Based on what is depicted on mainstream TV shows like Million Dollar Listing, one might think the job of a real estate broker consists of driving around town showing properties, doing brokers’ caravans, all the while sipping on champagne, eating caviar, and engaging clients with an extroverted over the top personality.

Although these activities are not mutually exclusive, they don’t really satisfy the customer’s bottom-line.

If you ever wondered what real estate brokers really do for their clients, here is a breakdown.

Prospecting customers or cold calling

The more people a broker talks to on a daily basis, the more his/her customer base grows, and the better the service he can offer becomes. One, two, or even three hours of solid prospecting is required daily.   This is what keeps potential buyers and sellers walking in the door. It might feel uncomfortable, repetitive, and boring at times, but it must be done. It is the broker’s workout. The more people a broker speaks to, the more chances he has to connect buyers to sellers, and vice-versa.

Building an audience

Have you ever been to an auction? The more people you see in the room, the higher the price of the product being sold. The same principle applies to real estate. Through daily prospecting and promoting, a broker will create an audience of potential bidders for your property, from local buyers to international investors you would have never found otherwise.

Filling the room with the right people

A large audience doesn’t however guaranty its quality. A professional broker will make sure he is addressing the right audience from the get go. Don’t be surprised if a broker starts by asking a series of questions ranging from, “Who you are?”, “What you are looking for?”, to the most important question of all, “Do you have the money to buy?” A list of 30 potential buyers for any given property can quickly be reduced to 10, 5 or even fewer potential buyers after they have gone through a proper prequalification process. Wasting valuable time and energy by selling to the wrong person is costly. Building an audience, a prequalified audience, will increase the chances of selling a property.

Negotiating contracts

Once the broker has participated in several hundreds of transactions, it becomes obvious that negotiations are similar from one transaction to another.  Although it is still a very delicate part of the sale, buyers and sellers are simply not equipped to improve their“negotiation tactics”. An experienced broker will find it easy to maneuver efficiently through discussions and identify potential issues long before they even arise. An intermediate is often the best way for both parties’ interest to be satisfied.

Closing the deal

Once everybody has come toan agreement and all the paperwork has been wrapped up, everyone believes it’schampagne popping time. This might happen on TV, but in real life this is onlythe beginning of an important and sometimes lengthy servicing period that willrequire skills, experience and patience from the broker’s end. Creating interest, sellingthe property and negotiating the deal only pays off when buyer and seller closethe deal. If the broker can’t keep everything under control leading up to thefinal step signing at the notary, the entire process will most likely have tobe repeated.One thing is for sure.  Once all thesteps have been successfully completed, a little champagne and caviar might becalled for after all!