Help Part-Time Agents Become Full-Time Rock Stars

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Some part-time agents need a helping hand in order to make the leap into real estate full-time. We have developed 15 strategies to help brokers create a work environment where agents feel comfortable leaving their previous careers behind and fully dedicating themselves to becoming real estate rock stars. Here is a pared-down list of five crucial things brokers and managers can do to get their agents off the dime.

1. Timing. Help your part-timer seize that “right” time to become a full-time agent by having an honest conversation weighing the financial pros and cons.
2. Savings. Advise your agents who are preparing to transition into real estate full-time that they must have a minimum of 90 days worth of personal overhead money in savings. More than 90 days is better. While working in real estate part-time isn’t ideal, sometimes that’s what it takes for agents to get their feet wet and earn a few commission checks in order to save that 90-day minimum to be successful as a full-time agent.
3. Health insurance­. Affording health insurance as a small-business owner can be difficult for those just starting out, but it’s a conversation that shouldn’t be ignored. If your part-timer has a spouse with great insurance and benefits, encourage them to switch to their spouse’s plan. If the agent’s current job offers health insurance and benefits for part-time workers, encourage her or him to reduce their hours to the minimum required to retain that insurance until they’re confident they can transition to full-time and afford their own plan.
4. Skills. The part-time agent must have a pre-listing package, a formal listing presentation, and a buyer presentation under their belt before taking the full-time plunge into real estate. Show agents what these presentations must include, how they should look, and how they should read or sound to engage a prospective client. Give your part-time agent quality, honest feedback when he or she submits the presentations to you. The goal is comprehensive, convincing, and clear.  Also, a realistic and effective business plan that can hold them visually accountable and 110% committed to their real estate business is crucial. Become your agent’s eyes and ears as well as their editor and mentor.
5. Mindset. Is your part-time agent doing all aspects of the job at the highest level? This work ethic and customer service mindset is the essential foundation for a future full-time rock star in real estate. Remind your future rock star again and again that this foundation is necessary for any successful, new part-time or full-time real estate agent. 

Once your rock star agent is living and breathing these five strategies and realities, continue to provide them with support and model the discipline it takes to build a productive schedule based upon their financial goals.