Real estate agents are held back by their beliefs

Recently, I hosted a conference call for agents who are my coaching clients. They were able to ask me any questions they had about their businesses. One of the agents on the call asked me how to overcome limiting beliefs.

It was not a question I can say I was expecting on the call. Honestly, most people don’t seem to ever grasp that not everything they hold true is necessarily true. Folks don’t realize that their belief system often holds them back from making great strides in business and in life. We are trained to cling to certain ideas about what is true, and to never question these steadfast beliefs.

I certainly didn’t realize my belief system was holding me back when I first started my real estate brokerage. Then I began attending mastermind meetings with entrepreneurs who had amazing businesses. These meetings helped me to see many things differently.

Take this example: I went to one mastermind meeting where a guy talked about the launch of a new product that brought in nearly $2 million in sales in just one montth. Before talking to these entrepreneurs, and watching what they were doing, I wouldn’t have thought this was possible.

But guess what?

This was, for me, a limiting belief. Because I didn’t think it could be done, I would have never seen it as an option.

Seeing other people make things happen that I didn’t think possible is probably one of the most important benefits of participating in various mastermind meetings. You walk out of the meeting thinking…

“If that guy can make $2,000,000 in one month, I should be able to (blank)”

This change in thinking allows you to up your game. It allows you to see opportunities that you didn’t believe existed before. It also allows you to try more than you would have previously tried.

The agent who asked the limiting beliefs question then asked if it was possible to sit down and write about in a weekend. It was obvious that he had a limiting belief that told him the answer was no.

Rather than telling him that it was possible, I suggested he take a little time to go somewhere quiet, shut off his phone, and make a list of all the things he believed were true about his business. I’ve done this many times over the years, and it’s something you might want to consider doing, too.

To make this process easier, you could actually make a category of beliefs on each page. The first category might be lead generation. So the question to ask yourself is: What do I believe about lead generation? Now write everything down that comes to mind.

Here are some limiting beliefs on lead generation you could have:

I have to spend money to generate leads.

It’s impossible to automatically convert leads into clients.

I couldn’t possibly generate 400 leads a month.

Even if I could generate that many, there’s no way I could handle all of them.

My buyers agents won’t call my leads.

The leads I attract aren’t qualified.

Sign an exclusive representation agreement? Not MY leads.

Now on the next page, ask yourself the following question: “What do I believe about commissions and my income?” Here are some sample limiting beliefs that you might have:

Sellers will only pay _______% (5%, 6%, etc.)

Buyers won’t cough up a higher commission than what’s offered in the co-broke

My clients wouldn’t pay a processing fee on top of the commission

There’s no way I could sell “X” amount of homes in a year.

I’ll never make a million dollars a year.

Nobody is ever going to want to buy my business

You can probably see how this process works. The next step is to go through each and every one of the beliefs you listed and ask yourself one simple question:

“What if this is just not true?”

It’s a powerful question because it challenges that belief system of yours.

Take the example above and the limiting belief about your buyers not paying a higher commission than what is offered to you in the co-broke. What if that weren’t true? Would you change what you were doing? I would hope so! You would probably set your rates more in line with the services you provide. In many cases, you would get a higher commission than what was being offered to you. Might you be able to charge your buyers a flat fee of $2,000 plus whatever the co-broke commission is? Maybe!

Limiting beliefs can be very costly. I have them. You have them. We all have them. The trick is to realize that you have them and constantly challenge yourself to see things differently. If you can, take some time this weekend to do this limiting belief exercise. I think you’ll find that it has the possibility to change your business and your life.

To wrap up this article, let me share one of my own biggest limiting beliefs:

“I don’t have time.”

Whenever someone presented a new idea or exciting opportunity to me, my immediate reaction was “There’s no time.”

Then I asked myself: What would happen if I did have time? My life changed instantly. I found time to write two books. I found time to hire, train and recruit agents. I found time to launch several other businesses. I found a lot of time I didn’t think I previously had. Maybe you have a similar limiting belief. What would happen if you did have time to pursue your new idea? What would happen if you did have time to write a book? What would happen if you did have time to start another business?

It’s definitely worth thinking about.

Related posts:

1. How Real Estate Agents Can Reinvent Their Businesses
2. Sell your house quickly by the help of real estate agents
3. A Toronto Real Estate Agents Guide to Pricing Your House Right
4. Interesting time management strategy for real estate agents
5. Real Estate Time BOMB. Foreclosures and the Collapse of the Real Estate Market