Written by Lee Nelson
Reading Time: 6 min
When Matt Difanis was 21, married, and a student at the University of Illinois, he bought his first home.
“I did not like feeling clueless about how the process or the REALTORS®’ role worked. So, I started reading voraciously, eventually signing up for a pre-license class during my last semester as an undergraduate,” says Difanis, now broker/owner of RE/MAX Realty Associates in Champaign.
Continuing his path to more knowledge and information has been a key to his success in the industry through the years. He also teaches others across the country, and he learns a lot from prepping for those speaking engagements and from the interactions with attendees. He subscribes to The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and his local paper.
“Keeping up with the news, especially economic and political, has a strong link to my work as a local real estate professional,” he adds.
Difanis and three other experienced, successful Illinois REALTORS® across the state share their best advice on building good habits for improving business by developing connections with those in the industry and outside of it, and investing in oneself for better health, mind and soul.
Here are their observations and methods they use and want to reveal to others:
Don’t hide the fact that you are new
“If people like you and trust you, they will not only tolerate your lack of experience, they’ll be cheering for you,” Difanis says. “I vividly remember clients like that during my first year in business. They knew I was motivated and hungry, and they gladly traded experience for the opportunity to provide one of my first paychecks, knowing I was focused exclusively and almost obsessively on their needs.”
But know who to call when you get questions that exceed your own knowledge, Difanis adds. It is far more important to build relationships and trust than to become a real estate encyclopedia.
Matt Difanis
RE/MAX Realty Associates
It takes three to five years to build a business that creates significant income. Look at those years like you would getting a college degree. You’ve got to get up every day and put in the work. This business is not for the faint of heart.
Build and maintain your database
Steve Rettig
eXp Realty
When Steve Rettig facilitates training classes with new agents, he makes his presentation about REALTORS®’ databases a very important section.
“It’s all about adding information about those clients or potential clients,” says Rettig, regional designated managing broker for eXp Realty in Illinois. “You put in their phone numbers, what their dog’s name is, their anniversary, their son’s high school graduation date, and everything else that is important and meaningful to that person.
“But you need to manage it from day one. The sales will come if you are building your database. All else needs to be set aside to plug in people into your database. You’ll get deals. The business of real estate is not selling of real estate. It’s about database management,” he says.
Review your day
For Gaspar Flores Jr., having his parents as his business/life coaches through the years has been instrumental. He is a second-generation REALTOR®.
“They have helped me to stay focused and also prioritize what is important to me.”
So, at night when things are winding down, Flores, broker-owner of Su Familia Real Estate, in Chicago and Bolingbrook, reflects on his successes and failures. He thinks about how he is grateful and thankful for each opportunity given. “I do a recap of my day and look at my coming day.”
Gaspar Flores, Jr.
Su Familia Real Estate
Be prepared for reality
Jim Miller
Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty
“It takes three to five years to build a business that creates significant income,” says Jim Miller, executive vice president and designated managing broker at Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty in Chicago. “Look at those years like you would getting a college degree. You’ve got to get up every day and put in the work. This business is not for the faint of heart.”
He suggests having a mentor or working for a brokerage that believes strongly in developing their agents. “My mentor was key in helping learn the business early in my career.”
If people like you and trust you, they will not only tolerate your lack of experience, they’ll be cheering for you. But know who to call when you get questions that exceed your own knowledge. It is far more important to build relationships and trust than to become a real estate encyclopedia.
Invest in your own business
Flores suggests that new agents should focus on saving for taxes, first and foremost, when they get a commission. “Then, don’t overwhelm yourself with your long-term vision and focus on the present. What can I do today to better my business?”
Design a business plan
“Business planning is one of the most underrated strategies in our business,” Miller says. “You hear a lot of noise around it late in a year, but few people actually chart their path and work towards it. It would be like a builder building a home without a set of architectural plans.”
He focuses on a planning model that starts with a three-year vision and is fed by annual themes and quarterly goals. Each one of his quarters is broke down into weeks and executed on a daily fashion.
“Boiling your goals into chunks is a powerful way to make sure they are accomplished. I start each day reviewing my goals and planning my day. This strategy has been powerful.”
Show kindness
“I have become a much more empathetic person in recent years,” Difanis says. “Even small doses of kindness and empathy go such a very long way in our business. I’ve learned it doesn’t take much to make a strong impact or to change someone else’s life for the better. There’s never a workday where empathy and kindness cannot be deployed, but I have to be on the lookout for opportunities, too.”
Set boundaries
Turning off your brain at night becomes an important asset in being ready for the next day, adds Rettig.
That means turning off your phone and emails at a certain time in the evening and for agent or leader that can be a different time, he says.
“The next day, it will all be there. I tend to be up early doing things. But as the evening falls, I try not to think about it. You need that mental vacation every day. It’s a habit, and I’ve gotten better at that habit.” Rettig used to be on the phone at 11:30 p.m. and that caused stress. “We need to focus on self-care.”
“Your business should be built on creating meaningful moments for your clients and having as many meaningful conversations as possible,” Miller says. “Do this consistently and let the power of compounding grow your business organically and authentically.”
About the writer: Lee Nelson is an Illinois-based writer whose work regularly appears in REALTOR® Magazine and other industry publications.
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