Do you know that the majority of people who aspire to be real estate agents fail? According to Tom Ferry, 87% of aspiring candidates fail after five years, with only 13% being somewhat successful. After failing, agents usually leave the industry with little or no money. Unfortunately, most agents enter the industry without a plan. Here’s a list of things you should never do as a newbie agent.

Things you should avoid as a Real Estate Agent

1. Be limited in how you promote your business

Marketing is not limited to fliers, TV, and radio advertising. These days, you can get a Real Estate SEO company to improve and boost your website for you and promote your presence on the internet. Use every free resource you can get in marketing (like social media and real estate forums for your area). Meet new people to build your network and increase your list of potential new clients.

2. Fail to keep up with changes in the law

Laws regarding real estate change once in a while. If you’re not in tune with your country’s rules and regulations, you might miss the vital changes. Such changes, lead to new trends and new opportunities: look out for changes in tax law, landlord-tenant law, estate planning, and insurance law etc.  Anything that might affect your market.

3. Dive in and expect to be an immediate, full-time success

Depending on your market, at first, it may be difficult to create a full-time, single career in real-estate.  In ideal circumstances, you can, if you already know what you’re doing as a seasoned real estate agent. But as a beginner, you may be entering a really tough market, with some really seasoned pros around you.  If this is the case, and you genuinely are determined to make a success of it, you may find that, besides all of that drive and determination that you have, two of the most important traits that you need are patience and endurance.

4. Don’t follow up that client!

Get the client to see the property: this makes it easier to highlight the good things about it. Help your client envision his or her life using the property and why the building is the best fit for family/business.  And…  Always follow up with a prospective client after a property tour.

5. Upload blurry pictures/videos of the property

The majority of your prospective clients will find and contact you on property listings. If that listing has blurry, dark, or low-quality pictures or videos of the property, they might even not consider it. Clearly, this is a serious mistake.

6. Don’t Master your market

Agents should master the product that they offer. They should be aware of the in-demand property types in their area of operation. Not all cities or states will have the same demand or supply for the matter. Know your products, learn what kind of people are attracted to this kind of property, and get your marketing plans laid out based on this knowledge.