A healthy attitude is paramount to the success of all real estate agents. No matter why you started out in the Real Estate profession, maintaining the proper positive attitude will help secure your future success.
Positive attitude can be directly linked to Time Management. If you as a real estate agent, have the proper handle on how you’re using your time, you’ll feel less frustrated and less rushed. Remember, if you have an important event in your life it’s perfectly fine to take the day off and leave work behind. As with any other career, days off are part of the territory. If you have an important event that you know is coming up, simply schedule yourself OFF!
Having the right attitude as a Real Estate professional can be a much more complex issue than many agents realize. If you have not already learned, you soon will: every single client that you meet will be different. This means that the simple cookie cutter approach will not work with everyone. However, there are a few key things to remember that will help you not only in your initial Listing Presentations but in subsequent meetings as well. Maintaining the proper attitude from the get go will also help you with the times that you may need to give your client bad news.
Your client or potential client wants to know that they are dealing with a professional at all times that will listen to them, take them seriously and answer all of their questions and address all of their concerns. When speaking to a client on the phone, try to remember to smile. Although your client obviously can’t see you, the difference will be noticeable in your voice. To hear the difference for yourself, try saying a phrase while smiling and then repeating the same phrase without smiling. Hear the difference? So can your client.
It’s important to be confident and exude confidence but remember that there is a fine line between confidence and cockiness and no one likes someone who is cocky. If your answer to every question or concern that your client might have is to remind them that you’re the ‘Real Estate Agent and they’re the client,’ that’s a sure sign that you’ve slipped into a cocky mode of behavior. Instead, make sure that you listen closely to each and every concern or question that your client may have and address each one. No matter how trivial you may think these questions and concerns are. Oftentimes there will be an extremely good chance that the concern is unfounded but until you carefully point out the ‘why’ your client will have no idea. If you instead of answering the concern merely brush it off with a: ‘don’t worry, I’ve seen this before’ or ‘trust me, I’ve been an agent for a long time’ you’ve done absolutely nothing to alleviate the concern. In the end, your client may feel that you’re dismissing them or simply not listening. Confidence comes from knowing the facts up front and admitting when you may not. This can be as simple as saying, ‘I’m not sure but I’ll find that out for you’ or ‘That’s a great question, let me find out’. In both instances you’ve validated your clients concern and made a compact to address that concern in the near future.
Smile and more importantly, maintain eye contact. Keeping eye contact with a client — and especially a potential client — is crucial. Eye contact is the very first step to forming any sort of relationship. Continuously looking away can be seen as weakness or lack of knowledge and in extreme cases, dishonesty. Keeping eye contact and smiling put you in the ‘power position’ and conveys knowledge, warmth and trust. These form the bedrock foundation of a successful relationship with your client.
Project your confidence through your tone of voice. It’s important to always remember that even though the internet has made many clients feel as if they’re ‘real estate experts’, many times you will be telling your clients things that they don’t know or you might speak in terms that they’re not familiar with. When having any conversation with a client make sure that you are speaking clearly and in a confident tone.
When answering calls on your cell phone it’s best that you come up with a standard answer to use each and every time you take a call. For example, you might answer your phone, ‘Hello, this is Jane Smith with ABC Realty, how may I help you?’ Get in the habit of using this greeting whenever you answer your phone and avoid answering it with just a ‘Hello?’ This shows your client and potential clients that you take your business seriously.
Remember that your image is extremely important in the Real Estate business. What you wear and how you carry yourself everyday send the constant message of, ’Here I am, this is me, this is what I do and this is why you should choose me as your Real Estate Professional.’