Many think sales is an easy profession. The comments of ‘anyone can sell’ or ‘all you guys do is golf’ have been heard around the world thousands upon thousands of times.

One of the first sales professions to swell when times are good is the real estate market. People decide ‘I can do that’, take their test and thanks to an employment program which is usually 100% commission (meaning low risk to no perceived risk to the real estate company), they become an agent.

A friend of ours is an agent (called estate agents in the UK) and we were discussing the impact that the decline is having on her business: never better, she doubled her income last year. Why?

Simple. As this article points out, all of the part-time – I think I will give sales a go – agents are dropping out at a fast and furious pace. As times get tough and they are required to actually apply skill to win business, they realize that they are not up to the task and customers (people selling their houses) are realizing that it is getting tougher to sell the house (As an aside, she mentioned that $600K+ homes are not moving at all). Which means that customers are turning to the agents with a good reputation, who market effectively, who have been referenced by friends to them, to sell the house.

I have known a few very successful real estate agents earning $300K++ a year. It is a 7X24 grueling pace, relies on great reference selling and professionalism.

Real estate sales are anything but easy – especially in the years ahead. Buckle up. The economists say here comes the recession ….