Real estate sales is a great career choice because you:
- Set your own hours
- Create and implement your own marketing initiatives
- Create your own networking opportunities
- Meet and interact with a wide variety of people
Freedom to Work
Most brokerages allow for a wide degree of independence as to how you account for your time and how you market your business. There is a certain level of freedom with real estate sales that isn’t available in most other careers and that aspect is a major attraction for those that consider entering the real estate sales industry.
Most real estate sales people rarely set foot in their brokerage’s office, they’re always on the go, meeting clients wherever it’s most convenient.
Work/Life Balance
A flexible schedule allows for a good work/life balance too. Of course, ask anyone that has a few years in (and a modicum of success) and you’ll be told that you don’t set your own hours, your clients set them for you.
Dealing with the Public
Meeting a lot of people is par for the course and you have to have a certain amount of stamina for all the names and faces you’ll be introduced to.
One of the attractions of being in real estate sales is that you do get to meet a wide variety of people and for the most part they appreciate working with you as your client.
Not all clients are the same, however, and you’ll meet great ones and not-so-great ones too. You’ll meet people that will share with you their idea of a dream house and there are those that will expect you to know what that dream house is without so much as describing how many bedrooms it should have.
Exceeding Client Expectations
Dealing with difficult buyer-clients is a frustration that all realtors have shared and how that frustration starts generally comes down to this one thing: a lack of communication.
As much as a good buyer-client will interview you to find out if you have the knowledge and experience that will benefit them, you will have to interview the buyer-client to understand their motivation for looking to purchase a property.
This is even more true of the client that calls you up with a listing address that they want to see right away. If you don’t ask any questions you’re starting off the broker-client relationship the wrong way.
Only by opening the door of communication, and asking the questions that can provide the answers that will help you to effectively guide them through the process, will you be able to nip the possibility of the broker-client relationship being a fruitless and timewasting exercise of frustration.
Begin by asking questions about the client’s motivation for moving, such as:
- What has changed so that your current home no longer suits your lifestyle?
- Do you anticipate additional changes within the next 5 years?
- When would you like to be moved into your new home?
You should then ask questions that will reveal their requirements during the purchase transaction, such as:
- Who will be the owners of the new home?
- What type of financing will you be applying for?
- How flexible is your purchase budget?
- Do you have a renovation budget for your new home, or should it be “move-in ready”?
By asking the right questions at the beginning of the broker-client relationship you will be better prepared to meet, and exceed, your client’s expectations and bring home a commission check as you happily move them into their new home.
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