8 Expert Tips to Become a Top-Producing Agent in 2022

Realtors in 2022 find themselves in a tight spot as there are only 1.04 million homes for sale and 1.45 million agents trying to sell. This means that there are 40% more realtors than there are deals to close. Becoming a top-producing agent has just become a lot harder. Only those who devote time and energy to upskilling will make it into the list. 

Here, we offer some tips to proactively deal with some very tough competition. We give insights into how you can improve your services with technology, education, delegation, and more. 

1. Build a Strong Digital Presence

Remember that the first place people go when looking for a new home is online. That’s why it’s important that you create professional profiles on the various social media platforms that stand out from the rest.

It is also a great idea to create your own website to establish authority in the field. Apart from these, you must also have a unique selling proposition. You must create value so buyers will choose your service over others.

By implementing the best practices of digital marketing, you will attract more clients over time. You can start by learning the basics of social media marketing and creating an SEO-friendly website.

2. Leverage Email Marketing and Micro-Segmentation

Microsegmentation is a new trend in email marketing that you can leverage to outperform other agents. It means layering several data to come up with categories in your contact list. 

To start implementing this strategy, you need to be acquainted first with the four pillars of market segmentation. Then, you can send emails that are targeted to audiences with very specific needs.

For instance, when you combine geographic, behavioral, and demographic data you can come up with a category like “30-40-year-old females looking for homes in Colorado.”

With micro-segmentation, you can create a hyper-personalized experience that drives conversion. By properly implementing this technique, you can increase your revenue by 760%. 

3. Invest in a CRM Software

Customer relationship management (CRM) software is an indispensable tool for real estate agents like you who are essentially in the business of building and nurturing customer relationships.

With CRM software, you will have a unified database containing contacts, contracts, and transactions that you can access anytime, anywhere. This is particularly useful for agents who are hosting one open house after another. 

Aside from organizing information, CRM software simplifies processes for you and allows you to work more efficiently. By investing in one, you can also manage your schedule, respond to clients in real-time, automate marketing efforts, boost lead generation, and gain insights into leads' behaviors.

Additionally, you’ll be able to create and enforce a sales journey for each lead. You’ll be able to track where leads are in this journey or funnel at every point. Plus, CRMs are great for updating contact info and nurturing leads to conversion.

4. Build Relationships

In the real estate business, human relationships are not optional but essential investments. If you want to become a top-producing agent, you have to socialize. You have to put in time and effort to meet people, get to know them, and know what their pain points and interests are. 

When you socialize, you build relationships that help you source prospects and increase your profitability. Along the way, you will meet people who can turn into clients or who can give you referrals. 

One great way to build relationships is to become involved in community events. You can choose to participate in one, say by volunteering. This way you can expand your circle and build rapport around a common interest with co-volunteers.

You can also choose to host your own community event. Event marketing is often an overlooked opportunity for many real estate agents. When you host successful community events, you instantly become the go-to real estate expert in the local scene. It’s definitely worth a try.

5. Educate Yourself

As a real estate agent, it is important that you keep learning about your target market. You also need to stay informed about industry updates and trends.

Apart from doing your own research, some of the ways you can do this are by attending conferences and workshops, taking online courses, and finding a coach or a mentor.

The last one is particularly helpful for those who are only at the starting point of their careers as real estate agents. We recommend Tom Ferry as a coach or someone in your personal network.

If you have the time and resources, you can also pursue a college education. Earning a college diploma sets you apart from most real estate agents.

It can give you the tools and knowledge to help you be successful. Business degrees can be extremely helpful, as they can teach you the fundamentals in building a successful business, which is how you should treat your real estate practice.

It also has the added benefit of becoming credentialed and more credible from your client’s perspective.

6. Specialize in a Marketing Niche

Some examples of marketing niches that you can choose from are ones based on property types, geographic location, or clientele. There are many benefits to choosing and directing all your marketing efforts in one specific real estate niche.

This includes standing out among many who chose to be generalists. You will also attract more leads by focusing your SEO content on topics related to one niche only.

Another benefit is you can optimize your time and only attend to learning endeavors that make you an expert in your chosen specialization.

As a specialist, you will be viewed by clients as someone with a specific set of knowledge and experience that sets you apart from competitors.

You can simply pick one that interests you the most or one that you already know a lot about. On the other hand, you can also do your research and identify market segments that are untapped and underserved and choose to focus on these opportunities.

7. Follow the Pareto Principle

Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto is the person behind the “80/20 rule”, also known as the “Pareto Principle.” According to this rule, 80% of the results come from 20% of the work done.

Although Pareto meant for this to apply only to economic activity, it was later on adopted by many disciplines and industries including real estate. 

In real estate, the “80/20 rule” applies mostly to work operations, meaning that you should focus on the 20% of your tasks that generate 80% of your income.

To put it in another way, focus on what you do best. In the case of most real estate agents, this means making more time and reserving more energy to build relationships instead of doing repetitive administrative tasks that can be delegated to other people.

8. Delegate to a Virtual Assistant

If you’re dedicating too much of your time to non-revenue generating activities while participating in today’s competitive real estate market, you may be setting yourself up for failure. Instead, consider this: What if you can hire someone to do all the tedious tasks so you can focus on growing your business? 

Top-producing agents share this one secret: they are not alone. They have virtual assistants offering them invaluable service so they can attend to things that really matter. 

Even one of the real estate’s most popular coaches, Tom Ferry, strongly recommends delegating large parts of your business so you don’t remain small. Delegating is the only way to truly grow and scale.

If you’re wondering where you can find a virtual assistant, there are companies like us that offer highly trained virtual assistants. They have gone through several interviews, English proficiency tests, and FBI-grade background checks before even meeting you. 

At Virtudesk, you can hire a real estate virtual assistant to help you with administrative tasks, transaction coordination, marketing, client intake, and much more.

Key Takeaways

While it is definitely a challenge to become a top-producing agent in today’s real estate market, it is not impossible. Outlined in this article are some of the concrete ways to meet the shifting demands of your job. 

In order to beat the competition and grow your business, you can leverage technology, education, and virtual assistants, among others. By dealing with the problem proactively, you are already one step ahead of the game.

If you’re interested in applying the last two strategies on this list, fill out this form and one of our Consultants will get in touch with you.

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