You wake up every morning unemployed.
That’s how it feels sometimes when you’re a real estate agent. Nobody hands you a list and says, “Here’s what you need to do today.” You could work on your website, learn a new tool, call somebody, make a video or spend the whole morning trying to decide which one of those things is your job.
Once you’ve got clients, the day starts to have a flow. There’s a buyer to call, a listing to get ready and a closing coming up. Then you hit a valley. The calendar gets quiet and you’re right back to wondering, What am I supposed to do today to move my career forward?
What business systems should a real estate agent start with?
Start with three systems: conversations, follow-up and marketing, in that order. Block time every day to talk to people you know and meet new ones. Give every conversation a next step and a date. Pick a marketing routine you can keep up with so people have a reason to reach out. These systems help you book appointments. Appointments lead to sales, and closed sales bring in income.
The 14 systems every real estate agent needs to learn
Here’s the whole business at a glance, in the order I’d work on it.
Why I built Agent Command Center
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
My brokerage helped with some parts of the business. Trainers helped with others. I picked up a lot of good ideas, and I still had to figure out how to make them work together. I built Agent Command Center to put all 14 systems in one place, with editable tools you can use on the work you already have in front of you.
Inside you get lessons, editable Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, and completed practice examples. It includes the buyer and seller presentations, follow-up messages, planning tools and an Assistant Bonus for putting ChatGPT to work. The free e-book gives you a foundation for what to do. Agent Command Center gives you the tools to do it.
Which system should I work on first?
If Conversations needs work, start there. Conversations lead to appointments. Appointments lead to business. Business leads to closings. Closings equal income. We can figure everything else out from there.
If you’ve got a conversation routine going, look at the systems in order and work on the lowest-numbered one that needs attention. Here’s how I’d make that call.
- You’re new and the calendar’s empty. Protect the conversation block. Reach out to at least five people you know, look for two or three new people to meet, and get one piece of marketing done. Send a video text, make a call or do a pop-by. When someone is open to staying in touch, add them to your database with a note about how you met.
- People are responding but you’re losing track of the next step. Start with Follow-Up. Open your CRM, pick one person you owe an answer and set a date for what happens next. Do the same with the other open conversations you’re actively working.
- You’ve got meetings and you’re scrambling to get ready. Work on Buyer or Seller. Use your next appointment to build a preparation routine you can do again. Start with what you need to learn from the client and what you want them to leave knowing.
When I talk about aiming for 13 real estate conversations a day, I want you looking for chances to get people talking. If you send five personal video texts, log five touches. If two people reply and you get a back-and-forth going, log two conversations. Try a call or a pop-by the next time. If someone says, “Hey, I got your video the other day,” now you know it landed and you’ve got something to pick up on.
How one video text can turn into a listing appointment
Say you send a video text to someone you know. A week later, they write back, “Hey, we’ve been thinking about selling.” That happens all the time in one form or another. Sometimes they bring it up while you’re on the phone. Sometimes you hear from them later. I always wonder, would they have called you if you didn’t call them first?
I’d start by letting them know I’m excited for them. Then I’d ask a question and give them time to answer before moving on.
“Oh, that’s awesome news. How exciting. I’m honored you thought to ask me. When are you guys thinking about making this happen? Do you know where you’re headed? Are you thinking you’ll buy there or rent?”
Once I understand the move and the timing, I can offer the next step. “I’d love to come tour the home and give you an idea of what it could sell for in today’s market. Is that something you’d like to get started this week?” When we agree on a time, I send the calendar invite, put the appointment in the CRM and write down what I said I’d do next.
Then I get ready. I Google the address and check the estimates the seller is likely to have seen on Zillow, Redfin and Homes.com. I pull the property data in Realist and look at active, pending and recently closed homes in the MLS. I usually start within a mile or two and look back about six months, adjusting for the property and the market. I’ll pull the six to ten strongest comparisons I can find.
Say the evidence points toward a million dollars. I also want to know what else a buyer can get for a million dollars in that area today. How does our home stack up? Are similar homes moving quickly or sitting? That’s the conversation I want to be ready for when the seller asks what I think the home will sell for.
