In this weekly column, real estate agents across the nation share stories of the lessons they’ve learned during their time in the industry.
Florida luxury Realtors Chad and Sandy Neumann bring high style and market expertise to their growing business, and the results speak for themselves. How did they develop the habits that help them flourish? With a little help from their friends — and mentors. We’ll find out the details from Sandy below.
Realtors Chad and Sandy Neumann
How long have you been in the business?
Chad and I started doing real estate together from the moment we met. Chad was already renovating his first bank-owned foreclosure when I came into the picture.
Although he had other jobs and was working full-time as a firefighter, he recognized the potential in this home. It became a great rental property.
Just a couple years later, he sold it for twice what he paid for it.
After we were married, we flipped our first house together and were hooked. We got licensed to sell our own properties. But soon, friends were asking us to help them sell.
Then the market crashed. And our passion turned toward helping others full-time. We loved marketing and creating solutions. We scoured the internet for courses and training to learn quickly from others. This was pivotal for us.
This is the hardest thing to explain to people who want to get into real estate. You will not excel without a mentor. And you will not enjoy real estate without consistency.
Today, we still value consistency more than any other trait. And it is hard! The hardest part of being your own boss is — being your own boss! We have a sales coach and a marketing coach who hold us personally accountable every week. We’ve now been running our business for 13 years, and the distractions don’t slow down.
Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?
In five years, we see ourselves returning the favor. Our next big goal is to be the mentor. To help others get started. We’d love to deliver an online course that helps new agents gain traction right away.
We want to share all the things we learned and all the things we wish someone had taught us.
Like how to talk to people, what to say and when. What to do every day. We’ll have offices in both Jacksonville and Miami.
But we don’t plan to become a huge brokerage. We’d rather be a small family of like-minded top performers with a strong commitment to excellence.
What’s one big lesson you’ve learned and how did you learn it?
The single biggest lesson we learned was to follow someone who was already at the place where we wanted to be. In the beginning, we needed listings.
So we took an internet course on how to get listings. We chose carefully and actually called the agent who did the training. He became a long-time friend and mentor and even helped us through a rough time when we almost gave up on our business.
He taught us how to win expired listings with consistent follow-up. Other Realtors would reach out to a customer once or twice. We would contact them 14 times. And we had prepared a written marketing plan and resume package that showcased our commitment to excellence in marketing and communication.
What advice would you give to new agents?
- Get a mentor
- Choose one strategy
- Do it every day
Are you an agent with a story everyone can learn something from? Reach out to us (contributors@Inman.com). We look forward to featuring more of our best agents and brokers in a future edition of “Lesson learned.”
Christy Murdock Edgar is a Realtor, freelance writer, coach and consultant with Writing Real Estate in Alexandria, Virginia. Follow Writing Real Estate on Facebook or Twitter.
