This is step 1 of a five-part series on how new agents can successfully break into the real estate market.

Building credibility and expertise as a new agent is somewhat of a chicken or egg dilemma. You need clients to gain credibility and expertise, yet clients won’t hire you unless you already have that credibility and expertise. What is a new agent to do?

When your prospects analyze which agent to hire, they also weigh in risk – and hiring a brand new real estate agent who has only worked with one or two people is incredibly risky, especially in a down market. What if problems come up or you make a mistake that prevents them from buying the house they want? What if you don’t know about marketing techniques other agents are using? What if you fill out the forms wrong or any number of things that might possibly go wrong?

There are a couple of ways to overcome these fears:

1. Get testimonials – If you have worked with some clients, ask them for a testimonial. Testimonials act as social proof that you can do your job – and that you’ve successfully helped others with similar concerns.
   
   
2. Use client stories and case studies – Along with testimonials, use client stories to further boost your credibility. When prospects ask you a specific question, tell them a story of how your previous client had that similar problem and the steps you took to solve it.
   
   

These two techniques should be fundamental components of any marketing campaign, and as you work with more people, you should always look to collect testimonials and case studies to demonstrate your credibility.

But what if you haven’t gotten your first client yet?

You can still start gaining experience by partnering with more-experienced agents:

1. Apprentice with an experienced agent – Ask the busier agents in your office (or your broker) if you can go along with them on appointments for a period of time so you can learn the ropes. Keep in mind – if they agree to this, they are doing you a favor, so make it worth their time. Negotiate tasks you can do for them in exchange for the hours they mentor you – or even offer to pay them for their time. The hands-on experience you’ll receive is invaluable and one of the best ways to start learning the tricks of the business. It will also provide you with a few client stories you can use when marketing your services.
   
   
2. Partner with an experienced agent – Most agents are always looking for new business opportunities, so many may be open to partnering with you for your first few clients. Again, they are doing you a favor, so make this worth the agent’s time. Offer to do all the grunt work – generating leads, driving buyers around to show houses, etc. – as well as a portion of your commission if they can help you with the logistics of the transaction like negotiations, paperwork, and any problems that come up. In other words, you’ll do virtually all of the work and still pay them a nice fee to back you up and offer their credibility and expertise. This can go a long way to help reduce risk in the eyes of your prospect.
   
   

The goal with both of these options is to get you up-to-speed on your local real estate market and how real estate transactions are done as quickly as possible. These are the basics that you need to know cold to stay in business and compete in today’s real estate market. Without this fundamental knowledge, any advertising and marketing you might do to promote yourself is pretty much a waste of money because you won’t be able to close the sale.

On Monday, I’ll talk of another way you can demonstrate your credibility by creating education-based marketing materials that prospects will want to read.

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