As I’ve come to learn, financial stability is a common problem with up-and-coming real estate agents around the world. An agent’s failure to earn enough income in real estate sales begins with the fact that most agents have the wrong definition for success in the business—a belief that success in real estate sales is something that, if they do the right things repeatedly, will happen over time.

It’s that prevalent, but faulty, definition for success that underpins the main reason why so many real estate agents fail in the business. Looking down from the 30,000-foot level, there are only two possible approaches toward success in real estate sales: a now model and a future model. And, unfortunately, the real estate industry is in fact dominated by the latter future model.

How so? Basically, in that—both traditionally and currently—the generally accepted approach is focused on the idea of building momentum over time for success to happen eventually, someday. That pervasive future focus throughout the industry is a career-defeating challenge for most real estate agents who fall under its sway.

Everybody is working to succeed… but later. This approach is widely accepted as “the way it is” by the very people who are otherwise supposed to set the right example: brokers, managers, veterans, mentors and, yes, even coaches.

But hey, wait a minute! Isn’t it good advice for an agent to shoot for a successful career in the business? It most certainly is. Yet, it comes with a catch. Namely, that you have to be able to survive in the meantime. And statistically speaking, most agents don’t. Consider this: purportedly, nearly 90% of all new agents fail to make enough money and, consequently, leave the business within their first several years, with most bailing out within their first year and a half, or so. Financially, it’s a massacre of disaster and, unfortunately, the unvarnished truth in real estate sales.

Hmm… So, you wonder, how does this future-model thing actually tick? Generally, it can be distilled down to just a few points:

1. A tendency to prioritize building out systems for success. 

Real estate agents easily get caught up in the busywork of various (and often expensive) systems dedicated to working over the span of time which push the availability of success far down the road: systems for lead generation, client data management, email campaigning, social media posting, agent branding, geo-farming, newsletters, past-client & referral programs… The list goes on and on.

1.  A dependance on presentation practices.

Presentation is an approach that, by design, works to keep the flow of information headed away from you and toward the people you’re trying to reach. Striving to make an impression. Aiming to build rapport. Developing and establishing your brand. Positioning to be known as the expert. And, of course, the classic: offering to be of service. Such traditionally accepted presentation stratagems actually push potential-client response time off into the future and, in effect, delay your success.

1. An overreliance on indirect communication.

Things like social media, email, text, online presence, marketing outreach, and advertising efforts. All of which, in terms of response, means you have to wait for people to (hopefully) contact you back someday. Indirect communication is typically coupled with an under-reliance on actually talking with people directly—face-to-face or ear-to-ear—a practice that is typically not done well or enough…

Systems setup, presentation tactics, and indirect communication all have their place and, if done effectively, ultimately do work. But they also unavoidably come with a lot of, what I call, breakage. They take a lot of time to kick in and work; many years for most people, really. They also require the right know-how, which can be elusive and hard to find. On top of that, they can be complicated and, thus, difficult to implement. And these methods often take money, money, and more money to support, set up, and maintain. Money a real estate agent may not have.

Using these methods to warehouse leads, or build up those potential-clients that will be ready to buy or sell in the future, can be effective, but only if you’re all-in on the future model. This isn’t sustainable for those real estate agents who are just beginning though. Leads don’t have a reliable shelf life, and a newer agent can’t turn to a warehoused lead whenever they please. A client is only ready when they say they are. 

So, how might agents who desire financial success in real estate sales avoid the industry-dominant fate of failure? By opting out of a sole reliance on the future-model approach and alternatively (or additionally) adding a now model for success to their business.

With a now model comes a new definition for success in real estate sales. One that isn’t the industry norm of potentially succeeding someday off in the future. In fact, just the opposite: it is the expectation and practice of actually succeeding in the near-term, beginning today. And it’s a career-changing definition that maintains you can do business sooner versus later. You don’t have to wait to make a lot more money in real estate sales— regardless of your level of experience, the systems you have in place, or how much time and money you spend.

I liken the now model to a rain making model while the future model is a water management model. In the future model, rain has already fallen and collected in a reservoir. It takes time and money to treat the water and ration it properly. The now model collects the rain as it falls, and it falls more often than you think. By entering Discovery mode and engaging in conversations with potential clients, you can find out what they want right now.

However, you may get responses that suggest a future model approach: “We aren’t ready to buy right now. We’ll be ready in the summer.” It may seem obvious to put them on your emailing list and engage them every week till they are ready, but that may just push them away. Instead, when summer approaches, reprospect them!  Reintroduce yourself and treat that moment in the now. Change is constant, and the permutations, or effects, of change in their life may have influenced a new direction in what those potential clients will or won’t do when it comes to purchasing or selling a property . All you have to do is have a discussion of discovery with them that enables you to find out.

What a now model does is work to bring in business near term because, unlike the long-term emphasis on systems with a future model, a now model is a skill model. With the right expertise, you don’t have to wait to generate new business. 

That’s why I created The Production Model. A unique and proven skills development program dedicated to helping agents raise their ability to make more money faster and easier in their day-to-day business of real estate sales. Instead of being locked in for failure, you’ll be set up for success!

Check it out at TheProductionModel.com…