Rising to top-producer status in residential real estate is no easy task. In most cases, it takes years of hard work to develop the reputation and client base that allows an agent to reach that elite level in the industry.
Chicago Agent’s 2024 Truth About Agents survey offers some clues to taking the first steps on that path. Half the managing brokers surveyed said their No. 1 training priority for agents was lead generation. No. 2 on their wish list was helping agents with professionalism.
For their part, agents said their top training priorities are lead generation, technology and marketing. Those are good starting points. For more, Chicago Agent asked some of Chicagoland’s top producers for their advice to other agents seeking to reach that status.
Those producers include Grigory Pekarsky, managing broker, co-founder and team lead for Vesta Preferred in Bucktown; Danielle Dowell, broker and founder of The DoWell Real Estate Group at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago in Lincoln Park; and, from The Wexler Gault Group with @properties Christie’s International Real Estate in Highland Park, Joe Gault, Liz Salinas and Beth Wexler.
Gault: “When you’re starting out, never say no. Do anything you can for other agents in your office to learn the business.”
Pekarsky: “Consistency is the most challenging part. I equate it to how different the gym looks on Jan. 1 compared to March 1 because everyone has excuses. Very few people follow up on success.”
Wexler: “You have to be consistent, whether it’s social media or farming to a specific neighborhood. Don’t give up.”
Dowell: “You need to be consistent, creative (able to see things that others cannot see) and passionate about what you do.”
Salinas: “Go into the office and utilize the tools the brokerage gives you.”
The advice of those top producers mirrors what Jake Dixon of The Locker Room Real Estate Coach & Training shared with Chicago Agent readers in an archived column titled “The simplest path to a 6-figure year.” Dixon’s advice: “Success always happens by the slight edge. Errors in judgement, repeated over time, compound into failure and disappointment. But disciplines, repeated over time, can compound into massive results. Success can be boring, tedious and even mundane. Sometimes, though, we must accept that boredom is associated with success.”