North Coast property market boom sees increase in estate agents, but who has what it takes to make it?

Recently there seems to be a boom in the number of people entering the real estate business.

The reason for the increase seems obvious.

We work in an area where there is positive growth, exhibited by healthy levels of sales, rental and commercial activity indicating that it is the right environment to achieve some serious success.

From a distance, this may look easy to accomplish.

However it is anything but this in reality.

If you look at the successful agents operating in this town, they have been doing the job for 6-7 years plus; they have been through the better times but more importantly they have also learned how to succeed and tough it out in the harder times.

From a personal perspective I remember working in Battersea, London at the start of 2008 when we had 20 agents.

By the end of the year there were 6 of us left.

The reality is there is no reason why an agent cannot do well regardless of area and market but most of that is down to the individual.

The first thing to realise, and it is a point I make very clear when interviewing candidates, is that it is a marathon and not a sprint.

It is a job that takes time to get the real hang of, to learn the necessary skills and then to truly feel comfortable when giving advice as an expert.

None of the skills needed are complicated, in fact it is very simple, but there is a vast amount to learn and hone and that’s where the time comes in.

A good hard-working agent will feel quite comfortable in the role after 12 months, but to start feeling like a genuine expert with the results to match, usually takes somewhere around 4-5 years, give or take.

That might seem a long time to someone thinking of getting into the industry as a total rookie but 4 years in a 20-30 year career really is not very long.

When picking an agency to work for, make sure they have a comprehensive on-going training programme, a mentorship scheme and lots of support.

Although I have said it can take a while to be a top performer, with the aforementioned help it is possible to knock off a few years in the development cycle.

You need communication skills, persistence, hard work, grit, integrity, ethics, local knowledge and of course passion.

These are obvious and self-explanatory, and we could talk for days about each of these attributes.

The less obvious, however, is having a thick skin, a bit of an edge and the persistence to develop trust and long-term relationships – and I mean long term, something I think a lot of agents miss.

Technologies have changed, which is a good thing, but what remains constant is that there is no top performer who does not understand that building trust over a long period of time is vital to long term consistent success.

A good agent also understands that rejection is a huge part of this success; a thick skin is needed for any failures, including the occasional unjust and unfair criticism.

They need enough “edge” to be able tell a client something they might not want to hear, but is necessary based on their expert opinion.

I wish it was as easy as posting listings or content on social media and then fielding the hundreds of calls and offers that come from it, but it is not.

Doing the basics extremely well is the only way to truly succeed.