Armed with privileged information, special relationships and a high degree of respect by virtue of their dedication and association with their mentor, REALTORS® will be ready to do battle with the fiercest of competitors and experience great successes. It is to those real estate agents that iSucceed (www.isucceed.com) wishes to offer a free membership for the entire month of January.  Simply visit their website and enter promotional code 06JANFREE.
 
In surveying a hundred successful agents, the vast majority offered up a similar story: During their career, they stumbled upon a particular person, teacher, or philosophy that changed their thinking or perception in a radical way.  This may have happened once and for a short time, or several times or for a longer period of time, but the influence was always profoundly ideological.   Sandra Nickel of Montgomery, Alabama readily admits, “were it not for my original mentor and broker, David Kahn, I’d have washed out of the real estate business a long time ago, just like 80% of new agents eventually do.  Thanks to David, I’ve not only survived, but thrived, and that’s why I so enjoy giving back as an iSucceed Mentor myself: it allows me to pass it on.”

Ken Deshaies of Dillon, Colorado, explains it this way, “Mentoring has made me better at what I do.  We all do things on the fly in this business, and often learn as we go.  But, to purport to instruct others, we need to tighten up our research, to analyze what we do and how we do it, and to summarize it in a way that communicates and leads to positive action.  iSucceed has offered me this great opportunity to be a better REALTOR®, a better consultant, a better instructor and overall a better person.  I have now become the conduit of that offer, hopefully, to thousands of others who hear the message and use it to improve their lives.”

Learning by example is perhaps the most important facet of gaining new knowledge, and this concept is central to the ongoing success of mentoring.  The mentors themselves are rewarded by being able to give back to the community, as well as hone their own skills and knowledge in the process. Many top real estate agents embrace this concept, and have found effective ways to mentor newer agents.  Some allow interested agents to shadow them, although this often carries a heft price tag. Others perform team training on a weekly basis for their own agents, and still others join mentor groups where professionals of a high caliber mentor each other.

The Wheel – Already Invented

If you’re a new agent, finding a mentor can be as simple as scanning your office or circle of acquaintances for likely candidates.  Peer into your future: where do you see yourself five or ten years down the road?  Who do you see around you who have already been where you want to go?  Texas iSucceed Mentor Eva Keagle says, “With the tremendous influx of new agents in real estate I believe that it is essential for successful individuals in our profession to take the lead in educating and providing guidance to new agents.  Just being there to answer questions or acting as a ‘sounding board’ will not only help the new agent, but also act as catalyst in establishing lifelong friendships – both personal and professional. While there are literally thousands of books and periodicals that have been published on the subject of mentoring, nothing can take the place of listening to them”.

Says iSucceed Mentor Nelson Zide of Framingham, Massachusetts, “the power of a mentor group comes from the fact you have other like-minded business people out there supporting each other and holding each other accountable, which you can’t get any other place.  iSucceed’s power comes from knowing there’s a group of people out there that can provide help, people who’ve gone before you and made the mistakes you don’t need to make.” 

“Mentoring is the best way to get started in real estate,” says Florida based iSucceed Mentor Sharon Simms.  “Book learning and basic courses are one thing, but pale compared to following a top real estate agent around – seeing how they handle clients and properties, what they say on the phone, how they plan, how to handle challenges.  Sharing commissions with them for business you find is a very small price to pay for their experience.”

If you have a passion to mentor someone, but just haven’t quite made the leap, look around you: do you see anyone who reminds you of yourself in years past?  Who displays the drive, passion and intellect that lifted you to a position of authority or success in your earlier years?  Don’t fall into the trap of tending toward the obvious candidates.  Look deeper.  Scrutinize and take the time to look at character, perspective and behavior: the innovators and the fresh thinkers will provide the foundation upon which progress will be built.  Mentoring can give them the foundation they need to achieve that greatness.

And if you yourself would like to be mentored, or receive advice from 175 of the real estate industry’s most successful agents that are willing to share their secrets and business tools with you, simply visit www.isucceed.com and enter the code 06JANFREE – it’s free for January and thereafter only $29.95 per month.  Change your life today.