Lessons from Million-dollar Real Estate Agents

There's a funny thing about oft-repeated truisms: many of them aren't actually true.

Take this one for instance: "10% of all real estate agents perform 90% of all transactions."

No-one is ever given credit for this statistic; no study has been published proving it to be true. Yet, it's repeated over and over.

Sure, it's true that some agents make tons more money than others. RealTrends' annual rankings of agents and teams, "The Thousand," prove that. Sort of.

Take a look at the top 10% of these agents and you'll notice that they all sling luxury property. Naturally, the more expensive an agent's inventory is, the more money she'll earn.

This status may have nothing at all to do with talent, expertise or any other quality than to have made a wise decision early on in a career.

The first lesson is simple: if you truly want a sales volume of $761,653,743 a year, sell luxury property.

In reality, to make the big bucks requires patience, tenacity, self-discipline and the understanding that it takes money to make money. Stop taking the cheapest route. Demand quality for you and for your clients.

Related: Learn from the Master of real estate success, Floyd Wickman. Watch his latest guest appearance on our podcast (below).

There are few overnight successes

Tony Robbins, über-successful personal development coach, often tells the story of how, at age 19, he lived in a studio apartment, cooked on a hotplate, and washed dishes in his bathtub.

He considers this period his "rock-bottom" and tells audiences how it compelled him to begin to create goals. "The timeline I gave myself for achieving these goals was any time from tomorrow to the next twenty years," Robbins says in "Awaken the Giant Within."

Robbins claims that he hit his first goal, to make one million dollars, five years later.

We've all read or heard similar stories, those rags-to-riches tales that inspire us to do likewise. The one thing that so many of us miss, however, is that there is no magic formula. No cute little fairy will land on our shoulders and "poof" us into success.

These people struggled, often for years, to reach their goals. They worked long and hard, they enlisted help and they never stopped learning and trying new things.

Just as you know that nurturing leads and prospects takes time and persistence, so does nurturing your business.

Check your attitude

"A positive attitude makes success easy; a negative one makes success pointless," according to Geoffrey James, author and contributing editor for Inc.com.

Sure, it's challenging to feel positive during a worldwide pandemic, when the way you do business has been turned upside-down.

James suggests that you can change your attitude in a number of ways. One of these is to surround yourself with positive people and "… and shun those who are excessively negative."

Find the rest of his tips on how to improve your attitude at Inc.com.

Mimic the successful agent

If you're new to the real estate industry or ready to take your game to the next level, it's well worth your time to find a mentor. At the very least, approach one of the most successful agents in your office and request a shadowing opportunity.

A week or two following this agent around, observing his or her attitude, habits and approach is time you will never regret spending.

To view the original article, visit the ProspectsPLUS! blog.