Julie Harris and I have literally coached thousands of students over the past couple of decades, and over time, it’s become apparent that the true “superstar” agents out there have habits, beliefs and — most importantly — actions that contribute to their success on a daily basis. It makes sense, doesn’t it? Success or failure in your career truly depends on a thousand tiny decisions that you probably don’t even realize you’re making on a daily basis, and success is the eventual consequence of all those actions together.
Now, if you’re thinking that I’m going to tell you to walk around all day long with a checklist of “success items,” then you can relax. Being a superstar isn’t a nitpicky, detail-oriented activity that requires measuring yourself on an action-by-action basis. No, instead it’s driven by high-level principles that we’ve found in all of the true superstars that we’ve coached.
Recently on Real Estate Coaching Radio, we discussed a comprehensive list of these “superstar” habits that will help you to shape and guide your day into a more productive and successful use of your time and energy.
Top superstar agent secrets revealed (part 1)
Top superstar agent secrets revealed (part 2)
1. Superstars have goals in the five areas of life: family, financial, mental or spiritual, physical and educational. Superstars don’t just talk about these goals; they have them posted in their offices and review them daily. And that is why goals work for superstars.
2. Superstars have a schedule and take it seriously. That schedule is based on activities that produce dollars. In real estate, this means only prospecting, lead follow-up, prequalifying, presenting, negotiating and closing … lather, rinse, repeat.
3. Superstars don’t worry that doing the above is sometimes boring, and they don’t start and stop what they’re learning all the time. They know that repetitious boredom pays off, but only when momentum is reached. Stopping and starting creates the stopping and starting of income. Staying the course creates predictable, profitable outcomes.
4. Superstars have a lead generation wheel. Imagine an old-fashioned wagon wheel. Can you see the old wheel with all the spokes? The strongest wheels always had the most spokes. If a wheel with many strong spokes hit a rock along the road, the wheel would have no problems rolling on down the road. Now imagine a wheel with just two or three spokes. If that wheel were to hit the same wheel, what would happen? It would collapse.
For the sake of your real estate business, your goal should be to have as many strong spokes as possible. A spoke is a source of business. What 99 percent of all agents do is rely too heavily on too few sources of leads. It’s critical that you have a lead-generating wheel with a minimum of seven strong spokes. Some examples include prospecting expired listings and for-sale-by-owners, your centers of influence, geographic farm, social farm (social networking), REOs (real estate owned properties), BPOs (broker’s price opinion), radio and television advertising, professional organizations, unions, credit unions, sports teams (your softball teams or kids’ teams), Internet marketing, pay-per-click, various paid lead sources (like Zillow), and so on.
5. Superstars are relentless with lead follow-up. They can tell you their top five prospects off the top of their head, what is motivating these buyers or sellers, and when their next appointment is. They track these leads on a spreadsheet or wipe-off board.
6. Superstars use scripts and systems consistently. Virtually every aspect of their day is designed around accomplishing their goals. Anyone who is successful is so because they do the same thing … over and over.
7. Superstars never “wing it.” They know that a smart man learns from his mistakes, and a brilliant man learns from the mistakes of others. Follow the path in front of you; never stop, never slow down.
8. Superstars devote 10 percent of their income and 10 percent of their time to education, even when they are producing the income required to meet their goals. They are constantly improving their skills.
9. Superstars control their mind, body, schedule and wallet. Harris Real Estate University superstars do a brain dump every day.
10. Superstars start with the end in mind.
11. Superstars always ask for help when they need it — from colleagues, their coach or other materials available to them. Remember that our superstars were not born this way, they learned each of the above in a gradual, sometimes painful or frustrating way. It’s OK to be frustrated, it’s OK to need help. It’s not OK to do nothing.
12. Superstars know their numbers. They can tell you where their business comes from and how much they spend on each lead source in terms of time and money.
13. Superstars start and end the day the same way every day they’re working. Many of our best agents are also great at working out consistently. It’s all the same type of discipline.
14. Superstars give back.
15. Superstars are moving toward (or have reached) debt-free lives.
16. Superstars know that they are here to serve others. There is no higher purpose than being of service to others. The more people you help at the highest level, the more wealth, health, security and happiness you will have. We are literally designed to be of service to others.
Tim and Julie Harris have over 20 years’ experience in real estate. Learn more about their real estate coaching and training programs at timandjulieharris.com, or tune in to Real Estate Coaching Radio every weekday at realestatecoachingradio.com.