I finish the comparative market analysis and estimated net sheet, send the pre-listing packet the day before and confirm the appointment. And I practice the presentation. They might be interviewing two or three other agents. I want to walk in ready to explain what I bring, how I’ll market the home and what I think we should do next.
The 14 systems and what I’d use each one for
Create Trust
01 Conversations · Make time to talk to people every day
Make time to talk to people you know and meet people you don’t. Use the daily routine to plan who you’ll reach out to, then practice a call you’ve been putting off with the Conversation Coach.
02 Follow-Up · Give every conversation a next step
Give the conversation somewhere to go. Use the message library when you need a starting point, make the message sound like you and record the next action in the CRM you already use.
03 Marketing · Give people a reason to reach out
Get clear about who you help and what they need to hear from you. Build a business brief, then turn a question you hear all the time into content you can actually finish and share.
Deliver Well
04 Buyer · Prepare for a better buyer meeting
Use the buyer-needs brief to sort out what you know and what you need to ask. Make a copy of Let’s Find Your Happy Place and use it to talk through the buyer’s priorities, their market and the path to the keys. See the Buyer Consultation cover.
05 Seller · Walk into your listing appointment ready
Rehearse the editable Seller Consultation before you ring the doorbell. After the meeting, use the Seller Preparation and Launch Plan to write down what you agreed to, who’s doing it and what needs to happen before launch.
06 Transaction · Keep the transaction moving through closing
After an offer is accepted, give the work a place to live. Use the handoff and update tools to keep track of obligations, deadlines and what you owe the client before closing.
Run the Business
07 Time · Plan a week you can actually finish
A one-hour listing appointment can eat up half an afternoon when you count the drive, the comps and the recap you owe the seller. The weekly planning brief gives that work a place before Thursday gets away from you.
08 Money · Know what you spend and what you need to earn
Put your income goals and business expenses in the same place. Use the workbook to see what you’re spending, what you need to bring in and what you want to review next month.
09 Technology · Get your tools working together
Write down what each tool is supposed to do and where the work goes next. If leads come in through one tool and follow-up happens in another, map that handoff before adding something else.
10 Training · Practice the skills you use with clients
Pick one skill you want to use on an actual appointment. If you keep getting stuck when a seller asks about price, rehearse the conversation, try it again and write down what you’ll do differently next time.
11 Trends · Turn market data into advice clients can use
Start with a question a client is asking, then find the market evidence that answers it. Use the research brief to turn the numbers into an explanation the client can use to make a decision.
Build a Life
12 Health · Work at a pace you can sustain
Take an honest look at the pace you’re trying to keep. If you’re running on fumes every Thursday, use the brief to identify one change you can stick with and give it a place in your week.
13 Team · Hand off work so everyone knows what done looks like
When you hand off work, say what a finished result looks like, who owns it and when you’ll review it. Use the assignment brief whether you’re working with an assistant, building a team or getting help with one job.
14 Community · Make time to contribute to your community
Pick a way to contribute that fits where you live and what you care about. Use the community-action brief to turn that into something you can follow through on.
Start with the work you already have
Here’s what that looks like if you’re starting from scratch. Let’s say you’re reaching out regularly, but every time someone replies, the conversation stays in your text messages. On Friday you can remember that somebody said they might sell this spring, but you can’t remember who said it or what you told them you’d do. That’s a Follow-Up problem. Start with the last five people who replied. Put each conversation in your CRM with a note in their own words, one next action and a date. When that date comes up, you’ll know why you’re calling.
The same idea works if you’ve been doing this for years. Maybe you’ve already got a good listing presentation. Keep it. Look at what happens after you leave the house. If you and the seller agreed to paint the entry and book photos, who’s calling the painter? Who’s paying? When will you confirm the work is done? A short launch plan can save you from trying to piece together three text threads when it’s time to go live.
Give the system a real job this week, then look at what happened. Did you make the promised call? Did the seller know what to do next? That will tell you what to adjust before you move on.
Look at the next seven days. Is there someone you owe a follow-up? A seller appointment you need to prepare for? An empty morning you could use to talk to people? Pick one thing and get it done. Keep the conversation block on the calendar while you improve the rest.
Put one system to work this week
Got a listing appointment coming up? A follow-up you owe? Pick the work in front of you and start there.
