if you're brand new to real estate and you just got a license and you want to take one  listing a week that's who i'm talking to right now i want you to consider  when you first get a real estate license there are so many things that you are told you need to do  you go into your office and your broker is gonna tell you you need to attend different training  for different things then you need to learn how to read the contracts and and all the disclosures  there's a lot of paperwork involved you need to order business cards you need to get some signs  you need to get some marketing materials there are a lot of things that you can potentially be doing  and then not only your broker but you get to meet some other agents from your office most likely  average agents in your office and they're telling you what they're doing and all the things that  you need to do and i want you to think about this yes it is true there are paper there's  paperwork involved and you need to learn how to read these contracts and disclosures and explain  it to a seller or a buyer and yes you're gonna need business cards there are a lot of things  that you need to be doing and in additionally there's all the training that your office might be  highly recommending you attend office meetings that happen every week sometimes even more than  than once a week that you're highly recommended or required to attend and all of this is fine  it's part of the process when you first get a real estate license what i want you to think about i  started saying if you're brand new and you want to take one listing a week i want to talk to you all  of the things that i just mentioned to you are not going to bring you a listing or a buyer or a sale  and unfortunately i've been coaching real estate agents for many many years there are new agents  that spend months or even a year learning and learning and and getting familiar with  paperwork and and trying different marketing activities spending money and they never get to  the one activity that's actually going to get them business and that activity is having conversations  with people not when when i say people i'm not referring to the other agents in your  office because they're not going to list their house with you i'm talking about people you know  that's where you need to start i want you to honestly think about all of the people that  you know all of them because when i asked that question many agents will say well you know  i'm just throwing a number out there maybe a hundred people i know and then when you start  really looking at all the people that you do business with and all the people that you're  in front of on a daily basis you realize that you may not know them personally and have their  phone number or feel comfortable letting them know you're in real estate now and you would like  their business and their referrals even more importantly you probably if you think you know  100 people and you really dig and you think and you look through your phone and and you think  about all the people that you do business with on a regular basis like your dentist your hairdresser  the barber shop for the guys all of the different possibilities you probably end up with 50 more  let's say 150 people so let's go with their number that number that's where you need to start  once you determine how many people you know first order of business for a new agent is to speak with  all of them and let all of these people know that you have a real estate license and when  they're interested in buying or selling a home you want to be their agent not only that you got to  remind them that they may know someone at work or someone in church or a neighbor or a friend  that may bring up the conversation about buying or selling a home and you want those referrals  this is where you start and this is more important than anything else you do  because everything that i mentioned the beginning of all the different things you have to do  yeah you need to learn how to how to read a contract and explain to a buyer  seller but guess what if you don't have buyers and sellers to explain it to you're wasting your time  the single most important priority that you have to have as a brand new agent is to make money and  you're gonna make money by speaking with people and asking for business and asking for referrals  don't let anybody else distract you with anything else because there are plenty  of things that you can do that might seem easier than talking to people about real estate but the  rewards and the results are not gonna show up now remember when you're talking to people you know  they may want to buy a house buyers can be extremely time consuming and distract you  from the seller side of the business focusing on the listings now if you're brand new  i'm sure you would be happy to have a buyer that you can sell a house to just make sure there's  three things you want to make sure before you put a buyer in your car are they ready to buy today  if you show them a house and it's the perfect home for them it's exactly what they're looking for  are they ready to buy it today are they willing to do it and are they financially able to do  it and then the last one which is critically important are they committed to buying from you  you should not spend time with any buyer that doesn't fulfill those four things  that i just told you about if they may find it be financially able to buy but  if they're not ready and willing it's a waste of your time you're gonna show them homes today  and they're gonna buy a month or two from now this is the typical life of a real estate agent  and then two months from now they drive in front of uh a house for sale and they call the number  on the sign which is the listing agent of that property and the listing agent sets an appointment  shows them house and they buy the house and where are you they weren't committed to buying from you  huge waste of time and talk about a great way to be discouraged and think that real estate just  doesn't work there is no one that can argue that listings is how you need to build your business so  stay focused have high standards when working with buyers high standards when working with  sellers as well that's another conversation but very high standards with buyers so you make sure  you're not wasting your time so you're going to start by talking to all the people you know  i gave you a number of 150 let's say you know 150 people how long could it possibly  take you to speak with 150 people can you do that in a week that would be 30 a day  and you're like well 30 people is a lot you have if you're working eight hours a  day you should have a goal here write this down you should have a goal to speak with  10 people per hour that's not a lot if you're focused now if you talk to one person and then  you go take a 15-minute break and now you're hungry now you got to go to the bathroom you're  never going to talk to you're you're going to spend eight hours and talk to five people  when you're actually doing your prospecting you need to stay focused in one activity get it done  and then you move on to the next activity 10 contacts per hour it will take you three hours  now here's what's fascinating about how real estate agents think they have other things that  they've been told or they think they need to do and the the actual conversations and prospecting  is always the last thing that they're gonna do they're gonna start the day by doing everything  else i gotta attend an office meeting and then i got this training and then i gotta do this and  then i go to that and then it's lunch time and then this and