There’s so much negativity going around right now. Mortgage rates hit a 52-week high, and real estate leaders and agents are reacting like the sky is falling. I’ve heard people say the year is over. I don’t know how you do any business with that kind of mindset.
I’ve watched this market go through tougher stretches. We got shut down in 2020. Rates were at 8% in 2023. Each time, staying positive and staying in action was the key to winning, and this climate is no different.
A lot of people want to panic, play the blame game and make excuses. I refuse to operate that way as a professional, because that negative energy gets passed on to your clients. They can feel it the second you walk in the door.
Telling you to stay positive doesn’t give you much to work with, so I’m going to give you five techniques I use to keep a positive mindset in a challenging market.
#1: Get Obsessed With the Daily Inputs You Can Control
Everyone looks at the closed sale. They try to get to the finish line, and when something pulls them off course, they lose steam. Things will happen that keep you from the finish line, and you won’t hit every outcome you plan for.
A business built around outcomes alone isn’t scalable.
Your inputs are a different story. These are your lead indicators, like the phone calls and conversations you have each day and the appointments you set from them.
You control those numbers, and you can repeat them every single day.
Hitting your input numbers gets you excited because you know you accomplished something that day. It may not have been a sale or a closing, but it was something that moved you closer to your goals.
Track your inputs and get obsessed with those numbers. They’re what will keep you going in the day-to-day when things get tough.
#2: Detach From the Outcome When a Deal Falls Apart
Focusing on your inputs comes with a second piece. People want to get right to the outcome, and you have to detach from it. Accept what can happen with any deal:
This home may not sell. This deal may not come together.
Don’t let it ruin your day. Deals fall apart for all kinds of reasons, and they’re hard to put together. You can do everything right and have a property fall through.
Here’s what doing everything right looks like:
- You’ve gotten the right education.
- You know the scripts.
- You’ve studied the strategies we cover on Best Agent Hacks.
When a deal falls off, remind yourself where you stand:
I’ve got a full pipeline. Deals are going to fall off.
Some deals will close and some won’t. When you’re doing volume business, you understand this is part of the process, and you don’t ride the emotional roller coaster. A full pipeline keeps you positive because you’ve set more appointments and you’ve got more things happening.
Part of being a seasoned real estate agent is keeping your calm when all hell is breaking loose around you. Master that skill, and your positive mindset keeps flowing.
#3: Reframe Seller Objections as a Path to the Listing
A no can mean not right now. A maybe can mean later. Think about what people are telling you. A homeowner who doesn’t want to list today may still move down the road, and your job is to build a relationship with them.
We know that 65% of sellers list because of proximity. Build that relationship and earn their trust, and you can be their agent of choice when the timing is right for them. People do things for their own reasons and on their own schedule, which ties back to detaching from the outcome.
Look at objections as questions from someone who’s considering hiring you. They want clarification before they make a decision. Seeing objections this way puts you in a great spot. An objection means the person is thinking about making a decision and thinking about hiring you as their agent. Hear it that way, and your mindset turns positive.
A lot of agents shut down the moment they hear an objection. The people who sell the most houses know how to handle objections and talk things through with consumers.
They know the scripts and dialogues that get people focused on what’s most important to them.
#4: Track Your Progress on a Visual Scoreboard
Tracking your inputs is one part of the picture. You also need to track and measure your business and your progress. How long is it taking you to hit your numbers? Put your goals up on a visual scoreboard where you can see them, and it’ll show you how you’re tracking.
Picture a Tuesday where things don’t go well and you lose two pieces of business. You look at your scoreboard and see you’re at 80% of your goal with three months to go. You’re in a good spot, and you know it.
Every business has fallout, and not every sale closes. Your scoreboard keeps you focused on the positive when it happens.
Think about watching a Major League Baseball playoff game or the Super Bowl without knowing the score. You’d react to every play your team makes in a whole new way.
Running your business without a scoreboard works the same way. You can’t stay positive when you don’t know what’s going on in your business.
#5: Learn From Your Mistakes and Lost Deals
This last one is the most important. Treat your mistakes and your losses as learning experiences. When you lose a client or a negotiation, ask yourself:
What could I have done differently to earn the client in this situation?
How could I have gotten this negotiation over the finish line?
People make mistakes all the time. I make them. Everyone makes them. We’re all works in progress.
Don’t expect yourself to handle every situation without a mistake. When you take a loss, learn from it so it doesn’t happen again. A winning mindset comes from doing this over and over, and it’ll help you close future business.
Final Thoughts
Forget the negative people out there. I know agents who are talking about the year being over, and we’re seeing tons of homes sell. I ran a study for our team after rates went over 7% for the first time this year on September 10th.
Here’s what we found:
- Over 1,800 homes went under contract across the greater Philadelphia area between September 10th and the end of the month.
- With a buyer side and a seller side in every transaction, there were 3,600 available transactions over that 20-day period.
Plenty of people out there are transacting. The business is there, and you’ve got to go find it.
Stay positive, and you’ll be a magnet for business. Clients can tell what kind of energy you bring when you walk in the door.
