Six Steps To New Agent Success

By Jerry Bresser


Brokers: Do you have agents who are struggling to survive?

With just six steps, almost any broker can have 75% or more of his/her new agents get six to ten extra listings that sell their first year, assuring a fast start and long term success for the agents and substantial extra profits for the broker.

Step 1: Teach All New Agents Precise Language.

The single greatest reason why new agents fail, or fail to reach their potential, is that they do not learn the language of real estate fast enough to survive or well enough or completely enough to reach their goals and potential.

Historically, in pre-license and post-license courses, new agents are taught the legal requirements and technical information about listing and selling real estate, but seldom are taught what to say.

What new agents need to learn is the precise language that has proven to be the most effective for every step of a listing or selling interview. Giving people a few ideas and telling them to ‘say this in your own words’ doesn’t work well.

To get better results, teach all new agents exactly what to say to make appointments with listing prospects, to ask qualifying questions, to make various points, to make listing, pricing, and by-owner presentations, to close (ask for the listing) and to respond to indecision, stalls and objections. Teach the similar topics needed to deal effectively with buyers.

Step 2: Train, Not Just Teach.

Teaching is best defined as ‘passing information along’. Training, on the other hand, is a process of developing skills. Skill development requires memorization, practice, drilling, rehearsing. All of that means a lot of repetition. Agents need to learn the precise language (as in Step 1) in a classroom environment where they practice each technique (script) verbatim until completely learned. Michelle Kwan said, “Winning is not about miracles on ice. It’s about practice”.

Step 3: Daily Coaching For 45 Days.

The second greatest reason why new agents fail is that they do not do, on a daily basis, the important things needed for success and survival.

Dr. Cliff Baird, a Canadian educational psychologist, claims that “people are addicted to avoidance behavior”. Addicted is a strong word, but he may be quite right. For certain, we, as humans, have an instinct to avoid danger. Danger can be physical or emotional. Even if we teach people the exact words to call by-owners, expireds or any other form of prospecting, most new agents will avoid calling because of the emotional risk of rejection and failure.

The solution: have your new agents meet for one hour each day, five days a week, for 6 weeks. Allot 20 minutes for reporting, orally and in writing, yesterday’s activities and today’s plans. Allot 30 minutes for practicing the precise language they started learning in your training course. Strive for perfection. Vince Lombardy said, “Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.” Allot 10 minutes to introduce one new technique each day. There is more to know than can be covered and learned in just six days.

Important: For this initial 6 week period, keep them accountable during the day. Have them call in and leave a 30 second voice mail message at 1:00 p.m. to report the morning’s activities and again at 6:00 p.m. to report their afternoon efforts and any listing or showing appointments scheduled for the evening.

It takes time to develop new habits. Holding new agents accountable for six weeks will result in some terrific career long and life long habits, not to mention a faster start up to generating income for themselves and the broker.

Step 4: Weekly Coaching For 9 Months.

The third greatest reason why salespeople fail, or fail to reach their potential, is that they do not persist long enough to develop and set good success habits.

Just as it takes more fuel to get your car from a standstill up to 70 MPH, and less gas to maintain that speed, it will take more effort to get agents up to speed and less effort to maintain that speed. We call Step 3 ‘Acceleration Coaching’ and Step 4 ‘Cruise Control Coaching’.

Why 9 months? Few people, in any field, reach peak performance in a few weeks, but most people can get very close in one year. New agents need to be coached and held accountable for their effort and activities until their habits of success are firmly set. If the goal is six to ten extra sold listings in the agent’s first year, why shut off the leadership engine in sixty days? You won’t make it to your next appointment by getting your car up to speed and then taking your foot off the gas.

Step 5: Inspect What You Expect.

If we want predictably repeatable results, we must have a predictably repeatable process to get there. How do you know that agents actually say the words and use the precise, proven presentations you had them learn? How can you make sure they say what needs to be said?

My suggestion: design and print special ‘Interview Note Pads’ that your agents use when going on a listing interview. Allocate the left two inches to list the titles of the techniques (scripts) you expect the agent to use. Line the rest of the sheet as note paper.

These Interview Note Pads will provide three important functions. First, the agents have a list of important questions to ask, points to make and responses to objections that they can glance at while making the presentation. Second, immediately after the listing interview, they can review the list to mark techniques they used and highlight or circle the ones they forgot or didn’t present well. Third, the broker, manager or coach can use the list to ‘debrief’ the agents for strengths or weaknesses and as a guide for the next round of practice.

For a sample of the list we provide in our courses, send me an e-mail with ‘Interview Note Pad’ in the subject line. (jerrybresser@comcast.net.)

Step 6: Raise the Bar

Raise the expectations and standards you require of new agents. In the recruiting process, sell, not just tell, the career-long benefits of an agent’s full participation in the entire year long process. An extra $50,000 a year for 20 years is a million dollars. With a modest skill level, this is very do-able. A $100,000 to $200,000 annual income is quite feasible for a well skilled agent.

If you have developed specific language or contract with a skilled trainer, you can set higher minimum standards of listing and selling production because you now have a way they can learn a proven way to reach those minimums. Sell the fact that real estate is a prospecting business; that to survive and prosper, a new agent must contact people who will list or buy. Technology is great, but it won’t replace selling skills.

Suggestion: At your first interview, give prospective agents a sheet containing four or five techniques for making appointments with expireds or by-owners. Request that they memorize the techniques verbatim for their second interview. At the second interview, test them for accuracy. If, at the second interview, they haven’t memorized these few techniques, terminate the interview. Enforce your expectations. You will lose a few slackers, but you will get the rest of your recruits off a faster, surer start and a great, long term career.

You can do all this. It’s your company or office to manage. Yes, it’s a bit of work, but it is a lot less effort than recruiting 60 new agents and having 40 under-perform and fail.

© Jerry Bresser 2007

About the Author Jerry Bresser, CSP, has been teaching precise language for listing and selling real estate for over 30 years with dynamic results. His book, List More, Sell More™, is a classic. Recently, he combined his proven language training program with a two-stage coaching program to create a method to assure new agents could quickly gain the skills and habits needed to assure success. He is president and owner of Jerry Bresser Training & Coaching and can be reached at jerrybresser @ comcast.net or 586-876-4034.