Strategy is so important, and sometimes after years in the field, agents forget that sometimes strategies need to be tweaked. We reported on a McGraw–Hill study within the cover story that shared interesting statistics about sales and follow-up – 48 percent of salespeople never follow-up with a prospect, but 80 percent of sales are made on the fifth to 12th contact! Rick O’Connor from Realty Executives, one of the top producers pictured on our cover, mentions the importance of keeping track of all prospects so that when they’re finally ready to buy, they’ll go to him. That takes persistence, organization and most of all, patience.
They say that in just about anything, hard work will get you the results you want, especially when it comes to careers. However, hard work isn’t glamorous, and everyone is always looking for a magic bullet or shortcut to success. Some agents are successful and some aren’t – look at any top-producing agent and you’ll see many sacrifice “normal” business hours, time with their friends and families and even sleep to do what’s best for their clients and get their deals done.
Top producers are experts in the field, and should be – they generally have several years of experience under their belt, and while it’s true top producers can be young agents, that doesn’t mean they haven’t dealt with challenging or unique experiences – each experience with their prior deals makes them become quick thinkers who do what it takes to reach the top.
It’s not easy getting there, but in our cover story, our top-producing sources (pictured on our cover) told us how their experience, knowledge and quick thinking enabled them to close difficult deals. They share their strategies. It might not be a shortcut around hard work for you or any type of magic bullet, but you can learn from knowing how successful agents operate. Check out our list of top producers by county on page 21.
Sorry if you were hoping to read this issue to find out the “secret” to becoming a top producer – hard work and experience are just two of the many qualities that go into the making of a top agent. Do you agree with the methods utilized by the agents in our cover story? Let me know – email me at stephanie@chicago.staging312.com.