How to be the best real estate agent in KW?

We live in times in which economic crises and the accelerated restructuring experienced in some sectors of activity have attracted more and more professionals to the real estate sector. The number of companies with an AMI license continues to grow: there are now more than 15,000 companies operating in this sector, with around 50,000 active workers (according to INE figures). While this is good on the one hand, on the other hand it generates greater competition, which is not always accompanied by the most important rule for being successful as a real estate agent: integrity . It is no coincidence that the culture behind Keller Williams is one of the pillars that has driven its growth over almost 40 years. These are KW's main values and remember, without them forget the meaning of the word success :)

Win-Win - or no deal
Integrity - doing what is right
Customers - always come first
Commitment - in everything
Communication - seek to understand first
Creativity - ideas before results
Teamwork - together we achieve more
Having confidence - starts with honesty
Success - results involving people

My journey in the real estate industry is recent, I only joined in 2016, having no previous professional experience in this activity. Despite this, this brief journey led me to conclude that there are certain conditions that facilitate your performance as a real estate agent.

Skills that can help as a real estate agent

Training and academic curriculum

University Education - Most of the successful Top Producers I know have a university degree. Is it an essential condition? No! There are many others, inside and outside Keller Williams, who are successful without a college degree. For those interested in acquiring a degree course in real estate, you can apply for the Superior Real Estate Management Course at the Escola Superior de Atividades Imobiliárias.

General Training - Portugal is a country that is attracting more and more foreign buyers and investors, due to the growth in tourism recorded in recent years. Well, dealing with one of these buyers in Portuguese is no good!Hence, mastering foreign languages, especially English , is an essential skill to succeed in the real estate business.

Specific Training - The area of real estate mediation has changed a lot in recent years. Contrary to what happened a decade ago, it increased:

• legislation linked to the purchase and sale of real estate (restrictions, money laundering, etc.),
• fiscal complexity , the rules of regulation in mediation,
• competition between professionals in the sector (according to INE there are more than 50,000 professionals in Portugal alone), etc. etc.

No agent can guarantee that he will master this activity without benefiting from continuous training throughout his career. Changes occur year after year and this is a profession in which a small error can have huge consequences, given the amounts involved in selling a property.

In order to improve your value proposition, at KW Portugal and in any Market Center you can take advantage of a very complete and phased agenda throughout the year, with a high number of training actions and workshops, based on a wide range of themes . For example at KW Sol, these are some of the topics covered on a recurring basis:

Base Activities - Ignite Training - Theoretical and Practical; Training sessions - Role Model, Role Play and Real Play; Real estate mediation processes and procedures; CRM Command; Promotion on real estate portals; Housing Credit; Mindset - 6 Personal Perspectives; MREA; Única Coisa and SHIFT (2 bestsellers by KW founder: Garry Keller); Support applications - Casafari and Confidencial Imobiliário; Growth Share and Disappearing CAP; Agenda and business management.

Sharing Sessions - How to retain buyers; Open House Live!; Deal with objections to the business; Social media; Strategic alliances; Real estate promotion; Unlock the first deals.

Special Sessions - Defining objectives and controlling the business; Business Marketing; Work buyers; Prospecting and others; Meetings with owners; Lead Generation via Social Networks; Lead Generation Campaigns; Geographic Positioning; Database Management.

Extra Sessions - Tax regimes - workers with green receipts versus company; DISC - Behavioral psychometric test; Leases; Calculation of capital gains; GOLD visas - ARI; Social Media Strategy; Trespasses; Exchanges; Construction Materials; Body Language; Home Staging; Professional Photography.

It is no coincidence that in the United States, Keller Williams is one of the most awarded companies in the training sector. The justification is simple, unlike the usual model of Real Estate Agencies, at KW we work differently. Instead of Agencies, there are Market Centers, each of which has between 100 and 200 associates and has human resources and spacious facilities, designed to respond to training needs.

