The First 10 Things To Do AFTER Joining REAL Broker
Congratulations! You are now part of the cloud brokerage revolution that is going to change our entire industry for the better!
But you are quite done yet. We have just a little more work in order to get you caught up to speed and familiarized with all of REAL’s benefits and tools at your disposal.
So the goal of this article is to go over the first 10 steps I recommend you take AFTER you sign your ICA and get your license transferred over. If you have not done that yet, then I recommend you watch this video here walking you through that process.
1. Download the REAL App.
The first thing I recomend you do is down load the Real Agent app.
Real actually has a fantastic agent app where you can track all of your transactions, commissions, get support, and a lot more! The app has many useful features but here are a few of my favorites I want to point out to you.
Dashboard.
The first screen you will be presented with is your Dashboard. This will probably won’t show you any data now since you are brand new with the company but as you get clients under contract, this screen will show you your projected commission, closing date, and how much is going towards your cap.
At the bottom of this screen, it will also track your month-over-month progress, the total commission you have earned for the year, the total revenue share you have earned, and a few other very useful pieces of information.
Profile
If you click on the profile icon on the bottom right you will be presented with a few more very helpful options. The first thing I recommend you do is to click on “improve your profile” and fill in all of your contact information, connect your social media accounts and upload a headshot.
Profile > Support
The reason I recommend you download this FIRST is because you can get support and answers to your questions here!
Within the support section you can find all of your broker's contact information for your state. Don’t hesitate to use your broker as a resource as you transition into REAL. You will need their assistance in transferring your MLS, setting up your Chime Website and reviewing your contracts down the line anyway.
Under the Support section, you can also start a 1-on-1 conversation with REAL support if you have any questions. There are also FAQ about the app, brand, and procedures here.
Profile > Conference Calls
REAL holds many live trainings and live company-wide calls but if you missed them, you can listen to the audio-only of the calls here. This is actually a pretty cool feature and lets you listen to real estate training in your car like you would a podcast or an audiobook.
Profile > Referral Program
This is where you can get YOUR link to YOUR REAL landing page for referring agents to the company. This page will be branded to you and you should get credit for any agents signing up to REAL on this page.
I recommend you go in and send this link to your email or through Facebook messenger and then bookmark it on your computer so you can easily send this link out to agents from your computer and start building out your revenue share downline.
Profile > My Website
So as a REAL agent, you get a personal real estate website for free. This section is where you can customize your site to some degree and add your contact information.
To be honest, the free site you get is pretty basic and I do recommend you sign up for the paid website through Chime. More on that later.
2. Create a Workplace Account
The next step I recommend you take is creating your Workplace account. You should have a welcome email from REAL with a link to set that up.
Workplace was created by Facebook for business members to connect and share content. Think of it as a series of Facebook groups but ONLY for REAL agents.
Workplace is also where you will find the REAL Academy. This is their collection of agent training covering everything from working with buyers & sellers to different types of lead generation to social media training on YouTube and Facebook.
To navigate here, click on “Knowledge Library” and then “Real Academy”.
Note: There is ALSO a “Real Academy” group. This is DIFFERENT from the Real Academy database of training. The group is where you will find live training. The Real Academy database of training is where I want you to go to first to watch past trainings.
Most importantly, this is where you will find training on how to use some of the other programs you get at REAL such as SkySlope, which you will use to get contracts signed and submit for review, Workplace itself and Chime.
To start off, I recommend you watch all of the training on Skyslope.
Within Workplace you can also participate and join other groups. You should automatically be added to a few groups including one for your state specifically where your broker may post updates that will apply to you.
I also recommend that you search for and join the “Fired Up! Motivation — Tactics — Strategies” group.
Workplace also has a great app which I highly recommend you download which is very similar to the Facebook app. And you might as well download the Work Chat app which is similar to Facebook Messenger and let’s you start 1-on-1 conversations with other agents from Workplace.
3. Create Skyslope Account
The next step I recommend is creating and setting up your Skyslope account. Again, you should have a link to this in your welcome email from REAL.
SkySlope is where you will submit your contracts for compliance to your broker and within there you can access DigiSign which is what we use to get our clients to digitally sign contracts electronically. If you have used Dotloop or DocuSign before, you will feel very comfortable with DigitSign.
