KW’s Jay Papasan sheds light on rookie agent mistakes

On this week’s episode of the RealTrending podcast, host Tracey Velt sits down with Jay Papasan — an executive at Keller Williams and co-author of “The Millionaire Real Estate Agent” — to discuss what it takes for new agents to succeed in today’s competitive market.

Papasan shares insights from his upcoming book, “The Rookie Real Estate Agent,” and emphasizes that success starts with mastering the basics, such as building a strong database and developing consistent lead generation habits.

Papasan stresses that many rookie agents stumble by skipping foundational work in favor of flashy branding and marketing.

This conversation excerpt has been edited for length and clarity.

Velt: What was the gap you saw in the industry that provoked you to write “The Rookie Real Estate Agent”?

Papasan: Well, I mean, just as a publisher — I used to work at HarperCollins — we always analyze the market. And there hasn’t really been a new traditionally published book, or not a self-published book, in this category in close to 20 years.

So people are still giving the same old books out. And a lot of people were getting “The Millionaire Real Estate Agent,” which is great to kind of expand your mind, set your mindset, but it’s not really a tactical guide for how to stick.

Papasan explained that many new agents who enter the industry full of ambition, but without access to the right tools at the right time, quickly burn out.

Papasan: The inspiration is really, we hear this stat — I don’t know that I can verify it, but it sounds accurate to me — that about 85% of all new agents will be out of the industry within 18 to 24 months.

So they come in with high hopes for a new career, to be their own business people. And because they don’t get the information they need when they need it, a lot of them kind of cycle right back out. And I feel like we can do better than that as an industry.