REAL ESTATE | The Biggest Problem in Real Estate Sales

Agents Who Suffer from Scarcity Thinking

Presented by: Fred Wilson, Fred Wilson Coaching, author of “Real Estate Attraction”

The main reason so many real estate agents fail to succeed is due to scarcity thinking in their approach to the business. Perhaps the biggest problem in the industry, it typically manifests as the belief that there isn’t always enough opportunity to go around. Through my decades of professional practice—having myself closed a deal a week for 30 years running—I’ve come to estimate that the vast majority of practicing agents are stuck in a scarcity mindset; thinking that opportunity isn’t here now but rather somewhere else.

For example, when I ask a group of agents who've never heard me speak before, “Who here in the room believes in abundance?”, pretty much all the hands go up. But when I inquired further about the actual availability of opportunity that very day, most all the hands fell away. That’s because society teaches us that opportunity is a good thing and that more is better—and I agree on both accounts—but then teaches us that opportunity is rare, fleeting, hard to find, not often available, and typically not here today.

And yet, just the opposite is true. Opportunity, particularly in real estate sales, is always available due to the way life works. Since everyone is changing and everybody lives somewhere, everyone’s real estate wants and needs are constantly subject to change. Which means that opportunity is always likely available in some way, just not always obvious. But most real estate agents don’t adequately comprehend the way opportunity works and, thus, remain tethered to scarcity. Consequently, they underproduce in sales.

But that need not be their fate. Because physical lack of opportunity is not the problem; lack of mental access to opportunity is the problem. Which is to say, the question of opportunity isn’t if it exists but whether it’s recognized. And when it comes to the individual agent’s experience of success in real estate sales, rarely has a more profound and career-impacting statement been made. In truth, you’re never actually a victim of the limitation factors so often blamed by agents for their lack of opportunity and resultant failure in the business.

Things like low inventory, tough competition, economic uncertainty, rising interest rates, bad management, inexperience, under confidence, and lack of know-how are common excuses. Instead, the only limitations you ever truly face arise from scarcity thinking; the simple yet utterly self-defeating belief that there isn’t opportunity for you today. Which is a real problem. Because if you don’t believe there’s opportunity, why would you look for it?

Think about it. In reality, new business can only ever happen when it’s today and never when it’s tomorrow because, of course, you’re never actually in tomorrow. As a result, in terms of their ability to succeed sooner versus later, most real estate agents unwittingly take themselves out of the game by making one of the most common business-generation mistakes: working today to make tomorrow pay. On the contrary, they should be working to make today pay.

Success in real estate sales is in large part about how cohesively the qualities of awareness, openness, and alertness work together. In concert, they enable you to observe and interpret the ways in which change—the number one, ever-constant driver in real estate sales—is affecting the individual lives of potential clients and, as a result, creating new opportunities for new business to happen.

In other words, access to opportunity (and thus, to success) is a perception thing. Realizing that truth was a game changer in my career. I no longer had to worry about there being enough opportunity. I learned that missing an opportunity in no way limited the phenomenon of opportunity in my business. I knew that, if I looked at things right, there would always be another deal for me to do.

Regrettably, most real estate agents accept without question the (false) cultural norm that opportunity is hard to find. Due to deeply ingrained misconceptions about how opportunity actually works, they operate with resistance, not fluidity, toward their sales goals. And sadly, they don’t know why. But remember this, you cross the great divide from a scarcity mentality to an abundance mentality in life when you no longer assume that opportunity isn’t there but instead assume that it is.

Understand that an abundance approach toward opportunity is the unknown (and thus missing) link for most agents; a hidden key that, once found, will unlock the door to more success in real estate sales. Open your mind to what’s possible. Pay attention to what’s happening around you. Embrace the fact that, due to the nature of change in life, opportunity is everywhere.

Consciously strive to tap the income-generating (and thus career-enhancing) power of a more high-functioning approach to opportunity in your real estate business.

About Fred Wilson

Blending real estate savvy with insightful life philosophy, Fred Wilson leverages over 40 years experience, including co-founding both a brokerage and escrow company. As a renowned industry mentor, Fred spotlights meaningful human connections while empowering agents to maximize their capability through his online Production Model® course, inspirational books, and audio programs. Revered for his sage guidance navigating life’s transitions, his unwavering dedication to both personal and professional success continues motivating people to unlock their utmost potential. Fred’s latest book “Real Estate Attraction” is available now.