I recommend you watch the Skyslope training in the REAL Academy to get caught up to speed with this software and if you get lost, click the Support icon in the top right to start a chat conversation with tech support.
4. Transfer MLS
So the next step may not be obvious, but you will most likely need to log in to your local Multiple Listing System and request to transfer your brokerage to REAL.
I do want to point out, this is DIFFERENT from transferring your license. AFTER you transfer your license, you will need to transfer your MLS and have your local broker accept that request. This process may take 1–2 days.
This way any new listings will show you at REAL Broker, LLC rather than your last brokerage.
This process may be different for each state and each MLS so if you have any questions, reach out to your broker. See step one on how to find their contact info.
6.-Sign Up For Chime
So this step is optional but HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Chime is an incredibly powerful website and CRM. Their platform typically costs about $500 a month but as a REAL agent, you get it for only $25 a month.
You can request a full demo of it here on their website if you want to learn more before making the leap https://chime.me/
Their websites are very powerful, pretty looking, and easy to customize. They automatically create individual pages for each city in your area with market stats and listings for that city.
There CRM also has all the latest bells and whistles you would expect out of a high-end CRM including automatic email campaigns and smart triggers.
My friend Tommy Mutchier has a great video breaking down his favorite features of the Chime platform.
IMPORTANT: To sign up for Chime, email support@joinreal.com and let them know you would like to sign up. This is the only way to get it for $25 a month instead of $500.
I also want to point out that AFTER you sign up for Chime, a Chime representative will need to reach out to your broker to request access to your MLS in order for you to have listings on your website. This is why I recommend you transfer your MLS over to REAL first.
7. Order Business Cards & Swag
The next step is to visit https://marketing.joinreal.com/ and then bookmark this page.
This page has some great promotional information about REAL you can use to attract agents to the company or promote yourself on social media. This page will also take you to the REAL Vistaprint Shop which I also recommend you bookmark.
Here you can EASILY use their templates to create business cards that are automatically designed to be in compliance with your state's rules.
I also recommend you pick up some REAL merch here such as shirts, coffee mugs, and pens.
8. Order REAL Signs
The https://marketing.joinreal.com/ site will also where you will find a link to REAL’s BuildaSign page. Here you again can easily use their state-specific templates to create and order your new signs and know they are in compliance with your state's codes.
I also want to point out that you don’t NEED to use REAL’s business card and sign templates but they are quick and easy ways to get your marketing material and know they are in compliance.
If you decide to design your own, I’d recommend submitting them to your state's broker to review to make sure they are in compliance with your state's requirements.
9. -Announcement Post On Social Media
The next thing I would recommend doing is using one of REAL’s templates to make a post announcing you switched to REAL.
You can easily do that by going here https://marketing.joinreal.com/social-media/ive-joined-real-social-media-images/ and downloading their slide show presentation with their social media templates.
Simply choose the slide you like most, add your image and information and then save that individual slide as an image on your computer and then upload the image.
They also have Facebook Profile Image Frames that are really easy to use. Simply go here https://marketing.joinreal.com/about-real/facebook-profile-photo-frames/ and click on “order” for the frame you like and it will automatically take you to Facebook and ask if you would like to add it to your profile picture.
Announcing to the world that you joined REAL is a great conversation starter with potential clients but can also be a great conversation starter with other agents so you can start focusing on building your downline at REAL.
9. Register With Tipalti
The next step I recommend is registering with Tipalti. This is the program REAL uses to actually pay you your commission. Since you won’t have any closings at REAL the first few weeks after you join, it may not be imperative you do this immediately but you should take care of it.
After you join, you should get an email with information on how to register with Tipalti. If you don’t see it after a few days, reach out to the REAL support on your app or or your local Broker.
10. Sign Up For Cloud CMA
The last step is to sign up for Cloud CMA. This service is optional but you get it for free as a REAL agent, so you might as well give it a try.
Cloud CMA is a simple to use program that allows you to create pretty looking Home Value Reports for any property as well as a few other tools
Personally, I like creating these reports and printing off just 3 or 4 pages of the report to bring along with me to my listing presentations.
Conclusion
That’s it! You should be caught up to speed on the main tools you will be using as a Real Estate Agent at REAL Broker. Now you should be ready to get out there, sell some homes and start attracting other agents to build out your own downline!
