The 8 Most Common Mistakes To Avoid as a Real Estate Agent

Many Realtors have to learn to build their business the hard way. However, learning from others can be helpful when starting out in real estate. Make sure to always partner with professionals, both other Realtors and loan officers to help you best serve your clients.

Here some mistakes you want to avoid as you start or build your real estate business:

1. Lack of focus on lead generation

A thriving real estate business relies on a steady influx of qualified leads, which many agents tend to overlook. To ensure a consistent flow of leads, it’s essential to employ at least three different strategies, such as geographical farming, online lead acquisition, open houses, or outreach to your network. 

If you’re unsure about your current strategies, it’s time to refocus and develop effective lead generation techniques. 

2. Becoming a “Secret Agentâ€

The term refers to agents that seemingly hide the fact that they are a real estate agent.  You know longer have to rely on expensive marketing, mailers, or billboards.  Nowadays, social media and video content offer more affordable and effective ways to stay top-of-mind with potential clients. 

Share your journey through Instagram or Facebook Stories and Reels, post market updates, and share testimonials to ensure people associate you with real estate. It’s time to prioritize social media and video content to avoid being forgettable like most agents.

3. Not nurturing leads

The challenge often lies in nurturing leads, not just generating them. Are you adding value to your sphere of influence, past clients, and database? How are you educating and building confidence in them to choose you for their real estate needs?

For homeowners, offering market updates, sharing neighborhood sales and listings, and providing unsolicited video CMAs can effectively nurture them until they’re ready to sell.

For buyers, sharing financing options, neighborhood updates, and suitable property listings can help them progress toward their goal of buying a home.

4. Making too few calls

Most of what you desire for your business lies beyond your fear or aversion to making phone calls. Yet, many agents hesitate to pick up the phone.

To potentially double your business in the next year, aim to double the number of real estate-related phone conversations you engage in. Dedicate focused time each morning or afternoon for outbound calls. This straightforward practice can reshape your business and your life in the year ahead.

5. Lack of accountability

I’ve never witnessed anyone achieving their full potential without some form of accountability in their life or business, whether through a business partner, a mastermind group, a coach, or all of these. Unfortunately, many agents lack this crucial element, leading their businesses to drift aimlessly.

Having someone who truly understands you and can gently steer you back on course when you deviate from your business’s purpose is invaluable. Genuine accountability pushes you beyond your comfort zone, representing care and growth. Welcoming trusted accountability partners into your life and business consistently results in positive changes.

6. Forgetting to Follow up regularly after closing

You’ve invested in building trust with your clients, but the real opportunity lies in sustaining that connection and expanding your chances for referrals after the deal is done. Sadly, many agents neglect post-closing follow-ups, which is a significant blunder.

A successful business model aims for 80% or more of future business to come from referrals and repeat clients. Achieving this requires nurturing the relationships established during transactions.

Create a post-closing follow-up plan that positions you as the go-to resource for all things real estate. This is an area where many agents falter, so be sure not to repeat their mistake.

7. Not being consistent

Real estate can be a roller coaster that moves from no activity or immediate prospects to extremely busy. This is usually created by a lack of consistency. Most agents find themselves without business, so they go into prospecting mode. That generates showings and contracts that need to be managed through the closing process. 

The problem is most agents stop prospecting when they have hot buyers or contracts and then find themselves after closing those transactions with no additional buyers or sellers in their pipeline.

8. Not treating Real Estate like a business

The biggest mistake most agents make is not treating this like a business. Many agents get into real estate due to the misperception that the business is easy, with flexible hours and easy paychecks. Those myths are quickly proven wrong. 

The agent who prepares a profit and loss statement at the end of the month and who is disciplined in the amount of time spent consistently prospecting will always outperform the hobbyists. Choose to treat your business like a business, and you will be rewarded well. 

How many of these mistakes are you currently making? We all have areas of weakness, but the best agents identify their weaknesses and work to eliminate them. Be the professional your clients need and deserve. 

Do the work.