The single most important skill for a real estate agent is sales ability. No matter where you are in your real estate career, decide right now to master the skills of selling in order to fuel your success.

It's hard to believe, but it's true, that more than 95% of agents lack top-level real estate sales skills. The reason I know this is because I coach some of the best and highest-earning agents in the world, and even they believe their sales skills can use improvement. The difference between them and other agents is that they realize that sales skills are vital to success and they continuously seek excellence in this area.

To follow their example, make it your priority to develop and constantly improve your sales skills, especially in these areas:

• Develop sales skills to secure appointments.

• Develop sales skills to persuade expired and for-sale-by-owner listings to move their properties to your business. This lucrative and largely untouched field.

• Develop sales skills to make persuasive presentations that result in positive buying decisions. You can do this in every step from prequalifying prospects to planning your presentation, perfecting your skills, addressing and overcoming objections, and ending with a logical and successful close.

According to the National Association of Realtors, over half of current real estate agents have been in the business less than three years. That means more than one out of two of today's agents (probably including you) have never experienced a marketplace where homes sat on the market for 60, 90, or 120 days, where agents faced stiff competition to move listings, and where it took real work to find and create client leads.

We are now no longer in the robust market conditions we had experienced recently, where leads were abundant and relatively easy to attract, especially buyer leads. So when the market slowed, as it inevitably would, real estate success becomes less automatic. Only great sales skills guarantee that you – instead of some other agent – will win clients no matter the market conditions. The best agents make more money in a challenging market than in a robust market.

Regardless of economics, every market contains real estate buyers and sellers. No matter how slow the economy, people need or want to change homes. Babies are born. Managers get transferred. Couples get married. People divorce. And real estate opportunities arise for those with the best sales skills.

The way to build immunity to shifting market conditions is to arm yourself with skills in prospecting, lead follow-up, presentations, objection handling, and closing.

Published: November 27, 2009

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Dirk Zeller is a sought out speaker, celebrated author and CEO of Real Estate Champions. His company trains more than 350,000 Agents worldwide each year through live events, online training, self-study programs, and newsletters. The Real Estate community has embraced and praised his six best-selling books; Your First Year in Real Estate, Success as a Real Estate Agent for Dummies®, The Champion Real Estate Agent, The Champion Real Estate Team, Telephone Sales for Dummies®, Successful Time Management for Dummies®, and over 300 articles in print. To learn more regarding this article, please visit www.realestatechampions.com.