It doesn’t always work with scheduling, but this year, we had our Top Producers issue party the night before we went to press with this issue. Being amongst more than 100 top-producing agents in a single setting (and a fabulous setting I might add – special thanks again to Whirlpool for hosting and Pulte Group for sponsoring the party) is quite humbling. These are agents who, despite market challenges, have stayed at the top of their business not just during the recession, but also during the “boom” years. If anyone knows how to move listings and find buyers great homes during good times as well as tough times, it’s these agents. Mingling with the top-producing agents at our party made it even more clear to me: there is no easy way to get to the top in this business, and everyone invited to our event had worked hard to achieve all their goals, and were absolutely deserving of their success.
In our cover story, the top producers we interviewed shared their viewpoints on the industry and advice for how other agents can be a top producer today. Some of the things they shared seemed elementary – always being available to clients, being knowledgeable about neighborhoods as well as the current market – but in reality, if every agent were doing these things, we might have more agents with similar earnings to top producers. While it can be cutthroat at the top, trying to fit into the top 20, 50 or 100 agents’ brackets, every agent should set goals for themselves like top producers do. Every agent’s clients deserves to have an expert in the business helping them make the right decisions, whether they’re wondering what loan to apply for or they need to sell their home quickly. Clients look to their agents for advice. Your clients assume you are an expert. That’s why they hire you; it’s up to you to provide them the best information about whatever it is they are relying on you to help them do.
If you’re not yet a top producer, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t act like one. In fact, acting like one, as the agents said in our cover story, is a step necessary to take to become a top producer. Read our cover story and, hopefully, I’ll see some new faces at our Top Producers party next year.