Congratulations! You have passed the RES examinations and are all ready to kickstart your career as a professional Real Estate Salesperson. As with all new agents, it is unsurprising that you have many questions and doubts in your mind – What is your next step? Which agency should you join? How to ensure you succeed in this business?
Fret not, as we will share in this article some advice for you to make this new journey a tad less fearsome for you! Below are 5 tips to help you in this new journey:
Maintaining a Professional Image
If you have heard of the phrase, ‘First Impression Counts’, it really does, especially in the real estate industry. Establishing a professional image is critical to your success as a real estate agent. When you first meet potential clients, they will likely form their own initial impression of you in their minds based on the kind of image you first portray to them. There are many aspects that contribute to having a professional image, such as physical appearances, body language and written communication, just to name a few. These are some tips that may come in handy to help you improve on each of these aspects.
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Appearance: Be sure to have proper grooming, e.g. neat hair, clothing, and makeup that are not overly formal, but still appropriate for professional settings
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Body Language: Be polite and courteous when conversing with your clients and do your best to pay attention to what they are saying, and to keep engaged with them
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Written communication: These include your emails, text messages or even letters. Do make a conscious effort to ensure that they are free of grammatical and spelling errors
With the Internet era, it is all the more important to note that any online presence or reputation you hold – be it professional or personal, lasts forever and can find its way to your potential clients. Hence, it is imperative to work towards upholding a professional image and reputation in and outside of your real estate career.
Time Management & Striking a Balance Between Work & Personal Life
One perk that comes along with this job is the flexibility of time. You get the ability and freedom to decide your own schedule and whether you want to work or not. However, we think that this is a double-edged sword because without proper time management, self discipline and self reflection, it is very easy for agents to lose focus of their career objective and drive, increasing their odds of failure in the business.
You can avoid this by exercising discipline in creating a daily schedule that includes your to-do list activities such as prospecting, marketing and property viewings, and be sure to put in the effort to follow this schedule. In addition, even if you possess multiple talents and skills, you will find it difficult to succeed as a property agent if you are unable to properly manage your time and workload. For instance, when scheduling appointments, you should factor in the time for any possible client delays so that you will not be late for subsequent meetings. This is especially important as being late could leave a negative impression on your clients.
A well-organised schedule and effective time-blocking will prevent work burnout and give you more freedom to spend quality time with your family as well.
Uphold Honesty & Integrity
You should practise honesty and integrity in conducting your real estate business. Any form of rule breaking could tarnish your reputation or even cause you to be suspended from the business perpetually! Thus, you should always follow CEA’s Code of Ethics and Professional Client Care and always place your clients’ interest as your top priority, even if doing so could mean some inconvenience to you or have you lose out on some commission monies.
Needless to say, you should also not break the rules just to earn easy or fast money. Being an honest agent will also help clients to have increased trust in you, which could prove to be beneficial for your business in the long run.
Base Funding to support Personal & Business Expenses
Being a real estate agent is akin to being a solopreneur or being a boss of your own business. As with every kind of business, there is bound to be business expenses to be incurred, with some essential ones being your phone bills, marketing & advertising costs and transport expenses. These could all amount to quite a substantial sum, and it is thus important to ensure you have enough funds to last you through at least 6 months of the business.
Finding a Good Mentor
Last but not least, to be a real estate salesperson in Singapore, you will have to join a team of an Estate Agent. Most commonly, your mentor will be the team leader or person who has introduced you to his/her team. Working with a mentor will help to provide you with a smoother transition into this industry as they share knowledge, experiences and insights that are not found in the RES Course. Hence, finding a good mentor and agency to join is the one of the most important first steps you will need to take. A good mentor and agency will be able to provide you with the necessary resources and training to give you a headstart in your newfound career.
On this note, we would suggest that you find a mentor who is experienced, who understands the support that a new agent would require when they first start out, and importantly, they have an interest to groom and grow new agents to excel in this business. Mentoring is a lot more intimate and it will help to shorten your learning curve significantly as you will be learning on the job whilst assisting your mentor – providing you opportunities to assist with real estate related tasks to familiarise and hone your knowledge and skill sets on the go.
On your part, If you manage to find a mentor who is ready to guide you, be ready to learn rapidly and proactively. You will need to ask as many questions as you can – for instance, check with your mentor what are the steps to take to succeed in this business and how to run this business successfully.
At PropertyLimBrothers, we place great importance in training our associates to be professional Real Estate Agents, and provide the necessary tools for them to succeed in this career. Should you be interested in a career with us, feel free to get in touch with the PropertyLimBrothers team, and we will always be happy to help. In the meantime, take care, and do keep a lookout for our next article!