then that and when all of it is  done then i will get on the phone and i'll talk to people we know that is completely backwards your  prospecting is what's going to get you listings and make you money and that has to be your number  one priority now i would imagine that it is your number one priority what'd you get in real estate  for so you could stay busy all day and make zero money and then six months later having to go out  and get a real job uh that's not what this is about and in order for you to be successful  on day one you gotta start talking to people so let's say first week three hours a day ten  contacts an hour you talk to the 150 people you know what's next what do you do after that  can you on week two call the same 150 people you know and have the same conversation and week three  and week four no that's not gonna make any sense how often should you talk to the people you know  probably once a quarter every three months so in this example of 150 people you talk to all of them  week one what do you do for the next next um rest of the quarter here you gotta talk to people you  don't no and that's obviously always going to be infinitely bigger number than the people you know now this is where most real estate agents put up a lot of resistance  they don't want to talk to people they don't know well it's um you're in real estate this  is a sales job i don't i don't know what you were thinking you were getting into this is a sales job  now if you want to sell five homes a year because that's what the average agent does in this country  you don't need to do what i'm saying if you're breathing uh you'll sell five homes a year you  don't have to do anything you just like just sit there somebody you know use some  you're gonna the the five transactions are likely to just come to you i'm talking to the agents  that understand the incredible opportunity to make a fortune selling real estate and they're willing  to do whatever it takes to make that happen for those people and i know if you're still  watching this and if you're still here you fall into that category you have a sales job and sales  people need to talk to other human beings not only the people they know the people that they don't  know if it makes you feel a little more confident and just makes it easier for you to start  start in the neighborhood where you live go knock on your neighbor's doors that's a great thing to  do you're familiar with the area you may even know some of your neighbors go around 100 to 300 homes  door knocking and having conversations with your neighbors about real estate ask them when they  might be interested in selling their home do they know anybody that wants to buy a home and i can  assure you if you talk to all the people you know you may get a referral you may find someone and  if it's not now you're going to talk to them again every quarter and you're going to keep  reminding them and you're going to give market updates when you door knock 300 of your neighbors  you may even find someone who's looking to sell the house right now you may find someone who knows  heard of a neighbor that's looking to sell right now or know somebody that's looking to sell right  now or in the future and you start either you find a transaction at this moment or you get some leads  that you're gonna follow up with and you gotta go from there every single week you're brand  new to real estate and you're committed to making this an amazing career and making a lot of money  you should be talking to a minimum of 30 people a day and that's the first thing you do every  day that's how you start your day until your 30 contacts are done everything else is a distraction  i want you to think about that because the other activities they may seem to be a priority but  they're not the one thing that's going to make you money is having conversations with people  you can door knock your neighborhood right you could also call different neighborhoods they're  systems where they provide you telephone numbers and it'll be so easy you you you have it all on  your computer screen and you just dial dialed out there's even dialers you can use these days when i  was selling real estate well there was a dialer it was terrible it just didn't work at all i  used to make calls dialing one number at a time with my little finger which takes out a much  longer time you have it so easy these days so calling around neighborhoods it's just  a great way to find people that want to sell how about calling expired listings  think about this expired listings their house was listed until yesterday and now the listing  ended in the multiple listing system if you want to find somebody who wants to sell go directly  to an expired listing because they were just selling yesterday they may tell you they don't  want to sell anymore or they're going to take it off the market normal to hear that i'd be thinking  like that too if i had wasted six months with an agent that couldn't sell my house but expireds are  a gold mine because you're going directly to the source how about for sale by owners even better  than expireds because there's a small percentage of expired listings that  are not going to release the house right now 40 to 50 percent released within three days  and then there's some that are going to wait a few weeks and some that may wait a few months  for sale by owners they all want to sell right now they don't just want to sell they are selling it  there's no better prospect for you to talk to than a for sale by owner remember you're looking for a  listing these people are selling their house and they don't have a real estate agent yet  it doesn't get any better than that you can call you can door not  and i said minimum 30 contacts a day number one priority ideally  50 contacts a day 5-0 ideally you're brand new to real estate what else do you have to do everything  else that they're telling you you have to do is a distraction your only job if you're working  eight eight nine hours a day is to find find transactions find clients find listings so minimum  30 ideally 50 contacts a day if you do this five days a week you don't even need to work  on weekends i'm talking about monday through friday start at 9 00 a.m every single morning  talk to 50 people and then you go do everything else you need to do and i can assure you that  you are going to start taking listings you may not take a listing on the first week  you may or maybe not or the second week but your work is gonna start to accumulate  you're getting better what you're doing you're getting better at these conversations you're  talking to enough people that you're actually likely to find someone and you're building a  pipeline of some future leads too visibles and expireds are not future leads visibles  and expireds are immediate it's immediate business don't buy into the story that you're  gonna follow up and follow up that's a way that's that's the wrong mindset but if you're calling  neighbors if your door knocking your neighbors you're calling neighborhoods you're talking to  the people you know you're gonna build a pipeline of referrals that may end up actually listing the  property three six months from now or even a year from now you're building you're building  your building and maybe all of a sudden week four and you take three or four listings it's going  to happen the challenge for you is to stay consistent because there's always something  else to do that may seem more interesting more fun but not profitable so stay focused do what you're  supposed to do and you're gonna have an amazing real estate career that's all there is to it