There are many steps involved in becoming successful as a real estate agent, and standing out or carving a niche for yourself in this highly competitive yet rewarding market.

You may already know the more mainstream methods, such as mastering negotiation skills, prowess at math and logic, customer relations, advertising yourself in the news paper and the various other pieces of knowledge that will eventually lead you to success in your industry.

Let’s focus for a bit on that last bit mentioned above - Advertising yourself. Yes this area is not to be neglected, as any successful Real Estate Agent or for that matter, any successful business will have you know.

The good thing about advertising yourself in this day and age, is that you don’t have to spend money or have a big budget to get yourself noticed, either locally or internationally! Fliers, hand outs and ads in the newspaper about your services are things of the past.

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Leverage the Internet to make yourself known as a Real Estate Agent

It is a known fact that almost everyone starts their search for a house, commercial property or investment, by first checking for information on the Internet. They will in a matter of hours find out about the latest hot property investment and associated info such as location of the property, time to completion and finance options. It is only then that they start their search for a good price and a competent agent.

Sure, you stand a better chance, if the property that a client is looking for is listed with you. But, lets think ‘local’ for a minute… In the UAE and the region, there is no exclusivity or law (yet) when it comes to a listing. Unlike other markets, here, a single property is listed with multiple agents and its a ‘may the best person win’ method in which a deal is finally closed.

We still are in the wholesale stage of the property market, where there is no lack of business due to the property boom at the moment. But unless you are planning to retire (rich?) in the next couple of years, you have to make your self and your expertise known, locally and internationally to assure your long term success in your industry.

Why Internationally? For the simple reason that more and more end investors are overseas clients, doing daily research via the internet on the property market in the UAE and hoping to identify the perfect real estate agent to deal with BEFORE they make a trip to the country. Do not forget there are nightmare stories of unscrupulous agents floating around so buyers, especially those from regulated mature markets will be picky about the agent they choose to work with.

Make yourself known by advertising your knowledge not just your listings

As we noted, your listings are rarely exclusive to you. You are competing with several agents who know the exact same owner, the exact same property and all the agents are chasing the exact same prospect or potential client. This leads sometimes to unhealthy competition and unscrupulous practices. Isn’t it time you as a Real Estate Agent break free and try a different approach to success?

You can beat other agents in this game of ‘find the buyer first’, by allowing the buyer to find you first!

The good this is, you do not even need to have the property they are looking for, listed with you. Sounds too good to be true? It isn’t, but it does take a little work. Yes, work…so if you are already content making bulk deals in the Dubai Market then there is no need to read further… this is for agents that don’t mind learning and working toward long term stability and success in their career and industry.

How do you ensure a prospective buyer or client singles you out when they are ready to make an investment?
Whether the buyer is residing in the country or is an overseas buyer, the internet is the place that they start their search. While a property that is listed with an agent will automatically put that agent in the ‘game’, you stand an equal and BETTER chance of successfully concluding that deal, if you display your knowledge about a property, the market in general and associated areas of real estate, such as relocating, an understanding of the laws, mortgages etc.

This display of knowledge acts as an endorsement of your professionalism and capability of handling a deal and it can do you far more good than any paid advertisement or property listing ever can.