Soft Skills to develop as a real estate agent

A professional with previous professional experience, when entering the real estate sector, knows that there are some skills that can help him progress and achieve the desired success. I remember some of them:

Time Management - This is a fundamental skill. Between telephone calls, visits to owners, customer visits, training and events, marketing, document management and many other administrative tasks that cannot be explained exhaustively here, there is a limitation that we all face: available time . Yes, because a successful professional cannot neglect the extra-professional tasks essential to their emotional balance : in my case being a Woman and being a Mother. No matter how intense a professional life is, there has to be time left to be happy. It is no coincidence that at KW we believe in the culture that founder Garry Keller shares with us:

Careers worth having, Businesses worth owning and Lives worth living!

Commercial Negotiation - The importance of negotiation in a mediation process is crucial. Anyone who does not have the skills to successfully lead a negotiation process has no place in this profession. The mediator is usually a referee who ensures the proper application of the rules, promoting mutual respect and aiming to reach the end of the game with a draw, in which everyone wins, in this case the owner and the customer, from apparently opposite sides. and in the middle, the agent who only receives the prize if the transaction is completed :) Therefore, in order not to be too exhaustive, I resorted to a study (carried out by the Faculty of Economics of Porto), which sought to identify which characteristics are perceived as important for a Portuguese trade negotiator , in order of importance.

1. Knowledge of the issues to be negotiated
2. Know hear
3. verbal expression ability
4. Integrity
5. ability to argue
6. Ability to prepare and plan
7. Ability to earn your client's respect and trust
8. Debating ability
9. Ability to understand your client's feelings, needs and points of view
10. Creativity to overcome obstacles and difficulties

Any of these skills deserve a course and as mentioned above, at KW these topics are frequently covered in the training plan of each Market Center. But if you want to reinforce any of them, you can always opt for the many online courses, available thanks totrivialization of distance learning.Or take a look at my page: Negotiation Techniques applied to Real Estate Mediation .

Be an entrepreneur and own your business

Keller Williams is based on a business model, created a few decades ago and which changed the paradigm of the real estate industry, which existed at the time of its expansion: rewarding the agent with the largest share of commissions charged to their clients . At the moment and in Portugal, annually, a agent only has to deliver a maximum of €25,000 to KW Portugal , obtained through commissions on real estate deals carried out by him. After meeting this annual objective, the agent receives the "Capper" distinction and begins to earn 98% of the value of commissions charged to his clients.

This model is highly favorable for the agent, compared to that practiced by most real estate companies. But this award comes with an objective and a recommendation: it aims to stimulate the agent's entrepreneurial spirit, providing him with sufficient financial means to be responsible for creating his own business.

Many of the successful Top Producers create their own companies, invest in the promotion and advertising of their property portfolio, hire marketing companies, pay multimedia professionals, hire assistants, invest in their own offices when their team grows, etc. etc. For many, when they comment on the earnings of a agent or mediation company, the exorbitance of charging 5% for a service that they think is easy and they do the math on the net earnings while ignoring the other side of the business always comes up. No KW agent who wants to succeed and be the most successful in his area, in his Market Center or in his country, can dream of being so, without investing a slice of between 10 and 20% of his net profits in investing in Marketing and promoting your property portfolio! Not to mention that more than half of your earnings go towards meeting your tax obligations. If we add to all this, at KW the culture of sharing business with other colleagues from the internal network (more than 2300 agents) or other real estate agencies is a practicecommon and

It's always worth it when the soul is not small

The question that many agents ask when they consider embarking on this profession is whether it is worth facing this challenge? My example serves to demonstrate that yes, when we face it with maximum energy, perseverance and dedication!

Over the last 5 years, there have been some disappointments, but more joys. The biggest one is having the respect and trust of my colleagues. It is thanks to them that I managed to be the Nº1 Individual Agent from 2017 to 2022, among more than 2700 real estate agents.

If you've read with interest and aren't afraid to take on a life-changing challenge, learn more about the career change that changed my life and the lives of over 190,000 colleagues around the world! Check out my page: https://ana-macao-kw.pt/en/working-at-kw-keller-williams