There is no shortage of tools, advice, books and blogs out there for new real estate agents. Most of the advice is sound, and the tools are helpful; but it can all get overwhelming very quickly.
The best way to determine what tools are the most necessary from the get-go is to think about what’s most important to you and what you’re looking for as you start your real estate career.
That being said, it’s not always clear what should be important for new agents, which makes it even harder to make decisions on what to invest in or what’s worth your time.
There are a few core areas of focus, though, that you should keep in mind as you’re deciding what tools to add to your daily work habits.
Networking
Networking never stops being an important aspect of a real estate agent’s career, but it’s the most crucial early on in an agent’s career when you’re still getting your footing among other agents and your community of professionals.
What’s the best tool for this? Social media.
Invest some time in perfecting your social media presence, whether it be on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.
Join networking or professional groups in your area. Share your insights and questions, but also be sure to make connections and even head to local meet-ups to extend your reach.
Investing in the “tool” of networking is key to building a strong referral network.
Organization
An agent can never be too organized, and finding a tool that keeps you organized throughout your busy and often on-the-go days is worth it’s weight in gold.
This looks different for everyone. It may be as simple as heavily using your phone’s calendar app, but there are a few dedicated organizational apps out there that can be accessed across your devices and will keep you in check everyday.
Check out Trello or Asana, which are both great tools for collaboration across teams.
If you’re looking for something for conquering tasks and checking items off of a list, Todoist, Wunderlist and Evernote are some of the best out there. The key is picking one and sticking with it to build those daily habits.
Follow up
Last, but certainly not least, is the fine art of following up with every interaction you have with clients, leads and other professionals.
You need to decide on and invest in a CRM (customer relationship management) platform, ideally one that allows you to segment your contacts, get them set up on a drip campaign and reminds you to follow-up personally with leads that may have gone cold.
Check out Contactually for a simplified solution that reminds you to follow up and gives you options to do so via email, phone or social.
We all know that not all clients are created equal, and not all clients respond to the same communications.
As a bonus, check out Spacio, “the paperless open house” and a streamlined way of taking names and contact information from visitors to your open house that integrates with your CRM or tools of choice.
For new agent success think networking, organization and follow-up — focus on these priorities and choose your tools to fit accordingly.
Brandon Doyle is a Realtor at Doyle Real Estate Team — Re/Max Results in Minneapolis and co-author of Mindset, Methods & Metrics – Winning as a Modern Real Estate Agent. You can follow him on Twitter.