at and love. In real estate this skill is usually sales. On the whole successful real estate agents love people, are good at making the deal, are educators and client relationship managers. Normally talented sales people do not possess strong business skills. When deciding to become an agent we enter into our own business. If business skills are not learned and cultivated we are limiting ourselves on how successful we can be. Certainly signing with a good broker is helpful but in the end we are independent agents (business owners) and need to understand all that this entails. “The Millionaire Real Estate Agent” touches on many of these issues. As we continue to experience the changing market conditions and the redefinition of how and what an agent contributes to the Real Estate industry it is of vital importance that we run our businesses as professionally and successfully as possible.

My personal answer to this was to join a team. In doing this we could bring in diverse skills and abilities, increase our overall income and provide our clients with an entire organization dedicated to achieving success for them. This is not an easy proposition and has been time consuming (over 2 years). But any successful business takes time and effort to build. Some of the obvious benefits to our team is that we are not the sole contact for our clients. We can go on vacations, attend to our children and avoid burn-out. We attract a more diversified client base because we have team members in place to meet their needs. This includes commercial, investment and subdivision developers. By being involved in so many aspects of Real Estate we can get a big picture outlook on where the future of our business will be.