Realtor Shawn Butzin offers advice, inspiration and practical tips to new realtors or anyone thinking about becoming a realtor. Butzin combines traditional marketing techniques with modern technology practices to give himself a seemingly unfair advantage in the market place. Like many soon-to-be entrepreneurs Shawn Butzin was in Denver sitting in a cubicle and working at a job for a software company. He hated it.
At one point he realized just how miserable he was and decided he needed to make a change. “Ever see the movie Office Space?” recalls Butzin. “Well, I felt very similar to those characters and that was when I started paying attention to the real estate industry.”
The idea of becoming a realtor intrigued Butzin as it was the complete opposite of his cubicle job. “Being a realtor appealed to me for sure,” says Butzin. “The freedom, the competition, meeting new people daily, and helping individuals achieve the American Dream of being home-owners all resonated with me a great deal.”
Butzin is originally from Michigan so while in Denver he was keeping a close eye on the real estate market back home. When he felt the time was right he made the move back to Michigan to follow his own “American dream” and he has never looked back.
Today Butzin is doing very well by doing things a little differently. He is combining some of the old-school real estate marketing ideas he was taught by mentors with new ideas and tactics he has learned on his own. One of the older methods is by getting referrals from family and friends. “The amount of referrals and leads I received from family and friends was almost overwhelming,” remembers Butzin. “Within the first week of becoming a Realtor, I had an old pal from high school reach out to me to list her house. Also, my sister referred me to some of her colleagues at work for business as well. I had to purchase a planner to stay organized, because I couldn’t keep-up with the leads, meetings, showings, listings, etc…”
Of course, asking friends for referrals and traditional networking will only get someone so far and eventually, an agent may run out of people to talk to through these sources. This is when Butzin suggests turning to modern technology, “I can’t express how important social media is for generating leads. Millions of people are on social media today, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, etc.” He adds, “This is a great way for people to see the type of personality the agent has, the types of homes he or she is selling, which markets the agent has knowledge about and so forth.”
The freedom to work one’s own hours and to earn a practically limitless income definitely appeals to a number of people. When asked if there were any personal characteristics or personality traits that make for a successful realtor, Butzin replied, “I noticed the great listeners tend to do better than the fast talkers. When agents focus directly on the client and listen to the client’s needs/wants, they’ll have a much better understanding and a quicker sale.”
Though still relatively new to the real estate business Shawn Butzin is definitely on the fast-track to success. Anyone wishing to learn more about Shawn can call his team at (810) 653-5020 or visit him on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/shawnbutzinrealestateagent.