It’s no secret that the real estate industry can be cutthroat. Often, it seems as if real estate is all about the competition and who can land the best clients as quickly as possible.
What if there was an easier way? That’s the question asked by Rudy Kusuma, founder and CEO of Your Home Sold Guaranteed Realty. Kusuma got his real estate license in 2007 and immediately started beating the pavement looking for clients — but he was coming up with a whole lot of dead ends.
Over time, Kusuma discovered a business model that worked. And in 2019, he founded his own real estate company. Here are Kusuma’s top tips to help real estate agents build a business model that thrives.
Use Reverse Prospecting
“I got my real estate license and immediately was told that the first thing real estate agents do is prospecting, either by cold-calling or door knocking,” Kusuma said. “But I was struggling with cold-calling. I thought maybe it was my voice, so I tried going door-to-door. The only difference was that people were mad at me face-to-face.”
Kusuma quickly realized he needed a different method — something that allowed him to squeeze as many results as possible out of his time by attracting clients who were ready to buy and sell.
That’s where reverse prospecting comes in. Put simply, reverse prospecting attracts clients to you instead of you going out looking for them. It’s a painless way to get more business for your real estate company. And when done right, it can help your business grow by leaps and bounds: “By the end of my first month doing this, I had picked up more than fifteen clients.”
The idea is that you set up a lead generation practice where home buyers and sellers come to you.
Find a brokerage that allows you to focus on selling
One big piece of the puzzle to Kusuma’s success: He ensures his agents can focus on their job, without any extraneous to-do’s thrown in. Real estate agents who run single-person ventures are often expected to handle everything from lead generation to marketing to showing homes. Kusama says that this isn’t realistic. And it’s not the right formula to create a successful, thriving real estate business that will continue to grow long term.
“We don’t expect our agents to prospect, work on marketing, or [do] anything other than working with clients to buy and sell their homes to their satisfaction.”
Finding a broker who allows you to focus 100% of your energy on working with clients will help your business thrive — and will attract more clients your way.
Focus on Continued Professional Development
Make it a priority to learn and grow.
“Your business is designed for other people and you’re a channel of that,” he said. “The more you add value for people, the more money you’ll make. But it’s hard to add value when you’re stretched thin,” he says. That’s why agents should take advantage of the training opportunities offered by their brokers and outside vendors.
Kusuma says the real estate industry is broken on many levels. But he also thinks there’s a solution. Good agents don’t have to go through burnout. By focusing on real estate as a business and not just a career, Kusama says it’s easy to build a real estate business that will stand the test of time.