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With the number of Realtors reaching an all-time high in 2021 and the surplus of active homes for sale straddling an all-time low, thriving, surviving — or even merely staying afloat — has become more difficult than ever for new agents struggling to make a dent in the real estate industry in 2022.
Are open houses a waste of time or an essential way to build your business? How much time should an agent spend each week on lead generation? How much money should they spend on marketing and brand building, and how quickly can a striver expect to see a healthy payout?
Inman set out to provide new agents the fundamentals from which to grow from the nation’s top Realtors. What we received after soliciting advice from more than 200 agents, many of them among RealTrends’ top performers, went above and beyond the bromides to modern advice that touched on everything from the best sales philosophies in the new year to the efficacy of video text messaging.
What’s clear is that a majority of the agents who shared their tips, tricks and hacks — be they from Tahlequa or Belle Plaine, Santa Rosa Beach or Lansing — emphasized lead generation, training and putting clients’ needs first, proving, once again, that some things never change.
“As agents, finding business is the job, and conducting business is the reward,” wrote Matt Menard, co-founder of Austin Real Estate Experts in Texas and the No. 8 ranked agent in the U.S. for transactions in 2021, according to Real Trends. “Unless you have all the business you can handle, you should be lead generating three hours per day, four to five days per week.”
Go ahead and peruse, skim and commit to memory the 89 pieces of advice put forth by nearly 50 experts, organized into categories, including…